Norman Bird

Acting Oct 30, 1920 Apr 22, 2005 (aged 85) Coalville, Leicestershire, England, UK

John George Norman Bird (30 October 1924 – 22 April 2005) was an English character actor.

Bird was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, England. A RADA graduate, he made his West End debut in Peter Brook's production of The Winter's Tale at the Phoenix Theatre in 1951. He was also a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company. His first film appearance was as the foreman in An Inspector Calls (1954).

He was a familiar face to British cinema audiences of the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in nearly 50 films such as The Angry Silence (1960), The League of Gentlemen (1960), Whistle Down the Wind (1961), Victim (1961) and Term of Trial (1962) with Laurence Olivier and The Hill with Sean Connery (1965).

He had over 200 television appearances, notably as Mr Braithwaite in Worzel Gummidge (1979–81) and Mr Arrad in the Fawlty Towers episode "Waldorf Salad" (1979). His long list of credits include Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, Rising Damp, Ever Decreasing Circles, Yes Minister, To Serve Them All My Days, All Creatures Great and Small, Z-Cars, Public Eye, The Saint, Department S, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Boon. In 1990 he appeared in Stay Lucky, with Dennis Waterman, which marked his 200th television appearance. One of his last film appearances was as a taxi driver in Richard Attenborough's Shadowlands (1993).

123 Acting Credits

Norman Bird

Acting

The Lord of the Rings

Fawlty Towers

The Final Conflict

Shadowlands

The Hill

The Medusa Touch

Yes Minister

Victim

The Avengers

First Men in the Moon

The Saint

The Saint

Coronation Street

An Inspector Calls

Night of the Eagle

The League of Gentlemen

In Search of the Castaways

Hands of the Ripper

Hammer House of Horror

The Wrong Box

Cash on Demand

Whistle Down the Wind

The Slipper and the Rose

Young Winston