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Clive Swift

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Clive Swift
Birth nameClive Swift
Born (1936-02-09) 9 February 1936 (age 88)
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK
MediumTelevision
NationalityBritish
Years active1965–present
SpouseMargaret Drabble (1960–1975) (divorced)

Clive Walter Swift (born 9 February 1936) is an English actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances, but has played many other notable film and television roles, including that of Roy in the British television series The Old Guys.

Life and career

Swift was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, the son of Lily Rebecca (née Greenman) and Abram Sampson Swift.[1] His older brother, David Swift, is also an actor. Both brothers were educated at Clifton College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where Clive read English literature. He was previously a teacher at LAMDA and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

In the 1970s, he appeared as Doctor Black in two of the BBC's M.R. James adaptations: The Stalls of Barchester and A Warning to the Curious. He is most noted for his performance in Keeping Up Appearances, starring as Richard Bucket, the long-suffering husband of Hyacinth. He also starred in the BBC adaptation of The Barchester Chronicles and appeared in the Doctor Who story Revelation of the Daleks. On 25 December 2007, he appeared in a Doctor Who Christmas special as Mr Copper. He also played Sir Ector, the adoptive father of King Arthur in John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur.

Swift was formerly married to novelist Margaret Drabble (1960–75).[2] He is the father of one daughter, Rebecca, who runs the Literary Consultancy in London's Free Word Centre and two sons, Adam Swift, an academic, and Joe Swift, a TV gardener.

As well as acting, he is a songwriter. Many of his songs are included in his show, Richard Bucket Overflows: An Audience with Clive Swift, which toured the UK in 2007 and Clive Swift Entertains, performing his own music and lyrics, which toured the UK in 2009. He also played the part of the Reverend Eustacius Brewer in Born and Bred, which aired on BBC 1 from 2002–05.

Film

Television

Radio

  • Oblomov as the Doctor
  • The Right Time
  • From Fact to Fiction – The Orchard as the Narrator
  • Measure for Measure as Escalus
  • "Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities" as Nash
  • "The Price of Fear – Remains to be Seen" as Fred Trebor

Stage

Television roles

Year Title Role
1980 The Nesbitts Are Coming Ernie Nesbitt
1985 The Pickwick Papers Tracy Tupman
1985/2007 Doctor Who Jobel/Mr. Copper
1990 to 1995 Keeping Up Appearances Richard Bucket
2009 to 2010 The Old Guys Roy Bowden

References

  1. ^ Clive Swift Biography (1936–)
  2. ^ Sadler, Lynn Veach (1986). Margaret Drabble. Twayne Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8057-6907-4. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  3. ^ Romeo and Juliet (1976)

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