Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television.

[6] His father, Joseph Briers, was the son of a stockbroker, of a family of Middlesex tenant farmers; a gregarious and popular man, he contended with a nervous disposition, and drifted between jobs, spending most of his life as a bookmaker but also working as, amongst other things, an estate agent's clerk and a factory worker for an air filter manufacturer, as well as being a gifted amateur singer who attended classes at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

[7] His mother, Morna Briers, was a concert pianist and a drama and music teacher, and a member of Equity, who wished for a showbusiness career, having acted in her youth.

The couple had met when Joseph Briers asked Morna to stand in for his regular pianist for a performance; by this time his first marriage had collapsed and six months later they had entered a relationship.

[6] Briers's first job was a clerical post with a London cable manufacturer, and for a short time he went to evening classes to qualify in electrical engineering, but soon left and became a filing clerk.

Murphy introduced Briers, who had been interested in acting since the age of 14, to the Dramatic Society at the Borough Polytechnic Institute, now London South Bank University, where he performed in several productions.

[6] Placed in a class with both Peter O'Toole and Albert Finney, Briers later credited academy director John Fernald with nurturing his talent.

For Marriage Lines, Simon and Laura, Points of View, Present Laughter - Excerpt, Charley's Aunt and To You at Home Today, Briers was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 1966.

His other early appearances included The Seven Faces of Jim (1961) with Jimmy Edwards, Dixon of Dock Green (1962), a production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever (1968) and the storyteller in several episodes of Jackanory (1969).

In 1987, he appeared as the principal villain in the Doctor Who serial Paradise Towers, a performance which was described by Radio Times writer Patrick Mulkern as Briers's "career low".

In 1967, one of his earliest successes was playing alongside Michael Hordern and Celia Johnson in the London production of Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking.

[24] In 1990, Briers appeared in The Wind in the Willows at the National Theatre, which earnt him a nomination for the following year's Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance.

[25] In 2010, Briers played in the Royal National Theatre revival of Dion Boucicault's London Assurance, alongside Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw.

[9] He later appeared in Michael Winner's A Chorus of Disapproval (1988) and the film Unconditional Love (2002), as well as the Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), in which he played the role of Leonato.

In 1990 Briers provided the narration and voiced all the characters in the five-minute animated series Coconuts about a monkey, a king lion and a parrot who lived on a tropical island.

He also recorded the voice of a satnav specifically designed for senior citizens in BBC 2's TV Show Top Gear, Series 19, episode 5, which aired only a week after his death.

[28] After 1990, he appeared in Lovejoy, Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders "Death's Shadow" as Stephen Wentworth in 1999, Doctors, New Tricks, Kingdom, and If You See God, Tell Him.

In 2005, he appeared alongside Kevin Whately in Dad, a TV Film made by BBC Wales exploring issues of elder abuse.

Among his musical choices were "Di quella pira" from Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi, "I Feel A Song Coming On" by Al Jolson and "On the Sunny Side of the Street" by Louis Armstrong.

[10] In 2014, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Memories of a Cad, an affectionate comedy drama by Roy Smiles about the relationship between Terry-Thomas and Briers, played by Martin Jarvis and Alistair McGowan respectively.

Set in 1984 when he had suffered from Parkinson's disease for many years, Terry-Thomas is delighted by the visit to his home in Ibiza of the much younger Briers, whom he recognises from television, and who proves to be his first cousin once removed.

"[41][42] Briers's agent, Christopher Farrar, said: "Richard was a wonderful man, a consummate professional and an absolute joy to work alongside.

"[43][44] Fellow television star Penelope Keith said, "He was always courteous, always generous and always self-deprecating" adding, "He was also such a clever actor that he made you feel secure.

"[45] Writing in The Guardian, critic Michael Coveney described Briers as "always the most modest and self-deprecating of actors, and the sweetest of men," and noted: "Although he excelled in the plays of Alan Ayckbourn, and became a national figure in his television sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s, notably The Good Life, he could mine hidden depths on stage, giving notable performances in Ibsen, Chekhov and, for Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance company, Shakespeare.