Peter John Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022)^[1] was an English screen and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as Callan: A Magnum for Schneider and I, Claudius. He is however, best remembered for his roles in sitcoms and television comedy dramas, including: Rumpole of the Bailey, Only When I Laugh, To the Manor Born, The Bounder, The Irish R.M., Lytton's Diary, Executive Stress and Perfect Scoundrels.

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Bowles was born in Kensington, London, England,^{[citation needed]} but lived for a while at Boddington manor in Warwickshire, where his father Herbert Reginald Bowles, worked as a butler and chauffeur for David Margesson, 1st Viscount Margesson.^[2] His father was next employed as a valet-companion and chauffeur to Drogo Montagu, son of George Montagu, 9th Earl of Sandwich, and later butler to Montagu's widow, a daughter of Lord Beaverbrook. His mother, Sarah Jane (née Harrison), was from Scotland, and served as a nanny to the family of the Duke of Argyll, before working for Beaverbrook's family in England, which is how they met.^[3][4] In Nottingham, they lived in the working-class area of Hyson Green. He attended Berridge Road Juniors and High Pavement Grammar School.^[5]

Bowles married Susan Bennett on 8 April 1961.^[6] The couple lived in Barnes, south-west London^[7] and had three children together.

Bowles died aged 85, on 17 March 2022, from cancer.^{[8][9][10][1]}

• RADA Scholarship (1954)^[11]
• Madge Kendal Prize (1955)^{[citation needed]}
• Male Comedy Star Award (1983)^{[citation needed]}
• ITV Personality of the Year (1984)^[1]
• The Golden Gate Award (San Francisco International Film Festival, 1993)^[12]
• Hon. Doctor of Literature, for contributions to the theatre, television drama and entertainment. (Nottingham Trent University, 2002)^[1]

• Autobiography: Ask Me if I'm Happy^[13] (Simon & Schuster, 2010)
• Behind the Curtain: The Job of Acting^[14] (Oberon Masters Series, 2012)