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{{Infobox person | {{Infobox person | ||
| image = Bryan Pringle.jpg | | image = Bryan Pringle.jpg | ||
| caption = | | caption = | ||
| birthname = | | birthname = | ||
| birth_date = {{birth date|1935| | | birth_date = {{birth date|1935|01|19|df=y}} | ||
| birth_place = [[ | | birth_place = [[Glascote]], [[Tamworth, Staffordshire|Tamworth]], [[Staffordshire]], England | ||
| death_date = {{death date and age|2002| | | death_date = {{death date and age|2002|05|15|1935|01|19|df=y}} | ||
| death_place = [[ | | death_place = [[Northamptonshire]], England | ||
| othername = | | othername = | ||
| yearsactive = 1960–2002 | | yearsactive = 1960–2002 | ||
| Line 17: | Line 13: | ||
| homepage = | | homepage = | ||
}} | }} | ||
'''Bryan Pringle''' (19 January 1935 – 15 May 2002) was an [[ | '''Bryan Pringle''' (19 January 1935 – 15 May 2002) was an [[English people|English]] character actor who appeared for several decades in television, film and theatre productions. | ||
==Life and career== | ==Life and career== | ||
Born in [[ | Born in [[Glascote]], [[Tamworth, Staffordshire|Tamworth]], [[Staffordshire]], he was brought up in the [[Lancashire]] town of [[County Borough of Bolton|Bolton]]. After boarding at [[St Bees School|St Bees School]], Cumberland,<ref>Old St Beghian Bulletin January 2019</ref> he trained at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art|Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] in [[London|London]], winning the 1954 Bancroft Gold Medal<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0697799/bio |title = Bryan Pringle - Biography - IMDb| website=[[IMDb|IMDb]] }}</ref> and leaving in 1955.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles?yr=1955 |title = Student & graduate profiles — RADA}}</ref> Three years later he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had two children. She died in 1999. | ||
=== Theatre work === | === Theatre work === | ||
Pringle started as a member of the [[ | Pringle started as a member of the [[Old Vic|Old Vic]] company between 1955 and 1957, appearing with [[Coral Browne|Coral Browne]], [[John Neville (actor)|John Neville]], [[Claire Bloom|Claire Bloom]] and others in several [[Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] plays and touring with four of them - ''[[Romeo and Juliet|Romeo and Juliet]]'', ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', ''[[Troilus and Cressida|Troilus and Cressida]]'' and ''[[Macbeth|Macbeth]]'' - in the USA.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theatricalia.com/play/45k/four-plays-by-william-shakespeare/production/927 |title = Production of Four Plays {{!}} Theatricalia}}</ref> He then moved to [[Nottingham Playhouse|Nottingham Playhouse]], where he appeared in the [[Willis Hall|Willis Hall]] drama ''Boys It's All Hell'' and was the only cast member to travel with the play to London. There, [[Lindsay Anderson|Lindsay Anderson]] remounted it as ''[[The Long and the Short and the Tall (play)|The Long and the Short and the Tall]]'' at the [[Royal Court Theatre|Royal Court Theatre]] in January 1959; also starring [[Peter O'Toole|Peter O'Toole]] and [[Robert Shaw (British actor)|Robert Shaw]], the play transferred to the [[New Theatre (London)|New Theatre]] in April.<ref>Frances Stephens, ''Theatre World Annual (London)'' Number 10, Barrie & Rockliff, London 1959, pages 99-101</ref> Later that year, in October, Pringle appeared opposite Robert Shaw again in [[Guy Hamilton|Guy Hamilton]]'s production of the [[Beverley Cross|Beverley Cross]] play ''One More River'' at the [[Duke of York's Theatre|Duke of York's Theatre]].<ref>Frances Stephens, ''Theatre World Annual (London)'' Number 11, Barrie & Rockliff, London 1960, page 27</ref> | ||
