Lennard Pearce

Leonard "Lennard" Pearce (31 October 1915 – 15 December 1984) was an English actor who worked in theatre and television. He played Grandad in the BBC television sitcom Only Fools and Horses from its first episode in 1981 until his death in December 1984.

Early life Born in Paddington as the youngest of five children, Pearce's father Sidney was killed in action during World War I, when Leonard was six months old. He trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

During World War II, Pearce performed for the Entertainments National Service Association. In the early 1960s, he understudied for Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle in the original West End production of My Fair Lady.

In 1975, Pearce played Owl in a theatre adaptation of Winnie the Pooh at the Phoenix Theatre in London, and two years later, Mr. Witherspoon in Arsenic and Old Lace at the Westminster Theatre. and was prescribed medication.

Pearce began filming the episode "Hole in One" for the fourth series of Only Fools in Horses in early December 1984, participating in two location sequences for a storyline where Grandad attempts to commit insurance fraud by falling into a pub cellar. During the following week, Pearce suffered a heart attack and was admitted to Whittington Hospital, where scriptwriter John Sullivan visited him. He died from a second heart attack on 15 December.

Filming for Only Fools and Horses, which Pearce had been due to participate in, was planned to resume the following morning. Producer Ray Butt was informed of Pearce's death by his agent and broke the news to the cast and crew on location, including costars David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst.

Filmography

Film

Television