Brian Murphy

Actor and comedian Brian Murphy was born on the Isle of Wight, one of three siblings, to restaurateurs Gerald and Mabel Murphy. From his early years he had a keen interest in variety theatre and a knack for impersonating famous comedians like Will Hay and Stan Laurel. Following national service with the Royal Air Force at Northwood HQ (where he befriended another aspiring actor in Richard Briers), Murphy studied at RADA but dropped out after one year due to financial difficulties. Briers and Murphy afterwards acted on stage with the drama society of the Borough Polytechnic Institute in London. Murphy then joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (based at the Theatre Royal in Stratford East). Among his fellow alumni were future co-star Yootha Joyce and Carol Gibson, later to become his first wife. Following his debut as Drinkwater in a 1956 production of George Bernard Shaw's play 'Captain Brassbound's Conversion', Murphy went on to appear in both the stage and film versions of Littlewood's Sparrows Can't Sing (alongside Yootha Joyce) and in Oh, What a Lovely War, the latter transferring to Broadway for a successful run between September 1964 and January 1965. On screen from 1960, Murphy toiled for many years in relative anonymity as a journeyman supporting actor. His stock rose dramatically, however, with his breakthrough role in the ITV sitcom Man About the House (1973): as the lazy, inept and decidedly unambitious landlord George Roper, perpetually henpecked by his imperious, social climbing wife Mildred (Yootha Joyce, in her most famous role). The immense popularity of the two characters spawned a sequel, George and Mildred (1980), which ran for five seasons. A planned sixth and final season never came to pass, due to Joyce's untimely death in 1980. The writing partnership of Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer (who had created George and Mildred) later devised another starring vehicle, specifically tailored for Murphy's brand of physical comedy. The Incredible Mr Tanner (1981) cast the actor as a bungling, accident-prone escapologist. However, on this occasion, audience support failed to materialise and the show was discontinued due to poor ratings. The same fate befell Murphy's next venture, the BBC sitcom L for Lester (1982), in which he played a hapless driving instructor. Faring perhaps better as a member of ensemble casts, he played an ineffectual private detective in Lame Ducks (1984), conman George Manners in the soap Brookside (1982), the dithery, forgetful neighbor Arthur Capstick in Mrs Merton & Malcolm (1999) and practical joker Alvin Smedley in 77 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine (1973). One-off performances saw him as comedian Arthur Lucan in the TV movie On Your Way Riley (1985); a troubled Chief Inspector, posthumously credited with solving an old mystery, actually unravelled by magician/sleuth Jonathan Creek (1997), and a boozy vagrant, dressed as an elf, in an episode of The Bill (1984). He also popped up as Neville, a recurring character, in several instalments of The Catherine Tate Show (2004). Returning to the stage with Theatre Royal in the early nineties, Murphy portrayed 'the jolly old tramp' Thomas Marvel in a comic interpretation of 'The Invisible Man'. Brian Murphy was married since 1995 to the actress and crime writer Linda Regan. He died on February 2 2025 at his home in Kent, England.