IT'S A VERY HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY to BERNARD CRIBBINS TODAY! Born in 1928,
Cribbins started his acting career at the tender age of 14! An actor
since the age of 14 and was a major star on the London stage by his
mid-20s. It would be another ten years before he became a national star
with success in film comedies, with likes of Peter Sellers and a string
of hit records, the most popular probably being, 'A Hole In The Ground'
and 'Right Said Fred'. He appeared in several of the "Carry
On" series, and also achieved a great degree of success doing
voice-overs for cartoons and TV commercials. One of his biggest
successes being the 1970's children's animated puppet series, 'The
Wombles'.
CRIBBINS also took PETER CUSHING snorkelling in the Gulf of Aqaba! The pair were in Israel filming the Hammer films 'She', and Bernard recalls: “We did a couple of films together and that particular one was out in the Negev desert and we used to have a little swim at lunchtime. Peter was a very athletic gentleman. He played rugby, he told me, ‘I used to love to tackle people’ and you can’t imagine that ostensibly gentle man knocking people over! He was a good swimmer but he’d never been snorkelling, diving down and having a look at things, and he kept talking to me underwater, sounding like Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men which had me in hysterics!"
BACK IN 1974 Cribbins was interviewed for the role of DOCTOR WHO in 1974, as the BBC
prepared for Jon Pertwee, leaving the role. 'I didn't actually audition.
But when Jon Pertwee was leaving, the producer Barry Letts - who died
quite recently - interviewed a lot of actors, one of whom was me. I went
along and sat down and he said 'now then what can you do?' I said 'I'm a
very good swimmer, I was a paratrooper, I could fight' - and he said
'Oh no, no fighting no, the Doctor is never seen fighting at all!' So
Tom Baker became the next Doctor, and one of the first things I remember
him doing was knocking somebody out.'
BERNARD also appeared in many tv drama programes as a guest
star throughout the 1960's and 70's including the popular 'The Avengers'
in TWO episodes. 'The Girl From Auntie' and the weird, 'Look, Stop Me
If You've Heard This One, But There Are These Two Fella's'! Of all his
movie roles, Cribbins has a fondness for 'The Railway Children' directed
by Lionel Jeffries in 1970, where he played Albert Perks. Cribbins has a
longstanding association with the science-fiction series Doctor Who
(1963).
ABOVE: Cribbins as Arkwright in The Girl from Auntie
(1966)
... his first role in the UK television series, 'THE AVENGERS'
ABOVE Cribbins as Bradley Marler, with comedian Jimmy Jewel in "Look - (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers..." his second appearnce in The Avengers in 1966.
NOT ONLY DID HE play a companion in the second Peter Cushing
film, 'Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.' (1966), which was 40 years
before his regular role as a companion, Wilfred Mott, in the Russell T.
Davies version of Doctor Who (2005). It certainly has been a very active
and sucessful 90 years for sure. Please let us know what your favorite
Cribbin's films, roles and shows so far . ..over at the FACEBOOK PCAS FAN PAGE. I think he is
far from over yet! HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY BERNARD and have a wonderful day😀
TODAY WE ARE ALSO REMEMBERING and marking the BIRTHDAY of actress . . FREDA JACKSON who was born today. 29th December in 1907. Was there
ever a more frightening actresses in a Peter Cushing Hammer film? Here
we see her as the 'hair-raising' Greta in 'The Brides of Dracula' (1960)
starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Monlaur and David Peel. I have always
thought it was a great shame that Hammer didn't cast her in any of their
other films. She does appear in that 'is it a Hammer film or isn't
it?'... 'Shadow of the Cat' (1961) as Clara the maid. But what a waste!
Freda's performance as Greta in 'Brides' is as powerful now, as it was
when the film was released all those years ago. What an actress! Happy
Birthday, Freda!
FRED JACKSON'S GRETA, was also one of the very few feamle roles in Hammer's films, that also featured Cushing, that could give his character Van Helsing a fair fight on screen!!! 😮😉
