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Roy Rolland was Arthur Lucan's stand-in and also a good friend.

Below is the text of the obituary in 'The Stage' of Roy Rolland by Patrick Newley.

Roy Rolland died on August 16th in Rhyl after a long illness. He was supreme variety performer, a man of great charm and a quintessential comic with perfect timing.

Long before the the days of lookalikes, Rolland was at it as the Irish Washerwoman with flailing arms - that of the music hall legend, Old Mother Riley. The original was of course, Arthur Lucan in a stage act with his wife Kitty McShane. But Lucan, a difficult man and an alcoholic,often missed perfomances either on stage or film - and was replaced by Rolland. The resemblance was uncanny and the audiences usually did not know the difference. He disliked the word 'understudy' and preferred to be known as an 'illusionist' and in a sense, magic became art.

Rolland was born in Oldham on June 29th 1921 and, as a teenager, appeared in small summer shows and concert parties in the north of England. A chance meeting with Lucan in the early fifties proved to be the basis of an unusual partnership.

After Lucan's death, Rolland continued to tour as either Old Mother Riley or sometimes as Mother Kelly in provincial theatres with McShane. The partenership was brief and he later topped variety bills without her.

From L-R, Entertainments Manager (Butlin's?) Skegness, Roy Rolland, dressed as Old Mother Kelly!, Jimmy Grant, Diana Chapman and Slim Ingram

In the late sixties he made his home in Rhyl and for many seasons, appeared for Aubrey Phillips at the Gaiety Theatre in revue and pantomime, usually as Old Mother Riley, but he apparently enjoyed playing Mother Goose as it gave him a chance to get away from the char lady image and put on a decent frock with some sequins.

Telelvision beckoned in the same era and he was a regular on ITV's Junior Showtime producced by Jess Yates, co-starring with Bobby Bennett and a young Mark Curry. Rolland became a household name.

In the seventies, he had a season with Danny La Rue at the Opera House Blackpool faithfully re-creating the classic variety sketch, Bridget's Night Out which involved smashing hordes of china. He toured Canada with La Rue for a short run in the seventies and then semi-retired after a stroke, although he still continued to answer his postbag of fan letters asking about the history of Old Mother Riley.

Rolland was the last of a the great variety giants, echoing an era that is now long since gone. Danny La Rue told 'The Stage' "I had the most tremendous fun working with him, plate-smashing and all. He was one of the greatest pros I've ever known and the world of variety is a much sadder place without him"

[Thanks to Lynton Black for the'The Stage' obituary]

Kitty McShane.
[Picture courtesy of Lynton Black]

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Roy Rolland continued to keep the Old Mother Riley flame burning . Theatre poster from 1985.

Personal recollection from Bob Richards, who worked with Roy Rolland in 1965...

"In my distant youth I performed for a,summer season in 1965 in the Colliseum Theatre, Rhyl in a show called Carry on Kelly, fronted by Roy Roland.

So what happened to Roy? He worked very hard to write and rehearse 4 separate shows so that the management could ring the changes and keep the same punters coming back night after night, no easy task when I think back to the meagre talent that was available to him.

At least one of the front of tabs sketches I performed with him he cut after a few weeks when the sketch didn't get the laughs he anticipated - I was mighily relieved - I thought I was being hired as half of a folk-singing duo!"

Looking back, Carry On Kelly broke the Colliseum Theatre box office records in 1965 - the management - Jack & Bunty Billings - handsomely rewarded us with a can of beer each! Although my singing partner Greg & I (The Focals) considered ourselves as superior folksingers we launched ourselves into all 4 different variations of Carry on Kelly with more enthusiasm than expertise - it was our meagre talent I was referring to in my email, the rest of the cast were pros and knew what they were doing.

You had to admire Roy, all his experience paid off handsomely in putting together 4 entirely different shows with only a week to rehearse with virtually no budget - I'm fairly sure that all the costumes & sets were supplied from the existing Colliseum Theatre store. The orchestra was a Hammond Organ, RR's cast consisted of a young second comedian, a xylophone playing soubrette, a comedy magician, an ageing saxophone playing soubrette & 2 extremely naive folksingers - oh and four ill assorted female dancers.

I remember that during the opening night the invited Rhyl Press, councillors & landladies were continually having to duck as the pearl droppers the dancers had sewn onto their bodices kept flying off like bullets into the unsuspecting audience!

As a young 20 year old I was much too green to appreciate and take advantage of the opportunities available to me, but they were very happy days indeed even if our act did break up shortly after.

Bob Richards [Torquay, Devon, June 2006]