In 1961 he was at [[ | In 1961 he was at [[Theatre Workshop|Theatre Workshop]], working with [[Joan Littlewood|Joan Littlewood]] on the [[Henry Livings|Henry Livings]] play ''Big Soft Nellie''. (Ten years later he was top-billed in [[Michael Apted|Michael Apted]]'s TV version of the same play for [[Granada Television|Granada Television]].)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6f4ed1e6 |title = Big Soft Nellie (1971) {{!}} BFI}}</ref> Then, having joined the [[Royal Shakespeare Company|Royal Shakespeare Company]], he scored two personal successes in the summer of 1964, first as Stanley in [[Harold Pinter|Harold Pinter]]'s ''[[The Birthday Party (play)|The Birthday Party]]'' (directed by the playwright), then as the dustbin-bound Nagg in the [[Samuel Beckett|Samuel Beckett]] play ''[[Endgame (play)|Endgame]]''.<ref>Frances Stephens, ''Theatre World Annual 1966'' Number 16, Iliffe Books, London 1965, pages 58, 60</ref> Among later theatre credits, he starred with [[Jane Asher|Jane Asher]] and [[Brian Murphy (actor)|Brian Murphy]] in the [[Romain Weingarten|Romain Weingarten]] play ''Summer'' at the [[Fortune Theatre|Fortune Theatre]] in 1968,<ref>''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 15th edition, Pitman Publishing, London 1972, page 147</ref> appeared as Malvolio in ''[[Twelfth Night|Twelfth Night]]'' at the Bankside Globe in 1973<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ahds.rhul.ac.uk/ahdscollections/docroot/shakespeare/performancedetails.do?performanceId=12046 |title=Twelfth Night, McDougall, Bankside Globe, June 1973 |access-date=18 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201043425/http://www.ahds.rhul.ac.uk/ahdscollections/docroot/shakespeare/performancedetails.do?performanceId=12046 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (reprising the role at the [[Ludlow Festival|Ludlow Festival]] 15 years later), was [[Michael Crawford|Michael Crawford]]'s father in ''Billy'' at the [[Theatre Royal Drury Lane|Theatre Royal Drury Lane]] in 1974,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://castalbums.org/recordings/Billy-1974-Original-London-Cast/1502 |title = Billy > Original London Cast : CastAlbums.org}}</ref> returned to Nottingham Playhouse in 1977 to play Dogberry in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing|Much Ado About Nothing]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theatricalia.com/play/1/much-ado-about-nothing/production/w0y |title = Production of Much Ado About Nothing {{!}} Theatricalia}}</ref> and appeared opposite [[David Suchet|David Suchet]] in the [[John Hopkins (screenwriter)|John Hopkins]] play ''This Story of Yours'' (Hampstead Theatre, 1987).<ref>''This Story of Yours'' a play by John Hopkins / Hampstead Theatre: programme by Stilwell Darby & Co Ltd: '1987 no 7'</ref> In his final decade he appeared in major revivals of ''[[My Fair Lady|My Fair Lady]]'' (as Doolittle; 1992)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://birminghamhippodromeheritage.com/bh_chronology/my-fair-lady-2/ |title = My Fair Lady – Hippodrome Heritage}}</ref> and [[Joe Orton|Joe Orton]]'s ''[[Entertaining Mr Sloane|Entertaining Mr Sloane]]'' (as Kemp; 1999–2001).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2001/legit/reviews/entertaining-mr-sloane-4-1200466592/ |title = Entertaining Mr. Sloane - Variety}}</ref> | ||
=== Film work === | === Film work === | ||
| Line 38: | Line 34: | ||
==Death== | ==Death== | ||
In later life Pringle lived in [[ | In later life Pringle lived in [[Northamptonshire|Northamptonshire]], where he died on 15 May 2002; his body was buried alongside his wife's in the cemetery of St Laurence Church in [[Brafield on the Green|Brafield on the Green]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.martin-nicholson.info/cemetery/cemeterybrafield.htm |title = Martin Nicholson's Cemetery Project}}</ref> | ||
==Selected filmography== | ==Selected filmography== | ||
| Line 143: | Line 139: | ||
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1394827/Bryan-Pringle.html Obituary in ''The Telegraph''] | * [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1394827/Bryan-Pringle.html Obituary in ''The Telegraph''] | ||
* [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/may/22/guardianobituaries1 Obituary in ''The Guardian''] | * [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/may/22/guardianobituaries1 Obituary in ''The Guardian''] | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Bryan}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Bryan}} | ||
Latest revision as of 22:54, 18 February 2023
Bryan Pringle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 19 January 1935 |
| Died | 15 May 2002 (aged 67) Northamptonshire, England |
| Years active | 1960–2002 |
| Spouse |
Anne Jameson
(m. 1958; died 1999) |
| Children | 2 |
Bryan Pringle (19 January 1935 – 15 May 2002) was an English character actor who appeared for several decades in television, film and theatre productions.
