With his bald head, firm jawline and bristling moustache, Lionel Jeffries played a nice line of English eccentrics. This belied his RADA training. Following military service in WWII, he played his major roles - everything from Grandpa Potts in Harika Otomobil (1968) to the Marquis of Queensberry in The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) - in the 1960s.

His surprisingly brief career as a director included the highly popular family films Demiryolu çocukları (1970) and The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972).