Richard O'Sullivan

Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944) is an English comedy actor who is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the 1970s sitcoms Man About the House (1973–1976) and Robin's Nest (1977–1981) and as the title character in the period family adventure series Dick Turpin (1979–1982). He also starred in Doctor at Large (1971), Doctor in Charge (1972–1973), Alcock and Gander (1972), Me and My Girl (1984–1988) and Trouble In Mind (1991). Early life O'Sullivan was born in 1944, to John and Ellen O'Sullivan (née Fleming) in Chiswick, where he grew up with his younger brother. His early education was at St John the Evangelist's RC Primary School in Brentford, Middlesex. After a family holiday in Ireland as a boy, he returned with a strong Irish accent and was sent to the Corona Theatre School to soften it. He appeared in his first film at the age of eight. Career as child actor O'Sullivan's first film appearance was as an extra playing one of the children singing in the Sunday School sequence of The Yellow Balloon, filmed in 1952 when he was eight years old and released in 1953. He then played the main character in The Stranger's Hand, starring Alida Valli and Trevor Howard, in 1953. Possibly his earliest television work was the part he played in the Sherlock Holmes episode, "The Unlucky Gambler", broadcast on 18 July 1955. He appeared in the Children's Film Foundation's first serial, Raiders of the River, also produced in 1955. In the film It's Great to Be Young (1956), he appeared alongside John Mills. The following year, he played the title character in a BBC Television five part Sunday serial Little Lord Fauntleroy and then with Keith Michell and Belinda Lee in the opulent swashbuckler, Dangerous Exile, playing Louis XVII, the ten-year-old son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Also during that period, he featured in two episodes of Sapphire Films' The Adventures of Robin Hood (1957) alongside Richard Greene, one role being that of Will Dale in the episode "The Challenge of the Black Knight". In the Sword of Freedom series (1957), also made by Sapphire, he played Alberto in the episode "Chart of Gold". In an early Carry On film, Carry On Teacher (1959), he had the small role of student Robin Stevens. Around the same time, he was cast in the role of Pierre van der Mal in an early scene of The Nun's Story (also 1959), playing the younger brother of Gabrielle (Audrey Hepburn).