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 2012 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
And Another Thing, and recorded a single of a song from the show entitled "Folksong". In 1962 he recorded two comic songs, "Hole in the Ground" (in which an embittered workman murders a bowler-hatted harasser) and followed it with "Right Said Fred" (in which a group of workmen struggle to relocate something resembling a piano). Both were produced by George Martin for Parlophone, with music by Ted Dicks and lyrics by Myles Rudge. "Hole in the Ground" reached No. 1 in the charts, and the other two songs reached high positions.
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 also narrated the audio tape of 'The Mousehole Cat' which was written by Antonia Barber in 1990.
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