Richard Briers
Acting • Born 1934-01-14 – Died 2013-02-17
Biography
Richard David Briers, CBE (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor. His fifty-year career encompassed television, stage, film and radio. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines (1961–66), but it was a decade later, when he narrated Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk (1974–76) and when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975–78), that he became a household name. Later, he starred as Martin in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89), and he had a leading role as Hector in Monarch of the Glen (2000–05). From the late 1980s, with Kenneth Branagh as director, he performed Shakespearean roles in Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006).
Filmography
122 credits
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Movie • 1994
Grandfather
Hamlet
Movie • 1996
Polonius
Watership Down
Movie • 1978
Fiver (voice)
Much Ado About Nothing
Movie • 1993
Signor Leonato
In the Bleak Midwinter
Movie • 1995
Henry
Fathom
Movie • 1967
Flight Lt. Timothy Webb
Love's Labour's Lost
Movie • 2000
Sir Nathaniel
It's Your Move
Movie • 1982
The Husband
Heavy Weather
Movie • 1995
The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
Cockneys vs Zombies
Movie • 2012
Hamish
The Bargee
Movie • 1964
Tomkins
Run For Your Wife
Movie • 2012
Newspaper Seller
Rentadick
Movie • 1972
Miles Gannet
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
Movie • 2005
Self
Great
Movie • 1975
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
A Matter of WHO
Movie • 1961
Jamieson
Swan Song
Movie • 1992
Nikita
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Movie • 1988
Malvolio
Peter Pan
Movie • 2003
Sam "Smee" Smiegel
Girls at Sea
Movie • 1958
'Popeye' Lewis
All the Way Up
Movie • 1970
Nigel Hadfield
Arms and the Man
Movie • 1983
Bluntschli
The Four Musketeers
Movie • 1974
Louis XIII (voice) (uncredited)
The Three Musketeers
Movie • 1973
Louis XIII (voice)
The Good Life: Secret & Scandals
Movie • 2022
(archive footage)
Roobarb and Custard: The Complete Collection
Movie • 2017
Narrator, Roobarb, Custard / lot of characters. (uncredited)
All in Good Time
Movie • 1964
The Young Husband
Village Wooing
Movie • 1979
A
A Chorus of Disapproval
Movie • 1989
Ted Washbrook
The Aerodrome
Movie • 1983
The Rector
Our Hidden Lives
Movie • 2005
Herbert Brush
Murder She Said
Movie • 1961
'Mrs Binster'
Mouse and Mole at Christmas Time
Movie • 2013
Mouse (voice)
Doctor in Distress
Movie • 1963
Medical Student (uncredited)
Mole's Christmas
Movie • 1994
Rat
The Student Prince
Movie • 1998
Dr. Corbitt
Dad
Movie • 2005
Larry James
Peter's Friends
Movie • 1992
Lord Morton
Henry V
Movie • 1989
Lieutenant Bardolph
Bottoms Up!
Movie • 1960
Colbourne
Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band: The Official BBC Children in Need Medley
Movie • 2009
Roobarb/Custard (voice)
National Theatre Live: London Assurance
Movie • 2010
Mr. Adolphus Spanker
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
Movie • 2016
Acting Role (archive footage) (uncredited)
Spice World
Movie • 1997
Bishop
As You Like It
Movie • 2006
Adam
A Small Miracle
Movie • 1976
Himself - Commentator
Skallagrigg
Movie • 1994
Old Arthur/George
Our Flesh and Blood
Movie • 1977
Mr. Smythe
The Adventures of Mole
Movie • 1995
Rat
A Home of Your Own
Movie • 1964
The Husband
Unconditional Love
Movie • 2002
Barry Moore
The Girl on the Boat
Movie • 1962
Eustace Hignett
All About The Good Life
Movie • 2010
P.Q. 17
Movie • 1981
Jack Broome
The Adventures of Toad
Movie • 1996
Rat
Doctor Who: Paradise Towers
Movie • 1987
The Chief Caretaker
Victoria & Albert
Movie • 2001
Joseph Paxton
Frances the Firefly
Movie • 1994
Narrator (voice)
Horror on the High Rise
Movie • 2011
Bob the Builder: The Knights of Can-A-Lot
Movie • 2003
Robert (voice)
Children's Favourites - Volume 1
Movie • 1988
Alias (voice)
The Good Life: Inside Out
Movie • 2025
French and Saunders' Christmas Carol
Movie • 1994
Self
Ever Decreasing Circles
TV • 1984
Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Stephen Wentworth
Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk
TV • 1976
Torchwood
TV • 2006
Parker
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
TV • 2001
Self
Doctor Who
TV • 1963
Chief Caretaker
Tales of the Unexpected
TV • 1979
Albert Dobson
Monarch of the Glen
TV • 2000
Hector MacDonald
Comedy Connections
TV • 2003
The Good Life
TV • 1975
Tom Good
Marriage Lines
TV • 1961
Mr. Bean
TV • 1990
Mr. Sprout
Lovejoy
TV • 1986
Raymond Doncaster
If You See God, Tell Him
TV • 1993
Godfrey Spry
Roobarb
TV • 1974
From a Bird's Eye View
TV • 1970
George Lemon
New Tricks
TV • 2004
James Farlow
Wogan
TV • 1982
Self
Natural World
TV • 1983
That's What I Call Television
TV • 2007
Self
My Appalling School Report
TV • 2006
Down to Earth
TV • 1995
Tony Fairfax
Goodbye Mr Kent
TV • 1982
Travis Kent
Brothers In Law
TV • 1962
Tall Stories
TV • 1971
The Other One
TV • 1977
Ralph Tanner
Alias the Jester
TV • 1985
Alias
A Bucket O' French and Saunders
TV • 2007
Extras
TV • 2005
Richard Briers
Ooh La La!
TV • 1968
Kingdom
TV • 2007
Jim Wright
Geoff Hamilton: a Man and His Garden
TV • 1998
Narrator
Brass Eye
TV • 1997
Self
Dixon of Dock Green
TV • 1955
Ken Tracey
A Respectable Trade
TV • 1998
Sir Charles Fairley
Screen Two
TV • 1985
Old Arthur/George
The Norman Conquests
TV • 1977
Reg
Bird Bath
TV
Narrator
Roobarb and Custard Too
TV • 2005
Narrator
Agatha Christie's Marple
TV • 2004
Wilson
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Mr. Smythe
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
TV • 2000
NBC Experiment in Television
TV • 1967
(voice)
Parkinson
TV • 1998
Self
Little Red Tractor Stories
TV
Narrator (voice)
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Commander Jack Broome
Armchair Theatre
TV • 1956
Stanley Frelaine
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Sandy Tyrell
Birds on the Wing
TV • 1971
Charles Jackson
Ben Travers Farces
TV • 1970
Charlie Tutt
All in Good Faith
TV • 1985
Reverend Philip Lambe
The Galton & Simpson Playhouse
TV • 1977
Henry Fairlane
Watership Down
TV • 1999
Captain Broom (voice)
Noddy
TV • 1975
Narrator
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
David Prentice
Faces of Jim
TV • 1961
John Frobisher
Faces of Jim
TV • 1961
Lighthouse Assistant
Faces of Jim
TV • 1961
Ricky Groin
One-Upmanship
TV • 1976
Stephen Potter