QUOTES

RECOLLECTIONS

ARTHUR BECKINSALE (father)
"I told him, Rick it's a very icy profession. You'll be out of work probably more than in, and you must have a second string to your bow, even if it's hairdressing or something like that."

JUDY YATES (sister)
"I think he went to night school to start with and got his English and Art. The two easier ones I think it was. And then went to Clarendon College and from Clarendon he went to RADA and he then, I think he found what he wanted to do."

DAVID BRADLEY (friend and fellow RADA student)
"We met at RADA in 1966. At the time he always reminded me of a young Eric Morecambe, he had these thick rimmed black glasses and he was very sort of just naturally funny. So I suppose he got this tag of being a quite light comedy actor. Although he got a bit of trouble from one of the voice teachers who said you know 'If you don't get rid of your northern accent you'll always play dustmen.' "

JUDY YATES (sister)
"When he was on Coronation Street he was on for about two or three minutes, but everybody was so excited, and he had long hair and I remember him saying that under this policeman's helmet he had to wear a hair net because his hair was long. All you saw was Richard carrying off Ena Sharples but it was really quite something then, it was quite exciting"

JUDY LOE (second wife)
"It was wonderful that the Lovers had it's... it sounds rather grand... but it's world premiere in Manchester. We arrived in the limo and the door was opened. As we walked through there was a sort of trumpet fanfare which completely took me by surprise, and okay I was probably in a fairly emotional state - I was feeling so bursting with pride for him, and I was seven months pregnant as well so probably slightly on the edge - and seeing my father's face and his parents' face and going through all these people beaming, and my lower lip started to go, and I thought I'm going to completely fall apart here. I'm nervous and I'm so moved by this. It was a real feeling."

"He went a bit silly for a year. He experimented with what it was like to be the latest pin-up in the magazines. He would go to clubs in Manchester with Georgie Best."

RANNOCH DALY (Assistant Governor of Chelmsford Prison where the Porridge movie was filmed)
"There were were a few minutes on BBC Television's teatime news and magazine programme, Nationwide. They broadcast me saying that 'compared to a read prison, both Godber and Fletcher were too old. Fletcher was too smart to keep coming back to prison in his forties and Godber, at twenty-four, was well past the age of the first-timer: most prisoners were aged seventeen to twenty-six and first came to prison in their teens.' Richard Beckinsale approached me the next day in a quiet moment between takes. He'd seen the Nationwide snippet. What I had said had struck him. This was a fact that he'd not come across before. He was about thirty and had a wife and daughter. By his age most prisoners were already played out. He was perturbed. However, he also told me an amusing anecdote against himself as a performer. He'd recently been starring in a comedy in a West End theatre. One scene required him to disappear behind a shop counter looking for something and, a few seconds later, to bang his head on the underside of the counter coming back up. He repeated this night after night, getting a bigger and bigger bruise on the back of his head, until he worked out that if he used a hidden piece of wood to bang under the counter he could get just as big a laugh with no bruise. The real joke was that he was doing this gag seven shows a week but the length of time it took him to work out that he could use the wood instead of his head was eight months. Sadly, a few months later Richard died of a heart attack. There was an awards programme of some sort on the television a few days after his death. Ronnie Barker was there. He was ashen and dumbstruck."

KATE BECKINSALE (daughter with 2nd wife)
"When I was in the Philippines doing Brokedown Palace I turned on the television and there was my dad's last ever episode of Porridge. I thought that was quite an omen really. Ever since he died he has been on TV very regularly so I'm used to it. But sometimes it will catch me out and I'll think 'I'm older now than you were then'. I have seen him more on television than I have in life, but there are certainly enough memories for me not to feel that it's somebody I didn't know. It's extraordinary to me that he's been dead nearly 20 years, and I'll be writing a cheque in Sainsbury's or something and people will say 'oh, we loved your dad'. It's quite nice really."

PERSONALITY

PAULA WILCOX (co star - "The Lovers")
"very endearing, very sweet, and very innocent."

RONNIE BARKER (co-star - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"I sensed the comedian in Richard straight away; it was like working with David Jason - a riot from start to finish. Richard was very funny and his comic timing impeccable; I loved working with him."