Life and career
Born in Glascote, Tamworth, Staffordshire, he was brought up in the Lancashire town of Bolton. After boarding at St Bees School, Cumberland,[1] he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, winning the 1954 Bancroft Gold Medal[2] and leaving in 1955.[3] Three years later he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had two children. She died in 1999.
Theatre work
Pringle started as a member of the Old Vic company between 1955 and 1957, appearing with Coral Browne, John Neville, Claire Bloom and others in several Shakespeare plays and touring with four of them - Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, Troilus and Cressida and Macbeth - in the USA.[4] He then moved to Nottingham Playhouse, where he appeared in the Willis Hall drama Boys It's All Hell and was the only cast member to travel with the play to London. There, Lindsay Anderson remounted it as The Long and the Short and the Tall at the Royal Court Theatre in January 1959; also starring Peter O'Toole and Robert Shaw, the play transferred to the New Theatre in April.[5] Later that year, in October, Pringle appeared opposite Robert Shaw again in Guy Hamilton's production of the Beverley Cross play One More River at the Duke of York's Theatre.[6]
In 1961 he was at Theatre Workshop, working with Joan Littlewood on the Henry Livings play Big Soft Nellie. (Ten years later he was top-billed in Michael Apted's TV version of the same play for Granada Television.)[7] Then, having joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, he scored two personal successes in the summer of 1964, first as Stanley in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party (directed by the playwright), then as the dustbin-bound Nagg in the Samuel Beckett play Endgame.[8] Among later theatre credits, he starred with Jane Asher and Brian Murphy in the Romain Weingarten play Summer at the Fortune Theatre in 1968,[9] appeared as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the Bankside Globe in 1973[10] (reprising the role at the Ludlow Festival 15 years later), was Michael Crawford's father in Billy at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1974,[11] returned to Nottingham Playhouse in 1977 to play Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing[12] and appeared opposite David Suchet in the John Hopkins play This Story of Yours (Hampstead Theatre, 1987).[13] In his final decade he appeared in major revivals of My Fair Lady (as Doolittle; 1992)[14] and Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane (as Kemp; 1999–2001).[15]
Film work
Pringle appeared in many films, beginning with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) as Rachel Roberts' cuckolded husband. He also appeared alongside Norman Wisdom in the 1965 film The Early Bird as the treacherous rival milkman, Austin, the role for which he is perhaps best remembered. He continued to be cast in many notable films, such as French Dressing and The Boyfriend (both for director Ken Russell), Brazil, Drowning by Numbers and B. Monkey.
Television work
Pringle also made numerous television appearances, gaining fame as 'Cheese & Egg' in the Granada Television sitcom The Dustbinmen (1969–70). Earlier, he was Charles Pooter in Diary of a Nobody, made by Ken Russell for BBC 2 in 1964; also for the BBC, he played Len Wiles, adoptive father of Terry Wiles, in On Giant's Shoulders in 1979, Pistol in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part II and Henry V the same year, and Sergeant Match in a 1987 version of the Joe Orton play What the Butler Saw.
In 1980 he played Albert Case, leader of a group of villains in The Professionals episode Weekend in the Country.[16] Other notable appearances were as landlord Arthur Pringle in Series 2 of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1986), as Barker in the Inspector Morse episode Deceived by Flight (1989) and as pathologist Felix Norman in Prime Suspect (1991). He played the part of the farmer Mr. Grimsdale in the second series of "All Creatures Great and Small". Pringle also appeared in 1985 in a well-known TV commercial advertising Heineken beer, playing a cockney elocutionist attempting to teach an upper-class woman (Sylvestra Le Touzel) how to say "The wa'er in Major'a don' taste like wot id ough' 'a" ("The water in Majorca don't taste like what it ought to").[17]
In the early 1980s he also appeared in a series of International Direct Dialling adverts. In the first advert he had the classic line "Sydney who?" only to be told "Not Sydney who, Sydney Australia", at which point the shock causes him to forcefully spit out a mouthful of tea he has just taken. The theme continued in further adverts.
