 ProductLink |
|
 David Jason was born in Edmonton, London, in 1940. He has become one of Britain's most famous, versatile and respected actors, who is most famous for his role in Only Fools and Horses (1981) as Del Boy. He made his debut in the series in 1981 and was still playing the same role up to the Christmas special in 2002. His big break came in the 1967 children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967) starring alongside members of the Monty Python team: Terry Jones; Eric Idle, and Michael Palin.Sadly, in 1990, he spent time away from work to nurse Myfanwy Talog, the Welsh actress who was his long time partner, before she died of cancer at the age of 49. He has come a long way from his days as an electrician and has won numerous awards for his work. He has managed to combine the comedy aspect of his career with rather more serious roles, such as that of Jack Frost in the highly-rated detective series A Touch of Frost (1992) and has proved that he is a man of many talents. In the mid 1970s, he performed as Blanco, an elderly prisoner, in episodes of Porridge (1974) with Ronnie Barker. He has also done voice work in children's TV.He has not really concentrated on films, although he was very impressive in the TV film All the King's Men (1999), playing Frank Beck, the Commander of the Sandringham Company who mysteriously disappeared whilst in action in The Great War campaign in Gallipoli in 1915.He lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife, Gill Hinchcliffe and their daughter, Sophie Mae, who was born in 2001. His hobbies are a little DIY and gardening. He was knighted in 2005, becoming Sir David Jason.Born David White in Finchley his father was a Billingsgate porter and his mother a cleaner,He had a twin brother who died in infancy.. As a child he was in school play and afterwards realised that he wanted to act but followed his fathers wishes and became an electrician but eventually joined Bromley Repetrtory Company when he was 25
Bio:
David Jason was born in Edmonton, London, in 1940. He has become one of Britain's most famous, versatile and respected actors, who is most famous for his role in Only Fools and Horses (1981) as Del Boy. He made his debut in the series in 1981 and was still playing the same role up to the Christmas special in 2002. His big break came in the 1967 children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967) starring alongside members of the Monty Python team: Terry Jones; Eric Idle, and Michael Palin.Sadly, in 1990, he spent time away from work to nurse Myfanwy Talog, the Welsh actress who was his long time partner, before she died of cancer at the age of 49. He has come a long way from his days as an electrician and has won numerous awards for his work. He has managed to combine the comedy aspect of his career with rather more serious roles, such as that of Jack Frost in the highly-rated detective series A Touch of Frost (1992) and has proved that he is a man of many talents. In the mid 1970s, he performed as Blanco, an elderly prisoner, in episodes of Porridge (1974) with Ronnie Barker. He has also done voice work in children's TV.He has not really concentrated on films, although he was very impressive in the TV film All the King's Men (1999), playing Frank Beck, the Commander of the Sandringham Company who mysteriously disappeared whilst in action in The Great War campaign in Gallipoli in 1915.He lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife, Gill Hinchcliffe and their daughter, Sophie Mae, who was born in 2001. His hobbies are a little DIY and gardening. He was knighted in 2005, becoming Sir David Jason.
