Our Patron: Richard Briers Esq. CBE |
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We were delighted to welcome Richard Briers as our Patron. It is a privilege for us to have such an eminent actor who has not only endeared us to him through his television productions, but has been a serious Shakespearean thespian. |
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Richard Briers was born in Raynes Park, Surrey, the son of Joseph Benjamin Briers and Morna Phyllis (née Richardson). He is the second cousin of actor Terry-Thomas, and spent his childhood in Raynes Park and Guildford. In 1961, Richard Briers gained the lead male role in Marriage Lines (1961-66) opposite Prunella Scales. The following year Briers appeared in Brothers in Law (from the book by Henry Cecil) as callow barrister Roger Thursby. His other early appearances included Dixon of Dock Green (1962), The Morecambe & Wise Show, The Seven Faces of Jim (1961) with Jimmy Edwards, a production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever (1968) and the storyteller in several episodes of Jackanory (1969). He was cast in one of the lead roles in The Good Life (1975-78), playing Tom Good, a draughtsman who decides, on his 40th birthday, to give up his job and try his hand at self-sufficiency. An enormously successful series, the last episode in 1978 was performed in front of The Queen. In 1977, he starred with his The Good Life co-star Penelope Keith in the televised version of Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy The Norman Conquests. During the 1980s and 1990s, he played roles in many programmes including Goodbye, Mr Kent (1982), All in Good Faith (1985), Tales of the Unexpected (1988), Mr. Bean (1990) and Twelfth Night (1988) as Malvolio. In 1987, he appeared in the Doctor Who episode Paradise Towers. From 1984 to 1989 he was the lead role of Martin Bryce in Ever Decreasing Circles, and in 1993 took the lead role of Godfrey Spry in the BBC comedy drama If You See God, Tell Him. Richard Briers has spent much of his career in theatre work, including appearances in plays by Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. In 1967, one of his earliest successes was playing alongside Michael Hordern and Celia Johnson in the London production of Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking. He was a member of Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company, taking on classical and Shakespearean roles including Malvolio in Twelfth Night and the title roles in King Lear and Uncle Vanya. |
Richard has also appeared in several of Kenneth Branagh's films, such as Henry V (as Bardolph, 1989), Much Ado About Nothing (as Signor Leonato, 2003), and as Polonius in Hamlet (1996). Richard Briers was appointed the OBE in 1989, and in 2003 he became a CBE. As a result of Terry-Thomas's Parkinson's disease, Briers became President of the Parkinson's Disease Society. |
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