Death
In later life Pringle lived in Northamptonshire, where he died on 15 May 2002; his body was buried alongside his wife's in the cemetery of St Laurence Church in Brafield on the Green.[18]
Selected filmography
- The Challenge (1960) - sergeant
- Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) - Jack
- H.M.S. Defiant (1962) - Sgt Kneebone
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - driver (uncredited)
- French Dressing (1964) - the Mayor
- The Early Bird (1965) - Austin
- How I Won the War (1967) - reporter
- Berserk! (1967) - Constable Bradford
- Diamonds for Breakfast (1968) - police sergeant
- Spring and Port Wine (1970) - bowler 3
- The Boy Friend (1971) - Percy Parkhill / Percy Browne
- Mister Quilp (1975) - Mr Garland
- Jabberwocky (1977) - guard at gate
- Bullshot (1983) - waiter
- The Young Visiters (1984) - Minnit the butler
- Brazil (1985) - Spiro
- Haunted Honeymoon (1986) - Pfister
- Consuming Passions (1988) - gateman
- Drowning by Numbers (1988) - Jake
- Inspector Morse (1989) - Barker (The Porter)
- Getting It Right (1989) - Mr Lamb
- Crimestrike (1990) - Super
- Three Men and a Little Lady (1990) - old Englishman
- American Friends (1991) - Haskell
- The Steal (1995) - Cecil, bank doorman
- Restoration (1995) - watchman
- Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) - Father Gilbert
- The Legend of 1900 (1998) - civil servant
- B. Monkey (1998) - Goodchild
- Darkness Falls (1999) - Mr Hayter
- Lover's Prayer (2001) - Stepan
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Hereward the Wake | Martin Lightfoot | ||
| 1965 | The Sullavan Brothers | Alderman Slater | ||
| 1965 | Gideons Way | John Stewart | Episode "Subway To Revenge" | |
| 1966 | The Caramel Crisis | McWithers | ||
| 1968-1970 | The Dustbinmen | Cheese & Egg | ||
| 1973 | Public Eye | Donald Reading | Episode "Home & Away" | |
| 1974 | The Pallisers | Mr Monk | ||
| 1974 | Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em | Mr Jackson | ||
| 1975 | The Growing Pains of PC Penrose | Sergeant Flagg | ||
| 1979 | Henry V | Pistol | ||
| 1980 | The Good Companions | |||
| 1981 | When The Boat Comes In | Doughty | ||
| 1982 | The Bell | Patchway | ||
| 1983 | Last of the Summer Wine | Ludovic | Episode "Cheering Up Ludovic" | |
| 1984 | Cockles | Ernie | ||
| 1985 | Auf Wiedersehen, Pet | Arthur Pringle | ||
| 1987 | Hardwicke House | Councillor Hodgkins | Episode 4 "Prize Giving". Was due to air on ITV, on 11 March 1987 but never broadcast. Released on YouTube in 2019. | |
| 1988 | King and Castle | George Fossett | Series 2 "Dim Sums" aired 17 May 1988. | |
| 1988 | All Creatures Great and Small | Grimsdale | ||
| 1990 | Wish Me Luck | Father Martin | ||
| 1991 | Prime Suspect | Felix Norman | ||
| 1994 | Moving Story | Branwell | ||
| 1997 | A Prince Among Men | Vince Hibbert | ||
| 1997 | Snow White: A Tale of Terror | Father Gilbert | ||
| 2003 | Barbara | Mr Cooper | (final appearance) |
References
- ^ Old St Beghian Bulletin January 2019
- ^ "Bryan Pringle - Biography - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ "Student & graduate profiles — RADA".
- ^ "Production of Four Plays | Theatricalia".
- ^ Frances Stephens, Theatre World Annual (London) Number 10, Barrie & Rockliff, London 1959, pages 99-101
- ^ Frances Stephens, Theatre World Annual (London) Number 11, Barrie & Rockliff, London 1960, page 27
- ^ "Big Soft Nellie (1971) | BFI".
- ^ Frances Stephens, Theatre World Annual 1966 Number 16, Iliffe Books, London 1965, pages 58, 60
- ^ Who's Who in the Theatre 15th edition, Pitman Publishing, London 1972, page 147
- ^ "Twelfth Night, McDougall, Bankside Globe, June 1973". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ "Billy > Original London Cast : CastAlbums.org".
- ^ "Production of Much Ado About Nothing | Theatricalia".
- ^ This Story of Yours a play by John Hopkins / Hampstead Theatre: programme by Stilwell Darby & Co Ltd: '1987 no 7'
- ^ "My Fair Lady – Hippodrome Heritage".
- ^ "Entertaining Mr. Sloane - Variety".
- ^ ""The Professionals" Weekend in the Country (TV Episode 1980) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ "Accents: Cockney – the water in Majorca - Classless English". Retrieved 2012-06-12.
- ^ "Martin Nicholson's Cemetery Project".
