John Comer (1 March 1924 – 11 February 1984) was a British comic actor. He was best known for his roles in Coronation Street as Mr Birtles, then as a taxi driver, and later as Wilf Jones, in Emmerdale Farm as Ernie Shuttleworth, Les Brandon in I Didn't Know You Cared, and cafe owner Sid in Last of the Summer Wine.
Comer began his career performing a comedy routine around local social clubs and pubs in the 1930s and 1940s.[citation needed] In 1952, with his younger brother Tony, he performed in a children's theatre production for local schools in Stretford.[citation needed] The siblings then formed a double act named the Comer Brothers.[1] In 1957, the brothers began a regular slot at the Manchester Apollo, performing a variety act entitled Comer's Cottage.[citation needed]
Tony & John Comer, as the Comer Brothers
In 1958, the Comer Brothers participated in an ITV talent show called Bid for Fame and began working for Butlin's.[citation needed] In 1959, they won first prize in the Butlin's National Talent Contest, winning £1,000 and a film contract[1] with the Boulting Brothers.[2]
He gained a recurring role in 1973 as the primary supporting role of Sid in the new BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. He also starred in a long-running advertising campaign for Home Brew Beer.[2] In 1977, he appeared as Bill Malley in the BBC series Murder Most English. Comer appeared in an episode of All Creatures Great and Small entitled "The Name of the Game" in 1978.
Comer died of throat cancer in 1984, at the age of 59.[4] The disease had so affected his voice that in his final television appearance, as cafe owner Sid, in the Last of the Summer WineChristmas episode Getting Sam Home, his lines had to be dubbed by another actor, Tony Melody. His funeral was held at Carleton Crematorium, Blackpool, where he is commemorated at rose-bed no. 18. After the death of Comer's wife, Mollie, in 2010, his estate was finalised; in 2013 the Comer family donated £245,000 to the hospice in Blackpool where John Comer was treated before his death.[1]
^"Help hospice in your will". The Gazette. Blackpool, Lancashire, UK: Johnston Publishing Ltd. 8 October 2013. Archived from the original on 26 May 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
