Bernard Fox (actor)

Bernard Fox
Fox in Hogan's Heroes (1968)
Born	Bernard Lawson (1927-05-11)11 May 1927 Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales
Died	14 December 2016(2016-12-14) (aged 89) Van Nuys, California, United States
Cause of death	Heart failure
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1955–2004
Spouse(s)	Jacqueline Fox (m. 1961; his death 2016)
Children	2
Family	Wilfrid Lawson (uncle)

Bernard Lawson (11 May 1927 – 14 December 2016), better known as Bernard Fox, was a Welsh actor. He is best remembered for his roles as Dr. Bombay in the comedy fantasy series Bewitched (1964–1972), Colonel Crittendon in the comedy series Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971), Archibald Gracie IV in the epic romance-disaster film Titanic (1997), and Captain Winston Havlock in the action-adventure fantasy horror film The Mummy (1999).

Early life

Fox was a fifth-generation performer. He was born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, the son of Queenie (née Barrett) and Gerald Lawson, both stage actors. He had an older sister, Mavis, and his uncle was actor Wilfrid Lawson.

Career

Film

Fox began his film career at the age of 18 months and by the age of 14 he was an assistant manager of a theatre. After his naval services in the Royal Navy during World War II he resumed his career and soon was in 30 film credits from 1956 to 2004 include two films revolving around the sinking of RMS Titanic, separated by 39 years. Fox was in both Titanic (1997) (as Colonel Archibald Gracie IV) and the earlier version of the tragedy A Night to Remember (1958) (uncredited as Frederick Fleet). In the latter, he delivered the line "Iceberg dead ahead, sir!" while playing the part of a sailor in the ship's crow's nest. His other screen roles ranged from supporting parts in broad comedies (Yellowbeard, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, and The Private Eyes, playing a homicidal butler in the last) to supplying the voice of the Chairmouse in the Disney animated features The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. He played the role of Winston Havelock, a retired Air Force pilot, in the 1999 adventure film The Mummy. In 2004, Fox made his final appearance before retirement in Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes.

Television

On television, Fox portrayed the warlock physician (or "witch doctor") Dr. Bombay on Bewitched and the inept "Colonel" Crittendon (actually an RAF Group Captain, though always referred to as a Colonel) on Hogan's Heroes. However, his first appearance in Bewitched was not as Dr. Bombay, but as a professional witch debunker. He repeated the role of Dr. Bombay on the 1977 sequel Tabitha, and again in 1999 on the soap opera Passions, and spoofed it as a genie doctor ("wish doctor") in a 1989 episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse. He appeared in two episodes in the mystery series Columbo, "Dagger of the Mind" and "Troubled Waters". Fox was the penultimate surviving adult recurring cast member of the sitcom Bewitched, leaving Nancy Kovack as the only remaining one. Fox also appeared as English valet Malcolm Meriweather on The Andy Griffith Show, and in Knight Rider as Commander Smiths in season 2, episode 8.

Fox appeared as a British Major in "The Phantom Major," episode 3 of F Troop, and in "Tea and Empathy," episode 17 of season 6 of M*A*S*H. In 1964, Fox appeared in episode 117 of The Dick Van Dyke Show, titled "Girls Will Be Boys." Fox plays the father of a little girl who keeps beating up Richie Petrie. He also appeared in episode 95, "Teacher's Petrie," where he played a night school creative writing teacher, and in "Never Bathe on Saturday" as the house detective. In 1965 Fox made a guest appearance on Perry Mason as murderer Peter Stange in "The Case of the Laughing Lady."

Fox also appeared in McHale's Navy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. "The Thor Affair" As munitions magnate Brutus Thor, intent on assassinating a "Gandhi-like" figure who is trying to bring world peace (1966). And a two-part episode "The Bridge of Lion's Affair" in 1966, as THRUSH agent Jordin, whose constant response to each additional assignment is "I'll look into it"; and in the Murder, She Wrote episode "One White Rose for Death" in 1986. He co-starred with Michael Evans as Dr. Watson in "Sherlock & Me" in the early 1980s.

Personal life

Fox married his wife, Jacqueline, in 1961. They have two children, daughters named Amanda and Valerie. Valerie has two children, a son named David-Mitchell and a daughter named Samantha. Valerie, sadly passed away on May 17, 2006.

