Bernard Chastey Braden (16 May 1916 – 2 February 1993) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born British

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

, who is best known for his appearances in UK television and radio shows.

Life

Braden was born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and educated at

Magee Secondary School Magee Secondary School is a public secondary school on West 49th Avenue, Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most p ...

Kerrisdale Kerrisdale is a neighbourhood in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Kerrisdale is a neighbourhood located in Vancouver's west side. It features a mix of newer houses and older bungalows as well as various low and mid-rise rental a ...

, Vancouver. He produced plays on CJOR Vancouver in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He married

Barbara Kelly Barbara Kelly (5 October 1923 – 15 January 2007) was a Canadian-British actress, best known for her television roles in the United Kingdom opposite her husband Bernard Braden in the 1950s and 1960s, and for many appearances as a panelist ...

in 1942, and they moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

the same year. They had two children, Christopher and Kelly Braden. Seven years later, he, his wife and two children moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. A third child,

Kim Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...

, was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1949. He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in 1991, when he was surprised by

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', ''This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...

outside the

Aldwych Theatre The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels. History Origins The theatre was constructed in th ...

. Braden died in Camden,

, aged 76, following a series of

strokes A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop funct ...

Career

Radio

In ''Breakfast with Braden'' (for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Nat Temple Nat Temple (18 July 1913 – 30 May 2008)
- accessed May 2011 was an English

Lullaby of Birdland "Lullaby of Birdland" is a jazz standard and popular song composed by George Shearing with lyrics by George David Weiss (under the pseudonym "B. Y. Forster"). Background George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland" in 1952 for Morris Levy, the ...

"; ''Between Time''; ''Bathtime''; and ''Bedlam with Braden''. Ronald Fletcher, the announcer, was drawn into the script which added to the ingenuity and enjoyment. Braden also appeared in 1951 alongside his wife in ''An Evening at Home with Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly''.

Television

Braden presented ''On the Braden Beat'', a popular consumer affairs programme made for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Associated Television Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...

, which ran from 1962 to 1967. Jock Watson and, later, Francis Coleman produced this Saturday late-night show, which also examined current political issues affecting the British public. The show was interspersed with lighthearted sketches and music, and helped a number of actors to get a start on television. Performers frequently featured included

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

Jake Thackray John Philip "Jake" Thackray (27 February 1938 – 24 December 2002) was an English singer-songwriter, poet, humourist and journalist. Best known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his topical comedy songs performed on British television, hi ...

and

Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian best known as a member of The Goodies. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and became president ...

. A successor with essentially the same format, ''Braden's Week'', appeared when he transferred to the BBC from 1967 to 1972. This show was cancelled when he advertised

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was orig ...

on the BBC's commercial rival ITV; the BBC felt this was inconsistent with his role as the consumers' spokesman.

Esther Rantzen Dame Esther Louise Rantzen (born 22 June 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter, who presented the BBC television series ''That's Life!'' for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994. She works with various charitable causes, and fou ...

, one of the researcher/presenters, went on to front a similar consumer-focused show, ''

That's Life! ''That's Life!'' was a satirical TV consumer affairs programme on the BBC, at its height regularly reaching audiences of fifteen to twenty million, and receiving 10–15,000 letters a week. The series broadcast on BBC1 for twenty-one years, ...

''. In 1974, Braden also hosted a short-lived Canadian edition of ''The Braden Beat'' for Canada's fledgling

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...

."A new TV network comes to life as the old scoffers just fade away". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', 5 January 1974. Braden hosted a quiz show for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

in 1976, ''The Sweepstakes Game''. Two contestants decided which of six star guests were most likely to help them to win cash and prizes. He later (1987-1989) presented episodes of the show '' All Our Yesterdays''. Braden independently produced and shot in 1967-68 an extended series of interviews of public figures, conducted by himself (and sometimes by his wife), for a series called ''Now and Then'' but the series was never completed or sold to a broadcaster. The series was re-edited in 2008 as ''Sex Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll: The 60s Revealed'', in which the original interviewees saw their 1968 interviews for the first time.

Film and stage

His few film appearances included ''

Love in Pawn ''Love in Pawn'' is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Bernard Braden, Barbara Kelly and Jeannie Carson. Cast * Bernard Braden as Roger Fox * Barbara Kelly as Jean Fox * Reg Dixon as Albert Trusslove * Jean ...

'' (1953), ''

Jet Storm ''Jet Storm'' (also known as ''Jet Stream'' or ''Killing Urge'') is a 1959 British thriller film directed and co-written by Cy Endfield. Richard Attenborough stars with Stanley Baker, Hermione Baddeley and Diane Cilento. The film is a precurso ...

'' (1959), ''

The Full Treatment ''The Full Treatment'' (also known as ''The Treatment'' and ''Stop Me Before I Kill!'') is a 1960 black-and-white, British thriller film directed by Val Guest and starring Claude Dauphin, Diane Cilento and Ronald Lewis. It was based on the 195 ...

'' (1960), ''

The Day the Earth Caught Fire ''The Day the Earth Caught Fire'' is a British science fiction disaster film starring Edward Judd, Leo McKern and Janet Munro. It was directed by Val Guest and released in 1961, and is one of the classic apocalyptic films of its era. The film o ...

'' (1961) (as the news editor of the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

''), and the 1962 films ''

Two and Two Make Six ''Two and Two Make Six'', also known as ''A Change of Heart'' and ''The Girl Swappers'', is a 1962 black and white British romantic comedy film directed by Freddie Francis and starring George Chakiris and Janette Scott. Unusually, the two women ...

'' and '' All Night Long''. In the same year he played Flight Surgeon Randall in the British film ''

The War Lover ''The War Lover'' is a 1962 British war film directed by Philip Leacock and written by Howard Koch loosely based on the 1959 novel by John Hersey, altering the names of characters and events but retaining its basic framework. It stars Steve Mc ...

'', alongside

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor of stage, screen, and television. He is known for starring in the television shows '' It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch'' (1975–1978), and '' Hart to Hart'' (1979� ...

and a young

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...

. He also narrated the 20-minute British Transport Films short ''The Coasts of Clyde'', in which he announces himself as a Canadian traveller arriving in Scotland in pursuit of an ancestor in the land of his parents. On the stage he appeared in two

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

plays, as Mitch in the London premiere of ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' alongside

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gon ...

, and later as the lead in ''

Period of Adjustment ''Period of Adjustment'' is a 1960 play by Tennessee Williams that was adapted in the film version of 1962. Both the stage and film versions are set on Christmas Eve and tell the gentle, light-hearted story of two couples, one newlywed and the ...

''.

Book

Braden published an autobiography, ''The Kindness of Strangers''; the title is an allusion to ''A Streetcar Named Desire''.Much of the detail is confirmed in the ''This Is Your Life'' episode devoted to Braden.

Discography

* '' Bernard Braden Reads Stephen Leacock'' (1969), Capitol ST-6335

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Braden, Bernard 1916 births 1993 deaths British male stage actors British male television actors Male actors from Vancouver 20th-century British male actors British television presenters Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors 20th-century Canadian male actors Canadian television hosts Global Television Network people Canadian emigrants to the United Kingdom