TRIBUTES have today been paid to Last of the Summer Wine actor Brian Wilde who has died aged 80. Wilde will always be remembered for his role as one third of the unruly trio in Last of the Summer Wine and alongside Ronnie Barker as Mr Barrowclough, the fretful prison warden, in Porridge.

TRIBUTES have today been paid to Last of the Summer Wine actor Brian Wilde who has died aged 80.

Wilde will always be remembered for his role as one third of the unruly trio in Last of the Summer Wine and alongside Ronnie Barker as Mr Barrowclough, the fretful prison warden, in Porridge.

He took the role of Walter “Foggy” Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine in 1976, taking over from Michael Bates and going on to appear in more than 100 episodes.

The BBC show was an instant hit and went on to become the longest running sitcom in the world, depicting the mischievous antics of three pensioners in a Yorkshire Village.

Wilde's character was a haughty ex army corporal who fancied himself the leader of the disruptive threesome, misguidedly attempting to command their adventures with military precision.

Wilde left the show in 1985 but returned for another seven year stint in 1990, until an infection forced him to stop filming.

Mayor Inga Lockington shared her memories of Wilde as Foggy.

She said: “He had a lovely fun sense of humour and won't be easy to replace. It was something all the family could watch have a good laugh without expecting any nasty surprises. They got up to all sorts of tricks.”

Wilde's agent Nick Young said: "He will be sadly missed by family and colleagues alike.

"He brought a great deal of laughter into everyone's lives over the course of his career."

Wilde's son said he died in a nursing home, where he had been staying for a short while, and that he was 80.

Wilde's Last of the Summer Wine co-star Peter Sallis said: "I first met him when he was about 16 at Rada.

"If you saw him in Porridge or Last of the Summer Wine then you knew as much about him as I did. He was a private person, not in a stuffy way, but he didn't mix socially. It may be unfair of me to say that.

"If you saw him in character as Foggy you get a pretty good idea of what Brian was like. His work was exemplary.'

Last of the Summer Wine creator Roy Clarke said: "He was one of my favourite actors. He was absolutely impeccable with every line.

"You could give him all sorts of convoluted speech and he never made a fluff. A wonderful actor and a very nice man.'

In 1973 Wilde played the prison officer Barrowclough in Prisoner and Escort, an episode of a seven part series of different stories starring Ronnie Barker.

The programme was popular enough to be commissioned as a series and became the much loved comedy, Porridge.

As the fragile Barrowclough, he was the perfect foil for his austere boss, played by Fulton Mackay.

Brian George Wilde was born on June 13 1927 in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire.

He went to school in Hertfordshire and at the age of 18 joined Rada to pursue an acting career.

He took an early role in Carry On Doctor in 1968 but it was as Foggy and Barrowclough that Wilde will be most fondly recalled.

He had recently become frail and suffered a fall several weeks ago. He died in his sleep at a nursing home in Hertfordshire aged 80 yesterday.

Brian Wilde is survived by his wife, Eva, and by their son and daughter.

He said Wilde suffered a fall around seven weeks ago and had not recovered.