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Richard Briers
Briers at a Memorabilia event, March 2009
Born	(1934-01-14)14 January 1934 Raynes Park, Surrey, England
Died	17 February 2013(2013-02-17) (aged 79)
Occupation	Actor
Spouse(s)	Ann Davies (m. 1956–2013, his death)
Children	Lucy Briers Katie Briers

Richard David Briers, CBE (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013)^[1][2] was an English actor. Prominent for half a century, his career encompassed television, stage, film and radio performances.

Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade, when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975–78), that he became a household name. In the 1980s he starred in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89), and he had a leading role in Monarch of the Glen (2000–02).

Early life

Briers was born in Raynes Park, Surrey, the son of Joseph Benjamin Briers and Morna Phyllis (née Richardson).^[3] He was the second cousin of actor Terry-Thomas. He spent his childhood in Raynes Park and Guildford.^[4] His father drifted between jobs, while his mother wished for a showbusiness career; she went on to become a very proud member of Equity. Morna was also an extremely good pianist and a highly successful drama and music teacher; inspiring children to make their dreams a reality. Richard attended Rokeby Prep School in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, and left at the age of 16 without any formal qualifications.^[4] Richard's sister, Jane, is also an actress.

Early career

Briers' first job was a clerical post with a London cable manufacturer, and for a short time he went to evening class to qualify in electrical engineering, but soon left and became a filing clerk.^[4]

At the age of 18, he was called up for two years national service in the RAF, during which he was a filing clerk at RAF Northwood,^[5] where he met future George and Mildred actor Brian Murphy. Murphy introduced Briers, who had been interested in acting since the age of 14, to the Dramatic Society at the Borough Polytechnic Institute, now London South Bank University, where he performed in several productions.

When he left the RAF he studied at RADA, which he attended from 1954 to 1956.^[4] Placed in a class with both Peter O'Toole and Albert Finney, Briers credted academy director John Fernald with nurturing his talent.^[1] He won a scholarship with the Liverpool Repertory Company, and he worked with them for 15 months, and then moved to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry for 6 months. He made his West End debut after that in the Duke of York's Theatre 1959 production of Gilt And Gingerbread.^[1][6]

Television career

In 1961, Briers was cast in the leading male role in Marriage Lines (1961–66) with Prunella Scales playing his character's wife. The following year, Briers appeared in Brothers in Law (from the book by Henry Cecil) as callow barrister Roger Thursby. He was cast in this role by adaptors Frank Muir and Denis Norden, who had seen him in the West End. His other early appearances included Dixon of Dock Green (1962), The Seven Faces of Jim (1961) with Jimmy Edwards, a production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever (1968) and the storyteller in several episodes of Jackanory (1969).^[7]

In a role specifically written for him by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, Briers was cast in the lead role in The Good Life (1975–78), playing Tom Good, a draughtsman who decides, on his 40th birthday, to give up his job and try his hand at self-sufficiency. An enormously successful series, the last episode in 1978 was performed in front of the Queen. In 1977, he starred with his The Good Life co-star Penelope Keith in the televised version of Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy The Norman Conquests.^[1]

During the 1980s and 1990s, Briers had leading roles in several programmes. including Goodbye, Mr Kent (1982), a rare failure also featuring Hannah Gordon, the lead role of Martin Bryce in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89), and as Godfrey Spry in the BBC comedy drama If You See God, Tell Him (1993). He also guested in All in Good Faith (1985), Tales of the Unexpected (1988), and Mr. Bean (1990). In 1987, he appeared as the principal villain in the Doctor Who serial Paradise Towers. In 1995 he played the character Tony Fairfax in the BBC comedy Down to Earth. In the Inspector Morse episode 'Death is Now My Neighbour', he played the evil master of Lonsdale College, Sir Clixby Bream.^[8]

Stage work

Briers spent much of his career in the theatre, including appearances in plays by Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. In 1967, one of his earliest successes was playing alongside Michael Hordern and Celia Johnson in the London production of Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking.^[4]

After a long career in television sitcom, and looking to expand his career, in 1987 Kenneth Branagh offered him the role of Malvolio in the Renaissance Theatre Company production of Twelfth Night.^[1] Briers joined the company, and went on to play title parts in King Lear and Uncle Vanya. Briers also appeared in many of Branagh's films, including Henry V (1989, as Bardolph), Much Ado About Nothing (1993, as Signor Leonato) and Hamlet (1996, as Polonius). The theatre production of Twelfth Night (1988) was adapted for television, with Briers reprising his role as Malvolio.^[9]

Film

Briers made his film debut in 1960 British feature film Bottoms Up.^[1] He then took parts in Murder She Said (1961), The Girl On The Boat (1962), A Matter of Who (1962), The VIPs (1963); and Raquel Welch's spy spoof Fathom (1967).^[1]

He latterly appeared in Michael Winner's A Chorus of Disapproval (1989) and the big-screen version of the hit TV series Minder.^[1]

Radio and voice work

Briers was a familiar voice actor, with numerous commercials, including adverts for the Midland Bank in which he was the voice of the company's Griffin symbol. Between 1984 and 1986 he made a series of commercials for the Ford Sierra done in a sitcom style portraying the Sierra as "one of the family".^[1]

His characterisations made him a natural for children's television series. Starting with the animated series Roobarb (1974), he was the original narrator and voice actor for Noddy (1975) TV series based on the Enid Blyton character,^[1] and then Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk (1976). He latterly starred alongside Neil Morrisey in Bob the Builder (2005) to his credit. He also provided the voice of Fiver in the animated film adaptation of Watership Down (1978).