"He had such a facility for being sympathetic and playing naïve characters, although in real life he wasn't, of course. You could sense all the mothers saying: 'Aah, isn't he sweet.' He just exuded charm, his timing was excellent and he had a great sense of fun."

IAN LE FRENAIS (writer - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"Richard didn't seem like any actor I'd ever met. By Porridge I'd been 'around' actors for a few years and as much as I loved and respected them, found them a breed of complex contradictions: self-absorbed and neurotic, obnoxious, vulnerable, ambitious and humble, egotistical and insecure; not surprising given the nature of their profession in which rejection is an inevitable constant. Richard was different, and whatever drove him didn't appear to be fuelled by ambition and ego. He was the typical 'great bloke' that you remembered frondly from school. The one who stayed in the same home town, the same steady job and in the same marriage and whose view of the world was completely free of envy or malice. The term 'laid-back' didn't exist in the mid seventies, but if it had there would have been a picture of Richard next to the dictionary definition."

TERENCE SOALL (co-starred in one episode of "Porridge")
"The two leading actors were wonderful; in fact, Richard beckinsale as one of the most charming men you could ever meet. When I arrived for rehearsals, this young man came bounding up to me and said: 'You're Terence Soall, aren't you? I've seen a lot of your work.' He was a lovely man."

APPEARANCE

SAMANTHA BECKINSALE (daughter with 1st wife)
"I had numerous women telling me how much they fancied my dad, even when their husbands were there actually, and sort of describing what he was wearing doing certain things and posters they had of him on their walls and stuff like that."

STEPHEN FREARS (Director)
"Actually he was a very beautiful man, a very sexy man, and he'd take you to one side and he'd say "I'm an eigth Burmese" and he'd show you his cheekbones, and they were just breathtaking."

RONNIE BARKER (co-star - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"That's what gave him those wonderful eyes, those almond eyes. And I'm straight as a die I'm here to tell you!"

RELATIONSHIPS

RONNIE BARKER (co-star - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"We got on so well together that we were always glad to see each other in the morning for rehearsals."

MIKE CRISP (Production Manager - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"[Ronnie Barker and Richard] got on so well professionally and never rowed."

JOHNNY WADE (co-starred in one episode of "Porridge")
"The show had a lot going for it, particularly the rapport between Barker and Beckinsale."

TONY OSOBA (co-star - "Porridge")
"We didn't know each other that well beforehand, even though we both played football for a showbusiness team and had a few mutual friends; but, as the show went along, we got to know each other better and began socialising quite a bit."

KATE BECKINSALE (daughter with 2nd wife)
"I've watched his programmes obsessively as a little kid. I think after he died y'know it was that thing of thinking my god I didn't... you know that thing of wanting to sort of have the flavour of the person so much and being in the weird position of having tonnes of episodes of stuff of him and watching it in order to get some clue in a funny way you know."

HIS WORK

JACK ROSENTHALL (writer - "The Lovers")
"When we came to audition actors for the part of Geoffrey in The Lovers we already had Paula Wilcox to play Beryl. Actor after actor after actor would have the part explained to him, do a little reading, and then say to the Director and the Producer and me 'I know exactly who can play this part'. I'd never heard of Richard so I tried to find out where he was, and he was doing a play in Hull in Yorkshire. I went up there, arranged to meet Richard at the only time he could arrange - which was imbetween shows - and he came round for a cup of tea. The doorbell rang and in walked the perfect Geoffrey."

PAULA WILCOX (co star - "The Lovers")
"He had this lovely kind of slow delivery and an amazingly kind of relaxed attitude infront of the camera, and infact in life, that made him able to portray that innocense that Geoffrey had... Certainly the men in the audience so identified with the character of Geoffrey that their response was wonderful."

SYDNEY LOTTERBY (Producer/Director - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"He was just right, although initially he had trouble with the Birmingham accent. Just like the scar on Fletcher's chin in the early episodes, the Brummie accent got lost and we finally settled for a Nottingham accent, which is where Richard was born."

RONNIE BARKER (co-star - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"Sydney wanted Richard Beckinsale. I remember him saying to me: 'I think this chap Richard Beckinsale, who;s done The Lovers, would be good - have a look at this tape of the show.' Sydney thought Richard was right for the part because of his sensitivity as an actor... It was the first time I'd worked with Richard and as soon as we'd finished the read-through I knew Sydney was correct to suggest him."

