An actor since the age of 14, Bernard Cribbins had become a major star on the London stage by his mid-20s, but it was another ten years before he became a national star by his success in film comedies and with a string of hit records. He appeared in several of the "Carry On" series, and also achieved a great degree of success doing voiceovers for cartoons and TV commercials.
He became a student player with his local repertory company at the age of 14.
He had success in the UK Singles Chart with Hole in the Ground which reached nine, Right Said Fred (number 10) and Gossip Calypso (number 25), all in 1962. He was working with the legendary record producer George Martin , who is now most famous for producing The Beatles.
He was the narrator to the "Tufty" British Public Information Films of the 1970s.
He served in the Parachute Regiment, the British Armys airborne assault force.
He is the only actor to appear in both the "Doctor Who" feature film Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. and the revived television series, "Doctor Who" .
He was the son of John Edward and Ethel (Clarkson) Cribbins.
He appeared with the Oldham Repertory Company, 1942-1943; with the Piccolo Players, Lancashire, UK; and with the Queens Players, Hornchurch, UK during his early, vital years on stage.
His favourite Carry On film is Carry On Jack .
He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 2011 Queens Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
He dates becoming a professional actor to January 4th 1943, when a local theatre producer talent-spotted him in a school play and offered him a job with Oldham Coliseum Rep.
In June 2011, he was living in Weybridge, Surrey, England.
Aged 79 when he made his first appearance as Mott, he is the oldest actor to have played a credited companion on "Doctor Who" or "Doctor Who" .
He has a longstanding association with the science-fiction series "Doctor Who" . Not only did he play a companion in the second Peter Cushing film, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. , 40 years before his regular role as a companion, Wilfred Mott, in the Russell T. Davies version of "Doctor Who" , he had also been interviewed for the role of the Doctor in 1974 by Barry Letts.
