Lennard Pearce
Lennard Pearce
LENNARD PEARCE. d1984. English actor who worked mostly in the theatre, but also appeared in a number of British television programmes. He landed his most notable TV role during the final few years of his life ; starring as Edward "Grandad" Trotter in the ever-popular BBC TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses between 1981-84. His name was never mentioned in the series, he was always referred to as "Grandad" even by characters not related to him. In 1980 Pearce was in a play at the Bristol Old Vic, when he kept losing balance and repeatedly falling asleep. He was diagnosed as having critical hypertension and put on seven different tablets for it, taking these for the rest of his life. On 12th December 1984, he suffered a heart attack. He was rushed to hospital where his condition improved. Two days later, Only Fools scriptwriter John Sullivan visited him and assured him that his place in the programme would be kept open for him when he recovered. However he suffered a second heart attack and died instantly on the night of 15th December 1984 aged 69. When he died, production was already underway on the Hole in One episode ; scenes he had filmed on location prior to his death were re-shot with Buster Merryfield as the replacement character Uncle Albert and the episode was put back in the series.