Roy Oxley

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Roy Oxley (born c. 1899 - presumed deceased), was a production designer at BBC television in England who became famous after the BBC chose him to model for a photo to be shown during their adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty Four.

Oxley began working in set design in 1948, as an art decorator in the movie London Belongs to Me. He would also oversee the art decoration of the 1949 movie, Passport to Pimlico.

Oxley had been working for some years as set decorator for BBC when he was chosen, as an in-house joke, to model for the character of "Big Brother" in Nineteen Eighty-Four. "Big Brother" was not actually a participating character in the program; his face was only shown on various posters and billboards seen during the adaptation.

Oxley gained much fame in the United Kingdom as "Big Brother", his face and name therefore becoming recognizable to the large audience the show generated. He apparently did not mind his newly found fame, but he never pursued a career as an actor or fashion model either, as many in his position might have done.

Oxley worked at several other productions as a production designer with the BBC, ending with 1969's Paul Temple.

1969 marked the year in which Oxley retired from working on television or movie sets. His last work in that area was as a set decorator for the made for television movie The Naked Sun.