Gordon Wharmby

Who was Gordon Wharmby?

Gordon Wharmby was a British television actor. He was best known for the role of Wesley Pegden on Last of the Summer Wine.

He was born in Salford, Lancashire, in 1933, and served in the Royal Air Force during his national service. Wharmby was originally employed as a painter and decorator and had no formal training as an actor. He gained stage experience with Oldham Repertory Theatre and worked part-time as a jobbing actor. Early television roles included bit-parts in programmes such as Bill Brand, The One and Only Phyllis Dixey and Coronation Street.

He was then auditioned for a one-line part in Last of the Summer Wine, which had begun in 1973, filmed in and around the Yorkshire village of Holmfirth. The producer, Alan J.W. Bell, was so impressed with Wharmby's "natural" performance that, instead, he cast him in the more prominent role of the bumbling Wesley Pegden for another episode and Clarke later wrote him in as a regular. Although initially overawed by working with Thora Hird as his screen wife from 1986, Wharmby eventually started giving her "notes", to the veteran actress's great amusement.

Wharmby made his debut in Last of the Summer Wine in 1982, as Wesley Pegden, the boilersuit wearing, tinkering mechanic and would be inventor. He appeared as a regular cast member for 16 series between 1985 and 2002. Thora Hird played his nagging wife Edie.