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David Kossoff

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Actor

The Resume

    (November 24, 1919-March 23, 2005)
    Born in Hackney, London, United Kingdom
    Father of late Free guitarist, Paul Kossoff (1950-1976)
    Made his name on the West End stage as Colonel Alexander Ikonenko in Peter Ustinov's 'The Love of Four Colonels'
    Provided voice work for Lemuel 'Lemmy' Barnet in the British science fiction radio series, 'Journey into Space' (1953)
    Acted in 'The Young Loves,' 'A Kid for Two Farthings,' 'The Bespoke Overcoat,' 'The Mouse That Roared,' 'Mouse on the Moon,' and 'Freud: The Secret Passion'
    Best known for the role of Alf Larkin on the popular British sitcom, 'The Larkins'
    Attained a following for his series of creative EP albums; 'Bible Stories'; Other album recordings include 'You Have a Minute, Lord?' 'Larkin Abaht,' 'Alf's Blues,' and 'Hagadah'
    Wrote 'The Book of Witnesses,' 'The Little Book of Sylvanus,' 'The Voices of Masada,' 'A Small Town is a World,' and 'You Have a Minute Lord?'

Why he might be annoying:

    He was prematurely gray-haired by his early twenties.
    This often led him to be typecast as aged parents/grandparents of the lead protagonists (who were usually no older than he was).
    He joked that he took acting classes because they were 'the sort of place where you meet attractive women.'
    He became a 'moral crusader' for family values in the late '70s.
    He took up with active involvement in the Nationwide Festival of Light, in Britain, which was seen as a response to the Gay Liberation Front.
    He started out working cabaret acts at restaurants, which would often have him start out his act by joining a random group of diners and then make them part of the performance.
    He liked to correct page proofs for his books in his dressing room during performances (and once missed a stage cue when he was playing Cinderella's father at the London Palladium, as a result).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was the son of poor Russian-Jewish immigrants.
    He attended London Polytechnic, at the time studying to be a draughtsman before deciding to become an actor.
    He won a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer for his work in 'The Young Lovers' (1954).
    He performed on the West End with Eartha Kitt in the late 1940's.
    He collaborated with Welsh pop star, Maureen Evans, to release an album cover of songs from the musical 'Oliver!' in 1960
    He promised to devote a whole year to the anti-drug cause to celebrate his son's withdrawal from drugs. Soon after this, Paul Kossoff died of an overdose.
    The loss of his son motivated him to establish the Paul Kossoff Foundation, which presents the reality of drug addiction to schoolchildren.
    He wrote a string of books, mostly on related subjects and his way with biblical and other religious themes often underlined his own moral views.
    This paved the way for a popular series of Biblical passage readings, or interpretations, done with his own characteristic wit (sounding less like a 'Shakespearean actor' and more like your favorite college professor).
    He did a series of commercials for J Walter Thompson's Ad Agency, noting that Biblical readings don't rake in much money, but that endorsements do (saying sarcastically 'it just occurred to me that God might have guided my hand to Walter!')
    When asked if the character of the 'amiable countryside oaf, Alf' was beneath him as a dramatist, he answered: 'Alf earns 10 times as much as Kossoff, mate ... A lot of hard work went into creating [Alf]. He's probably the best thing I've ever done.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 16 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 179 Votes: 51.96% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 99 Votes: 47.47% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 55 Votes: 61.82% Annoying