Biography

Buster Merryfield

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Buster Merryfield used to be a bank manager with the Nat West until he retired in 1978 at the age of 65. He decided to do what he'd always wanted to do and that was to be an actor. Luck was obviously with him, for he ended up in the part of Uncle Albert in the long running television series in Only Fools and Horses, resulting in him never being out of work since leaving the bank. In his spare time, he paints copies of Renoir and tends the garden which he designed. He was married to Iris and had a daughter, Karen.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

Used to be a bank manager, in charge of a branch at Natwest. He had limited television experience before Only Fools and Horses (1981), and as a result, he was very nervy in his early days on the show. At first, he would crash into the audience (deliver his lines without waiting for the audience laughter to die down first), and had to re-record his scenes. Merryfield would than dry up and lose his words and it would get to him. David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst sat him down for a talk. He was worried he wouldn't last. Whenever they made mistakes in the middle of a recording, they would blame someone and make it into a joke. If you could make the audience think you don't care, they relax and they feel like part of the joke. After that, he cracked his problem, relaxed into the show and the new partnership and became the lovable Uncle Albert.
He only became a professional actor at the age of 57, having worked in a bank for 40 years, apart from his service in World War II. However he had often acted in amateur stage productions.
He married Iris in 1942 after a week-long romance and they were together for 57 years until his death. They had a daughter, Karen.
Was a jungle warfare instructor in WWII.
Died aged 78, after being admitted to hospital 11 days before with a brain tumor. His wife Iris was at his bedside when he died.

[from a letter to the producers of Only Fools and Horses] I understand that Lennard Pearce has died and without wishing to be disrespectful to his memory, if you were thinking of replacing him I would like to offer myself as his replacement.
Even when I'm abroad people tell me what a smashing person Uncle Albert is. I know he's a skiver, but he's a lovable old skiver.
I always said I wanted to do 40 years in a bank. A few years in a war. About 20 years as an actor. Five years to write a book, and then another 10 years as a painter. By the time that's all done I will be about 102. By then someone's sure to have discovered the elixir of life. And you know what? I'll be able to do it all over again.

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