- Bernard Cribbins
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Bernard Cribbins Born 29 December 1928
Oldham, Lancashire, EnglandOccupation character actor, musical comedian Spouse Gillian Cribbins (1955-present) Bernard Cribbins, OBE (born 29 December 1928) is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active performer.
He is particularly known to British audiences as the story-telling voice in The Wombles, a children's programme running which ran for 40 episodes between 1973 and 1975. He also recorded several hit novelty records in the early 1960s and was a regular and prolific performer on Jackanory on BBC TV between 1966 and 1991. Cribbins' most recent prominent role has been as Wilfred Mott, companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who.
Contents
Early life
Born in Derker, Oldham, Lancashire, Cribbins served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre, taking a break during his years of study to undertake National Service with the Parachute Regiment in his late teens.[1]
Early stage and record career
Cribbins made his first West End theatre appearance in 1956 at the Arts Theatre playing the two Dromios in A Comedy of Errors and co-starred in the first West End productions of Not Now Darling, There Goes the Bride and Run for Your Wife. He also starred in the revue An' Another Thing, and recorded a single of a song from the show entitled "Folksong". In 1962 he recorded two highly popular and well-remembered comic songs, "Right Said Fred" (in which a group of workmen struggle to relocate what would seem to be a piano) and "Hole in the Ground" (in which an embittered workman murders a bowler-hatted harasser).[1]
Films
Cribbins appeared in films from the early 1950s, mainly in comedies. His credits include Two Way Stretch (1960) and The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) with Peter Sellers, Crooks in Cloisters (1964) and three Carry On films - Carry On Jack (1963), Carry On Spying (1964) and Carry On Columbus (1992). Other appearances include the second Doctor Who film Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966), Mr Albert Perks, the station porter, in The Railway Children (1970) and Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock's disturbing thriller Frenzy (1972). Later films include Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective (1981) and Blackball (2003).
Narration and voice work
He was the narrator of the British animated children's television series The Wombles from 1973 to 1975 and also narrated a celebrated BBC radio adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. He was the celebrity storyteller in more episodes of Jackanory than any other personality, with a total of 114 appearances between 1966 and 1991.
He provided the voice of the Tufty character in RoSPA road safety films in the 1960s. He also provided the voice of Buzby, a talking cartoon bird that served as the mascot for the then Post Office,[2] He also appeared reduced to OO gauge in adverts for Hornby model trains.[3]
Television
Other television appearances have included The Avengers (1968), Fawlty Towers (1975), as the spoon salesman Mr. Hutchinson (mistaken by Basil Fawlty for a hotel inspector), Worzel Gummidge (1980), Shillingbury Tales (1980) and its spin-off Cuffy (1983). Later television appearances have included Dalziel and Pascoe (1999), Last of the Summer Wine (2003), the role of Wally Bannister in Coronation Street (2003) and Down to Earth (2005).
Later stage career
Later theatre credits include playing Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre, Moonface Martin in Anything Goes with Elaine Paige at the Prince Edward Theatre, Dolittle in My Fair Lady at the Houston Opera House, USA, and Watty Watkins in Gershwin's Lady, Be Good at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and on tour. He has also appeared in numerous pantomimes.[4]
Recent career
Cribbins returned to the world of Doctor Who in 2006 when a photograph of him at a wedding was used in the BBC's tie-in website[5] for "Tooth and Claw". In January 2007, he guest starred as glam rock promoter Arnold Korns in the Doctor Who radio play Horror of Glam Rock for BBC Radio 7. In December he appeared as Wilfred Mott in the Doctor Who Christmas television special, "Voyage of the Damned"; he then reappeared as the same character throughout the 2008 series, as the grandfather of companion Donna Noble[6] He attained 'companion' status himself in "The End of Time", the two-part Christmas 2009 special that saw the end of David Tennant in the role of the Doctor. This role makes him unique as he is the only actor to have faced the daleks in both television and cinema versions.