Born David White in Finchley his father was a Billingsgate porter and his mother a cleaner,He had a twin brother who died in infancy.. As a child he was in school play and afterwards realised that he wanted to act but followed his fathers wishes and became an electrician but eventually joined Bromley Repetrtory Company when he was 25
Tivia:
He did not find out until age 14 that he had a twin brother who had died at birth.The famous scene from Only Fools and Horses (1981) where Del Boy fell through the open bar flap derived from John Sullivan watching the exact same thing happen to a man in a wine bar, except he grabbed onto the fixed part of the bar so he didn't fall right over. Sullivan thought it funny for the man's body language, trying to recover his cool. Sullivan wanted a slip, stumble and a tree like fall; Jason thought Del should go all the way over - start to go sideways, and than go over without looking in the direction of the fall, which Jason thought was the key to the scene. There was a hidden crash mat, but it was a hard shot to get because it was hard not to look where Jason was falling; Jason had done a number of falls in the theatre so that came in handy. Just as funny was Trigger's baffled reaction to Del's sudden disappearance. Jason gets people asking him about that fall all the time, and some never like to talk about anything else, but he's happy to be remembered for something so iconic.He had no formal education.He landed the part of Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses (1981) by making fun of director Ray Butt's Cockney accent with a pitch perfect imitation.He worked as a self-employed electrician before becoming an actor, initially in the theatre and later moving to television.He didn't watch television until the age of 13, when he saw the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, she later knighted Jason. His family didn't hire a television until he was age 15, when ITV was first launched.In 2005, he was knighted in the Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honours. He collected the award from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 1 December 2005, having secretly married his long-term partner Gill Hinchcliffe at the Dorchester Hotel in London the day before.When Jason was cast as Detective Inspector Jack Frost, the character had to be cleaned up from the books, where Frost was a chain smoker, but Jason recently gave up smoking. He used to smoke four or five cigarettes a day, or in the evening with a drink, and didn't want to start again, and smoking was taboo on TV in 1992.When the pilot episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981) went through a chaotic production, including going through three directors at one point, Jason privately felt the BBC were trying to sabotage the show.He received two awards at the British Television Awards. He got the awards for "Britain's Best Actor" and "Britain's Best Comedy Actor".He penned his autobiography, My Life, in 2013.He is the younger brother of actor Arthur White, who appears in many episodes of A Touch of Frost (1992) with him.After discovering that there was already a "David White" registered with Equity, he took the name "David Jason". It has long and popularly been rumoured that the name "Jason" came from his twin brother who had died in infancy. This is incorrect. His twin brother died without being named, and he chose "David Jason" as his stage name from his favourite book at school Jason and the Argonauts (1963).For The Wind in the Willows (1984), Cosgrove Hall wanted Jason to play Ratty but he preferred Mr Toad. Everyone who had voiced Toad had made him unpleasant, but Jason made him into a lovable showoff. After Jason recorded an audition, he got the part.He became a father for the first time at age 61 when his partner Gill Hinchcliffe gave birth to their daughter Sophie Mae White on 26 February 2001.He was given advice by Jon Pertwee when first starting his acting career.He still owns the credit board Phantom Raspberry Blower - David Jason from The Two Ronnies (1971). He's enormously proud of his contribution to "that little moment of comic history".He was a friend of Darth Vader actor David Prowse since the beginning of his TV career.Jason got a letter from someone saying they saw a house on the market identical to Toad Hall from The Wind in the Willows (1984); it was three miles from Jason's house. He went looking for it and found it. He said it was wonderful and seemed to go on forever, it even had a lake, fed by its own spring. It wasn't Toad Hall, but he could imagine living in it. It was twice the value of the house he owned then. He thought about it but had to pay full price when he lost a coin toss (despite his reputation as a wheeler-dealer). But just driving up to the house made him realize how much he wanted it.Bob Monkhouse was enthusiastic about David Jason's comic potential and attempted to put together a pilot film for him called "Jason" in the late 1960s-early 1970s.He is a big fan of Buddy Holly.He wanted to work with Ronnie Barker years before Open All Hours (1976). He believed it profoundly affected the course of his life. He always considered him a mentor whenever they worked together. He never understood why Barker left ITV for the BBC because he wasn't in the know. He considered working with Barker on an entire series a dream outcome. The two became close friends. He claimed Barker was very wise and if he thought something was OK, that was good