Bernard Fox
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Fans of the ABC daytime drama "General Hospital" may remember Fox as Nigel Pennysmith.
About his role as Dr Bombay in "Bewitched": "So they called me in to play this doctor, and I thought it just was a one-shot, and that was it. And I thought to myself, I don't want to just be any old doctor, so I made him a very kind of--there's a man I knew in Ceylon actually, who'd been a vet, and he was the officer in charge of the camp that we were in, and it was an all male camp, and one evening, I was on duty, and we got six Women's Royal Naval Service arrived to be put up, and it was an all male camp. So I went to this officer and I said 'We got six Women's Royal Naval Services, what shall I do?' And he said 'Oh, I don't know, give 'em a hot bran mash, some clean straw, and bed 'em down for the night.' And I thought what a great way to play this doctor. And that's the way I played him, and they just kept writing him back in."
Biography
Bernard Fox was a prolific Welsh television and film actor, who appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, most notably "Bewitched" (ABC, 1964-1972), "Hogan's Heroes" (CBS, 1965-1971) and the movie "Titanic" (1997), over the course of his 50-plus year career as a professional screen actor. Born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales in 1927, Fox's acting career began when he was barely out of diapers. He came from a family of stage actors (both of his parents made their living as actors), and started working in the theater when he was still a young boy. By his early teens he was employed as a stage manager, and envisioned spending the rest of his life working in theater. The breakout of World War II changed all of that, however. Fox enlisted in the Royal Navy and spent the last two years of the war working as a minesweeper. After World War II Fox moved to London to work as a theater actor, and before long started to earn a reputation as a funny performer. By the mid-50s he was landing parts on British TV shows and movies, including "Home and Away" (1956) and "The Counterfeit Plan" (1957). His worked steadily in Britain over the next several years, but by the mid-1960s Fox was landing work on American television shows. Throughout the 1960s he nabbed recurring roles on some of the most popular shows in the States, including "The Andy Griffith Show" (CBS, 1960-1968), "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (NBC, 1964-68), "Bewitched," and "Hogan's Heroes." Fox continued working steadily throughout the 70s and 80s, appearing mostly in one-off roles on TV. Then in the late 90s, when he was already in his 70s, Fox's hit a late-career upsurge with noteworthy parts in two of the biggest blockbuster films of the decade: "Titanic" and "The Mummy" (1999). Fox retired from screen acting shortly after the turn of the century, with his last credited role on the sitcom "Dharma and Greg" (ABC, 1997-2002). He died on December 16, 2016 at the age of 89. The cause of death was heart failure.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1952
Joined London's Whitehall Farce Players, performing in "Reluctant Heroes", "Simple Spymen" and "Dry Rot", among other plays
1956
Film debut in "Spin a Dark Web"
1958
Played a small role in the Titanic drama "A Night to Remember"
1962
First Hollywood stage performance in "Write Me a Murder"
1963
Acted in John Huston's "The List of Adrian Messenger"
1963
American TV debut on "The Danny Thomas Show", playing an inept waiter named Alfie
1963
Portrayed popular recurring character Malcom Merriweather in "The Andy Griffith Show"
1966
Acted in two "Man From U.N.C.L.E." episodes, including "The Mother Muffin Affair," which featured Boris Karloff in drag
1967
Played recurring role of the eccentric warlock Dr Bombay on "Bewitched" (ABC), had previously played Osgood Wrightmeyer, a supposed "witchbuster", in a 1966 episode
1972
Played Dr Watson to Stewart Granger's Sherlock Holmes in TV-movie "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (ABC)
1973
Portrayed Constable Hooks in the feature "Arnold"
1977
Provided Chairman's voice in animated feature "The Rescuers"
1977
Appeared in "Herbie Rides Again", starring Don Knotts and Dean Jones
1978
Broadway debut as Duchotel in "13 Rue de L'Amour"
1980
Reteamed with Don Knotts for "The Private Eyes"
1980
Portrayed Captain Chablat in TV-movie "Gaugin the Savage"
1990
Lent his voice to Disney sequel "The Rescuers Down Under" (Chairmouse and Doctor)
1997
Second time on the doomed Titanic, this time as Colonel Archibald Gracie in James Cameron's "Titanic"
1999
Played Captain Winston Havlock in "The Mummy"
2001
Final screen acting credit as Henry on TV series "Dharma & Greg"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Fans of the ABC daytime drama "General Hospital" may remember Fox as Nigel Pennysmith.
About his role as Dr Bombay in "Bewitched": "So they called me in to play this doctor, and I thought it just was a one-shot, and that was it. And I thought to myself, I don't want to just be any old doctor, so I made him a very kind of--there's a man I knew in Ceylon actually, who'd been a vet, and he was the officer in charge of the camp that we were in, and it was an all male camp, and one evening, I was on duty, and we got six Women's Royal Naval Service arrived to be put up, and it was an all male camp. So I went to this officer and I said 'We got six Women's Royal Naval Services, what shall I do?' And he said 'Oh, I don't know, give 'em a hot bran mash, some clean straw, and bed 'em down for the night.' And I thought what a great way to play this doctor. And that's the way I played him, and they just kept writing him back in."
Fox treated "Andy Griffith" fans to delightful bits of his one-man show "Miniature Music Hall" during three cast events he attended in 1995 in Grand Rapids, MI, Winston-Salem, NC and Oxford, AL.
