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While Mildred tried to better herself, George, much to the dismay of
posh neighbour Jeffrey Fourmile (Norman Eshley), remained his lazy
slobbish self.
Playing Jeffrey’s son, Tristram,
was eight-year-old Nicholas Bond Owen. He got into acting by
accident, when his older brother Matthew, a former bouncing baby
competitor, signed up with a child model agency. Nick, “his little
fat brother, who went everywhere with him and smiled a lot,” was
also signed up.
After the odd catalogue shoot, Nick
was invited to audition for the part of Tristram at Thames
Television. With “a huge amount of luck” and his mum teaching him
how to pronounce his lines, Nick won the part.
With several Nicholas Owens on
Equity’s books, a middle name was required. Nick’s mum gave two
suggestions, while he was allowed to suggest a third. A 007 fan,
Nick chose Bond, a name which “has haunted me ever since”.
George and Mildred ran for five
series, including a feature film where the Fourmiles made a brief
appearance. Sadly, Yootha Joyce’s death ended the show. A spin off,
with George coming to terms with life as a widower, never
materialised.
Nick remembers Yootha as “such a
warm person, a talented lady who was the star of the show.”
During the shows run Nick appeared as the catapult wielding Kevin
in, the poorly received, Confessions from a Holiday Camp. After
George and Mildred, he appeared in Eric Sykes’ modern take on the
silent movie, Rhubarb Rhubarb. Followed by mini series The Coral
Island and Lassiter, a Tom Selleck crime romp set in the 50s. A part
in an episode of Dramarama was bookended by roles in the BBC classic
serials Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, his final television
credit. Nick went to college to study for his A-levels, continuing
in the occasional stage role until he was 25. A change of agents
lead to a reduction in the amount of work he was being offered. He
found employment with Penguin Books Ltd and found himself in a
position to turn down six-months work at the RSC.
“That pretty much sealed my fate
with the agent, I needed to change agents but I had quite a good
job, was busy playing football and falling in love.”
Nick spent 15 years at Penguin and
its owners Pearson, working in everything from courier to operations
manager. When his final contract expired he was told of a vacancy
with “a new and exciting media company in the city.” He
applied and next thing he knew, he was distribution director at free
business paper City AM.
Despite the change in career, Nick
has many happy memories of acting.
“It’s not until you’re not
acting anymore you realise how much you miss is. I travelled the
world on the back of George & Mildred and was spoilt rotten by
everyone involved.
“My only gripe was being stuck
in a rehearsal room on a Saturday morning when I wanted to be
outside playing football.” |
