Richard Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed the theatre, television, film and radio.

Briers first came to fame as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the mid-1960s. The following decade, the role of Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life made him a household name. In the 1980s he starred in Ever Decreasing Circles, and from 2000 to 2002 came back to the spotlight with a leading role in Monarch of the Glen.

Briers was born in Raynes Park, Surrey, England, the son of Joseph Benjamin Briers and Morna Phyllis (née Richardson). He is the second cousin of actor Terry-Thomas.

He attended Rokeby Prep School in Kingston upon Thames, and left at the age of 16 without any formal qualifications. He then took a clerical post with a London cable manufacturer, and for a short time went to evening class to qualify in electrical engineering, but soon left and became a filing clerk.

At the age of 18, Briers was called up for two years National Service in the RAF, during which he was a filing clerk at RAF Northwood, where he met future George and Mildred star Brian Murphy.

Murphy introduced Briers, who had first been interested in acting at 14, to the Elephant and Castle Polytechnic, and when he left the RAF he joined RADA, which he attended from 1954 to 1956.

Briers got his first leading role on television in Brothers in Law in 1962. He was cast in this role by writers Frank Muir and Denis Norden, who had spotted him in the West End. The following year Briers got the lead male role in Marriage Lines opposite Prunella Scales. His other early appearances included Dixon of Dock Green, The Seven Faces of Jim, The Morecambe & Wise Show, and the narrator in several episodes of Jackanory.

In 1975, Briers was given one of the lead roles in the successful sitcom The Good Life, where he played Tom Good, a draftsman who decides, on his 40th birthday, to give up his job and try his hand at self-sufficiency. In 1978, he starred opposite his The Good Life co-star Penelope Keith in the televised version of The Norman Conquests.

During the 1980s, he appeared in the Goodbye, Mr Kent, All in Good Faith, Tales of the Unexpected, Mr. Bean and Twelfth Night (as Malvolio). In 1987, he appeared in the Doctor Who episode Paradise Towers.

From 1984 to 1987 he was the lead role of Martin Bryce in Ever Decreasing Circles, and in 1993 took the lead role of Godfrey Spry in the BBC comedy drama If You See God, Tell Him.

Briers is also a familiar voice actor, with numerous commercials, including adverts for the Midland Bank in which he was the voice of the company's Griffin symbol, and the animated children's series Roobarb and Bob the Builder to his credit. He also provided the voice of Fiver in the 1978 film adaptation of Watership Down.