A British comic actor with an eccentric demeanor and high, nasal voice, he was often cast in prim, prissy, neurotic, pedantic roles, frequently wearing a pince-nez. He was a comic star of British revues in the '30s, then debuted onscreen in 1941; for a decade he was very busy onscreen, then still active but less busy for another two decades. In the late '40s and early '50s he directed three films, in two of which he appeared. He also wrote under the name Edwin Carp.