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Bernard Cribbins (born 29th December 1928 in Derker, Oldham, died 27th July 2022) had ambitions from a young age to become an actor and enter showbusiness. He joined Oldham repertory at the age of fourteen and stayed with them for eight years, taking a break during this period for two years to complete his national service with the Parachute Regiment.

After several years as a professional actor working with the Piccolo Players in Manchester and the Queen's Players in Hornchurch he made his West End debut in 1956 at the Arts Theatre and appeared in comedy productions such as Not Now, Darling and Run for Your Wife. In the same year he made his television debut and appeared, uncredited, in The Yangtse Incident, his first film, the year after. Establishing a reputation for comic roles, he appeared in several of the Carry on... films in the 1960s, released two hit comic records (“Right Said Fred” and “Hole in the Ground”) and appeared in television series as diverse as The Avengers, The Troubleshooters, Armchair Theatre and Space 1999. On the big screen, he starred in She and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD. In 1969 he was given his own comedy series for television, the eponymous Cribbins, and also added another notch to his CV by being the narrator of the Tufty series of road safety films, the highly successful animated children’s series The Wombles, and the voice of Buzby, the cartoon bird mascot for adverts for British Telecom. In 1975 he made a memorable guest star appearance in Fawlty Towers. Nationally famous, he continued to appear in a variety of television programmes over the next thirty years including, from May to October 2003, con man and pensioner lothario Wally Bannister in eleven episodes of Coronation Street. His latest success from 2007 to 2010 was in several episodes of Doctor Who.

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