[2] He appeared as an amateur actor before turning professional doing impersonations of Dan Leno, Gus Elen, Joe Elvin, Albert Chevalier and other music hall stars in working men's clubs.

In 1897, Williams first created a variety of characters, including many from the works of Dickens such as Mr Micawber, Uriah Heep, Bill Sikes and Fagin.

On 7 January 1914, in King's Hall, Covent Garden, Williams played Anthony Durdles in the mock trial of John Jasper for the murder of Edwin Drood.

[5] In 1922, Williams toured the UK with his own company as actor-manager, performing in a series of plays based on Dickens, including David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and Barnaby Rudge.

In 1923, he purchased the stock of the late Sir Henry Irving, which he used in his tour of The Lyons Mail and in March of that year he played Hamlet for the first time at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Birmingham.

He appeared in a number of films, including Royal England, a Story of an Empire's Throne (1911); Hard Times (1915) as Gradgrind; the title role in Adam Bede (1918);[8] The Adventures of Mr Pickwick (1921);[9] Scrooge (1928), made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process; The Common Touch (1941); Those Kids from Town (1942); Tomorrow We Live (1943); The Agitator (1945) and Judgment Deferred (1952).

He died in London in 1961 aged 91 and was survived by his daughters, Winnie, Ida and Betty, and by his son, the actor Eric Bransby Williams.

Bransby Williams's youngest daughter, Betty (1909–2001) had a son Eric Paul Corin (born 1948), who runs Magnificent Music Machines, near Liskeard in Cornwall.