Brian Wilde
Encyclopedia
Brian George Wilde was an English actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, best known for his roles in television comedy
Television comedy
Television comedy had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting. Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was Starlight, which offered a series of guests from the music hall era — singers and comedians amongst them...

, including Mr Barrowclough
Mr Barrowclough
Mr Barrowclough was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge. He was played by the late Brian Wilde.Henry Barrowclough is a prison warder...

 in Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

and "Foggy" Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

. His lugubrious world-weary face was a staple of British television for forty years.

Career

Though born in Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...

, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, he was brought up in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 and Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 and attended Hertford Grammar School
Richard Hale School
Richard Hale School is a boys' school located in Hertford, Hertfordshire, in the south east of England. In the 2007 – 2008 academic year the school had over 1,000 pupils, including students attending the optional sixth form, which is also open to girls....

. He trained as an actor at RADA
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...

.

He had a small part in the horror film Night of the Demon
Night of the Demon
Night of the Demon is a 1957 British horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. An adaptation of the M. R...

(1957) and early television roles included the series The Love of Mike (1960) and supporting Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...

 in episodes of his ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...

 series in 1963. He also played Detective Superintendent Halcro in a series of two-part thrillers about undercover Scotland Yard officers, The Men from Room Thirteen (BBC, 1959–61). He had minor roles in films such as Life for Ruth
Life for Ruth
Life for Ruth is a 1962 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Michael Craig, Patrick McGoohan and Janet Munro.-Plot:John Harris finds himself ostracized and placed on trial for allowing his daughter Ruth to die. His religious beliefs forbade him to give consent for a blood...

(1962), The Bargee
The Bargee
The Bargee is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Duncan Wood, and starring Harry H. Corbett, Hugh Griffith, Eric Sykes and Ronnie Barker. The screenplay was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.-Plot:...

(1964), The Jokers
The Jokers
The Jokers is a 1967 comedy film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and directed by Michael Winner. The film stars Michael Crawford and Oliver Reed as brothers who hatch a plot to steal the Crown Jewels....

(1967) and Carry On Doctor
Carry On Doctor
Carry On Doctor is the fifteenth film in the Carry On series. It is the second in the series to have a medical theme. Frankie Howerd makes the first of his two appearances in the film series. He stars alongside regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Bernard Bresslaw...

(1967), and on television in Room at the Bottom
Room at the Bottom
-Synopsis:Room at the Bottom is the 17th adapted radio episode of Dad's Army. The synopsis remains virtually unchanged from the TV episode, although there are a few minor changes in terms of actions performed by certain characters.-Plot:...

(1966–67) as Mr Salisbury. His first major television success was in 1970 as refuse depot manager "Bloody Delilah" in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 sitcom The Dustbinmen
The Dustbinmen
The Dustbinmen was a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute TV movie "There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah" written by Jack Rosenthal and...

. He showed his sinister side as the mischievous magician Mr Peacock in the children's drama series Ace of Wands
Ace of Wands
Ace of Wands is a fantasy-based British children's television show broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972, created by Trevor Preston and Pamela Lonsdale and produced by Thames Television. The title, taken from the name of a Tarot card describes the principal character, called "Tarot" who combined...

between 1970 and 1972. That year he starred as a murderer in The Uninvited, an episode of the BBC's supernatural thriller series Out of the Unknown
Out of the Unknown
Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was an independent dramatisation of a separate science fiction short story...

. Also in 1971, in the television drama Elizabeth R
Elizabeth R
Elizabeth R is a BBC television drama serial of six 85-minute plays starring Glenda Jackson in the title role. It was first broadcast on BBC2 from February to March 1971, through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia and broadcast in America on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre.- Episodes...

, Wilde played the efficient, merciless 'rackmaster' Richard Topcliffe, who was charged with the torture of prisoners in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

.

Porridge

In 1973, he starred as a different kind of gaoler in the second episode of Seven of One
Seven of One
Seven of One was a British comedy series that aired on BBC2 in 1973. Starring Ronnie Barker, 7 of One is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half...

, a series of seven individual stories, all of which starred Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

. In the episode, entitled "Prisoner and Escort", Wilde played Mr Barrowclough
Mr Barrowclough
Mr Barrowclough was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge. He was played by the late Brian Wilde.Henry Barrowclough is a prison warder...