enough.He did Only Fools and Horses (1981) and Open All Hours (1976) at the same time with occasional theatre work.He worked as an electrician, which involved licking a finger and poking live circuitry to see how much of a shock you got. He considered a career as an electrician but then went to drama school at the age of 24. When acting dried up in the early years of his career, he went back to work as an electrician.He plays the trombone.Ronnie Barker and John Sullivan attended his 50th birthday party; they parked their cars in neighboring drives and roads so as not to spoil the surprise. On the birthday cake in icing was the scene from Only Fools and Horses (1981) where Del Boy and Rodney end up with blowup dolls. Jason's wife thought it in poor taste and Jason saw her point, but he considered the baker an artist with the marzipan. Barker delivered a speech at the party, and Jason said it was a lovely, high-spirited evening, and the nicest of surprises, but he wasn't surprised though, because all the lights were off when he came home - something his wife never did.He had an on-off relationship with Phil Collins's older sister, which began when Collins was still living at home with his parents. As a result, the first rock concert Jason actually went to was Genesis with Collins on drums and Peter Gabriel on vocals at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1974.When he was 14, he worked as a grocery delivery boy at the local supermarket for almost no pay where he learned to ride a delivery bike. He always liked to ride a bike to work and home because it kept him at 8 stone and a 29 inch waist.In 1989, after the end of the sixth series of Only Fools and Horses (1981), he won a BAFTA award for Best Comedy Performance. He put the award on his mantelpiece, next to the one for Best Actor he had already.Once, while staying as a guest in Ronnie Barker's house, he got slightly drunk and couldn't sleep; he saw a door and assuming it led to a flat roof, decided to get some fresh air to help him sleep even though he couldn't see a thing beyond the door. He reconsidered after worrying about cutting his feet on any stones. The next morning he found the door led to nowhere but a 30ft drop to a disused mill wheel; Barker had a balcony built to prevent any more near tragedies.The first review of his work was "David White looked like a young James Cagney and played, though only 16, with the ease of a born actor". He still remembers it but thought it unlikely.He once played a raven on stage and prepared for the role by studying raven behavior at the Tower of London. In the Season 6 premiere episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981), Del Boy mentions how he once had a job at the Tower of London.Yorkshire Television wanted Jason to play Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May (1991). He admitted he was amazed the show went on to be a national, award-winning success. He had never read the book so went away and did so before accepting the part; he pronounced it a charming read, as well as lovely, but not much happened and didn't go anywhere. But the characters were strong, especially Pop Larkin, and he would be fun to play. Jason's condition was to shoot the series on film, because he didn't want it to be a studio production. At least on film, it would look good and have some quality about it, even if nothing happened.In September, 2008 a press release went out about Detective Inspector Jack Frost's retirement. Not because of lack of storylines or Jason losing interest in the character (he would have happily played him forever). The problem was Jason's age: at 68, Jack Frost was the oldest copper on the force. He would have retired ten years before or sooner, so he bowed out.During a horse riding lesson, the horse stepped on his foot, dislocating two of his toes; his injury was written into a play he was doing where the character had gout.He is a huge fan of Alastair Sim ever since he saw him in A Christmas Carol (1951). Jason considers Sim the definitive Scrooge.He was made an O.B.E. (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of British Empire) for services to drama.Jason put on weight when playing Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May (1991). It was because of all the food in the show; bread and ham, cheese, pickled onions, roast dinners, chocolate, etc. It was meant to show the Larkin family's generous spirit and carefree love of life. There were also fried breakfasts cooked fresh on the set on a little stove. One day on the set, the shooting schedule meant Jason sat down to breakfast five times, which meant it was piled with bacon and eggs. Jason asked if he could skip the fry-ups, so they switched to kippers, which was just as bad. The extra weight he put on meant he couldn't wear a dinner jacket to that year's BAFTA's that fit the year before. He had to go on a few months of dieting to regain his former, "sylph-like" weight. A Touch of Frost (1992) also had a tough food regime that was hard on Jason's stomach, because Frost wasn't a healthy eater, e.g. bacon sandwiches, chips, fry-ups, etc. People used to remark on it to Jason, that he was eating badly.During the Gulf War, Jason met someone in a pub who worked at RAF Command Headquarters. He told Jason they race 3-wheel vans against each other, paint them yellow with Trotters Independent Traders down the sides of them, like the van from Only Fools and Horses (1981). Jason went down to have a look, but he didn't see a race. Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Buster Merryfield all sent a Trotters van out to Kuwait. They slipped it into a Hercules plane among other stuff on a supply run and when it was unloaded the crew would find the van, filled up with chewing gum, toothpaste, cake and Danger Mouse (1981) and Count Duckula (1988) tapes from Brian Cosgrove with labels saying Debbie Does Dallas and Unzipperdedoodah and all sorts to amuse them. Jason didn't ask for any publicity because he didn't want anyone to think it was just for that, but a private joke between the RAF and the Trotters. The van was put in the hold and covered up with medical supplies and ammunition and flew to Kuwait, where it's discovery brought some light relief.His first experience of playing in the West End was as a pirate in a production of Peter Pan at the Strand; it was also his first experience of touring the country.Filming A Touch of Frost (1992) meant spending a lot of time away from home, at the studios in Leeds or on location in Wetherby, Harrogate, Dewsbury and all local stations. Yorkshire Television made it easy on Jason by renting out a cottage rather than pay for a hotel, especially since Jason could cook for himself; he just wanted somewhere simple to go at the end of the day to clear his head. Yorkshire Television found Jason an old farmer's cottage without central heating, so he had to light a fire; on warm evenings he sat out in the garden which was always a pleasure. When asked did he get lonely, he said he didn't, because he enjoyed the quiet time. He also had his own driver, on call 24hrs a day, who collected Jason from Buckinghamshire for the 3hr drive to Yorkshire while he worked on his scripts, stopping along the way for a bacon and egg roll and a cup of tea ("a very Frost-like meal"). Jason lived in a spartan farm cottage while the cast stayed at a hotel.During World War II, a human arm landed on the roof of his childhood home; the family thought it was a chicken that would feed them for two meals.Former PM Tony Blair sent a letter to Jason asking if he would like to become a knight bachelor. Jason suspected a prank, considering it may have been Brian Cosgrove who hired Jason to play Dangermouse, Count Duckula, Mr Toad and the BFG, but the offer was genuine.Before the start of the sixth series of Only Fools and Horses (1981), Jason was annoyed about something and went to see John Sullivan. Sullivan was writing terrific scripts that were too long and had to be edited down to 30 minutes. Jason felt they were cutting more funny material than most sitcoms manage in a full episode. One edit that had particularly vexed Jason was during the Series 5 episode Tea For Three. After Del Boy returned from a disastrous hang-gliding session, he originally had a speech Jason described as "beautifully constructed, full of suppressed rage" about all of the places Del had visited. Jason considered it a comic masterpiece, but because the episode had overrun, half the speech got cut. Sullivan agreed with Jason that the episodes needed to be longer. Jason and Sullivan approached Gareth Gwenlan while he was producing Series 6 with the plan to extend the episodes from 30 to 50 minutes. Gwenlan didn't think that was possible since sitcoms were traditionally 30 minutes in length, and couldn't sustain a longer running time. Jason said that would be true of an average writer, but not one of Sullivan's caliber. And yet they still keep cutting great material. Gwenlan than okayed the idea.He was a huge fan of The Goon Show (1968) and the first time he went to the theatre was to watch a recording of it.He is a big fan of the cult series The Prisoner (1967).Del Boy's core business in Only Fools and Horses (1981) is fly-pitching, although it was rarely seen. Jason loved doing the patter, the banter and the rhythm. He learned about fly-pitching from watching illegal street traders when he was living in London and doing theatre work. It was good research, and all his fly-pitching scenes were ad-libbed.Although against illicit substances, he did smoke a joint for the first time when he was 40; it was his only one.He is close friends with animator Brian Cosgrove, he's also a big fan of cartoons. Jason didn't know that Penfold from Danger Mouse (1981) was a hamster until a chagrined Cosgrove told him. Jason read for Dangermouse and Penfold, and Cosgrove almost named the character Supermouse. Of all the work he did with Cosgrove Hall, he considered The Wind in the Willows (1984) classic, successful and the most exciting. He loved the cast Cosgrove had managed to assemble, and said he was deeply dedicated to his craft.He can do voices and impressions, including Tony Benn, Julian Clary and John Wayne. |
| Name: |
David Jason |
Type: |
Actor,Producer,Writer (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Products for sale: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 06:42:51 |
| Height: |
5' 6' (1.68 m) |
| Biography: |
David Jason was born in Edmonton, London, in 1940. He has become one of Britain\'s most famous, versatile and respected actors, who is most famous for his role in Only Fools and Horses (1981) as Del Boy. He made his debut in the series in 1981 and wa |
| Trivia: |
