Acting · Raynes Park, Surrey, England, UK · Born January 14, 1934
Richard David Briers, CBE (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor. His fifty-year career encompassed television, stage, film and radio. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines (1961–66), but it was a decade later, when he narrated Roobarb and Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk (1974–76) and when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975–78), that he became a household name. Later, he starred as Martin in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89), and he had a leading role as Hector in Monarch of the Glen (2000–05). From the late 1980s, with Kenneth Branagh as director, he performed Shakespearean roles in Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006).
MovieThe Good Life: Inside Out
2025
MovieThe Good Life: Secret & Scandals
2022
as (archive footage)
MovieRoobarb and Custard: The Complete Collection
2017
as Narrator, Roobarb, Custard / lot of characters. (uncredited)
MovieBritish Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
2016
as Acting Role (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieMouse and Mole at Christmas Time
2013
as Mouse (voice)
MovieCockneys vs Zombies
2012
as Hamish
MovieRun For Your Wife
2012
as Newspaper Seller
MovieHorror on the High Rise
2011
MovieAll About The Good Life
2010
MovieNational Theatre Live: London Assurance
2010
as Mr. Adolphus Spanker
MoviePeter Kay's Animated All Star Band: The Official BBC Children in Need Medley
2009
as Roobarb/Custard (voice)
TVA Bucket O' French and Saunders
2007
That's What I Call Television
2007
as Self
TVKingdom
2007
as Jim Wright
TVTorchwood
2006
as Parker
MovieAs You Like It
2006
as Adam
My Appalling School Report
2006
Our Hidden Lives
2005
as Herbert Brush
TVRoobarb and Custard Too
2005
as Narrator
TVExtras
2005
as Richard Briers
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005
as Self
MovieDad
2005
as Larry James
TVAgatha Christie's Marple
2004
as Wilson
TVNew Tricks
2004
as James Farlow
MoviePeter Pan
2003
as Sam "Smee" Smiegel
TVComedy Connections
2003
MovieBob the Builder: The Knights of Can-A-Lot
2003
as Robert (voice)
MovieUnconditional Love
2002
as Barry Moore
TVFriday Night with Jonathan Ross
2001
as Self
MovieVictoria & Albert
2001
as Joseph Paxton
MovieLove's Labour's Lost
2000
as Sir Nathaniel
TVMonarch of the Glen
2000
as Hector MacDonald
TVThe Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
2000
TVWatership Down
1999
as Captain Broom (voice)
MovieThe Student Prince
1998
as Dr. Corbitt
TVGeoff Hamilton: a Man and His Garden
1998
as Narrator
TVA Respectable Trade
1998
as Sir Charles Fairley
TVParkinson
1998
as Self
MovieSpice World
1997
as Bishop
TVMidsomer Murders
1997
as Stephen Wentworth
TVBrass Eye
1997
as Self
MovieHamlet
1996
as Polonius
MovieThe Adventures of Toad
1996
as Rat
MovieHeavy Weather
1995
as The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
MovieThe Adventures of Mole
1995
as Rat
MovieIn the Bleak Midwinter
1995
as Henry
Down to Earth
1995
as Tony Fairfax
MovieFrench and Saunders' Christmas Carol
1994
as Self
MovieMole's Christmas
1994
as Rat
MovieMary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994
as Grandfather
MovieSkallagrigg
1994
as Old Arthur/George
MovieFrances the Firefly
1994
as Narrator (voice)
TVIf You See God, Tell Him
1993
as Godfrey Spry
MovieMuch Ado About Nothing
1993
as Signor Leonato
MoviePeter's Friends
1992
as Lord Morton
Swan Song
1992
as Nikita
TVMr. Bean
1990
as Mr. Sprout
MovieHenry V
1989
as Lieutenant Bardolph
MovieA Chorus of Disapproval
1989
as Ted Washbrook
MovieTwelfth Night, or What You Will
1988
as Malvolio
Children's Favourites - Volume 1
1988
as Alias (voice)
MovieDoctor Who: Paradise Towers
1987
as The Chief Caretaker
TVLovejoy
1986
as Raymond Doncaster
TVAll in Good Faith
1985
as Reverend Philip Lambe
TVAlias the Jester
1985
as Alias
MovieA Month in the Country
1985
as Arkady
TVScreen Two
1985
as Old Arthur/George
TVEver Decreasing Circles
1984
MovieThe Aerodrome
1983
as The Rector
TVNatural World
1983
Arms and the Man
1983
as Bluntschli
MovieIt's Your Move
1982
as The Husband
TVWogan
1982
as Self
TVGoodbye Mr Kent
1982
as Travis Kent
MovieP.Q. 17
1981
as Jack Broome
Village Wooing
1979
as A
TVTales of the Unexpected
1979
as Albert Dobson
MovieWatership Down
1978
as Fiver (voice)
TVThe Other One
1977
as Ralph Tanner
TVThe Norman Conquests
1977
as Reg
The Sunday Drama
1977
as Dennis
TVThe Galton & Simpson Playhouse
1977
as Henry Fairlane
MovieOur Flesh and Blood
1977
as Mr. Smythe
TVNoah and Nelly in... SkylArk
1976
One-Upmanship
1976
as Stephen Potter
MovieA Small Miracle
1976
as Himself - Commentator
TVThe Good Life
1975
as Tom Good
TVNoddy
1975
as Narrator
MovieGreat
1975
as Isambard Kingdom Brunel
MovieThe Four Musketeers
1974
as Louis XIII (voice) (uncredited)
TVRoobarb
1974
MovieThe Three Musketeers
1973
as Louis XIII (voice)
Between the Wars
1973
as Oswald Carstairs
MovieRentadick
1972
as Miles Gannet
Tall Stories
1971
Birds on the Wing
1971
as Charles Jackson
TVPlay for Today
1970
as Mr. Smythe
Ben Travers Farces
1970
as Charlie Tutt
TVFrom a Bird's Eye View
1970
as George Lemon
MovieAll the Way Up
1970
as Nigel Hadfield
TVOoh La La!
1968
TVITV Playhouse
1967
as A
MovieFathom
1967
as Flight Lt. Timothy Webb
TVNBC Experiment in Television
1967
as (voice)
TVBBC Play of the Month
1965
as Sandy Tyrell
MovieA Home of Your Own
1964
as The Husband
Thursday Theatre
1964
as David Prentice
TVTheatre 625
1964
as David Prentice
MovieThe Bargee
1964
as Tomkins
MovieAll in Good Time
1964
as The Young Husband
TVDoctor Who
1963
as Chief Caretaker
MovieDoctor in Distress
1963
as Medical Student (uncredited)
MovieThe Girl on the Boat
1962
as Eustace Hignett
Brothers In Law
1962
Faces of Jim
1961
as John Frobisher
MovieA Matter of WHO
1961
as Jamieson
MovieMurder She Said
1961
as 'Mrs Binster'
TVMarriage Lines
1961
as George Starling
MovieBottoms Up!
1960
as Colbourne
MovieGirls at Sea
1958
as 'Popeye' Lewis
TVArmchair Theatre
1956
as Stanley Frelaine
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self - Nominee
TVDixon of Dock Green
1955
as Ken Tracey
TVBird Bath
as Narrator
TVLittle Red Tractor Stories
as Narrator (voice)
