About...

He attended the  Coopers' Company and Coborn School in London E.3. His father was a tailor's cutter and he became interested in acting after visits to the Hackney Empire. London County Council awarded him a scholarship to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he won the Emile Littler Award as the most promising actor. For most of the 1950's, Bernard Bresslaw mostly appeared in London's West End or the Royal Albert Hall in stage productions and many pantomimes. This was where he met his wife, who was a dancer in a Sleeping Beauty performance.

After "Educating Archie" on radio and "The Army Game" on television, more television, film and Shakespearean theatre roles followed, until he was cast in "Carry On Cowboy" in 1965. Although officially starring in 14 Carry On films, Bernard Bresslaw did appear in one other, "Carry On Nurse". The legs of Terence Longdon were deemed to be too thin and scrawny looking, so Bernard Bresslaw's were used as stand-ins for the scene where Joan Sims gives him a bath.

The young Bernie was a giant from birth, weighing in at 10lb 4oz, even as a child Bernard was tall by the time he was a teenager he was in size 9 shoes which disappointed his mother as she wanted him to do Tap dancing lessons.

Bernard Bresslaw's catchphrase, in his strong Cockney accent, was "I only arsked" , first used in The Army Game, and later revived in Carry On Camping (1969). In his fleeting appearance as an angry lorry driver in the 1970 film Spring and Port Wine, his character was dubbed.

At 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), he was the tallest of the Carry On cast, head and shoulders over fellow Carry On regular Barbara Windsor, who is 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m). Because of his height he was briefly considered for the part of the Creature in Hammer's Curse of Frankenstein (1957), which ultimately went instead to 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Christopher Lee. Bernard Bresslaw later made a comedy version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for Hammer titled "The Ugly Duckling" (1959). He made great efforts to prepare for roles, for example learning genuine Fanagalo phrases for "Carry On Up the Jungle" (1970).

He featured as Varga, the lead villain in the 1967 "Doctor Who" story The Ice Warriors. Even though all the actors playing the aliens were over six feet tall, Bernard Bresslaw towered over them. Sonny Caldinez, who played an Ice Warrior in the story, stated in a 2004 interview that Bernard Bresslaw "was the only man that could make me feel small."

When he left the Carry On series in 1975, he returned to the theatre, mostly appearing in Shakespeare productions and television commercials for BT. Bresslaw was determined to show the public that he was able to portray characters that were outside of completely comedic; the Carry On film series had cemented him in the comic type casting and some of his television roles that he had chosen in the meantime hadn't helped either.

One of his last performances were in Twelfth Night and the genie in Aladdin, and was preparing to appear as Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew to show critics that he could portray more serious characters, but he died from a heart attack in his dressing room on the night of the performance minutes before he was due to take the stage. It was ironically before his arguably best acting role of his career.

Bernard Bresslaw also recorded a number of records as well as a 12 page book of Poetry privately published called...

Ode to the dead sea scrolls...



And on the 11th June 1993, Bernard went to work as normal preparing for his performance in the production of "The Taming of the Shrew as Grumio" at Regent's Park. Bernard's body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes were buried there.