Honours
Cribbins was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to drama.[7][8] A large number of people complained about this, stating he should have received the higher honour of a Knighthood. There are also a large amount of campaigns on social networking website, Facebook, supporting the complaints.[9]
Reception
Robert Ross praised him as Midshipman Albert Poop-Decker in Carry On Jack, describing his bemused cheerfulness and comic ineptitude as a stunning debut performance.[10]
Television
Year Title Episodes 1960 Interpol Calling "Slow Boat to Amsterdam" 1962 The Canterville Ghost 1966 The Avengers "The Girl from Auntie" 1966–1995 Jackanory 1968 The Avengers "Look - (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers ..." 1971, 1976 Get the Drift 1973 The Wombles (voices) 1973 The Great Big Groovy Horse 1975 The Further Adventures Of Noddy The Great Car Race (Narrator) 1975 Fawlty Towers "The Hotel Inspectors" 1976 Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (Narrator) 1976–78 Star Turn 1976 Space: 1999 "Brian the Brain" 1977 The Country Wife "BBC Play of the month episode 97" 1979 Worzel Gummidge 1981 Shillingbury Tales 1982 The Good Old Days 1983 Cuffy 1983 Moschops 1986 Langley Bottom 1987 When We Are Married 1987 High and Dry 1993 A Passion For Angling 1999 Dalziel and Pascoe "Time to Go" 2000 The Canterbury Tales "The Journey Back" 2003 Last of the Summer Wine "In Which Gavin Hinchcliffe Loses the Gulf Stream" 2003 Coronation Street Wally Bannister (Character played) 2005 Down to Earth "Hot Air"
"Tall Tales"
2007–10 Doctor Who "Voyage of the Damned"
"Partners in Crime"
"The Sontaran Stratagem"
"The Poison Sky"
"Turn Left"
"The Stolen Earth"
"Journey's End"
"The End of Time"2009 Never Mind The Buzzcocks 2010 Catching the Impossible [11] 2010 Would I Lie To You? (TV series) 2011 A Comedy Roast "Barbara Windsor: A Comedy Roast" Films
Year Film 1957 Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst 1959 Tommy the Toreador 1960 Two-Way Stretch The World of Suzie Wong 1961 The Girl on the Boat Nothing Barred 1962 The Fast Lady 1963 The Wrong Arm of the Law The Mouse on the Moon Carry On Jack 1964 A Home of Your Own Carry On Spying Crooks in Cloisters The Counterfeit Constable (French title: Allez France!) 1965 You Must Be Joking She 1966 Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD 1967 Casino Royale 1968 Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River 1970 The Railway Children 1972 Frenzy 1978 The Water Babies 1981 Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective 1992 Carry On Columbus 2003 Blackball UK chart singles
Year Title UK peak position[12] Notes 1962 "Hole In The Ground" #9 Sir Noel Coward's choice as the record he would keep, as guest on BBC Radio's 'Desert Island Discs' from his selection 1962 "Right Said Fred" #10 Inspired the name of the band "Right Said Fred" 1962 "Gossip Calypso" #25 Written by Trevor Peacock Albums
Year Album Notes 1962 A Combination Of Cribbins 1983 The Snowman (Narrator) 2005 The Very Best of Bernard Cribbins References
- ^ a b "Bernard Cribbins". Gavin Barker Associates. http://www.gavinbarkerassociates.co.uk/actors/bernard-cribbins.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ which later became British Telecommunications when the two wings of the Post Office were demerged.
- ^ screenonline: Cribbins, Bernard (1928-) Biography
- ^ Gavin Barker Associates Ltd: Bernard Cribbins Biography
- ^ VisitTorchwood.co.UK "Torchwood House". BBC. http://www.visittorchwood.co.uk/weddings-quotes.htm VisitTorchwood.co.UK. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ^ "Into the Future!". Doctor Who Magazine: pp. 4. 19 September 2007
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59808. p. 9. 11 June 2011.
- ^ BBC News (2011-06-11). "Bruce Forsyth knighthood heads Queen's Birthday Honours". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13728375
- ^ http://www.facebook.com/Bernard.Cribbins.for.Knighthood.Campaign
- ^ Robert Ross (2002-10-08). "The Carry on Companion". ISBN 978-0-7134-8771-8. http://books.google.com/?id=DoidQB3FcdgC&pg=PA40
- ^ http://www.catchingtheimpossible.com/catching-the-impossible-films.html
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 127. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
External links
- Bernard Cribbins at the Internet Movie Database
- Autograph
- The Actors Compendium
- Carry On Line: Official Website of the Carry On films Detailed information on the Carry Ons
Categories:- 1928 births
- English comedy musicians
- English film actors
- British Parachute Regiment soldiers
- English stage actors
- English television actors
- Living people
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Parlophone artists
- People from Oldham
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