Summer Wine's 'Foggy' dies aged 80

chris

Brian Wilde, the actor who played Foggy in the TV series Last of the Summer Wine and the long-suffering prison officer Barraclough in Porridge, has died aged 80.

He died in his sleep at a Hertfordshire nursing home yesterday after suffering a fall seven weeks ago. Wilde was born in Lancashire in June 1927. "He will be sadly missed by colleagues and family alike. He brought a great deal of laughter into many people's lives," said his agent, Nick Young.

Wilde had minor roles in films such as Carry on Doctor, but it was through the two classic BBC television sitcoms that he became a household name. He joined Last of the Summer Wine as the ex-army corporal Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst for its third series in 1976. He appeared in more than 100 episodes, co-starring with Bill Owen and Peter Sallis, and appeared opposite Ronnie Barker in Porridge.

He left in 1985 but rejoined in the series 1990 and remained until 1997.

The BBC producer Alan JW Bell said: "He was perhaps the best of the Summer Wine 'third men' - he was the most loved of all the characters.

"He was a fine actor to work with, very professional. He was an old-school actor - you turned up, knew your lines and played them the very best you could.

"He had an enormous warmth to the public when he was off the set. He didn't like to hobnob with the actors - when there was a break, he preferred to go to a pub around the corner to meet the real people."

Sallis, said: "I first met him when he was about 16 at Rada. If you saw him in Porridge or Last of the Summer Wine then you knew as much about him as I did. He was a private person, not in a stuffy way, but he didn't mix socially.

"If you saw him in character as Foggy you get a pretty good idea of what Brian was like. His work was exemplary."

Source: guardian

Topper

Great shame quite a character, touched many hearts and made us laugh

War does not determine who is right, it determines who is left!

Formerly toppervte33h
whose six pack has turned into a keg

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