Bernard Archard

Bernard Archard
Bernard Archard in 1962
Born	(1916-08-20)20 August 1916 Fulham, London, England
Died	1 May 2008(2008-05-01) (aged 91) Witham Friary, Somerset, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1948–1994
Partner	James Belchamber

Bernard Joseph Archard (20 August 1916 – 1 May 2008) was an English actor who made many film and television appearances.

He was also a pupil at the Chelsea secondary school Sloane Grammar.

Early life and career[edit]

Archard was born in Fulham, London, where his father Alfred James Aloysius, who was born in Marylebone, was a jeweller. Bernard's paternal grandfather Alfred Charles Archard and great grandfather Henry Archard were clockmakers, watchmakers and jewellers in Mayfair, London during the 1800s.^[1] He was the maternal grandson of James Matthew Littleboy, Mayor of Fulham from 1906 to 1907.^[2] He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and in summer 1939 he appeared in the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park production of Twelfth Night.^[1] As a conscientious objector during the Second World War, he worked on Quaker land.^[2] At the Edinburgh Festival in 1948, in a production of the Glyndebourne Children's Theatre, he met fellow actor James Belchamber, who was his partner for nearly 60 years.^[2]

Television[edit]

Archard's first major television role, reprising the like-titled radio show, was playing Lt Col. Oreste Pinto in the BBC wartime drama series Spycatcher, which ran for four seasons between 1959 and 1961.^[3][4] His TV guest appearances include two roles in Doctor Who (as Bragen in The Power of the Daleks and as Marcus Scarman in Pyramids of Mars); a regular role in Emmerdale; plus appearances in The Children of the New Forest (the 1964 BBC edition), Dixon of Dock Green, Danger Man, The Avengers, Z-Cars, Paul Temple, Upstairs, Downstairs, Callan, Rumpole of the Bailey, Crown Court, The Professionals, Bergerac, Sir Francis Drake and Keeping Up Appearances.^[5][6]

Film[edit]

He appeared in over fifty films, including Village of the Damned (1960), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Play Dirty (1968), Run a Crooked Mile (1969), The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971), Dad's Army (1971), The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Sea Wolves (1980), Krull (1983) and King Solomon's Mines (1985).^[7]

Stage[edit]

Archard and his long term partner, James Belchamber,^[8] ran a touring repertory company, based in Torquay, which included Hilda Braid among its players.^[2] On the West End stage he appeared at Her Majesty's Theatre as a magistrate in the Terence Rattigan play Cause Célèbre and in The Case of the Oily Levantine by Anthony Shaffer.^[9]

Filmography[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Bernard Archard at IMDb
• Obituary at The Independent
• Obituary at The Guardian
• Obituary at The Times