Bernard Braden
Biography
Canadian-born English actor and comedian who emigrated to England with his wife Barbara Kelly in the 1940s. His famous On the Braden Beat show mixed consumer issues, music and comic sketches performed by a gang including Peter Cook and Tim Brooke-Taylor. When ATV axed the series in 1967, Braden went on to present a similar show, Braden's Week, for the BBC. The similarity to That's Life is no coincidence as Esther Rantzen was a researcher and reporter on the BBC show.
Off-screen, he and Kelly also ran a successful agency for corporate speakers.
He died in London, aged 76, following a series of strokes.
Trivia
It is, incidentally, a partial misconception that Braden's Week ended because Braden took part in a TV commercial for Stork margarine — it was initially axed for that reason, but was then reinstated. Though no doubt the whole affair was a contributing factor when the BBC decided to finally drop Braden and re-tool the show as That's Life a year later.
