Old Mr. Grace
Old Mr. Grace | |
---|---|
Are You Being Served? character | |
Portrayed by | Kenneth Waller |
Duration | 1981–1981 |
First appearance | Is It Catching (1981) |
Last appearance | Roots? (1981) |
Created by |
Jeremy Lloyd David Croft |
Profile | |
Occupation | Grace brothers owner |
The Grace brothers[edit | edit source]
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. Young Mr. Grace started off as a fish salesman before inheriting the store from an uncle. Old Mr. Grace remained an unseen character until series eight, and there was a recurring joke for many years where, upon seeing Young Mr. Grace for the first time, someone would ask in surprise (usually Mr. Lucas), "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) was actually a couple of decades younger than Harold Bennett (as Young Mr. Grace). None of the Graces appeared in series nine or the final series, ten, but Old Mr. Grace was mentioned several times. In Grace and Favour Young Mr. Grace has died after a scuba-diving holiday.