Wilfrid Brambell

Wilfrid Brambell
Brambell in 1966 (photo by Duffy)
Born	Henry Wilfrid Brambell (1912-03-22)22 March 1912 Dublin, Ireland
Died	18 January 1985(1985-01-18) (aged 72) London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1930–1985
Spouse	Mary Hall ​ ​ (m. 1948; div. 1955)​

Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor, best remembered for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962–1965, 1970–1974). He achieved international recognition in 1964 for his appearance alongside the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night, playing the fictional grandfather of Paul McCartney.

Early life

Brambell was born on 22 March 1912 in Dublin, the youngest of three sons born to Henry Lytton Brambell (1870–1937), a cashier at the Guinness Brewery, and his wife, Edith Marks (1879–1965), a former opera singer. His two older brothers were Frederick Edward Brambell (1905–1980) and James Christopher Marks "Jim" Brambell (1907–1992).

Brambell's first experience as an actor was as a child, entertaining the wounded troops during the First World War. After leaving school, he worked part-time as a reporter for The Irish Times and part-time as an actor at the Abbey Theatre before becoming a professional actor for the Gate Theatre. He also did repertory at Swansea, Bristol, and Chesterfield.

In the Second World War, he joined the British military forces entertainment organisation ENSA.

Acting career

Brambell had roles in film and television from 1947, his first being an uncredited appearance 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).

He played Jacob, an immigrant from eastern Europe selling newspapers in Paris, in an episode of Maigret entitled "A Man of Quality", first broadcast on 12 December 1960.

All of these roles earned Brambell a reputation for playing old men, despite being aged in his 40s. 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 was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on Christmas Eve. Brambell's booming baritone voice surprised many listeners: he played the role straight, true to the Dickens original. In 1971, he starred in the premiere of Eric Chappell's play, The Banana Box, in which he played Rooksby. This was adapted for television under the name Rising Damp, with the character of Rooksby renamed Rigsby and played by Leonard Rossiter. 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.

Steptoe and Son and A Hard Day's Night

It was Brambell's ability to play old men that led to his casting in his best-remembered role as Albert Steptoe, the irascible father in Steptoe and Son, a man who, when the series began, was said to be in his sixties, even though Brambell was only aged 50 in 1962 (thirteen years older than Harry H. Corbett, who played his son Harold). The series began as a pilot on the BBC's Comedy Playhouse, and its success led to the commissioning of a full series. It ran from 1962 to 1974, including a five-year hiatus. A constant thread throughout the series was Albert being referred to by Harold as a "dirty old man"; for example, when he was eating pickled onions while taking a bath and retrieving dropped ones from the bathwater. There were also two feature film spin-offs, a stage show, and an American incarnation titled Sanford and Son, some episodes of which were almost exact remakes of the original British scripts.

The success of Steptoe and Son made Brambell a high-profile figure on British television and earned him the supporting role of Paul McCartney's grandfather in the Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night (1964). A running joke is made throughout the film of his character being "a very clean old man", in contrast to his being referred to as a "dirty old man" in Steptoe and Son. In real life, he was indeed nothing like his Steptoe persona, being dapper and well-spoken. He notably spoke with a distinct received pronunciation accent, in strong contrast to both his Cockney Steptoe accent and his native Irish accent, which he would use where the role dictated. In 1965, Brambell told the BBC that he did not want to do another series of Steptoe and Son, and in September that year, he travelled to New York City to appear in the Broadway musical Kelly at the Broadhurst Theatre. It closed after a single performance.

Later career

After the final series of Steptoe and Son concluded in 1974 Brambell had some guest roles in films and on television. He and Corbett also undertook a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1977, in a stage production based on Steptoe and Son. He and Corbett appeared together in character for the last time in a 1981 advertisement for Kenco Coffee.

John Sullivan considered him for the role of Grandad in Only Fools and Horses, but decided against it as he thought Brambell was too closely associated with Steptoe. The role later went to Lennard Pearce who's character encompased some of Steptoe's habits.

In 1982 he appeared in Terence Davies's film Death and Transfiguration, playing a dying elderly man who finally comes to terms with his homosexuality. His performance in this short film, a segment of The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983), won him critical acclaim. Brambell appears throughout the full 24-minute piece, but he does not speak a single word.

Personal life

In 1982, Brambell appeared on BBC News paying tribute to Corbett, after the latter's death from a heart attack.

