Post by The Collector on Apr 8, 2008 11:46:58 GMT
Sadly, Only found out about this oday, thanks to a letter in Radio times, Top man in both Porridge and LOTSW
[glow=red,2,300]Brian Wilde, [/glow]who has died aged 80, was best-known for his role as Foggy in BBC Television’s long-running comedy series Last Of The Summer Wine; he also played Mr Barraclough, the timid prison officer in Porridge, alongside Ronnie Barker as the irrepressible convict Noman Stanley Fletcher.
Wilde took the role of Walter “Foggy” Dewhurst in Last Of The Summer Wine in 1976, as one of the triumvirate of old men seeing out their last years by planning adventures and getting into childlike scrapes.
He was written out in 1985, having wearied (it was said) of tensions within the cast, but returned in 1990, finally leaving in 1997.
With his hangdog face and world-weary air, Wilde had been a familiar fixture of television comedy for some 40 years.
He appeared with the comedian Tony Hancock in a series for ATV in the early 1960s, and in Room At The Bottom for the BBC, a spin-off from a 1966 episode of Comedy Playhouse.
Wilde’s first big television success was as the refuse depot manager known as Bloody Delilah in the ITV sitcom The Dustbinmen (1970).
He followed this with a sinister portrayal of the magician Henry T Peacock in London Weekend’s drama series for children Ace Of Wands (1970-72).
In 1973 Wilde played the prison officer Barraclough in “Prisoner and Escort”, an episode of Seven Of One, a series of seven different stories all starring Ronnie Barker.
The programme proved so popular that the BBC commissioned a series, and the result was Porridge, first aired in 1974.
Wilde’s characterisation of the ineffectual Mr Barraclough was a perfect counterpoint to the knowing quarterdeck manner of his boss, Prison Officer Mackay (Fulton Mackay).
But it was the part of “Foggy” Dewhurst in Roy Clarke’s whimsical sitcom Last Of The Summer Wine that proved to be Wilde’s most enduring role.
He made his debut in series three in 1976, taking over from Michael Bates as one of the three pensioners idling in a picturesque landscape (it is shot at Holmfirth, on the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire).
Wilde’s character was a pompous ex-Army corporal who took command of his ramshackle friends and directed their apparently aimless wanderings with military precision and an NCO’s beady eye.
Although the programme proved enormously successful — its 29th series is currently in production — Wilde apparently became unhappy with a clash of egos among the cast and, having remained with the show for nine years, decided in 1985 to move on to other projects.
When he left, the programme commanded a peak Sunday evening audience of nearly 19 million.
Having been written out of the series — his absence was explained by having him move to Bridlington to run the family egg-painting business — he was replaced for five years by Michael Aldridge, who played a new character, Seymour Utterthwaite.
Brian George Wilde was born on June 13 1927 at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, but his family moved to the Home Counties, and he was educated at Hertfordshire grammar school.
In 1945, having decided to become an actor, he enrolled at Rada. In the 1960s his film credits included minor roles in The Jokers (1967) and Carry On Doctor (1968).
On dropping out of Last Of The Summer Wine, Wilde went on to star in his own BBC series, Wyatt’s Watchdogs (1988), as Major Wyatt, a retired soldier who forms his own neighbourhood watch group after a burglary at his sister’s house.
Although critics pointed to obvious similiarities between the major and “Foggy” Dewhurst — and despite the motley nature of the ensemble cast — the series, co-starring Trevor Bannister, ran for only six episodes and was not recommissioned.
In 1990 Wilde rejoined the cast of Last Of The Summer Wine, Michael Aldridge having departed, to reprise his role as “Foggy” Dewhurst and to reunite with Clegg (Peter Sallis) and the rebarbative Compo Simmonite (Bill Owen).
This trio was widely regarded as the programme’s definitive, most popular, line-up.
But Wilde’s restoration was cut short in 1997 when he suffered from a mild infection.
It was not thought to be serious, but he decided not to take part in the first five episodes of the 1997 series in case matters worsened. (In the meantime — at Wilde’s suggestion — the actor Frank Thornton, as Truly Truelove, filled the gap.)
But by the time Wilde was fully fit, problems with the recording schedule made his return in that series impossible.
Although Wilde was invited to return in subsequent series, he never took up the offer.
In all, Wilde appeared in more than 100 episodes of Last Of The Summer Wine.
