Grace Brothers

The Grace Brothers (Harold Bennett and Kenneth Waller) (series 1–8, series 8)

The Grace brothers, Young Mr. Grace (Harold Bennett) and Old Mr. Grace (Kenneth Waller), were the old-fashioned owners of the store. Both were old but loved young, curvaceous women. They both treated their employees with respect and encouragement, hence Young Mr. Grace's catch phrase, "You've all done very well!" However, they were terminally naive to the fact that Grace Brothers was in its declining years. Despite the wealth of the family, they were somewhat stingy with money and paid their workers terribly, causing many strikes, disagreements and disruptions. Young Mr. Grace started off as a fish salesman before inheriting the store from an uncle in 1926. Old Mr Grace remained an unseen character until series eight, and there was a recurring joke for many years in which, upon seeing Young Mr. Grace for the first time, someone would ask in surprise, "That's Young Mr. Grace?" The other person always replied, "Old Mr. Grace doesn't get about much these days." Ironically, when he finally did appear in the show, Kenneth Waller (as Old Mr Grace) twenty-eight years younger than Harold Bennett (as Young Mr Grace), and was thus in much better condition both mentally and physically. It was revealed that Young Mr. Grace had a wife who died in 1935. Young Mr. Grace's age was a mystery. In 1976, it was said he was 80, yet in 1977, it was said he was born in 1897, and his 80th birthday was celebrated in that episode. In 1978, it was said that it was his 80th birthday then. Old Mr. Grace was born in 1891, and celebrated his 90th birthday in 1981. He was married to Annie Grainger (as stated in Heir Apparent) but in that episode thought he was married to Mr. Humphries' mother. At some point, Young Mr. Grace had a heart attack and was left with a very weak heart afterwards. Whenever his secretary showed off her legs, it would have a terrible effect on his heart. Both Old and Young Mr. Grace are last seen in the episode "Roots".