FOUND A GRAVE

Actor. Having a velvet smooth voice helped by earlier stage training, in 1956 Bernard was offered a position as continuity announcer with Granada Television. In 1960 he was offered a chance to audition for the new serial Coronation Street, and turned down the opportunity, but in 1964, with The Street a firm hit, he went for it again, and got cast as Hilda Ogden’s long suffering husband Stan. In the 1970s Bernard suffered a series of heart attacks, followed by two strokes. His speech was badly impaired, but he carried on playing the role that made him famous until his heath failed and he passed away in hospital after his left leg was amputated. He was dubbed “the greatest living Englishman” by the “Stan Ogden Appreciation Society of Newton Abbot.”