Education
Pearce studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London and performed for the Entertainments National Service Association during World World War World War II
Pearce studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London and performed for the Entertainments National Service Association during World World War World War II
He landed his most notable television role during the final years of his life, starring as Grandad Trotter in the popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses from its beginning in September 1981 until his death in December 1984. Theatre 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 12 December 1984, Pearce suffered a heart attack.
He was rushed to the Whittington Hospital, admitted, and his condition improved. Two days later, Only Fools and Horses scriptwriter John Sullivan visited him, and assured Pearce that his place in the programme would be open for him when he recovered.
However, Pearce suffered a second heart attack, and died instantly, on the night of 15 December 1984. Sullivan was phoned the following morning to be told the news, and he broke it to Pearce"s Only Fools and Horses co-stars David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst, who were devastated by Pearce"s sudden death.
When Pearce died, production was under way of the Only Fools and Horses episode "Hole in One".
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. The episode "Strained Relations" begins in the wake of the death of the character Pearce had played. roles Drama.
He was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Coincidentally, the man who replaced Pearce as the senior member of the Trotter family, Buster Merryfield, also appeared in two episodes of the same series.