Prime Suspect and Bent actor Tom Bell dies at 73
Veteran British actor Tom Bell has died at the age 73 after a short illness, his agent said.
Bell, best known as Helen Mirren’s old adversary Detective Sergeant Bill Otley, in the hit ITV series Prime Suspect, passed away in hospital on Wednesday.
The star, who played Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie in 1990 movie The Krays and also appeared in the film Wish You Were Here and seventies TV drama Out, shot Prime Suspect 7 just a few months ago.
He makes a return to the show after a 13-year gap and he and Mirren’s Jane Tennison make peace. The programme will broadcast next month.
An ITV1 spokeswoman said: “We are greatly saddened by the news of Tom’s death and extend our deepest sympathies to his family.”
Bell was one of the original stars of Martin Sherman’s holocaust play Bent, a revival of which has just opened in the West End.
He is survived by a son and two daughters.
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