Obituaries
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Humphrey Lyttelton
Few entertainers have been held in such affection by the British public as jazz legend and radio broadcaster Humphrey Lyttelton. As the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s comedy show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, he was famed for his deadpan delivery of the smuttiest of innuendos. Most featured the escapades of the show’s fictitious scorer, Samantha, who ‘sat on his right hand’: “In her spare time, Samantha likes nothing more than to peruse old records shops. She particularly enjoys a poke in the country section.”
June Gray
June Gray (nee Uttley), the widow of Danny Gray and sister-in-law of ‘Monsewer’ Eddie Gray of the Crazy Gang, was a well loved figure in London theatreland.
Mago
Sweden’s outstanding dress designer, Mago, who designed the clothes for more than a dozen films and a handful stage productions of Ingmar Bergman, passed away on April 4 at the age of 83.
John Hewer
Actor John Hewer won worldwide fame playing Captain Birdseye in the long-running fish finger TV commercials.
Tony Church
A leading classical actor, Tony Church was a founder member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a key player with the National Theatre. He was a also a founder director of the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, and in later life enjoyed success in America with the Denver Center Company in Colorado.
John Moore
John Moore, teacher, theatre historian and writer, died suddenly on March 17, aged 71.
Mark Speight
Mark Speight, whose recent suicide made headline news, was a trained artist and was the highly popular children’s TV presenter of the art programme SMart!. He auditioned for the show in 1994 and presented it for more than ten years. In 1998 he found further recognition as Scratchy in the CiTV programme Scratchy and Co and he was also seen in See It Saw It, In the Toon Room, On Your Marks, History Busters and Beat the Cyborgs. History Busters won a Royal Television Society Award in 2003.
Michael Hallifax
When Michael Hallifax died, on February 8, the theatrical profession said goodbye to a manager and administrator who helped change the face of theatre in postwar Britain.
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston’s steely-jawed and imposing screen presence made him one of the cinema’s most popular actors and the appropriate star for several biblical epics, most notably The Ten Commandments (1956) and Ben-Hur (1959). He was also a distinguished classical stage actor who appeared regularly on Broadway and on several occasions in London’s West End.
Mary Barclay
Character actress Mary Barclay was best known to TV viewers for her role as Stella Dane, the overbearing mother-in-law of David Hunter in the long running ITV soap Crossroads.
Diane Martin
Diane Martin, who died on March 26, 2008, was associated with the stage world for around 30 years and gained a national reputation as a costumier.
Brian Wilde
Brian Wilde gained national TV fame playing Foggy in Last of the Summer Wine and he was also the wimpish warder Barrowclough in the prison sitcom Porridge, alongside Ronnie Barker.
John Chilvers
John Chilvers, who died on March 10 after a short illness, was one of the great names of the repertory movement through the fifties to the eighties.
Paul Scofield
The greatest classical actor of his generation, Paul Scofield was widely regarded as one of the world’s finest interpreters of Shakespeare.
Anthony Minghella
Multi-talented screenwriter, director and playwright Anthony Minghella found early cinema fame with the romantic Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991) but it was his acclaimed, sweeping love story, The English Patient (1996) that earned nine Academy Awards including best director, along with a nomination for best adapted screenplay for his adaptation of Michael Ondnajte’s novel.
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