Buster Merryfield

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Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Harry "Buster" Merryfield<ref name=only>Only Fools and Horses: The Official Inside Story</ref> (27 November 1920<ref name="ReferenceA">England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007</ref> – 23 June 1999) was an English actor best known for starring as Uncle Albert in the BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses.

Early life

Merryfield was born and raised in Battersea, London, England.<ref name=library>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His father, also called Harry,<ref name=london>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was a fitter, and his mother Lily (née Stone) was a part-time waitress.<ref name=london/> His sister Irene died when she was eight years old. He was given the name "Buster" by his grandfather,<ref name=london/> as he weighed Template:Convert at birth,<ref name=london/> and it stuck throughout his entire life. He refused to divulge his real name, which only became known after his death.<ref name=london/>

He followed a strict fitness regime of daily press-ups and swimming sessions.<ref name=fools>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As a boxer, he was a British schoolboy champion in 1936<ref name=fools/> and Southern Command army champion in 1945.<ref name=fools/> He was also an amateur football player and Millwall supporter, regularly attending games at the Old Den. In contrast to his pipe-smoking and rum-drinking character Uncle Albert, Merryfield was a teetotaller and non-smoker his entire life.<ref name="library" /><ref name="fools" />

Career

Before turning professional as an actor, Merryfield was a keen amateur actor and director.<ref name=london/> His productions of John Osborne's The Entertainer (1966), The World–My Canvas (1968) by Ruth Dixon and A View from the Bridge (1969) by Arthur Miller, for the now-defunct amateur theatre group the Characters, won Best Play at the Woking Drama Festival in 1966, 1968 and 1969 respectively.<ref name="woking-play">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also won the Best Actor trophy for his roles in The Entertainer and The World–My Canvas.<ref name="woking-actor">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Merryfield became a professional actor at the age of 57,<ref name=library/><ref name=london/> after having worked for the Westminster Bank for nearly 40 years.<ref name=library/><ref name=london/> He began work there on 11 July 1938 and passed his banking exams in 1939.<ref name=library/> During his time with the bank, he reached the position of senior area manager,<ref name=library/> but his banking career was interrupted by his war service.<ref name=only/> He spent the war in the army,<ref name=london/> where his physique allowed him to become a PT and jungle-warfare instructor. Awarded an emergency commission in the Royal Artillery on 13 March 1942, Merryfield was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. During the war, he discovered his love of acting when he served as an entertainment officer staging shows for the troops.<ref name=fools/>

After the war, the now married Merryfield returned to the bank,<ref name=library/> where he was promoted until he because manager of the Shepperton sub-branch in April 1967;<ref>Middlesex Chronicle - page 18 - 28th April 1967</ref> by the time of his early retirement<ref name=library/> from NatWest in July 1978, he was a bank manager at the Thames Ditton branch in Surrey.<ref name=only/> After retiring, Merryfield persuaded a repertory company to admit him. He performed at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Equus. Merryfield appeared in some small television parts, including Hannah in 1980, as Professor Challis in The Citadel in 1983 and as a bishop in Strangers and Brothers in 1984.<ref name="woking-play"/><ref name="woking-actor"/>

Merryfield joined Only Fools and Horses in January 1985<ref name=library/> as the former seafaring Albert Gladstone Trotter, known as Uncle Albert,<ref name=library/> who was Grandad Trotter's long-lost younger brother and was known for his catchphrase of "During the war...".<ref name=library/> The character was added after Lennard Pearce, who played Grandad, died in December 1984.<ref name=library/> Nine months earlier in March 1984, Merryfield and Pearce had costarred in two episodes of Shroud for a Nightingale. Merryfield did much work for charities such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He wrote his autobiography, During the War and Other Encounters, in 1996.<ref name=london/>

In December 1997, Merryfield fell at the British Comedy Awards while walking to the stage to collect an award for David Jason for his part in Only Fools and Horses. Despite cutting his forehead, he continued and collected the award. Merryfield appeared in pantomime during Christmas of 1997 and 1998 in the father role in Beauty and the Beast at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth.<ref name=panto>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Merryfield could play the piano<ref name="verwood">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> by ear but could not read music.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was also a fan of disco dancing.<ref>Liverpool Echo - Thursday 18 July 1985</ref>

Death

Merryfield died at Poole General Hospital on 23 June 1999<ref name=fools/> as a result of a brain tumour.<ref name=london/> He was survived by his wife Iris,<ref name=fools/> whom he had married in June 1942, his daughter and two grandchildren. He was buried at Verwood Cemetery, Dorset.<ref name=dorset/> Iris died on 5 November 2002 and was buried alongside him.<ref name=dorset>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1983 The Citadel Professor Challis 2 episode
1984 Shroud for a Nightingale Sir Miles Honeyman 1 episode
1984 Strangers and Brothers Bishop 2 episodes
1985–1996 Only Fools and Horses Albert Gladstone Trotter 37 episodes

References

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