Adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from his own short story it told the whimsical tale of a young boy who believes that his

Adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from his own short story, it told the whimsical tale of a young boy who believes that his pet goat, with its one horn, is actually a unicorn he has been told about by a kindly tailor, Kandinsky.Kossoff’s flair for comedy resulted in roles in revue – Stars in Your Eyes (1960) – and pantomime – Baron Hardup in Cinderella (1971) – both shows at the Palladium. He also had a notable personal success as the Jewish patriarch in Neil Simon’s comedy Come Blow Your Horn (1962), shocked at the wild life style of his two sons and declaring that any man over 30 who is not married is a wastrel.His film career began modestly, with a small role in a B-movie about the pitfalls of hire purchase, The Good Beginning (1953), but the following year he made a strong impression in Carol Reed’s A Kid for Two Farthings. It was a drama made by Ivan Tors Films in the wake of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and similar films.He later starred in an Italian-French spaghetti western, Spara, Gringo, Spara (Shoot, Grinto, Shoot, 1968). He returned to the theatre in 1952 to take over the role of Colonel Ikonenko in Peter Ustinov’s comedy The Love of Four Colonels. Kossoff and his co-star Alfie Bass repeated their acclaimed performances in Jack Clayton’s film version in 1955, which won the best short film prize at the Venice Film Festival.Other theatre appearances included Ustinov’s No Sign of the Dove (1953), Mankowitz’s The Boychick (1954), as the narrator Mendel in The World of Sholom Aleichem (1957), and as part of a quorum formed to exorcise an evil spirit from a young Jewish girl, in Paddy Chayevsky’s The Tenth Man (1961). At the Arts Theatre in 1953 he created one of his best-remembered parts, that of the conscience-stricken tailor, Morry, in The Bespoke Overcoat, adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from a Gogol short story.

After training as a draughtsman at the Northern Polytechnic, he worked as a furniture designer and aircraft draughtsman while privately studying acting. He made his stage d?t at the left-wing Unity Theatre in the play Spanish Village (1942), about the Spanish Civil War, remaining with the Unity until 1945, during that time writing and directing many shows performed for members of the services and for people sheltering from air-raids.In August 1945, the Second World War over, he joined the BBC Repertory Company, where he remained for six years, acting in hundreds of radio plays – including the cult sci-fi series Journey into Space. After his son Paul, the guitarist with the rock group Free, died of heroin addiction, much of his later life was given to campaigning against hard drugs.Kossoff was born in 1919 to Russian parents in the East End of London, where his father worked in a garment factory. Though the dapper, moustached actor was often cast as the archetypal Jewish East-Ender, he invested such characters with a warmth and humanity that avoided stereotype. On stage, he memorably created the Jewish tailor of Wolf Mankowitz’s The Bespoke Overcoat, on television he had a hit series, The Larkins, and on screen he won the British equivalent of an Oscar for his portrayal of a kindly tailor in A Kid for Two Farthings.A noted purveyor of Jewish lore, he demonstrated his skill as a raconteur in several one-man shows in the theatre, and through his readings of bible stories on radio and television. David Kossoff, actor, writer and illustrator: born London 24 November 1919; twice married (one son, one daughter, and one son deceased); died Hatfield, Hertfordshire 23 March 2005.
Actor, writer and story-teller, David Kossoff was an amiable and versatile performer who had successes in theatre, film, radio and television. Actor, writer and story-teller, David Kossoff was an amiable and versatile performer who had successes in theatre, film, radio and television.

Many drafts later, it became Blade Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott, with Kelly credited as executive producer.Anthony Hayward. Then, three days into shooting the romantic drama The Love Machine, Kelly was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, which left his right arm and leg paralysed.After winning $750,000 in a legal settlement, he used the money to build houses, aiming to produce films with the profits from their sale His great success was in buying the rights to Philip K. Dick’s 1968 science-fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and giving the film option to the actor Hampton Fancher, who turned it into a screenplay. He was back in the water for Around the World Under the Sea (1966), as one of a team of six scientists in an experimental submarine. But, after acting at school and university and finding a summer job as a male model, he left his studies to make radio and television commercials in Detroit, where he was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout.His breakthrough came with a regular role, as Brian, in the police drama 21 Beacon Street (1959) and he followed it by playing Scott Ross, the racing car designer who owns a garage in partnership with a mechanic, in the adventure series Straightaway (1961-62).Kelly made his feature film d?t in Thunder Island (1963), a hit-man drama co-written by the actor Jack Nicholson, before Flipper beckoned. Kelly, who later served as the state’s governor, Kelly joined the Marine Corps during the Korean War, before studying law at the University of Michigan. Suzy, the dolphin picked to take the limelight in Flipper, was transported from location to location in a crate filled with foam and water.Kelly himself first played Ricks in the 1964 feature film Flipper’s New Adventure, a sequel to the previous year’s Flipper.