Bernard Cribbins biography
Bernard Cribbins, OBE (born 29 December 1928) is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active performer.
He is particularly known to British audiences as the story-telling narrator in The Wombles, a children's programme which ran for 40 episodes between 1973 and 1975. He also recorded several hit novelty records in the early 1960s and was a regular and prolific performer on Jackanory on BBC TV between 1966 and 1991. Cribbins' most recent prominent role has been as Wilfred Mott, companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who.
Early life
Born in Derker, Oldham, Lancashire, Cribbins served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre, taking a break during his years of study to undertake National Service with the Parachute Regiment in his late teens.
Early stage and record career
Cribbins made his first West End theatre appearance in 1956 at the Arts Theatre playing the two Dromios in
A Comedy of Errors and co-starred in the first West End productions of
Not Now Darling,
There Goes the Bride and
Run for Your Wife. He also starred in the revue
An' Another Thing, and recorded a single of a song from the show entitled "Folksong". In 1962 he recorded two highly popular and well-remembered comic songs, "Right Said Fred" (in which a group of workmen struggle to relocate what would seem to be a piano) and "Hole in the Ground" (in which an embittered workman murders a bowler-hatted harasser).
Films
Cribbins appeared in films from the early 1950s, mainly in comedies. His credits include
Two Way Stretch (1960) and
The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) with Peter Sellers,
Crooks in Cloisters (1964) and three
Carry On films -
Carry On Jack (1963),
Carry On Spying (1964) and
Carry On Columbus (1992). Other appearances include the second
Doctor Who film
Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966), Mr Albert Perks, the station porter, in
The Railway Children (1970) and Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock's disturbing thriller
Frenzy (1972). Later films include
Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective (1981) and
Blackball (2003).
Narration and voice work
He was the narrator of the British animated children's television series
The Wombles from 1973 to 1975 and also narrated a celebrated BBC radio adaptation of
The Wind in the Willows. He was the celebrity storyteller in more episodes of
Jackanory than any other personality, with a total of 114 appearances between 1966 and 1991.
He provided the voice of the Tufty character in RoSPA road safety films in the 1960s. He also provided the voice of Buzby, a talking cartoon bird that served as the mascot for the then Post Office, He also appeared reduced to OO gauge in adverts for Hornby model trains.
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