Latterly he had been frail, and a few weeks ago suffered a fall. Brian Wilde is survived by his wife, Eva, and by their son and daughter.
[glow=red,2,300]Brian Wilde, [/glow]who has died aged 80, was best-known for his role as Foggy in BBC Television’s long-running comedy series Last Of The Summer Wine; he also played Mr Barraclough, the timid prison officer in Porridge, alongside Ronnie Barker as the irrepressible convict Noman Stanley Fletcher.
Wilde took the role of Walter “Foggy” Dewhurst in Last Of The Summer Wine in 1976, as one of the triumvirate of old men seeing out their last years by planning adventures and getting into childlike scrapes.
He was written out in 1985, having wearied (it was said) of tensions within the cast, but returned in 1990, finally leaving in 1997.
With his hangdog face and world-weary air, Wilde had been a familiar fixture of television comedy for some 40 years.
He appeared with the comedian Tony Hancock in a series for ATV in the early 1960s, and in Room At The Bottom for the BBC, a spin-off from a 1966 episode of Comedy Playhouse.
Wilde’s first big television success was as the refuse depot manager known as Bloody Delilah in the ITV sitcom The Dustbinmen (1970).
He followed this with a sinister portrayal of the magician Henry T Peacock in London Weekend’s drama series for children Ace Of Wands (1970-72).
In 1973 Wilde played the prison officer Barraclough in “Prisoner and Escort”, an episode of Seven Of One, a series of seven different stories all starring Ronnie Barker.
The programme proved so popular that the BBC commissioned a series, and the result was Porridge, first aired in 1974.
Wilde’s characterisation of the ineffectual Mr Barraclough was a perfect counterpoint to the knowing quarterdeck manner of his boss, Prison Officer Mackay (Fulton Mackay).
But it was the part of “Foggy” Dewhurst in Roy Clarke’s whimsical sitcom Last Of The Summer Wine that proved to be Wilde’s most enduring role.
He made his debut in series three in 1976, taking over from Michael Bates as one of the three pensioners idling in a picturesque landscape (it is shot at Holmfirth, on the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire).
Wilde’s character was a pompous ex-Army corporal who took command of his ramshackle friends and directed their apparently aimless wanderings with military precision and an NCO’s beady eye.
Although the programme proved enormously successful — its 29th series is currently in production — Wilde apparently became unhappy with a clash of egos among the cast and, having remained with the show for nine years, decided in 1985 to move on to other projects.
When he left, the programme commanded a peak Sunday evening audience of nearly 19 million.
Having been written out of the series — his absence was explained by having him move to Bridlington to run the family egg-painting business — he was replaced for five years by Michael Aldridge, who played a new character, Seymour Utterthwaite.
Brian George Wilde was born on June 13 1927 at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, but his family moved to the Home Counties, and he was educated at Hertfordshire grammar school.
In 1945, having decided to become an actor, he enrolled at Rada. In the 1960s his film credits included minor roles in The Jokers (1967) and Carry On Doctor (1968).
On dropping out of Last Of The Summer Wine, Wilde went on to star in his own BBC series, Wyatt’s Watchdogs (1988), as Major Wyatt, a retired soldier who forms his own neighbourhood watch group after a burglary at his sister’s house.
Although critics pointed to obvious similiarities between the major and “Foggy” Dewhurst — and despite the motley nature of the ensemble cast — the series, co-starring Trevor Bannister, ran for only six episodes and was not recommissioned.
In 1990 Wilde rejoined the cast of Last Of The Summer Wine, Michael Aldridge having departed, to reprise his role as “Foggy” Dewhurst and to reunite with Clegg (Peter Sallis) and the rebarbative Compo Simmonite (Bill Owen).
This trio was widely regarded as the programme’s definitive, most popular, line-up.
But Wilde’s restoration was cut short in 1997 when he suffered from a mild infection.
It was not thought to be serious, but he decided not to take part in the first five episodes of the 1997 series in case matters worsened. (In the meantime — at Wilde’s suggestion — the actor Frank Thornton, as Truly Truelove, filled the gap.)
But by the time Wilde was fully fit, problems with the recording schedule made his return in that series impossible.
Although Wilde was invited to return in subsequent series, he never took up the offer.
In all, Wilde appeared in more than 100 episodes of Last Of The Summer Wine.
Latterly he had been frail, and a few weeks ago suffered a fall. Brian Wilde is survived by his wife, Eva, and by their son and daughter.
