Bernard Cribbins – they don’t make ’em like they used to

Bernard Cribbins, a much-loved, and very funny, character actor has died aged 93, after an astonishingly full and varied career on stage and screen, with awards for his work in children’s television on Jackanory, The Wombles and more recently CBeebies as well as The Railway Children. He did vaudeville, knockabout comedy with Peter Sellers, West End farce and even found success in the pop charts, with two Top 10 novelty songs.

  He was born 29 December 1928 12.35am in Oldham, England into a poor family who suffered during the depression years so he left school at 13 and was pleased to be offered a job as assistant stage manager at the local theatre, which set him off on his 75 year career. He worked right through to his late eighties.

   He was an earthy, practical and ambitious Sun Capricorn in the communicative 3^rd house with an influential Pluto in his 10^th. His Sun was in a mischievous square to Uranus and a confident, lucky, talented Earth Grand Trine to an amiable 7^th house Jupiter trine Neptune. He had affectionate Venus in his 5^th house of children and entertainment, though he didn’t have any of his own, and it was in an enthusiastic trine to Mars in chatty Gemini in his vocal 9^th house. His Mars was opposition Saturn which would give him grit and discipline from a tough childhood.

  A wonderful mix of soft and hard, hard-driving and creative, friendly and controlling.

Pic: Mattbuck