Terence Rigby

Published Monday 18 August 2008 at 16:45 by Patrick Newley

Actor Terence Rigby was familiar to TV viewers for his roles in series such as Softly, Softly, in which he played PC Snow, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, in which he was cast as the Soviet expert Roy Bland.

He also had a distinguished career on the stage and excelled in the works of Harold Pinter. He created the thuggish manservant Briggs in No Man’s Land (1975), with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, and he was Davies in the 2003 London revival of The Caretaker. Other Pinter roles included Joey in the Peter Hall production of The Homecoming at the RSC (1965).

Rigby was born in Birmingham on January 2, 1937. His interest in acting began while in the Scouts, then at grammar school in Birmingham and later in the RAF.

Rigby began his career taking various manual jobs and then won a place at RADA. On graduation, he worked in repertory at Birmingham and later Hull. Other regional acting jobs followed and in 1963 he played several small roles in the West End production of the musical Pickwick, starring Harry Secombe.

He appeared in the West End production of John Osborne’s Eputaph for George Dillon, after which he began to make a name forhimself in the works of Pinter. He and the playwright became close friends. “I used to go round to Pinter’s house in Hanover Square,” he said. “I had that irritating habit of just turning up, which I suppose is a working-class thing.”

Rigby collaborated on several occasions with Hall, most recently on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. He broke into television in the early sixties, appearing in character roles in series such as No Hiding Place and Dixon of Dock Green. Later TV credits included Our Friends in the North and Alan Plater’s Beiderbecke series. He notably played Dr Watson in the BBC’s 1982 adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, opposite Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes. His films included Mona Lisa Smile (2003).

His agent Peter Charlesworth said: “He was a very powerful character actor, able to play villains and nice roles with ease. He was particularly good at playing Pinter roles, which were very difficult. He will be sorely missed. There are not so many like him any more.”

Rigby died on August 10.