Jim Dale (born James Smith; 15 August 1935) is an English actor, composer, director, narrator, singer and songwriter.

He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for portraying a young Spike Milligan in Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973).

(1958), and appeared contemporaneously as a presenter and performer on BBC Television's Six-Five Special, but he was vocal about comedy aspirations and his career as a teen idol was ultimately short-lived.

He also wrote lyrics for the title songs of the films The Winter's Tale, Shalako, Twinky (Lola in the United States) and Joseph Andrews.

He then had a tiny role in the comedy Raising the Wind (1961) as a trombone player who thwarts orchestral conductor Kenneth Williams.

[10] However, he is best known in Britain for his appearances in eleven Carry On films,[3] a long-running series of comedy farces, generally playing the hapless romantic lead.

Dale played Harold, the policeman in the 1965 comedy film The Big Job with two of his regular Carry On co-stars, Sidney James and Joan Sims.

[13][14] In 1970 Sir Laurence Olivier[15] invited Dale to join the National Theatre Company in London, then based at the Old Vic.

He appeared in The Winter's Tale as Autolycus and A Midsummer Night's Dream as Bottom at the Edinburgh Festivals in 1966 and 1967 for Frank Dunlop's Pop Theatre.

[26] He played the part of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, from 28 November to 27 December 2003.

[2][27] In November 2006 Dale starred as Charlie Baxter in a one-night only concert version of the Sherman brothers musical Busker Alley alongside Glenn Close.

Source: The New York Times[30] Dale opened every episode of the ABC drama Pushing Daisies (2009) as the unseen narrator.

[15][36] In the United States, Jim Dale is known as the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks, narrating the U.S. versions of all seven novels in the series.

He holds one current record for occupying the first six places in the Top Ten Audio Books of America and Canada 2005.

In 2003, Dale was awarded the MBE, as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for his work in promoting children's English literature.