Born: 11 July, 1916, in London.
Died: 16 November, 2008, in Devon, aged 92.FOR many years, Reg Varney was the loveable Cockney rogue of sitcoms such as On The Buses and The Rag Trade.
In the former, he chased the slinkiest
blonde at the bus station (with very little success), while in the latter he was the hard-pressed foreman who had to contend with some militant lady workers.
In such roles Varney delivered memorable interpretations of the put-upon male. He portrayed the parts with an honesty and a keen sense of fun – never making political capital out of the humour. His skills were those of the music hall: excellent timing, slightly edgy and laddish humour, but always clean with no swearing.
Reg Alfred Varney was born in Canning Town, London, and left school at 14 to work as a messenger boy at the Regents Park Hotel.
In the evenings he played the piano in pubs, but when war broke out Varney joined the Royal Electrical Engineers, continuing to perform with the Stars in Battledress.
After the war, Varney worked in variety theatres, and at one time he had as his straight man a young comedian called Benny Hill.
In 1961 his career changed radically when he was offered the role of the foreman in The Rag Trade. The bumbling factory owner (Peter Jones) passed on all problems to Varney, who had to take on the battleaxe of the factory – the redoubtable Miriam Carlin; she negotiated by simply announcing to the workforce in a loud voice: "Everybody out." Varney seldom won any of the confrontations, but always delivered exceptional performances.
The show was an instant hit, and David Croft (later to produce Dad's Army) was casting a new sitcom called Beggar My Neighbour. Croft gave Varney the role of the down-market neighbour of Peter Jones and June Whitfield. Croft wrote in his autobiography: "Reg was from the world of variety, was a great user of props and had enormous natural talent."
It was in 1968 that Varney got the role that the public would associate him with for the rest of his career. He was cast as Stan in On the Buses: something of a knockabout sitcom about a London bus depot.
Varney was the bus driver of the No11 who never quite had the success with the girls that he expected, lived with his mother in some chaos, and was bullied at work by the terrible Inspector Blake.
In one episode Varney's character was promoted to an inspector and was mercilessly teased by his colleagues. Varney, with his innate sense of comedy, revelled in the change and delivered an intriguing performance. The public loved the series, and more than 70 episodes were made.
Varney then played the lead in the three films (On the Buses, Mutiny on the Buses and Holiday on the Buses); the first, the most inventive, was the UK's top box-office film of the year, beating the James Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever.
Varney did play other cameo roles in UK films, but the financial security that On the Buses had brought allowed him to retire to a village near Dartmouth in Devon and relax in his villa in Malta.
He is survived by his daughter, Jeanne. His wife, Lilian, died in 2002.
