Post by The Collector on Nov 17, 2008 20:22:19 GMT
Reg Varney, the comic actor who played the cheery Cockney bus driver in the television series On the Buses, has died at the age of 92.
The actor died “peacefully” yesterday, after a short illness in a nursing home in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, his family said.
Varney's daughter, Jeanne Marley, 59, said her father had only recently been admitted to the nursing home after suffering from a chest infection. She said: “He's always been very young for his age. When he was in On The Buses he was playing a 35-year-old, but he was actually 50.”
Varney, who played Stan Butler in the 1970s sitcom, was born in the East End of London but had lived in Devon for the past 20 years.
He began his career as a singer, piano player and comic in the rough-and-ready circuit of pubs, music halls and workingmen's clubs. He joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during the Second World War but continued to perform as part of a touring show entertaining the troops.
After the war he played a variety of television roles before becoming a household name in the hit sitcom, which began in 1969 and ran for seven series. Varney played a happy-go-lucky driver tormented by his irascible boss, Inspector Blake. The actor also secured his place in history by making the world's first withdrawal from an electronic automated teller machine, at Barclays Bank in Enfield, North London, in 1967.
His wife Lilian died in 2002 and he is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild
The actor died “peacefully” yesterday, after a short illness in a nursing home in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, his family said.
Varney's daughter, Jeanne Marley, 59, said her father had only recently been admitted to the nursing home after suffering from a chest infection. She said: “He's always been very young for his age. When he was in On The Buses he was playing a 35-year-old, but he was actually 50.”
Varney, who played Stan Butler in the 1970s sitcom, was born in the East End of London but had lived in Devon for the past 20 years.
He began his career as a singer, piano player and comic in the rough-and-ready circuit of pubs, music halls and workingmen's clubs. He joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during the Second World War but continued to perform as part of a touring show entertaining the troops.
After the war he played a variety of television roles before becoming a household name in the hit sitcom, which began in 1969 and ran for seven series. Varney played a happy-go-lucky driver tormented by his irascible boss, Inspector Blake. The actor also secured his place in history by making the world's first withdrawal from an electronic automated teller machine, at Barclays Bank in Enfield, North London, in 1967.
His wife Lilian died in 2002 and he is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild
