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| Richard Briers | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born January 14, 1934 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Below is the text in it's entirety as it was on Derricks "Un Official Good Life Home Page". Richard Briers, known as "Dickie" to his close friends played "Tom" on the series. His experience with the theatre was evident in his superior acting abilities. |
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Richard Briers has been enormously popular throughout his regular contributions to television comedy series. He was the linchpin of three of the most successful sitcoms ever made in Britain: "Marriage Lines," "The Good Life" and "Ever Decreasing Circles." After a long career in popular television drama, in 1987 he joined Kenneth Branagh"s Renaissance Theatre Company and his already very successful professional life took a new turn as he moved on to the major classical roles. "Ken offered me Malvolio in his production of 'Twelfth Night' Briers recalls, "at the very time I had decided to expand my career when I realized I had gone as far as I could doing sitcoms. As soon as I worked with him, I thought he was truly exeptional." After his Malvolio, Briers took on "King Lear" at Branagh's insistence, followed by the title role in "Uncle Vanya" and Menenius in "Coriolanus." The role of Henry in "A midwinter's Tale" marks Briers' fifth appearence in a Kenneth Branagh film, following his Playhouse Bardolph in "Henry V," Leonato in "Much Ado About Nothing," The blind grandfather in "Mary Shelly's Frankenstein" and his co-starring role with Sir John Gielgud in Branagh's Academy Award nominated short film, "Swan Song." Other film credits include Michael Warner's "A Chorus Of Disapprovel" and the film version of the hit TV series "Minder." Briers trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he won the silver medal and a scholarship to Liverpool Playhouse. He made his West End debut in 1958 and has barely stopped working since in both theatre and television. In both media, he has appeared often in the work of playwright Alan Ayckbourn, playing leading roles in "Relatively Speaking," "Absurd Person Singular" and "Absent Friends" in the theatre and in "The Norman Conquests" and "Just Between Ourselves" on television. In 1989 he was awarded the Order Of The British Empire (OBE) by the Queen for his service to the arts. |
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Filmography Movies. Girls At Sea (1958) A Matter Of Who (1961) The Girl On The Boat (1962) Fathom (1967) All The Way Up (1970) Rentadick (1972) Watership Down (voice 1978) commercials for "Nescafe" (ca. 1987) Radio, Brothers-In-Law, Doctor In The House |
Theatre A Chorus Of Disapproval (1988) Henry V (1989) Peter's Friends (1992) Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (1994) The Galton and Simpson Playhouse (2nd play 1977) The Norman Conquests (3 Alan Ayckbourn plays 1977) Just Between Ourselves (Alan Ayckbourn play 1978) Village Wooing (GB Shaw play 1979) Family Dance (Felicity Brown play 1980) Play For Today (Roger Milner "PQ17" 1981, 1982) |
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Television Marriage Lines (sitcom 1963) Brothers In Law (sitcom 196?) Birds On The Wing (sitcom 1971) Tall Stories (variety show 1971 -1972) One Upmanship (variety show 1974, 1976, 1978) The Good Life (1975-1978) The Other One (sitcom 1977) Goodbye Mr Kent (sitcom 1982) Ever Decreasing Circles (sitcom 1984, 1987) All In Good Faith (sitcom 1986, 1987) Doctor Who (episode "Paradise Towers" 1987) Mr Bean (1989) If You See God, Tell Him (1993) Twelfth Night (play) |
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| 1998 Good Wrench | ||||||||||||||||||