Reg Varney

2022-06-04T08:16:12Z

2A00:23C6:F28A:FF01:5411:79A:DC0E:3442: /* Early life */Fixed incorrect birth information

{{Short description|English actor (1916–2008)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Reg Varney
| image = Reg Varney (1972).jpg
| caption = Varney in 1972
| birth_name = Reginald Alfred Varney
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1916|07|11}}
| birth_place = [[Canning Town]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2008|11|16|1916|7|11}}
| death_place = [[Budleigh Salterton]], England
| television = ''[[On the Buses]]''
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|comedian|entertainer}}
| yearsactive = 1938–1995
| parents =
| spouse = {{marriage|Lilian Flavell|1939|2002|end=her death}}
| children = 1
}}
'''Reginald Alfred Varney''' (11 July 1916 – 16 November 2008)<ref name="BBC obit">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7732403.stm |title=On The Buses' Varney dies at 92 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=16 November 2008 | date=16 November 2008}}</ref> was an English actor, entertainer and comedian. He is best remembered for having played the lead role of bus driver Stan Butler in the [[London Weekend Television|LWT]] sitcom ''[[On the Buses]]'' (1969–73) and its three spin-off feature films. Having performed as a [[music hall]] entertainer, Varney first came to national recognition as factory foreman Reg Turner in the BBC sitcom ''[[The Rag Trade]]'' (1961–63). He appeared in further sitcoms including ''[[Beggar My Neighbour (TV series)|Beggar My Neighbour]]'' (1966–1968) and ''On the Buses'' stardom facililated overseas cabaret tours.

==Early life==
Varney was born in Canning Town, London , to Sidney Thomas Varney and his wife Annie (née Needham). His father worked in a rubber factory in [[Silvertown]] and he was one of five children who grew up in Addington Road, Canning Town. He was educated at the nearby [[Star Lane DLR station|Star Lane]] Primary School in [[West Ham]] and after leaving school at 14, he worked as a messenger boy and a page boy at the [[Regent Palace Hotel]].

Varney took piano lessons as a child and was good enough to find employment as a part-time piano player. His first paid engagement was at [[Plumstead]] Radical Club in [[Woolwich]], for which he was paid eight [[shilling]]s and [[Sixpence (British coin)|sixpence]] (42½p). He also played in [[working men's club]]s, pubs and [[ABC Cinemas|ABC cinemas]], and later sang with big bands of the time. He and his mother decided that show business was the career for him, and he gave up his [[day job]]s. Varney became a solo pianist at the [[Windmill Theatre]] in May 1938.<ref name="telegraph" >{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3469283/Reg-Varney.html|title=Reg Varney|date=16 November 2008|access-date=7 August 2020|website=Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> In late 1939, he married Lilian E. Flavell (1915-2002) at [[East Ham]].

During the [[Second World War]], Varney joined the [[Royal Engineers]], but continued his performing career as an army entertainer, touring in the [[Far East]] for a time. After being [[demobilization|demobilised]] in the late 1940s, he starred on stage in a comic revue entitled ''Gaytime'', with [[Benny Hill]] as his partner in a double act.<ref name="Hudd">{{cite book |last1=Hudd |first1=Roy |last2=Hindin |first2=Philip |title=Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts |publisher=Robson Books |year=1997 |page=81 |isbn=978-1-86-105115-8}}</ref> He then became an all-round entertainer, working his way around the [[music hall]]s.

== Career ==
[[File:Gold ATM, Barclays, Enfield (2).jpg|thumb|right|Gold cash dispensing machine marking the site of Varney's historic withdrawal]]
Varney had made only a small number of film and TV appearances prior to being cast in the role of long-suffering factory foreman Reg Turner in the BBC television sitcom ''[[The Rag Trade]]'' (1961–63), which made him a household name. He was aware that he was the only performer without West End acting experience and worked hard to make up for it. Slightly later, he starred in a show for BBC TV called ''The Valiant Varneys'' (1964–65), performing multiple characters in front of a live audience. After that followed another comedy role in ''[[Beggar My Neighbour (TV series)|Beggar My Neighbour]]'' (1966–68); this also starred [[Pat Coombs]], [[June Whitfield]], and [[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]]. Pat Coombs played the wife of Varney's character. Varney featured in ''[[The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery]]'' (1966) with [[Frankie Howerd]], [[Dora Bryan]] and [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]].

The world's first voucher-based [[Automated teller machine|cash dispensing machine]] was installed at the [[Enfield Town]] branch of [[Barclays|Barclays Bank]]. Varney was living in [[London Borough of Enfield|Enfield]] at the time and for publicity purposes he was photographed making the first withdrawal from the machine on Tuesday 27 June 1967.<ref>{{cite news |last=Milligan |first=Brian |title=The man who invented the cash machine |work=BBC News |date=25 June 2007 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6230194.stm |access-date=17 November 2008}}</ref>

Varney's most successful lead role was in the [[London Weekend Television|LWT]] sitcom ''[[On the Buses]]'' (1969–73) as bus driver Stan Butler. Varney took considerable lengths to prepare for the role, even attempting to gain a [[Commercial driver's license|public service vehicle licence]] so that he could be filmed driving on the open road. However, Varney was not insured so LWT had to employ professional drivers for these scenes. Three spin-off films were made — ''[[On the Buses (film)|On the Buses]]'' (1971), ''[[Mutiny on the Buses]]'' (1972) and ''[[Holiday on the Buses]]'' (1973). Varney was 52 when the first series was recorded, although his character Stan, who lived with his mother and often tried to attract young women, was implied to be aged around 35. Varney was only eleven years younger than [[Doris Hare]], the main actress who played Stan's mother, and some twenty-one years older than [[Anna Karen]] who played his sister.

