Biography
John Lovell Horsley (21 July 1920 – 12 January 2014) was an English character actor. Born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, the son of a doctor, he made his professional stage debut at the Theatre Royal, Bournemouth, and appeared in repertory theatre before serving in the British Army during the Second World War.
Horsley worked extensively in film and television from the 1950s onwards, often cast as doctors or authority figures. He played a doctor in Hell Drivers (1957) and appeared in Ben-Hur (1959), Sink the Bismarck! (1960) and The Fourth Protocol (1987). He is best known for portraying Doc Morrissey, the bumbling company doctor whose catchphrase was "Take two aspirins", in the BBC sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79); he reprised the role in the 1996 sequel series. Other television credits include The Avengers (1961), Robin of Sherwood (1984), Agatha Christie's Poirot (1994) as Tressilian, You Rang, M'Lord? (1990–93) and a final role in the 1997 adaptation of Rebecca.
