Michael Sheard - Hiltler/Ozzel/Bronson - dies

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 11:36 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainmen ... 200884.stm

Sadly missed. Not only did he play Hitler 5 times, he also played Mussolini in 'Allo 'Allo.

Post by **Best First** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 2:57 pm

great career though, one of those wonderful people who never really make the A list but still permeate the conciousness through so many fantastic characters and scenes. I love the line about not missing Brosnan for anything.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 4:30 pm

Damm!

http://www.starwars.com/databank/charac ... index.html

was cool...

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 6:46 pm

End of a era.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 10:19 pm

Oh my ****!

I love that guy.

Kup_1 · Post by **Kup_1** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 11:36 pm

I knew he played other roles, but I'll always remember him as Ozzel...

*salutes the Admiral*

And I met him in Indy at Celebtraion III earlier this year....

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:19 am

I actually have a few emotional thoughts:

To expand for all those who aren't British. In the 70's, 80's and 90's the biggest TV show (not animated) specifically for kids and teenagers was Grange Hill (Though in the 90's Biker Grove took equal billing as the top kids drama) which was set in a fictional school.
It was entertaining, funny, realistic and at times hard hitting in the way it always portrayed teenagers realistically and captured their problems, lives, characters of teenagers at school.

It was a show you grew up with and learned a fair bit about being a teenager-never a easy time to deal with. It was also pretty much the basis and the standard bearer for every decent kids/teen show since in the UK. I should add one of the script editors was Anthony Minghella a Oscar winning director who went on to direct Truly, Madly, Deeply, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain

But what stood out in Grange Hill for people of my generation (and older) was Michael Sheard's portrayal as the ever scary Mr Bronson.
Mr Bronson was the deputy headmaster who just about everybody feared. His famous catchphrase was "You boy!" and he was the terrible teacher at pretty much at the shows creative and popularity peak.

Bronson was famous for being the "scary teacher" at Grange Hill, the type naturally cast as the villain just about every story but of course the type every school needs. He was particularly famous for going after Danny Kendall one of the few kids who was not afraid of Bronson.
The war between Danny and Bronson got worse and ended up with Bronson using underhand tactics to sabotage a work placement for Danny. This lead to Danny stealing Bronson’s car and dying behind the wheel. This radically altered Bronson's view on life and he mellowed even taking in a homeless pupil before leaving.

Now my opinion of Michael Sheard stems from his Grange Hill days. It's the Bronson character that makes me mark out when I see him in "Doctor Who", "Empire strikes back" or "The last Crusade".

I think he scared everybody of my generation. I can bring up the name "Bronson" to anybody in their 20's or older and they know exactly who he is and that he was "the scary teacher in Grange Hill". This is a popular show that has ran for 30 years, is part of the fabric of UK TV and in his 5 year run he created the definitive and most famous character from it. That's the impact he had on an entire generation and wow what a impression he left.
No other character in any children’s/teen non-fantasy/Sci-Fi British TV show is quite so well known and Michael Sheard deserves full credit for creating that impact.

A good summary of Michael Sheard's career can be found here: http://www.cult.tv/index.php?cm_id=...cm_type=article and a great profile of Mr Bronson, IMO his defining character even though he played Hitler 5 times in great productions:
http://www.grangehillfans.co.uk/sch...t/mrbronson.php

I particular love the titles of his autobiographies and from several articles his good wit. I wish I could have known more of Sheard's work before I heard of his death. His work was just that bit special. His death has prompted me to reflect on areas of my childhood I forgot about. Another bit of my childhood has sadly passed away and thank you Michael for basically being brilliant in that small bit of my life and indeed, for everybody of an entire generation.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:15 am

truely sad news

Laserwave · Post by **Laserwave** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 9:39 pm

Sheard was a great actor, even though he seemed to die everytime in Doctor Who.

RIP Ozzel. You have failed for the last time.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 9:55 pm

nice write up jets

HoistKeeper 2.0 · Post by **HoistKeeper 2.0** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:07 pm

S**t, i was trying to remember why the name was so familiar. He'll always be Mr. Bronson to me, chasing after Danny Kendal until the kid was found dead in his car and the kids blamed him (The one time you really felt sorry for him.)

Thanks Jetfire for than Wonderful write-up.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:56 pm

Thanks guys. It was just something that poured out of me in a emotional moment.