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Bernard Fox (actor)

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Bernard Fox
Fox (left) as Colonel Crittenden in Hogan's Heroes, 1968.
Born
Bernard Lawson

(1927-05-11) 11 May 1927 (age 97)
Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales, U.K.
OccupationActor
Years active1955–2004
SpouseJacqueline Fox (1961-present)
Children2
FamilyWilfrid Lawson (uncle)

Bernard Fox (born Bernard Lawson 11 May 1927) is a retired British film and television actor from Wales.

Personal life

Fox, a "fifth generation performer,"[1] was born Bernard Lawson in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales, the son of Queenie (née Barrett) and Gerald Lawson, both of whom were stage actors.[2][3][4] He had an older sister, Mavis, and has been married to his wife Jacqueline since 1961. They have two children. His uncle was veteran film and stage actor Wilfrid Lawson.[5]

Career

He started his film career at the age of 18 months and by the age of 14 he was an assistant manager of a theatre. After his naval services during World War II he resumed his career and soon was in 30 film credits from 1956 to 2004 include two films revolving around the sinking of RMS Titanic, separated by 39 years. Fox was in both Titanic (1997) (as Colonel Archibald Gracie IV) and the earlier version of the tragedy A Night to Remember (1958) (uncredited as Frederick Fleet). In the latter, he delivered the line "Iceberg dead ahead, sir!" while playing the part of a sailor in the ship's crow's nest. Other film roles ranged from supporting parts in broad comedies (Yellowbeard, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and The Private Eyes, playing a homicidal butler in the latter) to supplying the voice of the chairmouse in the Disney animated features The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. He played the role of Winston Havelock, a retired Air Force pilot in the 1999 adventure film The Mummy. In 2004, Fox made his final appearance in Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes. He retired after this film.

Television career

In television, he portrayed the warlock physician (or "witch doctor") Dr. Bombay on Bewitched and the inept British Colonel Crittendon on Hogan's Heroes. However, his first appearance in Bewitched was not as Dr. Bombay, but as a professional witch debunker. He repeated the role of Dr. Bombay on the 1977 sequel Tabitha, and again in 1999 on the soap opera Passions, and spoofed it as a genie doctor ("wish doctor") in a 1989 episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse. He appeared in two episodes in the mystery series Columbo, "Dagger of the Mind" and "Troubled Waters," starring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. As of 2012, Fox is one of only three surviving adult recurring cast members of Bewitched, (the others being Nancy Kovack and Mary Grace Canfield). Fox also appeared as English valet Malcolm Meriweather on The Andy Griffith Show and in Knight Rider as Commander Smiths in season 2 episode 8.

Fox appeared as a British Major in "The Phantom Major," Episode 3 of F Troop, and in "Tea and Empathy," Episode 17 of Series 6 of M*A*S*H.

In 1964, Fox appeared in episode #117 of The Dick Van Dyke Show titled "Girls Will Be Boys." Fox plays the father of a little girl who keeps beating up Richie Petrie. He also appeared in episode #94 of The Dick Van Dyke Show, "Teacher's Petrie" where he played a night school creative writing teacher and in "Never Bathe on Saturday" as the house detective.

In 1965 made a guest appearance on Perry Mason as murderer Peter Stange in "The Case of the Laughing Lady."

Fox also appeared in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. two-part episode "The Bridge of Lion's Affair," in 1966 as THRUSH agent Jordin who's constant response to each additional assignment is "I'll look into it," and in the Murder, She Wrote episode "One White Rose for Death," in 1986. He even co starred with Michael Evans as Dr. Watson in "Sherlock & Me" in the early 80s.

Television

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Bernard Fox Biography. Movies.yahoo.com (1927-05-11). Retrieved on 2011-07-09.
  2. ^ Bernard Fox Biography. Filmreference.com (1927-05-11). Retrieved on 2011-07-09.
  3. ^ Bernard Fox at. Hollywood.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-09.
  4. ^ "Bernard Fox Makes Fans Merry!". Bewitched.net (1927-05-11). Retrieved on 2011-07-09.
  5. ^ Erickson, Hal Biography (Allmovie)

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