Bryan Pringle
Encyclopedia
Bryan Pringle was a British
actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions.
Born in Tamworth
, Staffordshire
but raised in the Lancashire
town of Bolton
he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London
. In 1958, he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had two children. She died in 1999.
While much of his TV career was as a character actor, he also appeared in many films, beginning with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
(1960) as the cuckolded husband, Jack. He was a regular in director Ken Russell
's work, commencing with the part of Charles Pooter
in Diary of a Nobody
, made for BBC 2, in 1964. He also appeared alongside Norman Wisdom
in the 1965 film The Early Bird
. He continued to be cast in many independent films, such as Brazil
, B. Monkey
, and Drowning By Numbers
. He played Len Wiles, the adoptive father of Terry Wiles
in the BBC
drama On Giant's Shoulders (1979).
Pringle is best remembered for playing Norman Wisdom's nemesis, the treacherous rival milkman Austin in "The Early Bird" (1965), Barker in the Inspector Morse
episode "Deceived by Flight" in 1989, landlord Arthur Pringle in Series 2 of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
, and as a friend of Eddie Royle
in EastEnders
in 1991. Pringle also appeared in the late 1970s in a well-known TV commercial advertising Heineken
beer, in which he plays a cockney voice tutor attempting to teach a posh girl how to say with a cockney accent "The wa'er in Major'a don' tas' li' wot id ough' 'a." [written as "The water in Majorca don't taste like what it ought to"] instead of her normal "The water in Majorca doesn't taste quite how it should." After a sip of the beer she begins to pronounce it with a cockney accent.
Pringle officially opened the first Meadows Festival in Edinburgh
in 1975.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions.
Born in Tamworth
Tamworth
Tamworth is a town and local government district in Staffordshire, England, located north-east of Birmingham city centre and north-west of London. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through the town, as does the River Anker...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
but raised in the Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
town of Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1958, he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had two children. She died in 1999.
While much of his TV career was as a character actor, he also appeared in many films, beginning with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a 1960 British film. It is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe. Sillitoe wrote the screenplay adaptation and the film was directed by Karel Reisz.-Synopsis:...
(1960) as the cuckolded husband, Jack. He was a regular in director Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
's work, commencing with the part of Charles Pooter
Charles Pooter
Charles Pooter is a fictional character, the supposed author and leading character of George and Weedon Grossmith's comic novel Diary of a Nobody.Pooter is a middle aged and middle class City of London clerk with ideas above his station...
in Diary of a Nobody
Diary of a Nobody
The Diary of a Nobody, an English comic novel written by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon Grossmith with illustrations by Weedon, first appeared in the magazine Punch in 1888 – 89, and was first printed in book form in 1892...
, made for BBC 2, in 1964. He also appeared alongside Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin...
in the 1965 film The Early Bird
The Early Bird
The Early Bird is a 1965 British comedy film directed by Robert Asher and starring Norman Wisdom. It also featured Edward Chapman, Bryan Pringle, Richard Vernon, John Le Mesurier and Jerry Desmonde. It was the first Norman Wisdom film to be shot in colour...
. He continued to be cast in many independent films, such as Brazil
Brazil (film)
Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
, B. Monkey
B. Monkey
B. Monkey is a 1998 film directed by Michael Radford. Originally, Michael Caton-Jones was attached to direct the adaptation of the book by Andrew Davies, but left over creative differences.-Plot:...
, and Drowning By Numbers
Drowning by Numbers
Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British film directed by Peter Greenaway. It was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:The film's plot centers on three women — a grandmother, mother and daughter — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses each woman successively drowns her husband...
. He played Len Wiles, the adoptive father of Terry Wiles
Terry Wiles
Terrence 'Terry' Wiles was one of the most disabled thalidomide babies born in the UK. He has since become known internationally through the television drama On Giant's Shoulders and the best-selling book of the same name....
in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama On Giant's Shoulders (1979).
Pringle is best remembered for playing Norman Wisdom's nemesis, the treacherous rival milkman Austin in "The Early Bird" (1965), Barker in the Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse (TV series)
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....
episode "Deceived by Flight" in 1989, landlord Arthur Pringle in Series 2 of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven English migrant construction workers. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf....
, and as a friend of Eddie Royle
Eddie Royle
Edward "Eddie" Royle is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michael Melia from 1990 until 1991.-Storylines:...
in EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
in 1991. Pringle also appeared in the late 1970s in a well-known TV commercial advertising Heineken
Heineken
Heineken is a Dutch beer which has been brewed by Heineken International since 1873. It is available in a 4.6% alcohol variety in countries such as Ireland. It is the flagship product of the Heineken company and is made of purified water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. In 1886 H...
beer, in which he plays a cockney voice tutor attempting to teach a posh girl how to say with a cockney accent "The wa'er in Major'a don' tas' li' wot id ough' 'a." [written as "The water in Majorca don't taste like what it ought to"] instead of her normal "The water in Majorca doesn't taste quite how it should." After a sip of the beer she begins to pronounce it with a cockney accent.
Pringle officially opened the first Meadows Festival in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in 1975.
Television roles
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | The Caramel Crisis The Caramel Crisis The Caramel Crisis was a one-off BBC television drama by Simon Gray, produced as part of the BBC's Thirty-Minute Theatre series. It was Simon Gray's first dramatic work, adapted from his own short story, and was first broadcast live on 25 April 1966 starring George Cole, Richard Pearson, John Le... |
McWithers |
| 1968 to 1970 | The Dustbinmen The Dustbinmen The Dustbinmen was a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute TV movie "There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah" written by Jack Rosenthal and... |
Cheese & Egg |
| 1974 | The Pallisers The Pallisers The Pallisers is a 1974 BBC television adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels.-Cast :*Anthony Ainley: Rev. Emilius*Terence Alexander: Lord George*Anthony Andrews: Lord Silverbridge*Sarah Badel: Lizzie Eustace... |
Mr. Monk |
| 1981 | When The Boat Comes In When the Boat Comes In When the Boat Comes In is a British television period-drama produced by the BBC between 1976 and 1981.The series stars James Bolam as Jack Ford, a First World War veteran who returns to his poverty-stricken town of Gallowshield in the North East of England in the 1920s.The memorable traditional... |
Doughty |
| 1983 | Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and... |
Ludovic |
| 1985 | Auf Wiedersehen, Pet Auf Wiedersehen, Pet Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven English migrant construction workers. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf.... |
Arthur Pringle |
| 1988 | All Creatures Great and Small | Grimsdale |
| 1990 | Wish Me Luck Wish Me Luck Wish Me Luck is a British television drama about the exploits of British women undercover agents during the Second World War. The series was made by London Weekend Television for the ITV network between 1987 and 1989 and created by Lavinia Warner and Jill Hyem, who had previously produced and... |
Father Martin |
| 1997 | A Prince Among Men A Prince Among Men A Prince Among Men is a somewhat unsuccessful British sitcom that ran on BBC1 from 1997 to 1998 lasting 12 episodes. It starred Chris Barrie as Gary Prince, a former international football star turned entrepreneur. The theme music was by Jamie Marshall.... |
Vince Hibbert |
| 1997 | Snow White: A Tale of Terror Snow White: A Tale of Terror Snow White: A Tale of Terror is a 1997 horror film based on the Snow White fairy tale. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill and Monica Keena. The original music score is composed by John Ottman... |
Father Gilbert |