Heartbreaking reason beloved Wallace and Gromit star was replaced for new film

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Heartbreaking reason beloved Wallace and Gromit star was replaced for new film
Author: mirrornews@mirror.co.uk (Mike Taylor)
Published: Dec, 23 2024 08:46

Wallace and Gromit return for a new adventure with many returning faces - but the first film without beloved actor Peter Wallis. Vengeance Most Fowl sees nation's favourite cheese-obsessed inventor and his canine companion grappling with a 'smart gnome' that begins to exhibit a mind of its own. Meanwhile their enemy from The Wrong Trousers, Feathers McGraw, is plotting revenge and aims to thwart Wallace and Gromit.

The film is not only the first Wallace and Gromit film in 16 years but the first feature without the original Wallace actor Peter Sallis. Ben Whitehead took over the role in the 2010s after Sallis' declining health made acting increasingly difficult. and he has voiced Wallace in shorts, exhibitions and features since.

Peter Sallis was a renowned TV actor, who was famous for playing Norman "Cleggy" Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine in all of its 295 episodes. He was also a successful stage actor, appearing opposite Judi Dench in Cabaret, as well as Sir Laurence Olivier, and Orson Welles.

In 1983, Nick Park wrote asking him to be the voice of a clay character called Wallace. Peter agreed to do it in exchange for a £50 fee to his favourite charity. It took six years for the first Wallace and Gromit film, A Grand Day Out, to reach the screen.

Nick said: "He was my first and only choice for Wallace. His silliness started the moment he greeted you at the door and didn’t stop when the mic was switched off. He had naturally funny bones and was a great storyteller.". The film was nominated for an Oscar and the follow-ups The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave both became Oscar winners in 1993 and 1995. He also voiced Wallace in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005 and A Matter of Loaf and Death in 2008 as well as other smaller Wallace and Gromit projects.

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