Richard Briers CBE |
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Richard Briers at Memorabilia in March 2009
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Born |
Richard David Briers 14 January 1934 Raynes Park, Surrey, England |
Died | 17 February 2013 London, England |
(aged 79)
Cause of death | Emphysema |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1958–2013 |
Spouse(s) |
Ann Davies (m. 1956–2013; his death) |
Children |
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Richard David Briers CBE (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor. His fifty-year career encompassed television, stage, film and radio.
Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines (1961–66), but it was a decade later, when he narrated Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk (1974–76) and when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975–78), that he became a household name. Later, he starred as Martin in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89), and he had a leading role as Hector in Monarch of the Glen (2000–02). From the late 1980s, with Kenneth Branagh as director, he performed Shakespearean roles in: Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006).
Briers was born in Raynes Park, Surrey, the son of Joseph Benjamin Briers and Morna Phyllis (née Richardson). He was the first cousin once removed of actor Terry-Thomas (Terry-Thomas was his father's cousin). He spent his childhood at Raynes Park in a flat, Number 2 Pepys Court, behind the now demolished Rialto cinema, and later at Guildford. His father drifted between jobs, while his mother wished for a showbusiness career; she went on to become a member of Equity. Morna was also a pianist and a successful drama and music teacher.