Calling Dr. Bombay! Emergency! Come right away! I need a picture with you! It’s hard to believe that I had been in the presence of Bernard Fox twice already, but had never gotten a photo with him. It is also a bit ironic that of the three signed photos that I have of Bernard Fox, none of them are of him in what was possibly his most famous role, the warlock physician Dr. Bombay on Bewitched. He appeared in 18 episodes in this role (plus once in another part), later reprising it for the short-lived spin-off series Tabitha. The fact that I don’t own a signed photo from this series might give you some indication of how many important roles Bernard Fox has played.
For instance, he was the dainty English town visitor Malcom Merriweather in three episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. He played three different parts in three different episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show. He had a recurring role in Hogan’s Heroes. He had one-off parts in I Dream of Jeannie, The Monkees, M*A*S*H, and The Jeffersons – just to name a few. And these were only his sitcom roles!
Bernard Fox also had an extensive film career, one of his most notable being his role as Col. Archibald Gracie in the Oscar winning film Titanic. He also voiced the choir mouse in the Disney animated classics The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. Other films included A Night To Remember (another tale of the Titanic!), The Private Eyes, and The Mummy.
My friend Bob had obtained the signed photos of Fox from The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show for me in the mid-1990’s. I later saw Bernard Fox at the Hollywood Collectors Show in 1997, but did not get anything further from him. I met him for the first time at the 6th Annual Mayberry Squad Car Rendezvous in Bradford, Ohio on July 11, 1998. At that time I obtained the Titanic photo seen at the top of the posting.
But up until the Hollywood Show on Saturday, April 24, 2010, I had never gotten a photo with Bernard Fox. Thankfully, he was cordial enough to allow me one – free of charge, but not overly thrilled about it. But in any case, I was thankful that I was finally given the opportunity to be captured with Dr. Bombay.
UPDATE: Never very happy with the soft-focus photo above that I had gotten in 2010, Bernard Fox made another appearance at the Hollywood Show on January 12, 2013 as part of a very small Bewitched reunion. This time I didn’t try for another ‘free’ photo and just went ahead and bought a nice photo from the sitcom Hogan’s Heroes which was only $15 and included another photo op. Oddly enough, one of the two photos I got this time came out a little ‘soft’ as well.
Sadly it turned out this would be the last time I’d see Bernard Fox as he passed away on December 14, 2016.
Celebrities of the Spring 2010 Hollywood Show will continue…
Great page. Just saw him on a Chrismas 1963 episode of the Danny Thomas show where he plays a character very much like Malcom Merriweather. It’s not mentioned in Wikipedia etc but wonder how many other shows he was on pre-Andy Griffith and Dick van Dyke.
Marsha
December 23rd, 2013
In addition to Bewitched and Tabitha, the soap opera Passions featured a two-episode visit from Dr. Bombay in a Frazier-esque multi-show crossover cameo. I stumbled on this while watching Bewitched and looking up IMDb.
Chris
March 16th, 2021