Early life

Jason's father, Arthur R White, was a porter at Billingsgate Fish Market, and his Welsh-born mother, Olwen Jones, worked as a charwoman. She gave birth to twin boys in Edmonton, Middlesex in February 1940, but Jason's twin brother died during childbirth. It is an urban myth that he chose the name Jason as a tribute to his dead twin: David Jason himself has denied this. In 1984 during an interview on TV-am, David Jason admitted that the name David Jason was taken from his like of Jason and the Argonauts, as the stage name David White had already been taken.

Jason's elder brother is the actor Arthur White, born in 1933. The two appeared together in the crime drama A Touch of Frost, with Arthur playing police archivist Ernie Trigg; and again in 2008, in the comic fantasy, The Colour of Magic, where Arthur starred as a character called "Rerpf". He also appeared briefly with his brother in an episode of The Darling Buds of May. On leaving school, Jason wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps as an actor, but their father insisted that he first get a trade. So, for six years, he trained as an electrician, before giving up his girlfriend at the time, and becoming a jobbing actor.

Radio and TV career

Early years

Jason started his television career in 1964 playing the part of Bert Bradshaw in Crossroads. In 1967, he played spoof super-hero Captain Fantastic, among other roles, in the children's comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set (Rediffusion London/ITV) with Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Denise Coffey and Michael Palin. Humphrey Barclay, who recruited Jason to appear in Do Not Adjust Your Set (partly to offset the rather intellectual style of Idle, Jones and Palin), admired his sense of timing. The programme ended in 1969, and the character then appeared for a time in the Thames Television children's programme Magpie.

Jason was going to be cast in the role of Lance-Corporal Jones in the Jimmy Perry and David Croft BBC comedy Dad's Army. Croft had been very impressed with the actor and knew that he had the ability to play a man much older than his real age. However, Bill Cotton over-ruled him, casting Clive Dunn. Jason appeared in the BBC comedy series Hugh and I, which starred Hugh Lloyd and Terry Scott as two friends who lived together in south London.

In the 1970s, he also acted in radio comedies, including the weekly topical satire Week Ending (in which he regularly played such figures as then UK Foreign Secretary Dr David Owen) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (as the "B Ark Captain" in the sixth episode, in an in-joking reference to his Week Ending role as Owen). Jason also appeared in The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately and made appearances on panel games such as The Impressionists as well as his own series, The Jason Explanation. In the early 1970s, he appeared in Mostly Monkhouse.

Jason appeared in variety shows in support of stars such as Dick Emery and his performances caught the attention of Ronnie Barker. In 1969, Jason was recruited to appear in Hark at Barker (LWT), starring Barker as Lord Rustless, as Dithers, the hundred-year old gardener. There was also a sequel, His Lordship Entertains (BBC). That year, he appeared on Randall and Hopkirk in the episode "That's How Murder Snowballs" as Abel, a framed performer in a major London theatre. In 1973, Jason played junior employee Granville in the first programme of the comedy anthology Seven of One, called Open All Hours (BBC) and starring Barker as the miserly proprietor of a corner shop.

Four series of Open All Hours were made from 1976-85. He featured in Barker's Porridge (BBC), a prison-based comedy, as the elderly Blanco in three episodes. Jason also appeared with Barker in various disguises in the Two Ronnies. He played the lead role in the ATV sitcom A Sharp Intake of Breath. In 1974, he played inept spy Edgar Briggs in The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs (ATV/ITV). In 1979, he appeared as Buttons in the pantomime Cinderella at Newcastle's Theatre Royal, starring Leah Bell and Bobby Thompson, produced by Michael Grayson and directed by John Blackmore.

In 1976, Jason starred in London Weekend Television's Lucky Feller, written by Terence Frisby and produced by Humphrey Barclay. About two brothers in South-East London, the series was in many ways a forerunner to Only Fools And Horses, only Jason was in the more dopey 'Rodders' role with Peter Armitage playing the cleverer of the two. The brothers drove around in a comical bubble car, a precursor to the famous Trotters' van; and there was even the gag where, just as he was trying to impress the girl (Cheryl Hall), Jason casually leaned back against the bar, without his knowing that barman had just lifted it behind his back, and fell through. This situation was re-enacted in Only Fools And Horses.

Children's television

In the 1980s, Jason developed a relationship with Cosgrove Hall, and was a voice artist for a number of children's television productions. This included voices for Danger Mouse with Terry Scott, The BFG, Count Duckula, Hugo from Victor and Hugo and Toad from The Wind in the Willows, all produced by Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television/ITV. He provided the voice of Father Christmas in Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer, Rola Polar in The Adventures of Dawdle the Donkey, Angelmouse and did voices in animated films including Wombling Free and The Water Babies.