Death

On the morning of 14 December 2016, Fox died of heart failure at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California. He was 89 years old.

Filmography

Film

• Soho Incident (aka Spin a Dark Web) (1956) – McLeod (uncredited)
• Home and Away (1956) – Johnnie Knowles
• The Counterfeit Plan (1956) – Detective Sergeant
• Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957) – Photographer (uncredited)
• The Safecracker (1958) – Shafter
• A Night to Remember (1958) – Lookout Frederick Fleet (uncredited)
• The Two-Headed Spy (1958) – Lieutenant
• Captured (1959)
• The Longest Day (1962) – Pvt. Hutchinson (uncredited)
• The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) – Lynch (uncredited)
• Honeymoon Hotel (1964) – Room Clerk
• Quick, Before It Melts (1964) – Leslie Folliott
• Strange Bedfellows (1965) – Policeman
• Munster, Go Home! (1966) – Squire Lester Moresby
• Hold On! (1966) – Dudley Hawks
• One of Our Spies Is Missing (1966) – Jordin
• Star! (1968) – Assistant to Lord Chamberlain (uncredited)
• The Bamboo Saucer (1968) – Ephram
• Big Jake (1971) – Scottish Shepherd (uncredited)
• The Million Dollar Duck (1971) – Car Salesman (uncredited)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972) – Dr. Watson
• Arnold (1973) – Constable Hooke
• The Rescuers (1977) – The Chairman (voice)
• Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) – Max
• Alien Zone (1978) – Inspector McDowal
• The Private Eyes (1980) – Justin
• Gauguin the Savage (1980) – Captain Chablat
• Yellowbeard (1983) – Tarbuck
• 18 Again! (1988) – Horton
• The Rescuers Down Under (1990) – Chairman / Doctor (voice)
• Titanic (1997) – Col. Archibald Gracie
• The Mummy (1999) – Captain Winston Havlock
• Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes (2004) – Himself (final film role)

Television

• The Danny Thomas Show (1962–1963, "Danny's English Friend", and Danny's "Girl Shy" in the "Make Room For Daddy" series.) – Alfie Wingate
• The Andy Griffith Show (1963–1965) – Malcolm Merriweather
• McHale's Navy (1964) – Sub-Lieutenant Clivedon
• The Dick Van Dyke Show (1964–1965) – The Detective / Ogden Darwell / Mr. Caldwell
• Twelve O'Clock High (1964–1966) – Sgt. Major Higgins / Major Dutton / Colonel Charles
• Perry Mason (1965) – Peter Stange
• F-Troop (1965) – Major Bentley Ross
• Hogan's Heroes (1965–1970, in two-part episode "Lady Chitterly's Lover") – Colonel Crittendon / Sir Charles Chitterly
• I Dream of Jeannie (1966 , season 1, episode 18 "Is There an Extra Jeannie in the House?") – Arnie
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1966) – Jordin / Brutus Thor
• Bewitched (1966–1972) – Dr. Bombay / Osgood Rightmire
• The Wide Open Door (1967) – Jack
• The Monkees (1968, season 2, episode 55 "Monkees Mind Their Manor") – Sir Twiggly Toppen Middlebottom
• Here Come the Brides (1969) – Father Ned
• Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (1972) – Det. Chief Supt. William Durk
• The Son-in-Law
• Intertect (1973) – Barrett
• Columbo: Troubled Waters (1975) – Purser Watkins
• Soap (1977–1981) – Randolph Gatling, brother of Mary and Jessica (1 episode)
• Tabitha (1977–1978) – Dr. Bombay (2 episodes)
• M*A*S*H (1978) – Major Ross
• What's Happening!! (1978) – Britisher
• The Dukes of Hazzard (1980) Higgins the Butler "Southern Comfurts" season 2 episode 23
• Sherlock & Me (1981)
• Pee-wee's Playhouse (1989, "Sick? Did Somebody Say Sick?") – Dr. Jinga-Janga
• Dharma and Greg (2001, "Without Reservations") – Henry Cooper

External links

• Bernard Fox at the Internet Movie Database
• Bernard Fox at the TCM Movie Database
• Bernard Fox at AllMovie