Frank John Williams, (2 July 1931 — 26 June 2022), was a British actor best known for playing The Vicar in Dad's Army.
He began acting in repertory theatre, which was where he first met Jimmy Perry and others he would work with again in the future including Colin Bean, Donald Hewlett, Michael Knowles, and Mavis Pugh.
Williams wanted to move onto television (which was then in its infancy), and he did so, making one of his first on-screen appearances throughout Abigail and Roger as Mr. Meiklejohn. After a guest role in the first series of The Army Game, Williams was Recast as a Regular in the second series, playing Captain T. R. Pocket.
After The Army Game, Williams continued making small appearances on both the big and small screen. It was one of these bit roles (in the finale of The Gnomes of Dulwich) where he was reunited with Jimmy Perry, who wrote both Gnomes and had co-written the first two series of Dad's Army. Perry would go on to cast Williams as the Reverend Timothy Farthing in Dad's' third series, a role that Williams would stick with for 40 episodes.
Williams found himself Typecast in clerical roles following this, in The Worker (another vicar), What's Up Nurse! (a third vicar), Vanity Fair (an archdeacon), Hi-de-Hi! (vicar number four), and You Rang, M'Lord? (Charles, the Lord Bishop). The latter two series were written once more by Perry and David Croft, just as Dad's Army was. He had also played Frankie Bullock in As Good Cooks Go, taking over for Robert Dorning, who had been in the Pilot.
Away from acting, he was a regular churchgoer and served on the Church of England's General Synod for fifteen years. He also wrote several plays, including Alibi for Murder, Mask for Murder, and Murder by Appointment.
While he was never able to shake off his Dad's Army role, Williams ran with it and would frequently appear at cast events, referring to it in the title of his autobiography (Vicar to Dad's Army) and even returning to the role for the 2016 film. In 2017, he started a theatre tour called More Tea Vicar?. After the death of Bill Pertwee in 2013, Williams was the president of the Dad's Army Appreciation Society.
One of the last surviving cast members, Williams died at the age of 90, leaving only Ian Lavender remaining until his own passing in 2024.
Works on TV Tropes he appeared in:
Films- The V.I.P.s (1963) — Assistant to Airport Director (Uncredited Role)
- The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) — Racegoer (Uncredited Role)
- Atlantic Wall (1970) — Clergyman
- Dad's Army (1971) — Reverend Timothy Farthing
- One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) — Dr. Freemo
- Jabberwocky (1977) — Merchant
- Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) — Gentleman Client
- The Human Factor (1979) — Bellamy
- Oh! Heavenly Dog (1980) — Mr. Easton
- Dad's Army (2016) — Reverend Timothy Farthingnote (credited as "The Vicar")
- The Army Game, 87 episodes:
- "The Mad Bull" (1957) — Major Fossett
- 86 episodes (1958-61) — Captain T. R. Pocket
- Z Cars, 2 episodes:
- "Teamwork" (1962) — Thurston
- "Light the Blue Paper" (1963) — Mr. Stanfield
- Maigret, episode "The Wedding Guest" (1962) — Doctor
- Adam Adamant Lives!, episode "The Resurrectionists" (1967) — Mr. Byers-Thompson
- All Gas and Gaiters, 2 episodes:
- "The Bishop Gives a Shove" (1967) — Mr. Dobson
- "The Bishop Warms Up" (1971) — Mr. Dawson
- The Gnomes of Dulwich, episode "Harold" (1969) — Society Photographer
- Dad's Army, 40 episodes (1969-77) — Reverend Timothy Farthing
- The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, episode "The Assryian Rejuvenator" (1971) — Mr. Roberts
- Love Thy Neighbour, episode "The Bedroom Suite" (1972) — Mr. Martin
- Monty Python's Flying Circus, episode "Whicker's World" (1972) — Maurice
- Minder, episode "Hypnotising Rita" (1984) — Mr. Chicory
- The Two Ronnies, 1 episode (1985) — Meryvn Miracle
- Hi-de-Hi!, episode "Wedding Bells" (1988) — Vicar
- Screen One, episode "The Mountain and the Molehill" (1989) — Major Sykes
- You Rang, M'Lord?, 14 episodes (1990-93) — Charles, the Lord Bishop
- House of Cards, episode "Chapter One" (1990) — Treasurer