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Patrick Murray, who died aged 68, gained fame for his performance as Mickey Pearce, the opportunist in a trilby who teams up briefly with his former schoolmate Rodney Trotter in the classic television comedy Only Fools and Horses.

Early Introduction

He first appeared in season three in an episode from 1983 titled Healthy Competition, in which Rodney's goal to move beyond being just a lookout for Del Boy was immediately foiled when Mickey ripped him off. Del and Rodney were reunited, and Mickey remained a regular presence until the final festive episode in 2003.

Origin of the Role

Mickey Pearce was referenced repeatedly since the series started in 1981, like in episodes where Mickey stole Rodney's girlfriend, but hadn't been portrayed originally. Once the show's creator sought to enlarge the supporting cast, Ray Butt recalled Murray's role in a Pizza Hut ad, where he unsuccessfully chatted up two women, and proposed him for the part. Murray was auditioned on a Friday and started filming within three days.

The character was envisioned as a lighter version of Del Boy, less shrewd but, similar to Del, usually having his entrepreneurial antics fail. He's willing to attempt anything, but he's unreliable,” the actor stated. “He’s always stitching Rodney up, and Del often threatens to clump him for it.” Mickey consistently mocks Rodney about not having a girlfriend while exaggerating his supposed love life and flitting between jobs.

On-Set Incidents

An episode from 1989 needed quick rewriting due to a mishap in which the actor stumbled over his dog at home and crashed through a glass window, injuring a tendon in his right arm and losing a significant amount of blood. As his arm was in a plaster cast, the creator adjusted the following episode to explain Mickey getting beaten up by area criminals.

Post-Fame Journey

The sitcom’s final episode aired in 1991, but Murray was among the cast members who came back for holiday episodes for another 12 years – and stayed in favor at gatherings for enthusiasts.

He was born in Greenwich, south London, with a mother named Juana, a dancer, and Patrick, a London Transport inspector. He went to St Thomas the Apostle college in Nunhead. Aged 15, he spotted an advert for an acting agency in the Daily Mirror and in just a week had been cast in a stage play. He promptly secured television roles, beginning in 1973, aged 16, in Places Where They Sing, a BBC play based on a novel about college demonstrations. Shortly after, he had a leading role in the kids' adventure series The Terracotta Horse, filmed in Spain and Morocco.

He also had roles a short TV play Hanging Around (1978), about disaffected youths, and the feature The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), featuring Glenda Jackson as a dedicated educator, ahead of his breakthrough arrived.

In Scum, a play about the harsh youth detention system, he played Dougan, a friendly detainee whose head for figures got him entrusted to handle money secretly introduced by visitors, which he collected on his rounds with a trolley. He was able to lower the “daddy’s” percentage when the character Carlin became the leader.

This play, created for television in 1977, was prohibited by the BBC for its brutal content, although it was eventually broadcast in 1991. In the interim, the filmmaker turned it into a movie in 1979, with Murray as one of six from the first version playing their characters again.

He then had minor roles in the movies Quadrophenia (1979) and Breaking Glass (1980), and took the role of a bellboy in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983).

Success on the show led to multiple guest spots in the 80s and 90s in TV shows such as Dempsey and Makepeace, Lovejoy, The Return of Shelley and The Upper Hand. He played two roles in The Bill.

However, his life declined after he managed a pub in Kent in 1998, drinking too much and finally seeking assistance from Alcoholics Anonymous. He relocated to Thailand, where he wed Anong in 2016. Not long after, he came back to the UK and became a taxi driver. He briefly returned to acting in 2019 as a cockney gangster Frank Bridges in the program Conditions, yet to air.

Medical Challenges

He received a diagnosis with the lung disease COPD in 2018 and, a few years after, lung cancer and a tumour on his liver. Although he was given the all-clear in 2022 following surgery and chemotherapy, the cancer returned shortly afterwards.

Personal Life

In 1981, he wed Shelley Wilkinson; the union dissolved. He leaves behind Anong, daughter Josie, Josie, and three sons with his first wife, Lee, Ricky and Robert, as well as three sisters and two brothers.