Profile of Brian Wilde on Famous Like Me

Brian Wilde (b. 1 June 1921, Lancashire, England) is a British actor, made famous by his comedic roles.

Though Wilde had minor roles in films such as The Jokers and Carry On Doctor (both 1967) and television series such as The Love of Mike (1960) and Room at the Bottom (1966) as Mr Salisbury, he first came to the public's attention in 1970, when he took over from John Woodvine as "Bloody Delilah" in the ITV sitcom The Dustbin Men.

In 1973, Wilde starred in the second episode of Seven of One, a series of seven individual stories, all of which starred Ronnie Barker. In the episode, entitled "Prisoner and Escort", Wilde played Mr Barrowclough, a prison warden whose job it is to escort Barker's character Fletch across to moors to his prison. The episode proved popular and a series was commissioned by the BBC, called Porridge. In the series, Wilde reprised his role as the timid and ineffective Barrowclough. Porridge ran until 1978, with a film version in 1979 and made Wilde a household name.

Wilde's other - perhaps more - famous role arose in 1976, when he took over from Michael Bates as the third member of a trio of old men in BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. As Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst, a determined ex-army man who planned the groups mis-adventures with military precision and a painstaking eye for detail, Wilde saw the series gather momentum and become greatly successful. Wilde stayed with the series for 9 years before leaving in 1985, to work on other projects. It has been suggested that Wilde had tired of reputed tension on set. Foggy was written out of the series - it was said that he had moved to Bridlington to take over the family egg painting business - and replaced by Michael Aldridge as Seymore Utterthwaite.

In 1988 he stared in his own series, Wyatt's Watchdogs as Major Wyatt, a retired soldier, who forms his own neighbourhood watch group. As a stuffy ex-army member who leads a motley bunch of comic characters, Wyatt was quite similar to Foggy. The programme only ran for one series of six episodes.

When Aldridge left Last of the Summer Wine, Wilde returned, reprising his role as Foggy in 1990, reuniting the series' most popular and enduring line-up. He would remain until 1997 when he suffered a mild infection forced. Though not serious, Wilde elected to stand-down for the first five episodes of the 1997 series in case it worsened. Originally this was intended to be a temporary absence, during which he was replaced by Frank Thornton. However, a scheduling problem - caused by the filming of a Christmas Special made to introduce Thornton's charactere - made it impossible for Brian - by then fully fit - to return in that series. Producer Alan JW Bell has stated "Since then, he has been invited to return many times, but says he feels he has 'done it now' and doesn't want to go back. I am sure that one day he will make an appearance - we still have his costume standing by." Wilde's reluctance to return to the series has only fuelled the rumours stated in 1985 that he does not get on well with other cast members.

The series has since undergone many changes following the deaths of several cast members, most notably Bill Owen. This, along with reduced appearances by an aging Peter Sallis, and a largely different supporting cast, means that even if Wilde were to return, the chances of once more reuniting the successful trio are slimmed to nil.

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