He achieved international recognition in 1964 for his appearance alongside the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night, playing the fictional grandfather of Paul McCartney.

He played Jacob, an immigrant from eastern Europe selling newspapers in Paris, in an episode of Maigret entitled "A Man of Quality", first broadcast on 12 December 1960.

Brambell's booming baritone voice surprised many listeners: he played the role straight, true to the Dickens original.

Brambell also played Bert Thomson, an Irish widower, in the film Holiday on the Buses; the character in question started a close friendship with Stan Butler's mother, Mabel.

A constant thread throughout the series was Albert being referred to by Harold as a "dirty old man"; for example, when he was eating pickled onions while taking a bath and retrieving dropped ones from the bathwater.

There were also two feature film spin-offs, a stage show, and an American incarnation titled Sanford and Son, some episodes of which were almost exact remakes of the original British scripts.

[citation needed] The success of Steptoe and Son made Brambell a high-profile figure on British television and earned him the supporting role of Paul McCartney's grandfather in the Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night (1964).

In 1965, Brambell told the BBC that he did not want to do another series of Steptoe and Son, and in September that year, he travelled to New York City to appear in the Broadway musical Kelly at the Broadhurst Theatre.

John Sullivan considered him for the role of Grandad in Only Fools and Horses, but decided against it as he thought Brambell was too closely associated with Steptoe.

In 1982 he appeared in Terence Davies's film Death and Transfiguration, playing a dying elderly man who finally comes to terms with his homosexuality.

The claim was disputed by the writers of Steptoe and Son, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who rejected any hatred or conflict.

Just six people attended his funeral: his brother, his partner Raymond, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, a BBC representative, and his former co-star Corbett's widow, Maureen.