He did not find out until age 14 that he had a twin brother who had died at birth.The famous scene from Only Fools and Horses (1981) where Del Boy fell through the open bar flap derived from John Sullivan watching the exact same thing happen to a man in a wine bar, except he grabbed onto the fixed part of the bar so he didn't fall right over. Sullivan thought it funny for the man's body language, trying to recover his cool. Sullivan wanted a slip, stumble and a tree like fall; Jason thought Del should go all the way over - start to go sideways, and than go over without looking in the direction of the fall, which Jason thought was the key to the scene. There was a hidden crash mat, but it was a hard shot to get because it was hard not to look where Jason was falling; Jason had done a number of falls in the theatre so that came in handy. Just as funny was Trigger's baffled reaction to Del's sudden disappearance. Jason gets people asking him about that fall all the time, and some never like to talk about anything else, but he's happy to be remembered for something so iconic.He had no formal education.He landed the part of Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses (1981) by making fun of director Ray Butt's Cockney accent with a pitch perfect imitation.He worked as a self-employed electrician before becoming an actor, initially in the theatre and later moving to television.He didn't watch television until the age of 13, when he saw the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, she later knighted Jason. His family didn't hire a television until he was age 15, when ITV was first launched.In 2005, he was knighted in the Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honours. He collected the award from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 1 December 2005, having secretly married his long-term partner Gill Hinchcliffe at the Dorchester Hotel in London the day before.When Jason was cast as Detective Inspector Jack Frost, the character had to be cleaned up from the books, where Frost was a chain smoker, but Jason recently gave up smoking. He used to smoke four or five cigarettes a day, or in the evening with a drink, and didn't want to start again, and smoking was taboo on TV in 1992.When the pilot episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981) went through a chaotic production, including going through three directors at one point, Jason privately felt the BBC were trying to sabotage the show.He received two awards at the British Television Awards. He got the awards for "Britain's Best Actor" and "Britain's Best Comedy Actor".He penned his autobiography, My Life, in 2013.He is the younger brother of actor Arthur White, who appears in many episodes of A Touch of Frost (1992) with him.After discovering that there was already a "David White" registered with Equity, he took the name "David Jason". It has long and popularly been rumoured that the name "Jason" came from his twin brother who had died in infancy. This is incorrect. His twin brother died without being named, and he chose "David Jason" as his stage name from his favourite book at school Jason and the Argonauts (1963).For The Wind in the Willows (1984), Cosgrove Hall wanted Jason to play Ratty but he preferred Mr Toad. Everyone who had voiced Toad had made him unpleasant, but Jason made him into a lovable showoff. After Jason recorded an audition, he got the part.He became a father for the first time at age 61 when his partner Gill Hinchcliffe gave birth to their daughter Sophie Mae White on 26 February 2001.He was given advice by Jon Pertwee when first starting his acting career.He still owns the credit board Phantom Raspberry Blower - David Jason from The Two Ronnies (1971). He's enormously proud of his contribution to "that little moment of comic history".He was a friend of Darth Vader actor David Prowse since the beginning of his TV career.Jason got a letter from someone saying they saw a house on the market identical to Toad Hall from The Wind in the Willows (1984); it was three miles from Jason's house. He went looking for it and found it. He said it was wonderful and seemed to go on forever, it even had a lake, fed by its own spring. It wasn't Toad Hall, but he could imagine living in it. It was twice the value of the house he owned then. He thought about it but had to pay full price when he lost a coin toss (despite his reputation as a wheeler-dealer). But just driving up to the house made him realize how much he wanted it.Bob Monkhouse was enthusiastic about David Jason's comic potential and attempted to put together a pilot film for him called "Jason" in the late 1960s-early 1970s.He is a big fan of Buddy Holly.He wanted to work with Ronnie Barker years before Open All Hours (1976). He believed it profoundly affected the course of his life. He always considered him a mentor whenever they worked together. He never understood why Barker left ITV for the BBC because he wasn't in the know. He considered working with Barker on an entire series a dream outcome. The two became close friends. He claimed Barker was very wise and if he thought something was OK, that was good enough.He did Only Fools and Horses (1981) and Open All Hours (1976) at the same time with occasional theatre work.He worked as an electrician, which involved licking a finger and poking live circuitry to see how much of a shock you got. He considered a career as an electrician but then went to drama school at the age of 24. When acting dried up in the early years of his career, he went back to work as an electrician.He plays the trombone.Ronnie Barker and John Sullivan attended his 50th birthday party; they parked their cars in neighboring drives and roads so as not to spoil the surprise. On