Peter Sallis Autograph Page Mounted

Peter John Sallis, OBE (1 February 1921 – 2 June 2017) was an English actor, known for his work on British television. He was the voice of Wallace in the Academy Award-winning Wallace and Gromit films and played Norman “Cleggy” Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine from its 1973 inception until the final episode in 2010, making him the only actor to appear in all 295 episodes. Additionally, he portrayed Norman Clegg’s father in the prequel series First of the Summer Wine. Although Sallis was born and brought up in London, the characters of Wallace and Clegg were both Northerners.

Among his television credits, Sallis appeared in Danger Man, The Avengers, Doctor Who (“The Ice Warriors”), The Persuaders! and The Ghosts of Motley Hall. Sallis’s film appearances include the Hammer horror films The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) and Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970).

Sallis suffered from macular degeneration, and in 2005 recorded an appeal on BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Macular Society of which he was a patron. He also recorded on behalf of the society a television appeal, which was broadcast on BBC One on 8 March 2009. Following his diagnosis of the disease, Aardman produced a short animated film for the society.

Sallis died at the Denville Hall nursing home in Northwood, London, on 2 June 2017 at the age of 96.  He was buried next to fellow Last of the Summer Wine actor Bill Owen in the churchyard of St John’s Parish Church, Upperthong, near the town of Holmfirth in Yorkshire, the home of Last of the Summer Wine