Richard Pearson | |
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 Photo by Freddie Feest | |
| Born | Richard de Pearsall Pearson (1918-08-01)1 August 1918 |
| Died | 2 August 2011(2011-08-02) (aged 93) Northwood, London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1937–2009 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Richard de Pearsall Pearson (1 August 1918 – 2 August 2011) was a Britishcharacter actor who appeared in numerous film, television and stage productions over a period of 65 years. He played leading roles in several LondonWest End plays and also supportedMaggie Smith,Robert Morley and others in long-running West End stage productions. His many screen appearances includedcharacter parts in threeRoman Polanski films.
Richard Pearson was born and brought up inMonmouth.[1] He was educated at Aymestrey Court,[2] Worcester, and atMonmouth School, where his father, Cyril Pearson (1888–1946), taught French.
Richard Pearson's early stage career was interrupted by military service in theSecond World War with the52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. He wasmentioned in dispatches and left the army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
He married the actress Patricia Dickson (1927–2014) in 1949. They lived until the late 1950s in Nassau Street, in theFitzrovia district of London, then inBeckenham, and latterly inRichmond upon Thames. They had two sons, Simon and Patrick; Patrick is also an actor.
In the later years of his life, Pearson suffered from myocardial degeneration. He died on 2 August 2011, the morning after his 93rd birthday.[3][4]
Notable films of his career includedBrian Desmond Hurst'sScrooge (1951) as well as a brief appearance inJohn Schlesinger'sSunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and cameo roles in three films byRoman Polanski:Macbeth (1971),Tess (1979) andPirates (1986). Pearson did not make his film début until the age of 32, when he played a sergeant in the motion pictureThe Girl is Mine (1950). This was followed a year later by his performance as Mr Tupper inScrooge.
In later years, Pearson is perhaps best known for his role as Mole inCosgrove Hall'sThe Wind in the Willows (1983), itssubsequent television series, which led on from the original film, and its spin-off programmeOh, Mr. Toad, in all of which he starred alongsideDavid Jason,Peter Sallis andMichael Hordern.[5] He also appeared in episodes of "A Fine Romance, and "One Foot in the Grave" as Victor Meldrew's absent-minded brother, Alfred, in the "Men Behaving Badly" episode "Three Girlfriends", as Gary's father Mr Strang, and as Harry King in "My Good Friend", alongsideGeorge Cole andMinnie Driver. He played Mr. Pye in the 1985 TV movieMarple: The Moving Finger.[4][3]
"Pearson was the kind of actor on which the British theatre has always relied: utterly dependable and totally distinctive. His particular forte, with his slightly fluting voice, was for revealing the chink in the armour of middle-class respectability."[4] He made his stage debut at the age of 18 at London'sCollins's Music Hall. Though well known as a character actor, his leading roles in London theatres included Stanley inHarold Pinter'sThe Birthday Party (Lyric, Hammersmith, 1958), Charles Sidley inPeter Shaffer'sThe Public Eye (Globe, 1962), Harry in Charles Dyer'sStaircase (Arts, Cambridge, 1969), and Mr Hardcastle inOliver Goldsmith'sShe Stoops to Conquer (Young Vic, 1972).
WithThe Birthday Party, after a short, successful provincial tour, "the play was critically slaughtered when it opened at the Lyric Hammersmith in London in May 1958."[4] Critics were baffled "and it was withdrawn after only a few performances – only one critic" (Harold Hobson) "had given it an unqualified welcome. But Pearson's portrait of the lodger fixed itself longest in the critical memory for its study of unexplained but deeply felt terror."[3]
Among those he played beside on stage wereMargaret Rutherford,Robert Morley,Maggie Smith,Kenneth Williams,Eileen Atkins andMargaret Tyzack.
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