Clive Swift

Swift was born in Liverpool on 9 February 1936,[1] the son of Lily Rebecca (née Greenman) and Abram Sampson Swift.[2] His elder brother David was also an actor. Both were educated at Clifton College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where Clive read English literature. He was previously a teacher at LAMDA and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His family was Jewish.[3]

He appeared as Snug in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1968 film production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as part of a cast that included Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren and Ian Richardson.[4] During the 1970s, he appeared as Doctor Black in two of the BBC's M. R. James adaptations: The Stalls of Barchester and A Warning to the Curious, as well as the BBC adaptation of The Barchester Chronicles.[4] He is best known for his role on Keeping Up Appearances as Richard Bucket, the long-suffering husband of Hyacinth.[4] Swift made two appearances in Doctor Who, in the 1985 story Revelation of the Daleks and the 2007 Christmas special.[5] He also played Sir Ector, the adoptive father of King Arthur in John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur.[4]

In addition to acting, he was a songwriter. Many of his songs were included in his shows Richard Bucket Overflows: An Audience with Clive Swift, which toured the UK in 2007,[6] and Clive Swift Entertains, in which he performed his own music and lyrics, which toured the UK in 2009.[7] He also played the part of the Reverend Eustacius Brewer in Born and Bred, which aired on BBC One from 2002 to 2005.[1]

Swift was married to novelist Margaret Drabble from 1960 until their divorce in 1975.[8] He was the father of one daughter, Rebecca (who died in April 2017), known for running The Literary Consultancy in London, and two sons, Adam Swift, an academic, and Joe Swift, a garden designer, journalist and television presenter.[9]

Swift died at home on 1 February 2019, following a short illness, eight days before his 83rd birthday.[10] Paying tribute to Swift, fellow actor James Dreyfus said "Loved this extremely talented, subtle actor".[11] His Keeping Up Appearances co-star Dame Patricia Routledge said: "Clive was a skilful and inventive actor with wide experience, as his successful career proved," and that she was deeply saddened to hear of her former co-star's death.[12]

• Oblomov as the Doctor (2005)[43]
• The Right Time (2008)[44]
• Measure for Measure as Escalus (2004)[45]
• Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities as Nash (2011)[46]
• The Price of Fear – Remains to be Seen as Fred Treiber (2012)[47]
• "Vivat Rex" as Lord Talbot in "Henry VI" by William Shakespeare, in episodes 15-16, BBC (1977)

• Cymbeline (1962) as Cloten[48]
• The Physicists (1963) as Inspector Richard Voss (Aldwych Theatre)[1]
• The Tempest (1966) as Caliban (Prospect Theatre Company)[49]

• As Cyril (Beatie's brother-in-law in Australia) in a TV commercial for British Telecom (1989)[50]

• Clive Swift at the British Film Institute
• Clive Swift on IMDb
• Obituary at Bbc.co.uk