George Cole

He is able to hide his London accent when playing upper-class characters, such as Sir Giles Lynchwood in the TV adaptation of Tom Sharpe's novel Blott on the Landscape. As the musical genre began to wane in the mid-1950s, he moved on to various comedic and dramatic roles, and television. He served in the Royal Air Force from 1944 to 1947. His performance in When My Baby Smiles at Me in 1948 garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. George Cole (born April 22, 1925) is a British actor born in Tooting, London, best known for his roles as Flash Harry in the St Trinians films and as Arthur Daley in the TV series Minder. He served in the United States Army during World War II, then returned to more musicals. The people at MGM realized their mistake immediately, however, and began casting him in a series of musical films.

In 1940 he was signed by MGM to make movies and, although his past career had been in musicals, he was initially cast as a Nazi in The Mortal Storm. Born in New York City, he appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in Babes in Arms. Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1913 - October 16, 1978) was an American actor.