Reg Varney has taken his last bus ride

[rogernumber10]

LONDON (AP) — Reg Varney, a comic actor who played a cheery Cockney bus driver in British sitcom "On the Buses," died Sunday, his daughter said. He was 92.

Daughter Jeanne Marley said Varney died at a nursing home in Budleigh Salterton, southwest England, after a short illness.

Born in east London in 1916, Varney began his career as a singer, piano player and comic in the rough-and-tumble world of pubs, music halls and working men's clubs. He joined the Royal Electrical Engineers during World War II but continued to perform as part of a touring show entertaining the troops.

After the war he kept touring the music hall circuit and played a variety of television roles before becoming a household name in Britain with "On the Buses." Varney played Stan Butler, a happy-go-lucky driver tormented by the ire of his irascible boss, Inspector Blake.

With its cheeky humor and large doses of slapstick, the show was a huge hit, running for seven series between 1969 and 1973. It was exported around the world, spawned three feature films and a stage show, and remains enduringly popular.

Varney also secured his place in history by making the world's first withdrawal from an electronic automated teller machine, at a branch of Barclays Bank in Enfield, north London in 1967.
Varney's wife Lilian died in 2002. He is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

[Snaggletooth Tiger]

...& Old Blakey's still goin strong!
"I'll get you Butler!!!
R.I.P. Stan

[bayman]

only watched it last night....yes i still get a laugh (we googled 'anna karen' (olive) last night & you wont believe it but before she was an actress she was a stripper )


rip reg varney

[Mr66]

...& Old Blakey's still goin strong!

That's because Stephen Lewis (Blakey) is twenty years younger than Varney.