Norman Bird

Bird was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, England.^[1] A RADA graduate, he made his West End debut in Peter Brook's production of The Winter's Tale at the Phoenix Theatre in 1951.^[3] He was also a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company.^[4] His first film appearance was as the foreman in An Inspector Calls (1954).^[5]

He was a familiar face to British cinema audiences of the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in nearly 50 films such as The Angry Silence (1960), The League of Gentlemen (1960), Whistle Down the Wind (1961), Victim (1961) and Term of Trial (1962) with Laurence Olivier and The Hill with Sean Connery (1965).^[6]

He had over 200 television appearances, notably as Mr Braithwaite in Worzel Gummidge (1979–81) and Mr Arrad in the Fawlty Towers episode "Waldorf Salad" (1979).^[7][8] His long list of credits include Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, Rising Damp, Ever Decreasing Circles, Yes Minister, To Serve Them All My Days, All Creatures Great and Small, Z-Cars, Public Eye, The Saint, Department S, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Boon.^[9] In 1990 he appeared in Stay Lucky, with Dennis Waterman, which marked his 200th television appearance.^[1] One of his last film appearances was as a taxi driver in Richard Attenborough's Shadowlands (1993).^[10]

At 16 he left school and spent six months working in an office before studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.^[6] During the Second World War, he served with Royal Air Force, being demobbed in 1947.^[6]

He met his wife Nona Blamire (Joan Hood in radio's The Archers) in rep in Northampton. They married in 1953 and lived in Teddington for many years. In 1992 they moved to Bridgnorth, Shropshire, to be nearer to their two daughters and five grandchildren.^[2]