In 2002, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary film, When Steptoe Met Son, about the off-screen life of Brambell and his relationship with Corbett. The film claimed that the two men detested each other and were barely on speaking terms after the Australian tour. The claimed rift was supposedly caused in part by Brambell's alcoholism and supposedly evidenced by the pair leaving the country on separate planes. The claim was disputed by the writers of Steptoe and Son, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who rejected any hatred or conflict. 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 nearly a year in Australia, went on several sightseeing trips together, and left the tour at the end on different planes because Harry was going on holiday with his family, not because he refused to get on the same plane." They continued to work together after the Australian tour on radio and adverts, with it being generally accepted that the relationship between the two actors was under its greatest strain during the tour, though Brambell and Corbett soon settled their differences "fairly amicably", and in the spring of 1978 performed a short BBC radio sketch entitled Scotch on the Rocks.

Brambell was married to Mary Josephine Hall (known as "Molly") from 1948 to 1955. They divorced after she gave birth to their lodger's baby in 1955.

In 1962 Brambell was arrested and accused of persistently importuning in a toilet in Shepherd's Bush, but was conditionally discharged. Decades after his death it was claimed that Brambell was homosexual but Brambell himself asserted "I'm not a homosexual ... The very thought disgusts me."

Death

Brambell died of cancer at his home in Westminster, London, aged 72, on 18 January 1985. He was cremated on 25 January 1985 at Streatham Park Cemetery, where his ashes were scattered. Just six people attended his funeral: his brother, his partner Raymond, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, a BBC representative, and his former co-star Corbett's widow, Maureen.

Legacy

The Curse of Steptoe, a BBC television play about Brambell and his co-star Harry H. Corbett, was broadcast on 19 March 2008 on digital BBC channel BBC Four, featuring Phil Davis as Brambell. The first broadcast gained the channel its highest audience figures to date, based on overnight returns.

Filmography

• Odd Man Out (1947) as tram passenger (uncredited)
• The Cherry Orchard (1947; BBC live drama) as station master
• Eyes that Kill (1947) as newspaper editor (uncredited)
• Jassy (1947) as servant (uncredited)
• Happy as Larry (1948, TV Movie) as First Tailor
• Another Shore (1948) as Arthur Moore
• The Green Scarf (1954) as Court clerk (uncredited)
• Break-In (1956) as army cookhouse sergeant
• Dry Rot (1956) as Tar Man
• The Story of Esther Costello (1957) as man in pub (uncredited)
• The Government Inspector (1958; BBC live drama) as postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin
• The Salvage Gang (1958) as The Tramp
• Serious Charge (1959) as Verger
• Captured (1959)
• Urge to Kill (1960) as Mr. Forsythe
• Flame in the Streets (1961) as Mr. Palmer senior
• What a Whopper (1961) as Postman
• The Sinister Man (1961) as Lock keeper
• Scotland Yard – "The Grand Junction Case" (1961) – Dr Stanton
• The Boys (1962) as Robert Brewer Lavatory Attendant
• In Search of the Castaways (1962) as Bill Gaye
• The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963) as Harry
• The Three Lives of Thomasina (1964) as Willie Bannock
• Go Kart Go (1964) as Fred, Junkman
• A Hard Day's Night (1964) as John McCartney (Paul McCartney's grandfather)
• Crooks in Cloisters (1964) as Phineas
• San Ferry Ann (1965) as Grandad
• Where the Bullets Fly (1966) as Train Guard
• Alice in Wonderland (1966) as White Rabbit
• Mano di velluto (1966)
• Witchfinder General (1968) as Master Loach (as Wilfred Brambell)
• Lionheart (1968) as Dignett
• Cry Wolf (1968) as Delivery man
• Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence (1969) as Malipiero
• Carry On Again Doctor (1969) as Mr. Pullen, a patient (uncredited)
• Some Will, Some Won't (1970) as Henry Russell
• To Catch a Spy (1971) as Beech (uncredited)
• Steptoe and Son (1972) as Albert Steptoe
• Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973) as Albert Steptoe
• Holiday on the Buses (1973) as Bert Thompson
• All Creatures Great and Small (1978, TV Series) as Dinsdale's Brother
• The Adventures of Picasso (1979) as Alice B. Toklas
• High Rise Donkey (1980) as Ben Foxcroft
• The Island of Adventure (1982) as Uncle Jocelyn
• The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983) as Robert Tucker (old age)
• Sword of the Valiant (1984) as Porter (final film role)

Further reading

• Brambell, (Henry) Wilfrid (1912–1985), David Parkinson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

External links

• Wilfrid Brambell at IMDb
• Wilfrid Brambell at the TCM Movie Database
• Wilfrid Brambell biography at the BFI's Screenonline