, a prison officer whose job it is to escort Barker's character Fletch
Norman Stanley Fletcher
Norman Stanley "Fletch" Fletcher is the main character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge, and the less-successful spin-off, Going Straight...

 across the moors to his prison. The episode proved popular and a series was commissioned by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, called Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

. Wilde reprised his role as the timid and eager-to-please Barraclough. Porridge was popular and successful; it ran until 1977, with a film version
Porridge (film)
Porridge is a 1979 film based upon the television series of the same name which was released under the title Doing Time in the United States....

 being made in 1979.

Last of the Summer Wine

Wilde gained and established another role in 1976, when he took over from Michael Bates
Michael Bates (actor)
Michael Bates was a British actor born in Jhansi, United Provinces, India.-Biography:Bates served as a Major serving with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma before his discharge at the end of World War II...

 as the third member of a trio of old men in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 sitcom Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

. The character, Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst, was a determined ex-army man who planned the group's misadventures with military precision and a painstaking eye for detail. Wilde saw the long-running series gather momentum and continue its success; he stayed with the series for nine years, before leaving in 1985 to work on other projects. Foggy was written out of the series - it was said that he had moved to Bridlington
Bridlington
Bridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season...

 to take over the family egg painting business – and was replaced by Michael Aldridge
Michael Aldridge
Michael William ffolliott Aldridge was an English actor. While it was his role as Seymour in the television series Last of the Summer Wine which made him widely recognised, his long career as a successful character actor on stage and screen dated back to the 1930s.-Early life:The son of Dr...

 as Seymour Utterthwaite until 1990.

When Aldridge left Last of the Summer Wine, Wilde returned as Foggy in 1990, reuniting the series' most popular and enduring line-up. Suffering from a mild infection, Wilde stood down for the first five episodes of the 1998 series in case his illness worsened. His temporary absence was covered by Frank Thornton; Wilde himself suggested Thornton as a replacement. The filming of a Christmas Special made to introduce Thornton's character resulted in a scheduling problem that made it impossible for Wilde, who was by then fully fit, to return in that series. Producer Alan J.W. Bell said, "Since then, he has been invited to return many times, but says he feels he has 'done it now' and doesn't want to go back. I am sure that one day he will make an appearance – we still have his costume standing by," but Wilde never did return to the role and the show ran for another thirteen years, ending two years after Wilde's death.

Other works

In 1967 the ABC TV series The Avengers episode "The Fear Merchants" original air date (UK) 21 January 1967. He played Jeremy Raven a ceramics manufacturer caught up in a sinister plot to get rid of the competition. In 1988 he starred in his own BBC series, Wyatt's Watchdogs
Wyatt's Watchdogs
Wyatt's Watchdogs was a 30 minute BBC1 situation comedy that starred Brian Wilde and Trevor Bannister. Created and written by Miles Tredinnick, the six episode series was transmitted in the autumn of 1988...

as Major Wyatt, a retired soldier, who forms his own neighbourhood watch group. As a stuffy ex-army member who leads a motley bunch of comic characters, Wyatt was quite similar to Foggy. The programme, which co-starred Trevor Bannister
Trevor Bannister
Trevor Gordon Bannister was an English actor best known for playing the womanising junior salesman Mr. Lucas in the sitcom Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1979, and for his role as Toby Mulberry Smith in the longest-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine, from 2003 until it ended its run in 2010...

, was written by Miles Tredinnick
Miles Tredinnick
Miles Tredinnick, also known as Riff Regan, is a rock musician, songwriter and a stage and screen writer. In the 1970s, he was the lead singer with the British rock band London. Afterwards he went on to write comedy plays for the stage...

 and ran for one series of six episodes.

He also supplied the voice of the magician Meredith in the children's animated series Alias the Jester
Alias the Jester
Alias the Jester is an animated series created by Cosgrove Hall Films, airing in 13 episodes on ITV starting on November 13, 1985. The show also aired during the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's after school timeslot and is considered one of the Classic ABC shows.-Synopsis:The show follows...

and has narrated an animated series about a microscopic little chap who lives in a clock on the mantelpiece, in the parlor of the house that belongs to a lady called Mrs. Witherspoon Microscopic Milton
Microscopic Milton
Microscopic Milton in a British series of short animated films. Created and written by Tony Garth, they were first broadcast on CBBC between 1997 and 1999.Microscopic Milton was a tiny kid who lived in a clock on the mantelpiece in a house owned by Mrs...

