Obituary
Man About The House was before my time, but I remember Robin Snest. Part of my childhood, he seemed to be a comfortable 70s male archetype, along with Robin Askwith, Tony Blackburn, Terry Scott, Leonard Rossiter etc.
Richard O’Sullivan
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MATH was definitely of its time with R O’S playing the perma horny bloke living with two gorgeous girls but at the time it was great fun (and my first crush was on Sally Thomsett). He was a solid and funny actor. RIP.
I was Team Jo too…no offence, Chrissie!
Jo was lovely too, let’s be honest. The funny angle was they were so unselfconsciously attractive and just regarded him as you might a rather dim pet dog.
Was apparently in the running for lead role in the Confessions films. Robin Askwith who got the part was a close friend of Richard OSullivan, and a regular visitor to the Care Home where he lived following a stroke at 59.
Mike Yarwood also resided at the same Care Home
I could imagine him in the Confessions films.
He was in at least one 70”s sex comedy. Together TV on Freeview in the U.K. broadcasts some of them late at night.
They’re grim period pieces. Lame vehicles for flashes of t and a.
Anyway, he was in one with Gabrielle Drake. The usual Chekovian dialogue and plotting ensued, of course.
He was great in sitcoms. He probably wasn’t.but he seemed to be ad libbing some of the dialogue and thoroughly enjoying himself. I liked him a lot.
As mentioned above he was a child actor and shared one appearance in Jimmy Edwards ‘Whack-o!’ with John Mitchell. Or Mitch Mitchell as he became.
“Anyway, he was in one with Gabrielle Drake. ”
Au Pair Girls, directed by Val Guest. With a topsa soundtrack by Roger Webb still available from Trunk Records.
“It makes great toast”.
Pretty awful show, but he was a likeable actor. Sorry to hear of his lengthy health issues. RIP
Aside from MATH (and Robin’s Nest), Richard had a pretty storied career. As a child actor, he appeared in a number of popular TV series, including ‘…Robin Hood’, and with the RSC in Stratford. Went on to have roles in notable films including The Nun’s Story (with Audrey Hepburn), Cleopatra (Burton and Taylor) and The Young Ones and Wonderful Life (Sir Clifford Of Richard).
After many one-off appearances in 60s TV shows, he had a major role in the ‘Doctor’ comedy series across the early 70s, then of course on to his most famous role as Robin Tripp. After that period, he went on to having a memorable stint as the titular Dick Turpin, a show I loved at the time (it’s being shown on Talking Pictures TV at the moment, but I don’t want to taint my fond memories).
Also, I read a lovely eulogy from Sarah Bracknell of Saint Etienne, whose parents were close friends of ROS; she remembers good times with him from her childhood, and her delight that he played her dad in the video for I Was Born On Christmas Day.
From the many tributes, he does seem to be a very well-liked fella, though perhaps not so much by Tony Blackburn.
I remember him mainly from Dick Turpin. 31 episodes, which was a decent run. Written by Kip Carpenter, who went on to do Robin of Sherwood.
Loved it as a kid. One two-parter ended part one with Dick T being tied to a flaming wagon wheel and rolled down a hill. In classic old school Lone Ranger style, he was free in a trice at the start of part 2. Six-year-old me was genuinely worried.
Wouldn’t the chocolate have melted?
Arf!
They were bigger in the 18th century, so he might have just got away with it.
MATH. He played the part very well. At the time it seemed pretty risqué to have a bloke sharing with 2 girls.
Jo was the better of the 2 girls but ST couldn’t really act.
But the best by far were Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy.
I caught ROS in Carry on Teacher recently playing a schoolboy.
Completely agree – George and Mildred were excellent characters and their spin off sitcom was better than its parent.
Crikey. I found out today that Sally Thomsett was 20 when she was in The Railway Children – two years older than Jenny Agutter.
I saw Sally Thomsett, Jenny Agutter and Bernard Cribbins in Bradford talking about the making of the film.
They said Lionel Jeffries was strict about Sally and Jenny’s behaviour.
From IMDB
Sally Thomsett was twenty when she was cast as eleven-year-old Phyllis. Her contract forbade her to reveal her true age during the making of the film and she was not allowed to be seen smoking, drinking, going out with her boyfriend or driving the sports cars that were her passion. Even the film crew did not know her true age.
Lionel Jeffries grounded Jenny Agutter and Sally Thomsett when he caught them in a nightclub in Leeds after they had sneaked off the set for a night on the town
Lionel Jeffries? In a night club? Good grief.
He’d been tipped off about their visit to the nightclub so went to drag them out.
Hard to believe but in 1970 Lionel was only 44.