Buster Merryfield

Nursed a black eye after hurting himself in a tumble during the British Comedy Awards on 15th December 1997.

On November 24th, 1986 Only Fools and Horses (1981) was honored with a slot at the Royal Variety Performance, something that excited the whole crew; David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst and John Sullivan thought about either re-doing a bit from an old script, or from the current one, A Royal Flush, which was filming on the Dorset Coast, that year's Christmas special. Sullivan opted for something new, a four-minute sketch Jason described as really neat. Del Boy, Rodney and Uncle Albert have a consignment of knock-off whiskey bottles, and mixed up meeting at a nightclub with the stage of the Theatre Royal, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Jason, Lyndhurst and Merryfield rehearsed it to within an inch of their lives. It was a scene they didn't want to screw up. The tight schedule forced them to drive up from Dorset on the day of the show. There were so many acts at the Royal Variety that the dressing rooms of the Theatre Royal couldn't house them. Watching the other acts from CCTV in their dressing room, they were the only ones doing something original, something that made them very nervous. They needn't have worried; the show was a success. At the end of the sketch, Del sees the Queen Mother and mistakes her for their employer. When she waved back, Jason almost dried, because he was not expecting that. When they later met her, she said thank you; he was deeply touched, for five seconds when she said the exact same thing in the exact same tone to everyone else in the line. They then immediately went back to Dorset to finish A Royal Flush; they settled their adrenalin with bottles of whiskey and water, except for Merryfield who never drank. Jason said it was a lovely interlude.

He was an actor, known for Only Fools and Horses (1981), The Citadel (1983) and Shroud for a Nightingale (1984). He was married to Iris M Mountford.

He married Iris in 1942 after a week-long romance and they were together for 57 years until his death. They had a daughter, Karen.

Buster Merryfield was born on November 27, 1920 in Battersea, London, England as Harry Merryfield.