.

Death

Wilde suffered a fall in January 2008 from which he never recovered. He died in his sleep on the morning of 20 March 2008 at his home in Ware, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 and was survived by Eva, his wife, and their son and daughter. His son, Andrew Wilde, had been film editor on Last of The Summer Wine since the mid-1990's, working initially on many of the episodes that had starred his father and later on the Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton is an English actor who is best known for playing Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Truly in Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:...

 editions.

Television roles

Year Title Role
1966 to 1967 Room at the Bottom
Room at the Bottom
-Synopsis:Room at the Bottom is the 17th adapted radio episode of Dad's Army. The synopsis remains virtually unchanged from the TV episode, although there are a few minor changes in terms of actions performed by certain characters.-Plot:...

Mr Salisbury
1967 The Avengers Jeremy Raven
1969 to 1970 The Dustbinmen
The Dustbinmen
The Dustbinmen was a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute TV movie "There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah" written by Jack Rosenthal and...

Bloody Delilah
1971 Elizabeth R
Elizabeth R
Elizabeth R is a BBC television drama serial of six 85-minute plays starring Glenda Jackson in the title role. It was first broadcast on BBC2 from February to March 1971, through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia and broadcast in America on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre.- Episodes...

Richard Topcliffe
1972 Ace of Wands
Ace of Wands
Ace of Wands is a fantasy-based British children's television show broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972, created by Trevor Preston and Pamela Lonsdale and produced by Thames Television. The title, taken from the name of a Tarot card describes the principal character, called "Tarot" who combined...

Mr Peacock
1973 Special Branch
Special Branch (TV series)
Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969 and 1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch anti-espionage and anti-terrorist department of the London Metropolitan Police.The first two series were...

Professor Munro
1973 Secrets
Secrets (play)
Secrets is a one-hour 1973 BBC Television play by Michael Palin and Terry Jones, starring Warren Mitchell as the owner of a chocolate factory...

Major Forster
1973 Marked Personal
Marked Personal
Marked Personal was a British daytime television drama created by Charles Dennis and starring Stephanie Beacham and Heather Chasen. The series was made by Thames Television and consisted of 90 episodes, shown twice weekly on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons during 1973-74...

Stan Lyons
1973 to 1977 Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

Mr. Henry Barraclough
1975 The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...

Stanley Hedges
1976 to 1985
1990 to 1997
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst
1984 to 1986 Kit Curran Roland Simpson
1988 Wyatt's Watchdogs
Wyatt's Watchdogs
Wyatt's Watchdogs was a 30 minute BBC1 situation comedy that starred Brian Wilde and Trevor Bannister. Created and written by Miles Tredinnick, the six episode series was transmitted in the autumn of 1988...

Major John Wyatt

Selected filmography

  • Simon and Laura
    Simon and Laura
    Simon and Laura is a 1955 British drama film directed by Muriel Box and starring Peter Finch, Kay Kendall and Muriel Pavlow. A married couple are hired for a television programme to portray domestic happiness, although in real life their marriage is breaking down.-Cast:* Peter Finch - Simon Foster*...

    (1955)
  • Tiger in the Smoke
    Tiger in the Smoke
    Tiger in the Smoke is a 1956 British crime film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Donald Sinden, Muriel Pavlow, Tony Wright, Bernard Miles and Christopher Rhodes. It is based on the 1952 novel The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham, although the film omits the principal character of...

    (1956)
  • Night of the Demon
    Night of the Demon
    Night of the Demon is a 1957 British horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. An adaptation of the M. R...

    (1957)
  • Girls at Sea
    Girls at Sea (1958 film)
    Girls At Sea is a 1958 British comedy film directed by Gilbert Gunn and starring Ronald Shiner as Marine Ogg and Warren Mitchell as Arthur. It was based on a play by Ian Hay...

    (1958)
  • Corridors of Blood
    Corridors of Blood
    Corridors of Blood is a 1958 horror film directed by Robert Day. The original music score was composed by Buxton Orr. The film was marketed with the tagline "Tops in terror!" in the US where MGM released it as a double feature with Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory.-Plot:An 1840s British surgeon, Dr...

    (1958)
  • Beyond the Curtain
    Beyond the Curtain
    Beyond the Curtain is a 1960 British drama film written and directed by Compton Bennett and starring Richard Greene and Eva Bartok.-Plot:...

