Acclaimed stage and screen actor dies aged 90

Wednesday at 12:09 PM

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Actor Timothy West, one of Britain’s most distinguished and versatile actors, has died at the age of 90, his family have announced.

He was known for roles on stage and screeen including in TV sitcoms Not Going Out and Bedtime, dramas like Bleak House and Gentleman Jack, and soaps Coronation Street and EastEnders.

A statement released by his children said the actor died “peacefully in his sleep” and was “with his friends and family at the end”.

The actor is also survived by his wife, Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales, to whom he was married for 61 years.

In recent years, the couple had been followed in 10 seasons of Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys.

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Timothy West pictured with son Sam and wife Prunella Scales in 1999

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Scales and West, pictured in 2012, were married for more than six decades

In their statement, Juliet, Samuel and Joseph West described their father as having had a “long and extraordinary life on and off the stage”.

West leaves “a sister, a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren”, the family said, adding: “All of us will miss him terribly.

“We would like to thank the incredible NHS staff at St George’s Hospital, Tooting and at Avery Wandsworth for their loving care during his last days.”

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West appeared in EastEnders in 2014

Broadcaster Piers Morgan recalled interviewing West for his Life Stories series with the actor’s wife Scales sitting in the audience.

“[She was] the love of his life… his devotion to her after she developed Alzheimer’s was profoundly touching,” Morgan said.

BBC Radio 4 presenter David Aaronovitch said: “May his memory be a blessing. He was certainly a blessing in real life.”

Former EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman described West as “the most wonderful actor and human being”.

The actor was born in 1934 in Bradford, the son of actors Lockwood West and Olive Carleton-Crowe.

West attended Bristol Grammar School, where his contemporaries included Julian Glover and Dave Prowse, who would later play Darth Vader in Star Wars.

West began his career in entertainment as an assistant stage manager at the Wimbledon Theatre.

He made his name on stage and screen in the 1960s, and BBC adaptations of Richard II and Edward II in the 1970s saw him reprise roles he had already played to critical acclaim in the theatre.

His other lead TV roles included 1980s comedy-drama Brass.

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