18 Facts About Buster Merryfield

Harry "Buster" Merryfield was an English actor best known for starring as Uncle Albert in the BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses.

Buster Merryfield's father, called Harry, was a fitter, and his mother Lily was a part-time waitress.

Buster Merryfield was given the name "Buster" by his grandfather, as he weighed nine pounds at birth, and it stuck throughout his entire life.

Buster Merryfield refused to divulge his real name, which only became known after his death.

Buster Merryfield followed a strict fitness regime of daily press-ups and swimming sessions.

Buster Merryfield was an amateur football player and Millwall supporter, regularly attending games at the Old Den.

In contrast to his pipe-smoking and rum-drinking character Uncle Albert, Merryfield was a teetotaller and non-smoker his entire life.

Buster Merryfield became a professional actor at the age of 57, after having worked for the Westminster Bank for nearly 40 years.

Buster Merryfield began work there on 11 July 1938 and passed his banking exams in 1939.

Buster Merryfield spent the war in the army, where his physique allowed him to become a PT and jungle-warfare instructor.

Buster Merryfield performed at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Equus.

Buster Merryfield appeared in some small television parts, including Hannah in 1980, as Professor Challis in The Citadel in 1983 and as a bishop in Strangers and Brothers in 1984.

Buster Merryfield did much work for charities such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Buster Merryfield wrote his autobiography, During the War and Other Encounters, in 1996.

In December 1997, Buster Merryfield fell at the British Comedy Awards while walking to the stage to collect an award for David Jason for his part in Only Fools and Horses.

Buster Merryfield appeared in pantomime during Christmas of 1997 and 1998 in the father role in Beauty and the Beast at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth.

Buster Merryfield died at Poole General Hospital on 23 June 1999 as a result of a brain tumour.

Buster Merryfield was survived by his wife Iris, whom he had married in June 1942, his daughter and two grandchildren.