Peter John Sallis OBE (February 21, 1921 - June 2, 2017) was an English actor, well known for his role as Norman "Cleggy" Clegg in Last of The Summer Wine.
For Aardman Animations, he voiced Wallace in Wallace and Gromit.
Early Life[]
Sallis was born on February 21, 1921 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England.
In 1983, Sallis was contacted by Nick Park by letter, in which the latter asked if he could voice the main character, Wallace in A Grand Day Out. Sallis agreed to the role for a £50 donation to his favourite charity. When Park contacted Sallis again in 1989 when the work has completed. Sallis reportedly "swore" in surprise, A Grand Day Out was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Feature, but lost to Creature Comforts, another short created by Park but the short managed to pick up a BAFTA award.
Park initially wanted Sallis to voice Wallace in a Lancastrian accent, but Sallis could only do Wallace's voice in a Northern accent.
Sallis reprised his role as Wallace in The Wrong Trousers in 1993, and again in 1995 in A Close Shave. After 1995, the characters were temporarily retired. Sallis reprised his role once again in 2002's Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions and yet again in the 2005 animated film: Wallace and Gromit & The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in which Sallis won an Annie Award for "Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production".
Sallis also voiced Wallace in the video game adaptations of Project Zoo and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2003 and 2005, respectively. He did not voice Wallace however in the Telltale Games adaption of Wallace and Gromit, instead the voice of Wallace was provided by Ben Whitehead, who would later replace replace Sallis as the voice of Wallace after Sallis did his final voicing of Wallace for World of Invention in late-2010. Sallis retired due to ill-health and died on June 2, 2017.
