Lennard Pearce

Although he's best remembered by TV audiences as the senile but loveable "Grandad" Trotter on the popular U.K. sitcom "Only Fools and Horses," veteran actor Lennard Pearce created his most memorable work on the British stage. A lifelong resident of London, Pearce trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and performed, alongside well-known stars Gracie Fields, George Formby, and Paul Scofield, as part of the British military's Entertainments National Service Association during World War II. He made regular appearances on London's West End during the 1950s and '60s, starring in such noteworthy productions as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," "The Rivals," and "Much Ado About Nothing." While he continued as a stage performer well into the mid '70s, Pearce made considerable inroads as a TV actor, beginning with memorable roles on the late-'60s series "Dixon of Dock Green" and "Dr. Finlay's Casebook." But it was Pearce's final role, as crotchety senior Edward Trotter, that would earn him adoration as a comic performer before his death from a heart attack in 1984.