Clive Swift

Clive Walter Swift (born 9 February 1936) is an English actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances, but has played many other notable film and television roles, including that of Roy in the British television series The Old Guys.

Swift was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of Lily Rebecca (née Greenman) and Abram Sampson Swift. His elder brother, David, was also an actor. Both were educated at Clifton College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where Clive read English literature. He was previously a teacher at LAMDA and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His family was Jewish.

In the 1970s, he appeared as Doctor Black in two of the BBC's M.R. James adaptations: The Stalls of Barchester and A Warning to the Curious. He is best known for his role on Keeping Up Appearances as Richard Bucket, the long-suffering husband of Hyacinth. Swift starred in the BBC adaptation of The Barchester Chronicles and appeared in the Doctor Who story Revelation of the Daleks. On 25 December 2007, he appeared in a Doctor Who Christmas special as Mr Copper. He also played Sir Ector, the adoptive father of King Arthur in John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur.

Swift was formerly married to novelist Margaret Drabble (1960–75). He is the father of one daughter, Rebecca (who died in April 2017), known for running The Literary Consultancy in London, and two sons, Adam Swift, an academic, and Joe Swift, a TV gardener.

In addition to acting, he is a songwriter. Many of his songs are included in his show, Richard Bucket Overflows: An Audience with Clive Swift, which toured the UK in 2007 and Clive Swift Entertains, performing his own music and lyrics, which toured the UK in 2009. He also played the part of the Reverend Eustacius Brewer in Born and Bred, which aired on BBC 1 from 2002 to 2005.

• Catch Us If You Can (1965) - Duffie
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) - Snug
• Death Line (1972) - Inspector Richardson
• Frenzy (1972) - Johnny Porter
• Man at the Top (1973) - Massey
• The National Health (1973) - Ash
• The Sailor's Return (1978) - Reverend Pottock
• Excalibur (1981) - Ector
• Memed My Hawk (1984)
• A Passage to India (1984) - Major Callendar
• Young Toscanini (1988) - Comparsa (uncredited)
• Gaston's War (1997) - General James
• Vacuums (2003) - AJ Johnson
• Othello (2004)

• The Stalls of Barchester (1971) - Dr. Black
• The Liver Birds – "Birds on strike" (1972) - Jim Royle
• Dead of Night (1972) - Dan
• A Warning to the Curious (1972) - Dr. Black
• Romeo and Juliet (1976) - Friar Lawrence
• Bless Me, Father (1978) - Fred Dobie
• Henry IV Part One (1979) - Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester
• Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) - Sir Horace Wilson
• Tales of the Unexpected - "Stranger in Town" (1982) - Latham
• Barchester Chronicles (1982) - Bishop Proudie
• The Pickwick Papers (1985) - Tracy Tupman
• Doctor Who (1985, 2007) - Jobel / Mr Copper
• First Among Equals (1986) - Alec Pimkin
• Inspector Morse – "The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn" (1987) - Doctor Bartlett
• Pack of Lies (1987 American TV adaptation of Hugh Whitemore's play) - Ellis
• Keeping Up Appearances (1990-1995) - Richard Bucket
• Heartbeat (1993) - Victor Kellerman
• Peak Practice (1998) - Norman Shorthose
• Aristocrats (1999) - King George II
• Born and Bred (2002-2005) - Reverend Brew
• The Old Guys (2009-2010) - Roy
• Hustle (2011) - Yusef
• Midsomer Murders (2017) - Felix Hope

• Oblomov as the Doctor
• The Right Time
• From Fact to Fiction – The Orchard as the Narrator
• Measure for Measure as Escalus
• Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities as Nash
• The Price of Fear – Remains to be Seen as Fred Treiber

• Cymbeline (1962) as Cloten

1963 The Physicists. Aldwych Theatre. Played Inspector Richard Voss.

• The Tempest (1966) as Caliban (Prospect Theatre Company)