James Beck

Portrayed Private Joe Walker

James Beck was born in Islington, London in 1929. Attending Popham Elementary School, his childhood was tough with his father frequently being unemployed and his mother having to make artificial flowers to provide a small income.

At the age of 14 James, or Jimmy as his friends knew him went to art school, graduating 3 years later he became a commercial artist before his call up to National Service. It was during this period he served as a PT instructor.

On leaving the army he decided to move into acting with stints at various rep companies before ending up at York where he met his future wife Kay.

Jimmy's roles included Shylock in the Merchant of Venice in 1963 and he continued at York winning rave reviews in other productions. Moving to London, Jimmy decided to concentrate on getting further work in the Capitol and on television. Roles began to flood in on stage and TV. A role as a policeman allowed him to make a dramatic performance in an episode of Coronation Street involving a train crash.

By 1968 he was offered the role of spiv Private Walker in Dad's Army. His excellent performance as the thorn in Captain Mainwaring's side was perfect for Dad's Army, while proving popular in this, his best loved role Jimmy still yearned the challenge of other roles.

Always in demand he continued to work on TV programmes such as A Family at War and Romany Jones (of which he played the lead character Bert Jones). Also he recorded a never broadcast remake of an early Hancock's Half Hour programme in which he played opposite Arthur Lowe.

By 1973 he had already recorded 6 seasons of Dad's Army and had already begun work on the radio series of the show when he became ill and died after an ulcer complaint. His death at the age of 44 was a great shock to his fellow cast members as well as Jimmy Perry and David Croft who had looked forward to his return to the show. Subsequently he was deemed irreplaceable and the cheeky loveable character of Walker never returned to the TV version of Dad's Army.

On the radio adaptations of the series, Graham Stark stood in until Larry Martyn gave his portrayal of Walker for subsequent shows. In 1976 John Bardon played Walker in the stage production. However, it is still James Beck's portrayal in the role that is greatly remembered as the part in which he made very much his own.