Biography

Filming on the fourth series of Only Fools and Horses (1981) began in February, 1984. David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst were in makeup when a distraught Ray Butt came in to tell them Pearce had died over the weekend of a heart attack; his body at the foot of a flight of stairs. Jason and Lyndhurst were shocked and speechless and filming was canceled. Pearce had not been a well man, he was a heavy smoker even on the job. Pearce's funeral was several days later; a small and humble affair. Pearce didn't have much in the way of family; his landlady and her daughter were the closest people to him, but the cast mourned him like losing a family member.

David Jason still laments Pearce in his autobiography. They had met before Only Fools and Horses (1981) along with Nicholas Lyndhurst, on other acting jobs. Jason considered Grandad's character a silent presence on the show. Jason and Lyndhurst used to tease him, saying he was a lazy sod and that they were basically a 20-minute warm-up act for his one killer gag. Pearce would just say, "I'm old - I'm allowed.". Pearce died at the end of the third series, which was considered a real setback to the show.

Had been ill in 1980, and had considered giving up acting altogether, but in 1981 was offered the part of Grandad in Only Fools and Horses, which shot him to popularity so late in his life.

Pearce died during the filming of the fourth series of "Only Fools And Horses" in 1984, and most of the episodes had to be re-shot in 1985, with Buster Merryfield replacing him.

Although he did little work on TV he acted widely in theatre.