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Brian Murphy, the comedy actor famous for playing George Roper in both Man About the House and its spin-off George and Mildred has died at the age of 92, outliving his screen wife played by Yootha Joyce by over four decades. Murphy and Joyce played the familiar married couple in both 1970s sitcoms and I suppose that one problem was that in Man About the House they didn't have the prominence that they deserve and came secondary to Richard O'Sullivan and Tessa Wyatt's characters, and a natural progression was to give them both a spin-off series.
It ran until 1980 when Joyce passed away, although they also managed a spin-off of a spin-off in the form of a feature film version of George and Mildred just like they did with Man About the House, and it was premiered on ITV after HM Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas message in the same year on Christmas Day. Of course, his character George Roper was not to be confused with George Roper, the comedian who appeared on The Comedians and died in 2003 - the name had at least two namesakes in British comedy. Murphy was on Lionel Blair's team for the Charles and Diana Royal Wedding edition of Give us a Clue in 1981, and over a decade later he played Stan the Shopkeeper for Wizadora, a programme made for the under fives for Meridian in the mid 1990s.
With so many famous people passing away recently, I thought that Murphy was very much one of the main ones still with us.
It ran until 1980 when Joyce passed away, although they also managed a spin-off of a spin-off in the form of a feature film version of George and Mildred just like they did with Man About the House, and it was premiered on ITV after HM Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas message in the same year on Christmas Day. Of course, his character George Roper was not to be confused with George Roper, the comedian who appeared on The Comedians and died in 2003 - the name had at least two namesakes in British comedy. Murphy was on Lionel Blair's team for the Charles and Diana Royal Wedding edition of Give us a Clue in 1981, and over a decade later he played Stan the Shopkeeper for Wizadora, a programme made for the under fives for Meridian in the mid 1990s.
With so many famous people passing away recently, I thought that Murphy was very much one of the main ones still with us.
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