Clive Swift

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]

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.

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

• Cymbeline (1962) as Cloten^[53]
• The Physicists (1963) as Inspector Richard Voss (Aldwych Theatre)^[2]
• The Tempest (1966) as Caliban (Prospect Theatre Company)^[54]

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