Bernard Fox, A Latter Day C. Aubrey Smith

[Gavin Gaughan]

....or perhaps a poor man's Thorley Walters, or David Tomlinson. Not really sure what to make of this rotund, moustachioed person. The nephew of the legendary Wilfrid ("Wait till you see the other feller!") Lawson, he began in tours of outdated (and probably rather patronising) Northern dialect plays with Thora Hird, rating a mention in her autobiography, then supported in a couple of forgotten early ITV sitcoms, THE LOVE OF MIKE and THREE LIVE WIRES. But the only performances of his that seem freely available are in American films and (especially) television, in which he never seemed to play anything but stuffy 'I say, old chap' stereotypes; arguably he's better known to the Yanks than to his own people, whenever I mention him everyone thinks I mean James or Edward Fox. His name on the cast list seemed to guarantee all the usual 'Veddy British' (whatever that means) cliches and stock footage of Trafalgar Square, as in his phoney-as-a-nine-bob-note episodes of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., HART TO HART and the normally delightful COLUMBO (Peter Falk is on record as disliking that one, and I'm not surprised). The first inkling I had that TITANIC was going to be a load of old rubbish was when I found out he was in it: as is quite well known, at least he holds the record of having been in both that and A NIGHT TO REMEMBER.

[Marky B]

Was he not in Bewitched and The Mummy?

Ta Ta

Marky B [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[TheLurkerKIng]

(Marky B @ Dec 7 2005, 08:18 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

Was he not in Bewitched and The Mummy?

Ta Ta

Marky B :thumbsup:

[/b]

Yes, he was Dr. Bombay in the former and a British pilot in the latter.



And he's one of America's (and mine) favorite British character actors.



I might also add, that he is probably one of the last surviving regular cast members of "Betwitched."

[cornershop15]

TVTimes interview, 3rd September 1961

I can't say I'm familiar with Bernard Fox but am puzzled by the original poster's comparison of this actor to C. Aubrey Smith! What I do know is that Three Live Wires, alluded to earlier, is lost in its entirety His co-stars were the too-rarely-seen Michael Medwin and George Roderick, who I mostly remember as a Barman in the first episode of The Saint. I had no idea that viewers at the time might have recognised him as a Sitcom star.

This article is mostly about Bernard's newfound passion for sailing but it's still significant as it reveals
he was about to leave Britain for America - soon after becoming a household name by the look of it:

Bernard did very well in the States, regularly on screen for almost 40 years until 2001. He had major roles in famous sitcoms Bewitched (as Dr. Bombay) and Hogan's Heroes (Colonel Crittenden). I've seen one of his two Columbo episodes (Troubled Waters, but not Dagger of the Mind), and the films A Night to Remember and The List of Adrian Messenger, yet still can't place him. Even his Actors Compendium page is no help. An ideal subject for 'Getting to Know You' ... but he has his own thread.

Bernard Fox at the Internet Movie Database

[will.15]

Bernard Fox could be relatively low key as in his memorable appearance on The Andy Griffith Show as a valet, but more often played his comedy broadly and was very good at it in the right part. Not at his best on Bewitched as the show had become exceedingly silly at that point and his character was rarely integral to the main story. He was much better in eight appearances on Hogan's Heroes as a rather inept British officer. His style was closer to John Cleese than C. Aubrey Smith. He was also Dr. Watson in an awful TV movie adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

[will.15]

I just remenbered Bernard Fox performed live on stage here:



Mayfair Music Hall An English Music Hall-styled vaudeville theater devised and created by entrepreneur Milt Larsen, located in Santa Monica, California, USA.

This theater was designed by Architect Henry C. Hollwedel, and built in 1913 as the Santa Monica Opera House. Shortly after they renamed it the Majestic Theater and featured silent movies and split week vaudeville.

It was remodeled after sound came in in the late twenties.

The theater was rather plain and was modernized during the sixties.

Milt Larsen, John Shrum and Thomas Heric transformed it into a Victorian Music Hall in 1972 and produced British Variety Shows there for 8 years. The ornate boxes and staff work were rescued from the grand old Belmont Theater, a major movie palace adjacent to the famed Bimini Baths at 1st and Vermont in Los Angeles.

Entrepreneur Larsen's full traditional music hall productions featured noted actors and performers like Bernard Fox, Beatrice Kay, Larry "Seymour" Vincent, Mousie Garner, Ian Whitcomb, Eubie Blake, Gene Bell, English entertainer Joyce Howard and other actors and musical stars of the day.


The theater was also used for the "Putting on the Ritz" number in the movie Young Frankenstein.