WILFRID BRAMBELLIrish actor Wilfrid Brambell, who died on 18 January, 1985, was best known for his portrayal of "dirty old man" Albert Steptoe in the long-running BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son.
It was the pinnacle of a career in which a man who was in fact a very well-spoken actor with roots in the theatre had been continually and unflatteringly cast as an old man, even in his forties. He was, therefore, strangely perfect to star alongside Harry H Corbett in the inter-generational comedy.
His other prominent comic roles included playing Paul McCartney’s grandfather in A Hard Day's Night (1964) and a holidaymaker in one of the On the Buses movies.
Wilfrid Brambell was born in Dublin on 22 March, 1912. After leaving school he split his time between reporting for the Irish Times and acting at the Abby Theatre, turning professional a few years later at the Gate Theatre.
During the Second World War he was part of the entertainment division of the British Forces who would tour Shakespeare and other productions across various theatres of war.
Either side of the war he had done extra work in British films (including Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, 1935) and in 1952 he made his television debut, playing an old drunk in an episode of The Quatermass Experiment. He was only in his forties, but already being typecast as ‘Old Man’, ‘A Tramp’ or ‘A Drunk’ in numerous series and television plays.
When renowned comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson finished scripting Hancock's Half Hour in 1961, they wrote a series of one-offs for the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse, one of which was called Steptoe and Son.
They purposefully cast two serious actors – Mr Brambell and "the English Marlon Brando" (as he had been dubbed earlier in his career for his brooding performances) Harry H Corbett – as opposed to comedians for their sitcom which would reflect the downbeat, downtrodden mood of Britain as it entered the 1960s.
Albert Steptoe, who was much older than Mr Brambell’s 50, was a rag-and-bone man whose business had been forced upon his much-suffering son, Harold. The conniving, bigoted Albert would do his utmost to stifle the social ambitions of Harold, partly from spite, but also partly due to a tragic dependence on his carer.
The show enjoyed 12 years on the television, with 57 episodes and a further two feature-length spin-offs. In the years after Steptoe and Son both actors found it hard to escape the programme and were eventually forced to embark on aSteptoe and Son stage show in Australia.
Mr Brambell’s other famous role was in the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, playing Paul’s grandfather, "a very clean old man" according to the running gag that acknowledged his Steptoe role. In the film he accompanies the band to a television studio and nearly splits them up when he puts doubts into Ringo’s head about his value to the rest of the group.
Work was sparse in the last years of his life, though interestingly he was much praised for his portrayal of a dying homosexual in a Terence Davies short, three years before his own death from cancer aged 72. Harry H Corbett had died of a heart attack three years previously.
Mr Brambell had been married once (1948-1955) and was survived by a partner to whom he reportedly left £170,000.
Photograph shows Mr Brambell, right, in Steptoe and Son with Harry H Corbett
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