He had a Good Life: Tributes paid to 'a national treasure, a great actor and a wonderful man' as Richard Briers dies aged 79

Richard Briers, known to millions for his enduring role in TV sitcom The Good Life, has died aged 79.
The star, who was also well-known for his Shakespearean roles, had been battling a serious lung condition for years and died ‘peacefully’ at his London home yesterday, his agent said.
Briers, who also starred in shows such as Ever Decreasing Circles and Monarch Of The Glen, told the Daily Mail just three weeks ago that years of smoking had been to blame for his emphysema.

Treasured: His role as Tom in The Good Life was beloved by millions in Britain and many more across the world

Sad news: The Good Life star Richard Briers, pictured with Prunella Scales, has died today aged 79

In an interview with the It's Friday section of the Daily Mail last month, which was his last, he spoke of his struggles with lung disease.
'I’ve got emphysema, you see, so I’m b*****d. Five hundred thousand cigarettes, that’s the trouble,’ he said.

 

‘I haven’t even got the strength to garden any more,’ he said, a love of his linked to his famous role as the ebullient Tom Good in the BBC comedy classic The Good Life.
‘It’s totally my fault. So, I get very breathless, which is a pain in the backside. Trying to get upstairs, oh God, it’s ridiculous. Of course, when you’re bloody nearly 80 it’s depressing because you’ve had it anyway.’

Much-loved: Richard Briers, who has died aged 79, is pictured in this 1973 grab from Between The Wars on ITV

Celebrated: Mr Briers was most famous for his sitcoms but was also an outstanding classical actor and voice over artist

His varied career saw him narrating the 1970s children's cartoon series Roobarb And Custard, as well as adding his voice to the animated version of Watership Down.
Although best known for his comedy roles in film and TV, a new strand to his career unfolded when he joined Sir Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987, and went on to work on a number of classical roles.
Sir Kenneth spoke fondly as he paid tribute to Briers today. saying: 'He was a national treasure, a great actor and a wonderful man. He was greatly loved and he will be deeply missed.'
They worked together on Henry V, Peter's Friends, Much Ado About Nothing and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein during their lengthy association.
His agent, Christopher Farrar, of Hamilton Hodell, said: 'Richard was a wonderful man, a consummate professional and an absolute joy to work alongside.

Happy times: Briers (second left) in a 1975 episode of the Good Life with Felicity Kendal (left), Penelope Keith (centre right) and Paul Eddington (right)

'Following his recent discussion of his battle with emphysema, I know he was incredibly touched by the strength of support expressed by friends and the public.
'He has a unique and special place in the hearts of so many. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy go to his family at this sad time.'
His most recent performances have included roles in last year's Cockneys Versus Zombies, plus a small role in a newly released movie version of stage farce Run For Your Wife.
Briers's former co-star Scales said today: 'He was just a wonderful colleague and a dear friend.'

She told BBC Radio 5 Live she would always be 'so grateful to him' for encouraging her to read for the part of his wife in Marriage Lines. Scales and her husband Timothy West were newly married at the time.

'To have an income like that was absolutely magical, it was very hard work of course, one episode a week,' she added.

And former BBC chairman Michael Grade told the radio station: 'I think the nation has lost one of its most favourite, favourite, favourite actors of all time - he's sort of up there with Ronnie Barker and Alan Bennett, you know, the people you're always pleased to see doing anything on television or in the theatre.'

Household names: Richard Briers as Tom Good with Felicity Kendal as Barbara on BBCs The Good Life which ran from 1975-1978

Shane Allen, the BBC's controller for comedy commissioning, said: 'Richard Briers holds a very special place in British sitcom history having starred in several monumentally successful and well-loved shows. He was an incredibly accomplished actor who enjoyed a long, varied and distinguished career and will be greatly missed.'
Peter Egan, his co-star in Ever Decreasing Circles, said: 'I spent nearly 10 years just laughing. He was just the most magical comedian, a huge talent, has been a part of the nation's lives for over 50 years.'
Speaking to Radio Berkshire, Egan went on: 'He is a centre-piece of our humorous culture and a magnificently talented man. I'm so deeply sad today that he has left us. He was a great person.'
His godson, the actor and director Samuel West - whose mother Prunella Scales appeared alongside Briers in Marriage Lines - said on Twitter: "What a lot of joy he spread.'

Legend: Richard Briers and his wife, Anne, at a film opening in 2003 and Mr Briers collecting his CBE at Buckingham Palace the same year

Rada-trained Briers made his West End debut in the late 1950s in Gilt And Gingerbread, and went on to work on a number of British films - Bottoms Up, Murder She Said, The Girl On The Boat and Fathom, alongside Raquel Welch.
He struck gold as an actor with his many sitcoms in the 1970s and 1980s, although none more so than The Good life in which he starred with Penelope Keith, Felicity Kendal and the late Paul Eddington, who died in 1995.
Briers also returned to the stage many times in his career, with numerous roles in the works of Alan Ayckbourn, including Relatively Speaking, Absurd Person Singular and Absent Friends.
Briers will be best remembered for his performance as Tom Good, alongside Felicity Kendal, in the 1970s BBC1 sitcom The Good Life about a couple who drop out of the rat race in Surbiton, south west London, to enjoy a life of simply self-sufficiency.
Mr Briers was one of the most popular television sitcom actors of his generation.
He was the lynchpin of three of the most notable sitcoms ever made in Britain - Marriage Lines, The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles.
The success of these shows means he will be best remembered as a bumbling, fussy and occasionally downtrodden figure in some of the most successful TV comedies of his era.

But he was no less acclaimed as a distinguished Shakespearean actor, a major development in his career, at a point when he said 'I realised I had gone as far as I could doing sitcoms'.

On-screen love: Richard and Prunella Scales have been close since they played newlyweds George and Kate Starling in Sixties comedy Marriage Lines

But after a long career in popular television, Briers joined Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987, and his already very successful professional life took a new turn as he moved on to major classical roles.
Briers was born on January 14 1934 and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he won the silver medal and a scholarship to Liverpool Playhouse in 1956. Two years later he made his first West End appearance in Gilt And Gingerbread. He barely stopped working from that day onwards.
He was awarded the OBE in 1989 for services to the arts and a CBE in 2003.
Briers married the actress Anne Davies in 1956. They had two daughters.