the birthday cake in icing was the scene from Only Fools and Horses (1981) where Del Boy and Rodney end up with blowup dolls. Jason's wife thought it in poor taste and Jason saw her point, but he considered the baker an artist with the marzipan. Barker delivered a speech at the party, and Jason said it was a lovely, high-spirited evening, and the nicest of surprises, but he wasn't surprised though, because all the lights were off when he came home - something his wife never did.He had an on-off relationship with Phil Collins's older sister, which began when Collins was still living at home with his parents. As a result, the first rock concert Jason actually went to was Genesis with Collins on drums and Peter Gabriel on vocals at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1974.When he was 14, he worked as a grocery delivery boy at the local supermarket for almost no pay where he learned to ride a delivery bike. He always liked to ride a bike to work and home because it kept him at 8 stone and a 29 inch waist.In 1989, after the end of the sixth series of Only Fools and Horses (1981), he won a BAFTA award for Best Comedy Performance. He put the award on his mantelpiece, next to the one for Best Actor he had already.Once, while staying as a guest in Ronnie Barker's house, he got slightly drunk and couldn't sleep; he saw a door and assuming it led to a flat roof, decided to get some fresh air to help him sleep even though he couldn't see a thing beyond the door. He reconsidered after worrying about cutting his feet on any stones. The next morning he found the door led to nowhere but a 30ft drop to a disused mill wheel; Barker had a balcony built to prevent any more near tragedies.The first review of his work was "David White looked like a young James Cagney and played, though only 16, with the ease of a born actor". He still remembers it but thought it unlikely.He once played a raven on stage and prepared for the role by studying raven behavior at the Tower of London. In the Season 6 premiere episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981), Del Boy mentions how he once had a job at the Tower of London.Yorkshire Television wanted Jason to play Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May (1991). He admitted he was amazed the show went on to be a national, award-winning success. He had never read the book so went away and did so before accepting the part; he pronounced it a charming read, as well as lovely, but not much happened and didn't go anywhere. But the characters were strong, especially Pop Larkin, and he would be fun to play. Jason's condition was to shoot the series on film, because he didn't want it to be a studio production. At least on film, it would look good and have some quality about it, even if nothing happened.In September, 2008 a press release went out about Detective Inspector Jack Frost's retirement. Not because of lack of storylines or Jason losing interest in the character (he would have happily played him forever). The problem was Jason's age: at 68, Jack Frost was the oldest copper on the force. He would have retired ten years before or sooner, so he bowed out.During a horse riding lesson, the horse stepped on his foot, dislocating two of his toes; his injury was written into a play he was doing where the character had gout.He is a huge fan of Alastair Sim ever since he saw him in A Christmas Carol (1951). Jason considers Sim the definitive Scrooge.He was made an O.B.E. (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of British Empire) for services to drama.Jason put on weight when playing Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May (1991). It was because of all the food in the show; bread and ham, cheese, pickled onions, roast dinners, chocolate, etc. It was meant to show the Larkin family's generous spirit and carefree love of life. There were also fried breakfasts cooked fresh on the set on a little stove. One day on the set, the shooting schedule meant Jason sat down to breakfast five times, which meant it was piled with bacon and eggs. Jason asked if he could skip the fry-ups, so they switched to kippers, which was just as bad. The extra weight he put on meant he couldn't wear a dinner jacket to that year's BAFTA's that fit the year before. He had to go on a few months of dieting to regain his former, "sylph-like" weight. A Touch of Frost (1992) also had a tough food regime that was hard on Jason's stomach, because Frost wasn't a healthy eater, e.g. bacon sandwiches, chips, fry-ups, etc. People used to remark on it to Jason, that he was eating badly.During the Gulf War, Jason met someone in a pub who worked at RAF Command Headquarters. He told Jason they race 3-wheel vans against each other, paint them yellow with Trotters Independent Traders down the sides of them, like the van from Only Fools and Horses (1981). Jason went down to have a look, but he didn't see a race. Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Buster Merryfield all sent a Trotters van out to Kuwait. They slipped it into a Hercules plane among other stuff on a supply run and when it was unloaded the crew would find the van, filled up with chewing gum, toothpaste, cake and Danger Mouse (1981) and Count Duckula (1988) tapes from Brian Cosgrove with labels saying Debbie Does Dallas and Unzipperdedoodah and all sorts to amuse them. Jason didn't ask for any publicity because he didn't want anyone to think it was just for that, but a private joke between the RAF and the Trotters. The van was put in the hold and covered up with medical supplies and ammunition and flew to Kuwait, where it's discovery brought some light relief.His first experience of playing in the West End was as a pirate in a production of Peter Pan at the Strand; it was also his first experience of touring the country.Filming A Touch of Frost (1992) meant spending a lot of time away from home, at the studios in Leeds or on location in Wetherby, Harrogate, Dewsbury and all local stations. Yorkshire Television made it easy on Jason by renting out a cottage rather than pay for a hotel, especially since Jason could cook for himself; he just wanted somewhere simple to go at the end of the day to clear his head. Yorkshire Television found Jason an old farmer's cottage without central heating, so he had to light a fire; on warm evenings he sat out in the garden which was always a pleasure. When asked did he get lonely, he said he didn't, because he enjoyed the quiet time. He also had his own driver, on call 24hrs a day, who collected Jason from Buckinghamshire for the 3hr drive to Yorkshire while he worked on his scripts, stopping along the way for a bacon and egg roll and a cup of tea ("a very Frost-like meal"). Jason lived in a spartan farm cottage while the cast stayed at a hotel.During World War II, a human arm landed on the roof of his childhood home; the family thought it was a chicken that would feed them for two meals.Former PM Tony Blair sent a letter to Jason asking if he would like to become a knight bachelor. Jason suspected a prank, considering it may have been Brian Cosgrove who hired Jason to play Dangermouse, Count Duckula, Mr Toad and the BFG, but the offer was genuine.Before the start of the sixth series of Only Fools and Horses (1981), Jason was annoyed about something and went to see John Sullivan. Sullivan was writing terrific scripts that were too long and had to be edited down to 30 minutes. Jason felt they were cutting more funny material than most sitcoms manage in a full episode. One edit that had particularly vexed Jason was during the Series 5 episode Tea For Three. After Del Boy returned from a disastrous hang-gliding session, he originally had a speech Jason described as "beautifully constructed, full of suppressed rage" about all of the places Del had visited. Jason considered it a comic masterpiece, but because the episode had overrun, half the speech got cut. Sullivan agreed with Jason that the episodes needed to be longer. Jason and Sullivan approached Gareth Gwenlan while he was producing Series 6 with the plan to extend the episodes from 30 to 50 minutes. Gwenlan didn't think that was possible since sitcoms were traditionally 30 minutes in length, and couldn't sustain a longer running time. Jason said that would be true of an average writer, but not one of Sullivan's caliber. And yet they still keep cutting great material. Gwenlan than okayed the idea.He was a huge fan of The Goon Show (1968) and the first time he went to the theatre was to watch a recording of it.He is a big fan of the cult series The Prisoner (1967).Del Boy's core business in Only Fools and Horses (1981) is fly-pitching, although it was rarely seen. Jason loved doing the patter, the banter and the rhythm. He learned about fly-pitching from watching illegal street traders when he was living in London and doing theatre work. It was good research, and all his fly-pitching scenes were ad-libbed.Although against illicit substances, he did smoke a joint for the first time when he was 40; it was his only one.He is close friends with animator Brian Cosgrove, he's also a big fan of cartoons. Jason didn't know that Penfold from Danger Mouse (1981) was a hamster until a chagrined Cosgrove told him. Jason read for Dangermouse and Penfold, and Cosgrove almost named the character Supermouse. Of all the work he did with Cosgrove Hall, he considered The Wind in the Willows (1984) classic, successful and the most exciting. He loved the cast Cosgrove had managed to assemble, and said he was deeply dedicated to his craft.He can do voices and impressions, including Tony Benn, Julian Clary and John Wayne. |
| Quotes: |
I've been fascinated by deep sea diving since watching Jacques-Yves Cousteau's TV programmes as a lad.
<br />
<hr>
Marriage is like throwing yourself into a river when you only wanted a drink of water.
<br />
<hr>
I've never ever 'felt my age', whatever that means. I think that there are a lot of people who feel 22 when in fact they're 62, and there are a lot of youngsters out there who behave as if they were four times their age. It's an attitude of mind, isn't it?
<br />
<hr>
I've done my fair share of waiting on tables in restaurants, cleaning cars, whatever. I was even an electrician at one time, and I've done my fair bit of decorating, too. But slowly my fortunes changed.
<br />
<hr>
It was a long time before TV wanted me - I would have had to commit murder to get a part on the box at one time. |
| Salaries: |
All the King's Men (2000) - 250,000 pounds (UK)
<br />
<hr>
Only Fools and Horses (1981) - $69,000 |
| Job title: |
Actor,Producer,Writer |
| Others works: |
In the 1980s, he was one of the impressionists (together with Bill Wallis and Sheila Steafel) on the satirical BBC Radio 4 series "Week Ending".
TV commercial for Milk (1975)
TV commercial (voiceover) for Tesco Insurance (2003-2004)
(1972) He |
| Spouse: |
Gill Hinchcliffe (November 30, 2005 - present) (1 child) |
| Relatives: |
Arthur White (Sibling) |
|
