Steve Crook

Not many people would ask their wife to put a notice in The Times saying something like "John Le Mesurier wishes it to be known that he conked out on November 15th. He sadly misses his family and friends."

Or who's last words would be "It's all been rather lovely" before slipping into a final coma.

A gentle man and a gentleman

Steve

faginsgirl

I really didn`t realise that Wilfred was so well spoken, although of course I didn`t think he spoke like his Steptoe character.



xx

Creative people feel isolated, they create, they`re not part of an established functioning society!

therealcharro

He was frail was he?? He was acting!! Watch the performance AFTER that in SWORD OF THE VALIANT where he is in perfect health... Actors act, I'm sorry if that is a surprise to you... Wilf had considered himself retired by then but both directors wanted him and persuaded him to play the parts as they knew it would enhance their films.

Wilf did far more than Steptoe and anyone who believes the crap in 'When Steptoe Met Son' or 'The Curse of Steptoe' on which the BBC were sued and lost obviously need to take TV less seriously

My favourite Brambell performance is in Picassos Aventyr where he plays real life character Alice B. Toklas.

I also solved the 39 Steps riddle... im sure I'm not the first to... he DIDN'T play the 'When was Crippin Buried' character - anyone who thinks he did clearly needs to go to specsavers, but he WAS in it for a few seconds, see www.albertandharold.co.uk :: View topic - Wilfrid Brambell and The Riddle of The 39 Steps....

cornershop15

What a wonderful clip that is. I wasn't too surprised to hear Wilfred's mellifluous tones as I remember his emotional interview the day Harry H. Corbett died, but seeing them together there is both a happy sight, and, confusingly, a sad one as they are not only dead but have since had their off-screen relationship and private lives cross-examined by bored gossip-mongers. But to see Wilfred laughing there is just great.

I was going to say that Harold Wilson was the only other person I recognised but Peter Haigh, whose name appears at the end and who is seen introducing the actors, became a familiar face - for one week only - when he introduced some shows on the BBC's Golden Anniversary more than twenty years later.

When you understand the past, the confusion of the present becomes clearer - John Betjeman.

CaptainWaggett

Surely the BBC weren't sued? I thought Corbett's family complained that the timetable of his marriages was portrayed inaccurately for which the BBC apologised and made some edits to the play for its next showing. Not sure what was 'crap' about the play's portrayal of Brambell though and it certainly didn't follow the 'they hated each other' line.

therealcharro

The BBC could not be prosecuted as you can not liable the dead, you can say anything you like about a dead person.. Wilfrid was really Elvis Presley in disguise... see... but they WERE sued by Wilf's partner who inherited his estate. The court ruled that the BBC made the program up (due to incompotency as their writers were not talented enough to find an interesting story in the truth - in any other organisation if ur incompetent u get fired... I'm happy to see your hard earned cash going to good use...)

Yes, Harry's family made them retract the lies they had made up, but even if they did hate each other.. do you like everyone you work with? In all honesty? who cares!!! If they did hate each other thats the best compliment they were ever given as the chemisty on screen shows the exact opposite so as a Steptoe fan I hope they did as this means they were far better actors than we ever imagined!!!

The Curse of Steptoe used When Steptoe met Son as a source... When Steptoe's researches admitted in court to making it up...

People actually believe they didnt work after Steptoe... Harry had 2 sitcoms (Grundy and Potter only didnt last because he died!!) Wilf was brought out of retirement twice because directors knew his worth... I think they did more with their lives than the people who say they did nothing....

Mr Sloane

Was n't it Frankie Howerd's partner who threatened to sue over that programme?

therealcharro

Frankies partner sued over the frankie episode too as they made that up aswell. It wasn't a successful series for the BBC.

CaptainWaggett

I'm confused here. Why was a court involved if the BBC wasn't sued? I'd be interested to read about the court case - have you got any references? And the BBC programme didn't suggest that they hated each other, just that they weren't best friends (as you say, this isn't particularly unexpected with two people who don't have much in common but work closely together).

I've not seen anyone on this forum suggest that they didn't work after Steptoe. You might be interested in this thread on the BBC programme which got varied responses here.

Corinne

You seem like an angry little ant. This is only a forum for pleasant discussions, not for being berated!

Steve Crook

It proves nothing that you or someone else has put that same photo on another site and said "it looks like him" - that's not proof that it was him.

The IMDb is very wary about what they refer to as "Elvis sightings" which cover just this sort of situation. When someone sees an actor in a film that looks vaguely like someone famous and leaps to the assumption that it is that famous person in an uncredited role.

It doesn't matter how much that extra happens to look like Brambell, you will now need to find some convincing evidence to show that he was in the country - not still in Dublin, or that he had at least visited the mainland in 1934/35. And that would just be a start, you'd still be some way from proving that he was in it.

Steve

TomDaws

I had dinner with him one evening in Pimlico, at a restaurant near where we both lived. An extremely dapper man - the complete opposite of his Steptoe personna. He told me a joke about a man who went to the doctor and said that he had an orgasm every time he sneezed. "Have you taken anything for it ?" "Yes - pepper." He also told me about his ex-wife, who'd run off with the lodger called Roger. I wasn't sure I believed him , but I think the same tale cropped up in the BBC drama ?

therealcharro

I believe the lodger was called Roger, however ridiculous that seems.

Today I had the plasure of hearing an archive performance of Brambell in the 1966 radio play version of "A Christmas Carol" and Wilfrid plays the part relatively straight, in his natural voice. Only when he plays 'Old Scratch; the future vision of Scrooge does he play him as a crotchety old man, which is great.

People who have seen him in "Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano" will know he didn't always fall into playing the stereotype, and his portrayal of Scrooge is a strange but good one. His acting is remarkable.

I recommend the radio play to any of his fans.

Automotivehistorian

Excuse me for resuscitating a thread but my wife insisted that she wanted to see (twice) the episode with Leonard Rossiter (again). What I had not noticed before was that Harold says to Albert that he's a 'Ponce', which causes his eyes to widen noticeably. I can't help thinking that this given what we now know was Mr Bramble's orientation, this could have been very close to the knuckle. Power to his elbow, Mr Bramble seemingly carried-on regardless after a couple of seconds' reaction. Unless there was any editing!

Steve Crook

What orientation? Was he a pimp? That's one of the meanings of "Ponce". The other meaning is just someone wearing fancy, over-the-top clothing and jewellery popular with pimps

Steve