Maturity and success as a leading man

In 1981, Jason found his most popular role, Del Boy Trotter in the BBC situation comedy Only Fools and Horses, created by John Sullivan. Del-Boy is a wide-boy who makes a dubious living in Peckham, south London, trading in shoddy, stolen, and counterfeit goods. He is assisted by his brother Rodney (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Grandad (played by Lennard Pearce) and, in later episodes, Uncle Albert (played by Buster Merryfield).

In 1999, Jason starred as Captain Frank Beck in BBC's feature-length drama All the King's Men about the Sandringham regiment lost in World War I. He earned acclaim for a string of straight roles. These include Skullion in Porterhouse Blue (for Channel 4), Sidney "Pop" Larkin in the rural idyll The Darling Buds of May (Yorkshire Television/ITV) and based on the H. E. Bates novel, which featured Catherine Zeta-Jones in an early role.

In 1992, fed up with the lack of investment at the BBC, he signed a golden handcuffs deal at ITV to star as Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the long-running TV series A Touch of Frost (Yorkshire Television/ITV). In September 2006, he was voted by the general public as No. 1 in ITV's poll of TV's Greatest Stars. In December 2006, he starred in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather on Sky1 as Albert. In early 2007, he starred in Diamond Geezer (Granada Television/ITV). This series ran for 3 episodes of 90 minutes each. There was a pilot in 2005. In March 2008, he starred as Rincewind in Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic, and in the two part ITV drama Ghostboat.

On 16 September 2008, Jason announced that he would retire his role as Jack Frost after 16 years. Three new episodes of the show were shown in autumn 2008, and were followed by a two-part finale in 2010. Approached by BBC1 controller Danny Cohen in early 2011, he read three scripts and agreed to shoot a pilot for The Royal Bodyguard, which was shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival. The pilot episode aired on the BBC on Boxing Day but received a poor critical response. The series was axed after six episodes.

Honours

In 1993, Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and twelve years later, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2005, he was knighted for services to acting and comedy. The granting of the knighthood was well received by the public.

On the day it was announced, many British newspapers used the headline "Arise Sir Del Boy" or similar, in reference to his most famous role. Upon receiving the knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 1 December 2005, he said he was "humbled" by the "fantastic tribute".

Personal life

Jason lived with his long-term girlfriend, Welsh actress Myfanwy Talog, for eighteen years and nursed her through breast cancer until her death in 1995. This experience inspired him to organise his own charity, The David Jason Trust for terminally ill children.

On 26 February 2001, Jason became a father for the first time at the age of 61 when his girlfriend, 41-year-old Gill Hinchcliffe, gave birth to a baby girl, born in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury. Jason and Hinchcliffe married on 30 November 2005, St. Andrew's Day.

Jason is a patron of the Shark Trust, a United Kingdom registered charity working to advance the worldwide conservation of sharks through science, education, influence and action. He has also been Honorary Vice Patron of the Royal International Air Tattoo since 1999, and on 29 May 2014, presented a cheque on behalf of the Fairford-based RAF Charitable Trust for £125,000 to the British RAF Air Cadet Organisation, to fund flight simulators for Air Cadets.

Jason is a qualified helicopter pilot. In October 2013, Jason released his autobiography called David Jason: My Life. It was shortlisted for the 2013 Specsavers National Book Awards "Best Book of the Year".