Varney left the series midway through its last season, hoping to move on to films and other projects. Ultimately, he only appeared in one further non-''Buses'' film, ''[[The Best Pair of Legs in the Business]]'' (1973), and two television series, both made by [[Associated Television|ATV]] for the ITV network: an eponymously titled [[sketch show]] (1973–74) and another sitcom, ''[[Down the 'Gate]]'' (1975–76), which was set in [[Billingsgate Fish Market]]. However neither series replicated his success with ''On the Buses'', and after ''Down the Gate'' was dropped after twelve episodes, Varney did not star in another television series. LWT revived ''The Rag Trade'' in 1977 but Varney did not reprise his role.

He later worked as an entertainer on cruise ships and toured [[Australia]] with his one-man show. He told an interviewer, "Whatever I did after ''On the Buses'', nobody wanted to know about it. But I can't knock the programme because it brought me offers to do concert tours in Australia, [[New Zealand]] and [[Canada]]."<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/reg-varney-comic-actor-and-entertainer-who-found-fame-in-on-the-buses-1023130.html |location=London |newspaper=The Independent |title=Reg Varney: Comic actor and entertainer who found fame in 'On The Buses' |date=18 November 2008}}</ref>

At the height of his fame he was a subject of the television programme ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' on 20 May 1970 when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]], making further appearances in programmes featuring [[Doris Hare]], [[Douglas Bader]], [[June Whitfield]] and [[Anthony Newley]].

Varney released several LP albums during his career - ''This Is Reg Varney On The 88s at Abbey Road'' on Columbia in 1972; ''Reg's Party - Reg Varney Plays And Sings'' on EMI-One-Up label in 1973; and ''A Variety of Varney'' on Astor in 1976.

== Retirement and death ==
Varney had a heart attack in 1965, and in 1981 he suffered a more serious one.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2008/reg-varney/ |title=Obituaries: Reg Varney |work=The Stage |date=1 December 2008 |url-access=registration }}</ref> He then contracted a severe viral infection, which for three years made working difficult for him. In 1989, he suffered a stroke, which left him with an uneven heartbeat.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> Subsequently, he divided his time between his home in a small village near [[Dartmouth, Devon|Dartmouth]] and a villa in [[Malta]].

Varney moved to [[Devon]] in the late 1980s and lived alone after his wife, Lilian Emma Varney died in [[East Devon]] in 2002, aged 87.

In his retirement years, Varney painted local landscapes in [[Oil painting|oil]], with many to professional standard; some of his works were exhibited in London.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/nov/17/reg-varney-obituary-buses-television |title=Obituary: Reg Varney |first=Dennis |last=Barker |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 November 2008 |access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref>

Varney died aged 92 in a [[nursing home]] in [[Budleigh Salterton]], Devon, on 16 November 2008, following a chest infection.<ref name="BBC obit"/>

In 2016, 100 years after Varney was born, an exhibition called "Before the Buses" was commissioned by his only child, his daughter Jeanne.<ref name="telegraph"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eastdevon24.co.uk/what-s-on/reg-varney-tribute-show-at-budleigh-football-club-1-4589392|title=Reg Varney tribute show at Budleigh Football Club|website=Eastdevon24.co.uk|access-date=7 August 2020}}</ref>

==Partial filmography==
* ''Crock Of Gold'' (1948) (TV film) – Harry Pickering
* ''[[Miss Robin Hood]]'' (1952) – Dennis
* ''Puss in Boots'' (1961) (TV film) – Jolly the jester
* ''[[Joey Boy (film)|Joey Boy]]'' (1965) – Rabbit Malone
* ''[[The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery]]'' (1966) – Gilbert
* ''[[On the Buses (film)|On the Buses]]'' (1971) – Stan Butler
* ''[[Mutiny on the Buses]]'' (1972) – Stan Butler
* ''[[Go for a Take]]'' (1972) – Wilfred Stone
* ''[[The Best Pair of Legs in the Business]]'' (1973) – Sherry Sheridan
* ''[[Holiday on the Buses]]'' (1973) – Stan Butler
* ''[[The Plank (1979 film)|The Plank]]'' (1979) – Window cleaner

==Selected television roles==

{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Title !! Role
|-
|1961–1963 || ''[[The Rag Trade]]'' || Reg Turner
|-
|1966–1968 || [[Beggar My Neighbour (TV series)|''Beggar My Neighbour'']] || Harry Butt
|-
|1969–1973 || ''[[On the Buses]]'' || Stan Butler
|-
|1975–1976 || ''[[Down the 'Gate]]'' || Reg Furnell
|-
|}

== Further reading ==
* Downs, Michael (2016). ''Our Little Clown: A Centenary Tribute to Entertainer Reg Varney.'' Fairlynch Museum.
* Varney, Reg (1990). ''The Little Clown: An Autobiography.'' Hodder & Stoughton. {{ISBN|0-340-52077-9}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{IMDb name|0890118|Reg Varney}}
* [http://downstairslounge.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/on-the-piano-with-reg-varney/ Reg Varney's 1972 album 'On the 88’s at Abbey Road']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varney, Reg}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English male television actors]]
[[Category:English male film actors]]
[[Category:People from Canning Town]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in England]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers soldiers]]
[[Category:British male pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century English painters]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
[[Category:21st-century English painters]]
[[Category:20th-century pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century British musicians]]
[[Category:British male comedy actors]]
[[Category:20th-century British male musicians]]
[[Category:Columbia Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:21st-century English male artists]]

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Reg Varney