Ian Carmichael, a debonair actor who made a specialty of playing the well-meaning buffoon in British films of the 1950s and who went on to star on television as Bertie Wooster, P.G. Wodehouse’s oblivious twit, and Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy Sayers’ aristocratic detective, died Friday at his home in Grosmont, in northern England. He was 89. His family confirmed his death, The Associated Press said.

Carmichael’s career lasted more than 60 years, and he was appearing on the British television series “The Royal” as late as last year. He was probably most familiar to American audiences as Wimsey, appearing in the role in several BBC series that were shown on American television in the 1970s.

Nonetheless, it was as a lovable goofball that he became, for a time, a British movie star. After appearing in small or supporting roles in several dramatic films (including “Betrayed,” with Clark Gable and Lana Turner), Carmichael had roles in a number of lighthearted satires playing some version of a bumbling naif.