Richard Briers, CBE, has died at the age of 79.

Briers was a veteran of film, TV and stage, making his first appearances in the 1960's, prominently in Marriage Lines, with future Fawlty Towers co-star Prunella Scales. However, it was starring roles in the Good Life and Monarch of the Glen that he became most well known. Like all actors of his generation, and lets be honest, practically every generation since, he appeared as a villain in Doctor Who, 1987's Paradise Towers (not the best era of Who, but that's neither here nor there).

To most, he will probably be remembered for his later in life roles, usually as the feisty and comedic grandfather role, such as in his most recent and last film, Cockeny vs. Zombies. He appeared as Smee in 2003's adaptation of Peter Pan (a film I've very fond of), and was a favourite of Kennith Brannagh's, appearing in six of the director's films since 1989, five of them adaptations of Shakespeare, and many more of the same on stage. Brannagh was quoted as saying of Briers, "He was a national treasure, a great actor and a wonderful man."