Clive Swift

Clive Walter Swift (9 February 1936 – 1 February 2019) was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for his role as Richard Bucket in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.^[1] He played many other television and film roles.

Clive Swift
Swift in Doctor Who: "Voyage of the Damned"
Birth name	Clive Walter Swift
Born	(1936-02-09)9 February 1936 Liverpool, England
Died	1 February 2019(2019-02-01) (aged 82) Paddington, London, England
Medium	Television, film
Years active	1962–2017
Spouse	Margaret Drabble ​ ​ (m. 1960; div. 1975)​
Children	Adam Rebecca Joe
Relative(s)	David Swift (brother)

Life and career

Swift was born in Liverpool on 9 February 1936,^[2] the son of Abram Sampson Swift, who owned a furniture shop in Bootle, and Lily Rebecca, née Greenman.^[3][4] He was educated at Clifton College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge reading English literature. He was previously a teacher at LAMDA and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His family was Jewish.^[5]

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.^[6] During the 1970s, he appeared as Doctor Black in two of the BBC's M. R. James adaptations: The Stalls of Barchester and in A Warning to the Curious, as well as the BBC adaptation of The Barchester Chronicles.^[6] He is best known for his role on Keeping Up Appearances as Richard Bucket, the long-suffering husband of Hyacinth.^[6] Swift made two appearances in Doctor Who, in the 1985 story Revelation of the Daleks and the 2007 Christmas special. Around the time of his second appearance, he gave a "grumpy" interview to Doctor Who Magazine in which he bemoaned "not getting paid" to promote his episode, and belittled the show.^[7] He also played Sir Ector, the adoptive father of King Arthur in John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur.^[6]

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,^[8] and Clive Swift Entertains, in which he performed his own music and lyrics, which toured the UK in 2009.^[9] He also played the part of the Reverend Eustacius Brewer in Born and Bred, which aired on BBC One from 2002 to 2005.^[2] His last performance was in an episode of Midsomer Murders in 2017, after which he retired.^[10]

Personal life and death

Swift was married to novelist Margaret Drabble from 1960 until their divorce in 1975.^[11] 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.^[12]

Swift died at home on 1 February 2019, aged 82, following a short illness.^[13] Paying tribute to Swift, fellow actor James Dreyfus said he "loved this extremely talented, subtle actor".^[14] His Keeping Up Appearances co-star Patricia Routledge said: "Clive was a skillful and inventive actor with wide experience, as his successful career proved," and that she was very sad to hear of her former co-star's death.^[15]

Swift's elder brother David was also an actor.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	Catch Us If You Can[16]	Duffie
1968	A Midsummer Night's Dream[17]	Snug
1972	Frenzy[18]	Johnny Porter
1972	Death Line[19]	Inspector Richardson
1973	The National Health[20]	Ash
1973	Man at the Top[21]	Massey
1978	The Sailor's Return[22]	Reverend Pottock
1981	Excalibur[23]	Ector
1984	Memed My Hawk[24]	Magistrate
1984	A Passage to India[25]	Major Callendar
1988	Young Toscanini[26]	Comparsa	Uncredited
1990	Othello[27]	Brabantio	DVD re-released 2004[28]
1997	Gaston's War[29]	General James

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Mad Jack
1970–71	Waugh on Crime	Inspector Waugh of the CID
1971	The Stalls of Barchester[30]	Dr. Black
1972	The Liver Birds[31]	Jim Royle	1 episode
1972	Dead of Night[32]	Dan
1972	A Warning to the Curious[33]	Dr. Black
1973	The Frighteners	James Machen	'The Classroom', episode (ITV (TV channel)) (4th. May)
1976	The Brothers	Griffith Trevelyan	2 episodes: "Tender", series 6, episode 6 and "The Mole", series 6, episode 7
1976	Romeo and Juliet[2]	Friar Lawrence
1976	Beasts	Bunny Nettleton	1 episode: "Dummy"
1978	Bless Me, Father[34]	Fred Dobie	1 episode: "Father and Mother"
1978	1990
1979	Henry IV, Part 1[35]	Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester
1979	Hazell (TV series)	Neville Fitch	Episode: Hazell and the Baker Street Sleuth
1980	The Nesbitts Are Coming	Ernie Nesbitt	6 episodes
1981	Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years[36]	Sir Horace Wilson	Last two episodes
1982	Tales of the Unexpected[2]	Latham	1 episode: S5, E5 "Stranger in Town"
1982	The Barchester Chronicles[37]	Bishop Proudie
1985	The Pickwick Papers[38]	Tracy Tupman
1985	Doctor Who	Professor Jobel	Revelation of the Daleks[38]
1986	First Among Equals[2]	Alec Pimkin
1987	Inspector Morse[38]	Doctor Bartlett
1987	Pack of Lies[39]	Ellis
1988	Journey's End[40]	Captain Hardy
1989	British Telecom	Cyril (Beatie's brother-in-law in Australia)	Television advertisement[41]
1990–1995	Keeping Up Appearances[38]	Richard Bucket	Main role, 44 episodes
1993	Heartbeat[42]	Victor Kellerman	1 episode: "Going Home"
1997	The Famous Five[38]	Mr Pottersham	‘Five Have a Wonderful Time" Part 1&?2
1997	The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket	Richard Bucket	TV film (archive footage only)
1998	Peak Practice[43]	Norman Shorthose	10 episodes
1999	Aristocrats[44]	King George II
2002–2005	Born and Bred[38]	Reverend Eustacius Brewer
2007	Doctor Who	Mr Copper	"Voyage of the Damned"[45]
2008	Keeping Up Appearances: Life Lessons from Onslow	Richard Bucket	TV film (archive footage only)
2009–2010	The Old Guys[38][2]	Roy	12 episodes
2011	Hustle[46]	Yusef	Episode: "The Delivery"
2014	Cuckoo[2]	Dr. Rafferty	Episode: "Funeral"
2015	Rosamunde Pilcher	Edward Whiteley	"Valentine's Kiss"
2015	SunTrap	Colin	Episode: "In the Line of Fire"
2017	Midsomer Murders[47]	Felix Hope	S19, E2: "Crime and Punishment" (final appearance)

Radio

• "Vivat Rex" as Lord Talbot in "Henry VI" by William Shakespeare, in episodes 15–16, BBC (1977)
• Souvenirs of Chabrier - five-part series on the life and music of Emmanuel Chabrier, with Swift as the composer (1981)^[48]
• Measure for Measure as Escalus (2004)^[49]
• Oblomov as the Doctor (2005)^[50]
• The Right Time (2008)^[51]
• Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities as Nash (2011)^[52]
• The Price of Fear – Remains to be Seen as Fred Treiber (2012)^[53]

Stage

• Cymbeline (1962) as Cloten^[54]
• The Physicists (1963) as Inspector Richard Voss (Aldwych Theatre)^[2]
• The Tempest (1966) as Caliban (Prospect Theatre Company)^[55]