"I never felt he wanted to do anything more serious, or pithy."

DICK CLEMENT (writer - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"We admired Richard so much, and Sydney was casting higher than our original expectations, which was fine with us. We hadn't really seen the part of Lennie being that big, but, once Beckinsale had been cast, he was so damned good and bonded so well with Ronnie that we just wanted to use him more and more."

"He was also very honest and appealing, which helped as well because one found oneself on his side. There was an unmistakable truth in his acting, even though he was a terrible reader at the read-throughs. The rest of the cast, who knew what he was like, would almost groan if they knew he had a long speech because they had to sit through his stuttering; he was a lousy reader and we used to joke about how the hell he got his first job! But during the four days' rehearsal everything always came together, and his performance during the recording was almost efortless, as well as wonderfully true."

IAN LE FRENAIS (writer - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"He was hopeless. He'd sit there, look at the script and give the most terrible reading. But he was always very laid back, knew he was a bad reader and had confidnce in his own abilities to make sure he was word-perfect for the first run-through on the floor - and was. Despite all of that, the chemistry between Richard and Ronnie was wonderful. Richard was a rising young performer, a unique talent, while Ronnie was the master. A lot of actors are uncomfortable with that strange hybrid of activity and television with an audience; it's a bit strange and unnerving for many actors, but Ronnie loved it."

TONY OSOBA (co-star - "Porridge")
"Part of that shy naïveté came from Richard, but there was a lot more to his acting than that. And one of the great things about him was that you could watch him and never see him act, which is an art. It appeared that he was doing it effortlessly and whatever character he played was real; that's a superb skill because it isn't easy."

"In Godber, he had a character who was much more than just a foil for Fletcher. He had to explore a range of emotions: there were moments where he had to be strong, others where he was struggling coming to terms with prison and had to be helped along; Richard conveyed that superbly."

IAN LE FRENAIS (writer - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"The term 'laid-back' didn't exist in the mid seventies, but if it had there would have been a picture of Richard next to the dictionary definition. He was a terrible reader, which is the first part of an actor's investiture in a new role: the moment when he has nothing but a notion of the character and the unread, 'cold' script. Richard was hopeless, it's a wonder that he progressed from his earliest auditions! He was even bad after he'd had the script for a few days and we all assembled for the cast rea-through. Then something amazing happened, as it did every week when Richard's performances went from hesitancy and incoherance to the truth and brilliance with which he invested all his work. His acting, like himself, was without artifice or guile. He left the stage rediculously early and I think his talent was irreplaceable."

THE LOSS

RONNIE BARKER (co-star - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"[Producer Sydney Lotterby] phoned and simply said 'Richard's dead!' I didn't understand what he was saying at first so he repeated himself. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. As far as I know he hadn't had anything wrong with his heart. We'd just finished the film and we'd both undergone insurance medicals, which we'd passed. It was such a shock."

"When I was rung up and told, I burst into tears because it was so outrageous that he should have died. He was suddenly not with us anymore. So loved, there was a universal grief that went on. The audience used to love him. We got on so well together that we were always glad to see each other in the morning for rehearsals."

"He was so loved. He hadn't done very much but he was so loved that there was a universal sort of grief that went on."

CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS (co-star - "Porridge")
"I was making a film called The Tempest for Derek Jarman. We were filming in Northumberland and were staying in this rickety old hotel. It was freezing cold and I was having a lie down after filming on the beaches, when suddenly the manager came to me and said: 'Mr. Biggins, the Sun newspaper wants a comment from you.' When I asked him on what subject, he replied: 'Richard Beckinsale has just died.' I was totally gobsmacked and could not believe it."

THE LEGACY

ERIC CHAPPEL (writer - "Rising Damp")
"I think Richard is remembered because he was an original. I mean one still thinks where are you going to get another Richard Beckinsale. We've never seen anything like it before or since."

CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS (co-star - "Porridge")
"He would have moved through each decade and become, in my view, a huge name - he'd probably have become a movie star by now."

RONNIE BARKER (co-star - "Porridge" and "Going Straight")
"He was so loved. He hadn't done very much but he was so loved."