A masterful character actor who was in the first London season of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961 and who became a familiar face in countless television sitcoms and serials, notably as a core cast member in The Duchess of Duke Street in 1976. In The Duchess, he played the enigmatic hall porter Mr Starr, never without his squeaky boots or little dog, Fred - a performance that led to comedy stints with Frankie Howerd, Roy Kinnear and Dick Emery. He was a Cockney dad in Central's The Other 'Arf , starring Ant and Dec. Cater's theatre work picked up again with John Wells's hilarious satire Anyone For Denis? at the Whitehall in 1981 in which he played Denis Thatcher's bankrupt buddy Maurice Picarda. He rejoined the RSC in 1984 to play in Judi Dench's Mother Courage, Corbaccio in Volpone and Kit Carson in William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life. More recently he was at the Almeida in two Jonathan Kent productions, David Hare's version of Pirandello's Rules of the Game in 1992 as a doctor fussing over what one should wear for a duel, and Gangster Number One, starring Peter Bowles in 1995, as a small-time thief. He also featured as a spectacularly suspended Justice Shallow in Terry Hands's beautifully autumnal Merry Wives of Windsor at the National, also in 1995. Cater loved music of all kinds, especially Ravel, Debussy and Mahler, and was not only an avid jazz fan but an accomplished musician himself, playing jazz piano as well as trombone, harp and guitar. He had a rare blood disorder, haemochromatosis, but his life was not seriously affected until arthritis set in. He died of liver cancer. He was survived by his wife Wendy as well as his daughters Harriet and Emma,
A lover of classical music and jazz, Cater was himself an accomplished player of jazz piano, trombone, harp and guitar.
First on stage with repertory companies in Dundee, Nottingham, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Cork. Acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961, during its first season.
National service with the Royal Army Educational Corps.
His mother was a violinist.
Trained in tap dancing and ballet. Acting studies at RADA in 1948.
John Cater and John Bennett acted together in both I, Claudius and The House On Garibaldi Street. In I, Claudius, Caters character worked undercover to cause someone to be executed and Bennetts character was a physician. In The House On Garibaldi Street, Bennetts character worked undercover to cause someone to be executed and Caters character was a physician.
