Ronald Magill; actor (Telegraph)
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Last Updated: 1:11am BST 08/09/2007
Telegraph
Ronald Magill, who died on Thursday aged 87, played Amos Brearly, the
grumpy pub landlord in the long-running ITV soap opera Emmerdale, and
made the character one of the best-loved in the programme's history.
With his mutton-chop side-whiskers, Magill presented Amos as something
of a paradox: a fount of village gossip, beadily marking his
customers' comings and goings from his command-post behind the bar of
the Woolpack, while at the same time acquiring a reputation as a
loner.
"I saw him as a man who found it difficult to make friends," Magill
recalled, "yet once he was behind the bar and lord of all he surveyed,
he was able to relate to people."
Magill joined the programme at its launch in October 1972 when it was
known as Emmerdale Farm, and played Amos Brearly for 19 years.
The bushy sideburns he had grown for a provincial stage play not only
stayed but became one of Amos's signature features, along with the
catchphrase "Nay, Mr Wilks", with which he larded his exchanges with
the pub's owner Henry Wilks (Arthur Pentelow).
He ruled his character's domain, the picturesque Woolpack, with a
benign Yorkshire gruffness.
In a blameless era - before the pub became a seething hotbed of
village passion - no one remarked on the fact that Brearly and Wilks,
bachelors both, lived there together.
While easily caricatured, Magill's portrayal of Amos was remarkably
subtle, containing elements of real sadness and pathos.
After his proposal of marriage was turned down by Annie Sugden (Sheila
Mercier) in 1972, he finally found happiness some 20 years later when
she changed her mind, and the pair married in 1995.
When he left the regular cast in January 1991 - "I didn't want to pass
my Emmerdale sell-by date," he told The Daily Telegraph - Magill went
on the Wogan show on BBC Television to have his side-whiskers shaved
off.
He returned to the series for brief appearances in 1994 and for his
1995 on-screen wedding.
His retirement marked the end of a chapter for the soap, which had
only recently been given a permanent regular slot in the schedules
after years of being shunted about; by the time he pulled his last
pint, Magill's Brearly had become one of the longest-serving fictional
publicans on British television.
Ronald Magill was born on April 21 1920 in Hull, the son of
schoolteachers, but brought up in an orphanage in Birmingham. During
the Second World War he built a theatre in Egypt and staged plays.
He began his stage career as a repertory actor, but in 1960 settled at
the Nottingham Playhouse, where he was subsequently appointed artistic
director.
He directed many productions at the theatre, ranging from The
Caretaker by Harold Pinter to Pinero's Dandy Dick.
Magill, who was notably well-read, also wrote, adapted and translated
many other productions, including several plays from the original
Italian.
When he left in 1968 he had become the longest-serving member of the
company. He went on to appear in a West End production of Peter
Barnes's comedy The Ruling Class at the Piccadilly Theatre.
A handful of television appearances included episodes of the police
series Special Branch and Parkin's Patch (both 1969).
Before joining Emmerdale, he had a small part in the film Julius
Caesar (1970), starring Charlton Heston and Sir John Gielgud.
Ronald Magill was unmarried.