🔗 Share this article Remembering Patrick Noel Murray: The Performer Who Portrayed Mickey Pearce The actor Patrick Murray, who has died at the age of 68, became well-known for his portrayal as Mickey Pearce in Only Fools and Horses, the trilby-wearing chancer who enters a short-lived partnership with his former schoolmate Rodney Trotter in the classic television comedy Only Fools and Horses. Early Introduction He first appeared in the show's third season in a 1983 episode named Healthy Competition, in which Rodney's ambition to escape being just a lookout for his brother was quickly dashed when Mickey deceived him. Del and Rodney were reunited, and Mickey remained a recurring character throughout the programme's final Christmas special in 2003. Origin of the Role Mickey Pearce had been mentioned on multiple occasions following the program's launch in 1981, including in stories where he took Rodney's girlfriend, but did not initially appear. As the writer decided to broaden the secondary roles, Ray Butt thought of Murray's appearance in an advertisement, in which he failed to pick up two women, and proposed him for the part. He auditioned on a Friday and commenced his role a few days after. Mickey was conceived as a lighter version of Del Boy, not as clever but, in the same vein as Del, usually having his entrepreneurial antics go wrong. Mickey dabbles in everything, but he's unreliable,” Murray once explained. He's forever tricking Rodney, and Del regularly warns to clump him for it.” The spiv frequently teases Rodney about his lack of girlfriends while fabricating his supposed love life and changing occupations often. Production Stories One 1989 storyline had to be rapidly revamped after an accident in which he tripped over his pet at home and broke a glass pane, injuring a tendon in his right arm and suffering major blood loss. As his arm was in a plaster cast, the writer adjusted the following episode to explain Mickey being roughed up by local gangsters. Later Years The sitcom’s final episode was broadcast in 1991, but Murray was among the actors who came back for holiday episodes for an additional 12 years – and remained popular at fan events. Murray was born in south London's Greenwich, with a mother named Juana, a dancer, and his father Patrick, a transport official. He studied at St Thomas the Apostle college in Nunhead. At 15 years old, he saw an advertisement for an acting agency in the Daily Mirror and in just a week landed a role in a stage play. He promptly secured roles on TV, starting in 1973, aged 16, in Places Where They Sing, a BBC play inspired by a novel about student unrest. This was soon followed, he had a leading role in the children’s adventure serial The Terracotta Horse, produced in those countries. He appeared in a brief play Hanging Around (1978), depicting rebellious young people, and the movie 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 portrayed Dougan, a good-natured inmate whose head for figures meant he was trusted to handle money smuggled in by visitors, which he collected on his rounds with a trolley. He even managed to negotiate down the “daddy’s” percentage when Ray Winstone's Carlin assumed that role. The production, created for television in 1977, the BBC banned it for its graphic violence, but it finally aired in 1991. Meanwhile, Alan Clarke turned it into a movie in 1979, with Murray as one of six from the original cast returning to their parts. He then had minor roles in features like Quadrophenia (1979) and Breaking Glass (1980), and played a bellboy in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983). Fame in Only Fools and Horses brought him multiple guest spots in that era in TV shows such as Dempsey and Makepeace, Lovejoy, The Return of Shelley and The Upper Hand. He appeared in two characters in The Bill. But his life took a downturn after he took over a pub in Kent in 1998, overindulging in alcohol and finally seeking assistance from AA. He later moved to Thailand, where he wed Anong in 2016. Soon after, he returned to Britain and worked as a cab driver. Murray made a brief return to acting in 2019 as a London criminal playing Frank Bridges in the TV series Conditions, yet to air. Illness Battle He was diagnosed with COPD in 2018 and, three years later, pulmonary cancer and a tumour on his liver. Even though he was declared cancer-free in 2022 post-treatment, the cancer returned soon after. Private Affairs Back in 1981, he got married to Shelley Wilkinson; they later divorced. He leaves behind Anong, their daughter, Josie, and the three sons of his first marriage, Lee, Ricky and Robert, as well as siblings and male siblings.