Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Dinner, NYC

Appreciation by Hephzibah Anderson

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- John Mortimer, who died yesterday at the age of 85, leaves behind more than 50 works of literature, including novels, short stories, plays, screenplays and multiple volumes of autobiography.

Yet his reputation rests largely on one character: Horace Rumpole, the curmudgeonly London trial lawyer renowned for his roguish way with the law, his love of small cigars and cheap claret, and his fear of just one person, his wife Hilda, a.k.a. “She Who Must Be Obeyed.”

Mortimer gained his first real writing experience during World War II, when he worked at the Crown Film Unit and was selected by author Laurie Lee to pen scripts for morale-boosting documentaries.

In peacetime, he followed in the footsteps of his father, a divorce lawyer, becoming a QC, or Queen’s Counsel barrister, and earning particular notoriety for leading the defense in a series of obscenity trials, including those against Oz Magazine, the Sex Pistols and the publishers of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”

Rising early each morning to write, he began publishing fiction such as “Like Men Betrayed,” an appealingly sinister novel about a father-son estrangement centering on a solicitor. When Mortimer debuted as a playwright in 1957, it was with “The Dock Brief,” which featured another lawyer as the protagonist. Written for BBC radio, the play was later adapted for stage and made into a film starring Richard Attenborough and Peter Sellers.

His most famous character debuted in 1975, in a radio play called “Rumpole of the Bailey.” Three years later, Rumpole was immortalized on the small screen by actor Leo McKern. In the decades since, Mortimer has tasked his creation with enough cases to fill three omnibus editions of stories and a novel.

Verse and Wit

Armed with a tattered copy of the “Oxford Book of English Verse,” a rapier wit and a distinct lack of ambition, Rumpole has defended clients accused of unglamorous crimes like shoplifting and indecent exposure. He has also played his part in a generations-long feud between two rival Cockney criminal clans, the relatively benign Timsons and the altogether meaner Molloys.

Plenty of writers find themselves eclipsed by their own characters, and Rumpole did make court appearances increasingly tricky for Mortimer. Yet the real QC held his own.

Mortimer voiced strong and often unpredictable views on everything from foxhunting and the monarchy (both of which he supported) to New Labour (he was staunchly old Labour). He also laced strident opinions on the War on Terror and immigration into later Rumpole stories, sometimes making for a bumpy read.

Villas and ‘Brideshead’

His other works range from the “Titmuss” trilogy of novels -- about a go-getting Thatcherite politician -- to “Summer’s Lease,” an uproarious comedy of middle-class manners set in an Italian villa. He drew on autobiographical material in his quietly affecting play, “A Voyage Round My Father,” which was made into a film starringLaurence Olivier and Alan Bates. He also racked up adaptation credits, including for the hit 1981 television version of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited.”

Mortimer was knighted in 1998, and the last decade of his life brought numerous stage revivals, a touring one-man show and more cases for Rumpole. It also brought the publication of two biographies, Graham Lord’s vitriolic “John Mortimer: The Devil’s Advocate,” which dwelled on his personal life, and Valerie Grove’s fonder authorized portrait, “A Voyage Round John Mortimer.”

Though Rumpole and his creator shared certain traits -- including a passion for justice and an erudite fondness for poetry -- there was nothing curmudgeonly about Mortimer. Neither barrister went quietly into the night, though.

Rumpole was unraveling mysteries even when incarcerated in a nursing home. As for Mortimer, he could be seen in his wheelchair at every launch and every party, right up to the end. He would be seen in the bar of the Donmar Warehouse in London, or attending the vernissage of Zsuzsi Roboz, who had painted the present Lady Mortimer sleeping in the nude.

(Hephzibah Anderson is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

The best obit is in the Independent yesterday (January 17): "Wit, Flirt, Genius" by John Walsh.

See also the Wikipedia entry for John Mortimer, which references his Oxford affiliations.