    (1960)
  • We Joined the Navy
    We Joined the Navy
    We Joined the Navy is a 1962 British CinemaScope comedy film based on the novel of the same name by John Winton, directed by Wendy Toye and starring Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, Joan O'Brien, Derek Fowlds, Graham Crowden, Esma Cannon and John Le Mesurier....

    (1962)
  • Life for Ruth
    Life for Ruth
    Life for Ruth is a 1962 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Michael Craig, Patrick McGoohan and Janet Munro.-Plot:John Harris finds himself ostracized and placed on trial for allowing his daughter Ruth to die. His religious beliefs forbade him to give consent for a blood...

    (1962)
  • The Informers
    The Informers (1963 film)
    The Informers is a 1963 British crime film produced and distributed in the UK by The Rank Organisation and distributed in the USA by Continental Film Distributors. It was directed by Ken Annakin, produced by William MacQuitty with the screenplay by Paul Durst and Alun Falconer from the novel...

    (1963)
  • The Bargee
    The Bargee
    The Bargee is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Duncan Wood, and starring Harry H. Corbett, Hugh Griffith, Eric Sykes and Ronnie Barker. The screenplay was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.-Plot:...

    (1964)
  • Rattle of a Simple Man
    Rattle of a Simple Man
    Rattle of a Simple Man is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Diane Cilento, Harry H. Corbett and Michael Medwin. After travelling down from Manchester to watch the FA Cup final, a naive young man becomes involved with a prostitute.-Selected cast:* Diane Cilento as...

    (1964)

  • Darling (1965)
  • The Jokers
    The Jokers
    The Jokers is a 1967 comedy film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and directed by Michael Winner. The film stars Michael Crawford and Oliver Reed as brothers who hatch a plot to steal the Crown Jewels....

    (1967)
  • Carry On Doctor
    Carry On Doctor
    Carry On Doctor is the fifteenth film in the Carry On series. It is the second in the series to have a medical theme. Frankie Howerd makes the first of his two appearances in the film series. He stars alongside regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Bernard Bresslaw...

    (1967)
  • One Brief Summer
    One Brief Summer
    One Brief Summer is a 1970 British drama film directed by John Mackenzie. It stars Felicity Gibson and Clifford Evans. It was made at Twickenham Studios.-Cast:* Felicity Gibson as Susan Long* Clifford Evans as Mark Stevens* Jennifer Hilary as Jennifer...

    (1970)
  • Connecting Rooms
    Connecting Rooms
    Connecting Rooms is a 1970 British drama film written and directed by Franklin Gollings. The screenplay is based on the play The Cellist by Marion Hart....

    (1970)
  • Goodbye Gemini
    Goodbye Gemini
    Goodbye Gemini is a 1970 thriller directed by Alan Gibson from the novel Ask Agamemnon by Jenni Hall.-Plot:Jacki and Julian Dewar, a pair of fraternal twins, arrive via bus to London; they are home from university on Spring break, and their father is in Mexico on business...

    (1970)
  • No Sex Please, We're British
    No Sex Please, We're British (film)
    No Sex Please, We're British is a 1973 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Ronnie Corbett, Ian Ogilvy, Susan Penhaligon and Arthur Lowe...

    (1973)
  • Alfie Darling
    Alfie Darling
    Alfie Darling is a 1975 British comedy drama film directed by Ken Hughes. It is the sequel to the 1966 film Alfie. This time Alan Price takes over Michael Caine's role of Alfie....

    (1975)
  • To the Devil a Daughter
    To the Devil a Daughter
    To the Devil... A Daughter is a 1976 horror film made by Hammer Film Productions, taken from the novel of the same name by Dennis Wheatley, directed by Peter Sykes. It stars Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, Nastassja Kinski and Denholm Elliott...

    (1976)
  • Adventures of a Taxi Driver
    Adventures of a Taxi Driver
    Adventures of a Taxi Driver is a 1976 British sex comedy film starring Barry Evans, Judy Geeson and Adrienne Posta. There were two sequels, Adventures of a Private Eye and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate.-Cast:* Barry Evans as Joe North...

    (1976)
  • Porridge
    Porridge (film)
    Porridge is a 1979 film based upon the television series of the same name which was released under the title Doing Time in the United States....

    (1979)


External links



Obituaries
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