On The Buses

[Arthur Pringle]

[Brown Cortina]

I saw that clip yesterday, Fantastic ! Never seen it before as I think it was only uploaded a day or two ago. What a great actor Stephen Lewis was.

[Arthur Pringle]

My brother met Stephen Lewis in connection with his job & said he was quiet & unassuming. I don't think he ever married & ended his days with his sister in a nursing home.

Came across the video below on a facebook account thanks to Simmo 1 who posted the Rainbow Does The Sweeney clip on another thread, a sad but interesting interview with Bob Grant-

[Charles Bronson]

Very sad interview. Bob was a brave man and to bare his soul like that and share his troubles with the world. 
I wish as we all must, that things had worked out better for him.

Charles.

[Gene Hunt]

It's incredibly sad to watch. Bob doesn't look any different to when he was in On The Buses despite this interview being 14 years later.
The thing is, we all tend to forget these people are actors. He wasn't Jack Harper. He was Bob Grant, and it's only when he begins to speak that the difference between Bob Grant & Jack Harper become painfully obvious.

The trip to Dublin in 1987 as referenced in that clip must have been awful for Bob. His intention was to commit suicide while he was there, with a plan to either throw himself in the Liffey, or in a cruel twist, jump under a bus. On his way to Dublin, Bob found himself at Birmingham New Street Station, where he spent time in a buffet, sobbing. Passers by ignored him where previously they would have approached him asking for autographs etc. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I would certainly not have ignored Bob and would definitely had to approach and ask him what the trouble was. Of course, he would have been instantly recogniseable to anyone back then.

Incredibly sad.

Gene.

[Arthur Pringle]

Not sure whether like many actors of that time he was obliged to lose his natural accent or whether that was how he always spoke, he was so convincing as Jack that you'd swear he was a native working class Londoner.

He mentions Eddie Large, he was in a Cinderella panto with Little & Large.

[Three Litre]

Dec 6, 2020 18:58:25 GMT Gene Hunt said:

It's incredibly sad to watch. Bob doesn't look any different to when he was in On The Buses despite this interview being 14 years later.
The thing is, we all tend to forget these people are actors. He wasn't Jack Harper. He was Bob Grant, and it's only when he begins to speak that the difference between Bob Grant & Jack Harper become painfully obvious.

The trip to Dublin in 1987 as referenced in that clip must have been awful for Bob. His intention was to commit suicide while he was there, with a plan to either throw himself in the Liffey, or in a cruel twist, jump under a bus. On his way to Dublin, Bob foind himself at Birmingham New Street Station, where he spent time in a buffet, sobbing. Passers by ignored him where previously they would have approached him asking for autographs etc. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I would certainly not have ignored Bob and would definitely had to approach and ask him what the trouble was. Of course, he would have been instantly recogniseable to anyone back then.

Incredibly sad.

Gene.

It's disappointing that he was perceived as type cast. Give them a chance for crying out loud. Once they have been in a new role for a short while they can settle in.

[Cartman]

I don't think either Bob, or Reg Varney, got that much work after On the Buses finished. 

[Sam Tyler]

Dec 6, 2020 20:00:47 GMT Cartman said:

I don't think either Bob, or Reg Varney, got that much work after On the Buses finished. 

And when you consider that the pay at the time was nothing like the so-called 'celebs' of today it was essential that they needed continuity of work whether stage or screen.

Incredibly sad video to watch and just demonstrates how little support there had been both for the profession or for anyone's mental health at that time.

Sam.

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

Yes, after watching that, it was very sad to see and hear things from Bob's perspective, and you would have thought someone would have at least stopped to ask if he needed any help or what was the matter, even if they didn't know him. A real shame he didn't get the chances and acting breaks other's got, nor the help he needed for his wellbeing.