W Stephen Gilbert writes: Does no one else recall with affection Richard Griffiths's Bottom? It was his first great role for the Royal Shakespeare Company, in a 1977 production by John Barton that succeeded in escaping the long shadow of Peter Brook's legendary version. Playing off Leonard Preston's Stan Laurel-ish Puck, Griffiths deployed an authentically Hardy-esque lightness of foot and deftness of touch that would inform all his subsequent stage performances. Meeting him was as delightful as watching him work: a lovely actor and a lovely man.
JR Watson writes: Richard Griffiths left school at 15 and went to work at the Stockton branch of Littlewoods on the fruit and vegetable counter. When, in 1998, he was awarded an honorary DLitt by the University of Durham, the ceremony took place at its Stockton campus. As the procession moved at its stately academic pace down the wide High Street, he gave the shop a distant and affectionate nod. A little further on, we passed two ladies sitting on a bench conversing in sign language. "I know what they are saying," he whispered. "Seen that chap in the red robes before somewhere, but can't remember his name."