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Crossroads	Bert Bradshaw
1966	Softly, Softly	Smith	Episode: "Overtake"
1967-1969	Do Not Adjust Your Set	Various
1968	Randall and Hopkirk	Abel	Episode: "That's How Murder Snowballs"
1969	Counterstrike	Taffy Sadler	Episode: "On Ice"
1969	Canada Goose	Unknown
1969-1970	Hark at Barker	Various characters
1970	Doctor in the House	Mr. Drobnic	Episode: "What Seems to be the Trouble?"
1970	Two D's and a Dog	Dingle Bell
1971	Six Dates With Barker	Odd Job Man	Episode: "The Odd Job"
1971	Doctor at Large	Victor Bligh	Episode: "Let's Start at the Beginning"
1972	His Lordship Entertains	Dithers
1973	Seven of One	Various	Episodes: "Open All Hours" and "I'll Fly You for a Quid)"
1974	Doctor at Sea	Manuel Sanchez
1974	The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs	Edgar Briggs
1975; 1977	Porridge	Blanco Webb	Episodes: "Happy Release", "No Peace for the Wicked", and "Pardon Me"
1976	Lucky Feller	Shorty Mopstead
1976-1985	Open All Hours	Granville
1977-1981	A Sharp Intake of Breath	Peter Barnes
1981-2014	Only Fools and Horses	Derek "Del Boy" Trotter
1987	Porterhouse Blue	Skullion
1989	A Bit of a Do	Ted Simcock
1990	Amongst Barbarians	George
1991-1993	The Darling Buds of May	Pop Larkin
1992-2010	A Touch of Frost	DI Jack Frost
1993	The Bullion Boys	Billy Mac
1998	March in Windy City	Steven March
2001	Micawber	Micawber
2002-2004	The Quest	Dave
2005-2007	Diamond Geezer	Des
2006	Ghostboat	Jack Hardy
2006	Terry Pratchett's Hogfather	Alberto Malich
2006	Cartoon Kings	Narrator
2006	Prehistoric Park	Narrator
2008	Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic	Rincewind
2009	Albert's Memorial	Harry
2010	David Jason: The Battle of Britain	Presenter
2010	Come Rain Come Shine	Don
2011	David Jason's Great Escapes	Himself
2011-2012	The Royal Bodyguard	Captain Guy Hubble
2013-present	Still Open All Hours	Granville	A revival of the original series, featuring original cast members Lynda Baron and Maggie Ollerenshaw.

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Under Milk Wood	Nogood Boyo
1973	White Cargo	Albert Toddey
1975	Royal Flash	The Mayor
1977	Wombling Free	Womble	Voice
1978	The Odd Job	Odd Job Man
1999	All the King's Men	Captain Frank Beck
2010	All the Way Up		Director

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	The Water Babies	Various characters
1981-1992	Danger Mouse	Danger Mouse Isambard Sinclair (narrator) Buggles Pigeon Count Duckula Various characters
1983-1990	The Wind in the Willows	Toad Chief Weasel Billy Rabbit
1988-1993	Count Duckula	Count Duckula Various characters
1989	The BFG	The BFG
1991-1992	Victor and Hugo	Hugo Interpol Count Duckula (1 episode) Danger Mouse (1 episode)
1993	The Adventures of Dawdle the Donkey	Rola Polar
1994	Felidae	Jesaja	English dub
1995	The Snow Queen	Eric
1998	Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer	Father Christmas
1999	Angelmouse	Quilly and Character Voices
2010	Muddle Earth	Randalf
2014	Pip Ahoy!	Skipper

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
Unknown	Mostly Monkhouse	Various characters
1970-1998	Week Ending	Various characters
1977-1981	The Jason Explanation	Various characters
1978	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Captain of the "B" Ark Caveman
2008	Book at Bedtime: A Christmas Carol	Narrator	BBC Radio 4

Awards and nominations

Jason has won a total of twenty-three awards between 1986 and 2003. His hit comedy show, Only Fools and Horses won many awards. His crime drama, A Touch of Frost, has also won and been nominated numerous times. Porterhouse Blue, The Second Quest, All the King's Men and A Bit of a Do have won David Jason one award each.

Year	Group	Award	Film/Show	Result
1985	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated
1986	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated
1987	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actor	Porterhouse Blue	Won
1988	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated
1989	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated
1990	British Comedy Award	Best TV Comedy Actor	A Bit of a Do	Won
1990	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Won
1992	British Comedy Award	Best TV Comedy Actor	The Darling Buds of May	Won
1996	National Television Award	Most Popular Comedy Performer	Only Fools and Horses	Won
1996	National Television Award	Special Recognition Award	N/a	Won
1996	BAFTA TV Award	Best Comedy Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Won
1997	British Comedy Award	Best TV Comedy Actor	Only Fools and Horses	Won
1997	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	Only Fools and Horses	Won
1999	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Nominated
2000	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Nominated
2000	TV Quick Award	Best Actor	A Touch of Frost All the King's Men	Won
2001	British Comedy Award	Lifetime Achievement Award	N/a	Won
2001	TV Quick Award	Best Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won
2001	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won
2001	National Television Award	Most Popular Comedy Performer	Only Fools and Horses	Won
2002	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won
2002	National Television Award	Most Popular Comedy Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated
2002	TV Quick Award	Best Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won
2003	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Nominated
2003	BAFTA TV Award	BAFTA Academy Fellowship	N/a	Won
2003	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	The Second Quest A Touch of Frost	Nominated
2011	National Television Award	Outstanding Drama Performance	A Touch of Frost	Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]