John Inman:The British actor John Inman, who has died aged 71 after a long illness, endeared himself to millions as the outrageously camp menswear shop assistant in the 1970s BBC television series Are You Being Served. But the role had a less welcome side; it subjected the actor to unsought controversy and protests from militant gay men who thought the character's limp-wristed gestures and mincing walk ridiculed homosexuals.
Inman's Mr Humphries was, against stiff competition, one of the most arresting characters on the staff of Grace Brothers department store, created by the formidable comedy writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. The show was first tried as a pilot in the BBC Comedy Playhouse slot in 1972. It ran at peak time for 12 years from 1973 to 1985 - a total of 69 episodes.
The large and anachronistic family business at its heart was run on traditional lines by a doddering "Young Mr Grace", and staffed by oddities like Mrs Slocombe of ladies' wear, played by Molly Sugden, who was always prattling on about her "pussy", and a floor manager, Captain Peacock (Frank Thornton), who was invariably referred to by his military rank. Inman's suggestive catchphrase, when asked to attend to a customer, was "I'm free", after which he would set about measuring an inside leg with attentive enthusiasm. He become instantly recognisable in the street and was constantly asked, "Are you free?" "No, but I'm reasonable," became one of his stock ripostes.
Inman claimed he was cheeky but not dirty, and that he found the character a joy to play. Mr Humphries was, in Inman's eyes, a jokey figure about whom the audience could never decide whether or not he was "queer". "I always say that when it comes to sex, Mr Humphries is nothing really. He's neither one way or the other."
Some critics, who had no such doubts, described Inman and Mr Humphries as two of the best friends of gay liberation on television. But the gratitude was not universal. In 1977, the Campaign for Homosexual Equality targeted Inman in Brighton, where he was appearing in a seaside show. They handed out leaflets blaming him for depicting homosexuals as sexually obsessed, too extravagant in manner and too eager to drag up. They argued that most homosexuals did not behave like Mr Humphries, and that Inman was contributing to television's distortion of their image. But Are You Being Served? made Inman famous in Britain and in the US.
He was born in Preston, Lancashire, the son of two hairdressers who moved to Blackpool to open a boarding house. His parents financed his elocution lessons at the local church hall, and he made his professional debut at 11 on the south pier, Blackpool. The Jack Rose Repertory Company paid him £5 a week to play a boy in the drama Frieda.
But it was showbiz rather than acting that had the greater appeal for Inman. "I'm a tits-and-feathers man really," he explained. He loved the Tiller Girls, and blamed the Beatles for making showbusiness less glamorous. At 17, he left Blackpool for London to become a window dresser. At 21, he joined the repertory company at Crewe as an actor, and made his first West End appearances in Anne Veronica, Salad Days and Let's Get Laid (which, he had to explain to his mother, was about a poultry farm).
In 1977, ITV offered him an exclusive contract and his own show, Odd Man Out, but the divorce from the BBC was not a success, and it ran for only seven episodes. So Inman returned to the corporation and Are You Being Served?
In 2005 a poll found that the 1977 film of Are You Being Served? was the worst ever feature film remake of a television series, but the television episodes continued to sell around the world.
Inman suffered from poor health. In 1993, he was hospitalised with bronchitis. In 1995, he collapsed during a performance of Mother Goose, and in 2004 he had to give up his role as Dick Whittington after contracting hepatitis A through eating contaminated food.
In December 2005, he went through a civil partnership ceremony with Ron Lynch, his partner of more than 30 years.
John Inman, born June 28th, 1935; died March 8th, 2007