Wilfrid Brambell

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Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film comedian best known for his appearance in the television series Steptoe and Son.

He appeared alongside the Beatles in their film A Hard Day's Night, as Paul McCartney's fictional grandfather.

Early life

Brambell was born in Dublin, Henry Lytton Brambell (1870–1937), a cashier at Guinness Brewery, and his partner, Edith Marks (1879–1965), a former opera performer. Frederick William Brambell, Wilfrid's grandfather, was given the family surname "bramble." Frederick Edward Brambell (1905-1980) and James Christopher Marks "Jim" Brambell (1907–1992).

During the First World War, his first appearance as a youth was as a soldier, entertaining the wounded troops. He spent part-time as a reporter for The Irish Times and part-time as an actor at The Abbey Theatre before becoming a professionally trained actor for the Gate Theatre. He also did repertory at Swansea, Bristol, and Chesterfield. He was a member of ENSA, a British military forces entertainment company.

Personal and later life

Brambell had guest appearances on television and in films after the last series of Steptoe and Son concluded in 1974. In 1977, Harry H. Corbett and his brother undertook a tour of Australia based on Steptoe and Son. After Corbett's death from a heart attack in 1982, Brambell appeared on television news paying tribute to him. Brambell appeared in Terence Davies' film Death and Transfiguration in 1982, portraying a dying elderly man who has finally come to terms with his homosexuality.

When Steptoe Met Son, Channel 4's second documentary film about Brambell's off-screen life and his friendship with Corbett in 2002. After the Australian tour, the two men were detested each other and were barely on speaking terms, according to the film. The split was reportedly triggered in part by Brambell's alcoholism, which culminated in the pair's departure from the country on separate planes. The writers of Steptoe and Son, Ray Galton, and Alan Simpson, who were unaware of any hatred or conflict, have refuted this allegation. Corbett's nephew released a statement in which he said that the actors did not hate each other: "We can categorically say they did not fall out." They were together for almost a year, went on many sightseeing trips together, and then decided to end the tour on different planes because Harry wanted to go on holiday with his family, not because they refused to travel on the same plane." They continued to work together after the Australian tour on radio and ads, with it being widely agreed that the two actors' friendship was under strain throughout the tour, but Brambell and Corbett soon found their differences "fairly amicably," and a short BBC radio sketch called Scotch on the Rocks appeared in the spring of 1978.

Brambell was a gay man at a time when homosexual offences in England and Wales were unconstitutional until 1967. He was arrested in a toilet in Shepherd's Bush for persistently importuning and was discharged with conditional discharge in 1962.

From 1948 to 1955, he was married to Mary "Molly" Josephine Hall. Since she gave birth to their lodger's baby in 1955, the marriage ended in divorce.

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Acting career

Brambell had roles in film and television from 1947, first appearing (uncredited) in Odd Man Out as a tram passenger. His television career began during the 1950s, when he was cast in small roles in three Nigel Kneale/Rudolph Cartier productions for BBC Television: as a drunk in The Quatermass Experiment (1953), as both an old man in a pub and later a prisoner in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954), and as a tramp in Quatermass II (1955).

All of these roles earned him a reputation for playing old men, though he was only in his forties at the time. He appeared in the short film series Scotland Yard in the episode, "The Grand Junction Case". He appeared as Bill Gaye in the 1962 Maurice Chevalier/Hayley Mills picture, In Search of the Castaways. He was heard on the original London cast recording of the long-running West End stage musical The Canterbury Tales in which he starred at London's Phoenix Theatre..

He also released two 45-rpm singles, "Second Hand"/"Rag Time Ragabone Man", that played on his Steptoe and Son character, followed in 1971 by "Time Marches On", his tribute to the Beatles.

Brambell was featured in many prominent theatre roles. In 1966, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical version of A Christmas Carol. This was adapted for radio the same year, and appeared on Radio 2 on Christmas Eve. Brambell's booming baritone voice surprised many listeners: he played the role straight, true to the Dickens original, and not in the stereotype Albert Steptoe character. In 1971, he starred in the premiere of Eric Chappell's play, The Banana Box, in which he played Rooksby. This part was later renamed Rigsby for the television adaptation called Rising Damp, with Leonard Rossiter replacing Brambell in the role. Brambell also played Bert Thomson, an Irish widower, in the film Holiday on the Buses; the character in question started a close friendship with Stan Butler's mother, Mabel.

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