Alan was born in Weston-super-Mare and studied at a Hedley Goodall School in Bristol. He did radio as a youngster for the BBC in Bristol and spent 4 years in the Navy, making his professional debut in 1946 as a schoolboy in Exercise Bowler at The Arts Theatre, London with Willam Fox, Geoffrey Keene and Mark Dignam. Over a long theatrical career including 10 shows in the West End and many touring productions he worked with most of the prominent UK artists (except Olivier and Gielgud). His film and TV career began with a short for Edgar Lusgarden and included Softly Softly (1966),Dad's Army (1971), Van der Valk (1972) and No Hiding Place (1959). In 2001 he was Michael Gambon's grandfather in _Perfect Strangers (2001)_.