His work in radio included playing Dr. Simon Sparrow in BBC Radio 4's adaptions of Richard Gordon's Doctor in the House and Doctor At Large (1968), and a retired thespian in a series of six plays with Stanley Baxter Two Pipe Problems (2008), and later the play Not Talking, commissioned for BBC Radio 3 by Mike Bartlett. Between 1973 and 1981, Briers played Bertie Wooster in several adaptations of the P.G. Wodehouse novels with Michael Hordern as Jeeves.^[10]

From 1990

After 1990, he appeared in Lovejoy, Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders (the episode "Death's Shadow"), Doctors, New Tricks, Kingdom, and If You See God, Tell Him. Richard Briers starred as Hector in the first three series of Monarch of the Glen from 2000 to 2002, a role which saw him return to the limelight. He contributed "Sonnet 55" to the 2002 compilation album, When Love Speaks, which features famous actors and musicians interpreting Shakespeare's sonnets and play excerpts. In 2005, he appeared alongside Kevin Whately in Dad, a TV Film made by BBC Wales exploring issues of elder abuse. In 2006, he made an appearance in an episode of Extras, and portrayed the servant Adam in Kenneth Branagh's 2006 Shakespeare adaptation, As You Like It. He made a cameo appearance as a dying recluse in the 2008 Torchwood episode "A Day in the Death".^[11]

Personal life

Briers met Ann Davies while both were at Liverpool Rep. Davies was employed as a stage manager, and had acted on television and in films from the mid 1950s. Soon after meeting, he borrowed £5 from his mother, bought an engagement ring and they were married within six months.^[4] They had two daughters, one of whom, Lucy, is also an actress; Katie worked in stage management.^[6] The couple latterly lived in Faringdon, Oxfordshire.^[12]

Briers and his friend Paul Eddington shared a similar sense of humour, and knew each other before being cast in The Good Life. After Eddington was diagnosed with skin cancer, Briers accepted the role opposite him in David Storey's play Home in 1994, agreeing to take on all of the publicity interviews to allow Eddington time for his treatment. At Eddington's memorial service, Briers read both from Cymbeline and PG Wodehouse; he later read chapters from Eddington's autobiography on BBC Radio 4.^[13]

As a result of Terry-Thomas's Parkinson's, Briers became President of Parkinson's UK.^[14] He also helped to launch a Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association campaign. Briers was also a non-medical patron of the TOFS (Tracheo-Oesophageal Fistula Support) charity, which supports children and the families of children born unable to swallow.^[15]

Briers was a keen visitor of Britain's historic churches and visited over one hundred for his book English Country Churches which was published in 1988.^[16] From his national service in the RAF, he was a supporter for a national memorial for Bomber Command.^[12]

Briers was appointed OBE in 1989, and CBE in 2003.^[17]

Death

In early 2013, Briers stated that he had smoked half a million cigarettes before quitting in 2003. He said he was diagnosed with emphysema in 2008,^[18] and stated in an interview shortly before his death that "the ciggies got me".^[8] He died at his home in London on 17 February 2013.^[2][19][20] The BBC referred to him as "one of Britain's best-loved actors".^[1] Sir Kenneth Branagh paying tribute to him said "He was a national treasure, a great actor and a wonderful man. He was greatly loved and he will be deeply missed." ^[21]

Selected filmography

• Girls at Sea (1958)
• Bottoms Up (1960)
• The Girl on the Boat (1961)
• Murder, She Said (1961)
• A Matter of WHO (1961)
• Doctor in Distress (1963)
• The Bargee (1964)
• Fathom (1967)
• All the Way Up (1970)
• Rookery Nook (1970, TV drama)
• Rentadick (1972)
• Roobarb (1974)
• Watership Down (1978)
• A Chorus of Disapproval (1989)
• Henry V (1989)
• Peter's Friends (1992)
• Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
• Frankenstein (1994)
• A Midwinter's Tale (1995)
• Hamlet (1996)
• Spice World (1997)
• Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
• Unconditional Love (2002)
• Peter Pan (2003)
• As You Like It (2006)
• Run For Your Wife (2012)
• Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)

References

External links

• Richard Briers at IMDb
• Richard Briers at the BBC Comedy Guide
• Richard Briers at BFI ScreenOnline

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