Heartbeat actor Peter Benson died on September 6 after a short illness. He was 75.
He was known for playing the North Yorkshire-based drama's funeral director in all of the show's 18 series during its run from 1992 to 2010.
His character also ran a garage in the fictional town of Aidensfield and often got involved in disastrous money-making schemes with Claude Greengrass (Bill Maynard) and half-brother Vernon Scripps (Geoffrey Hughes).
Benson also made appearances in BBC comedy Blackadder as Henry VII, ITV 1980s soap opera Albion Market and more recently in two episodes of hospital drama Casualty.
Benson was a highly-skilled singer and dancer and an accomplished theatre actor. He and Maynard starred on stage together in a production of "Trinity Tales" in 1977.
He portrayed the title role in Shakespeare's "Henry VI" in a BBC television adaption of the play in 1983.
One of Benson's former Heartbeat co-stars Steven Blakeley, who played Pc Geoff Younger in the show,...
He was known for playing the North Yorkshire-based drama's funeral director in all of the show's 18 series during its run from 1992 to 2010.
His character also ran a garage in the fictional town of Aidensfield and often got involved in disastrous money-making schemes with Claude Greengrass (Bill Maynard) and half-brother Vernon Scripps (Geoffrey Hughes).
Benson also made appearances in BBC comedy Blackadder as Henry VII, ITV 1980s soap opera Albion Market and more recently in two episodes of hospital drama Casualty.
Benson was a highly-skilled singer and dancer and an accomplished theatre actor. He and Maynard starred on stage together in a production of "Trinity Tales" in 1977.
He portrayed the title role in Shakespeare's "Henry VI" in a BBC television adaption of the play in 1983.
One of Benson's former Heartbeat co-stars Steven Blakeley, who played Pc Geoff Younger in the show,...
- 9/9/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
British actor and comedian Bill Maynard, a cast member in five Carry On films and best known as Claude Jeremiah Greengrass in the police television series Heartbeat, has died at age 89. He died from complications after suffering a fall from his mobility scooter and being hospitalized.
Maynard was known for his wild off-stage life, sharing similarities with his grizzled Heartbeat television character. At one point, he was known as the highest-paid TV comic in Britain, but did not take good care of his finances. He then retreated to smaller stage roles before returning to glory with several successful television series.
Born Walter Frederick George Williams on October 8, 1928 in the village of Heath End in Surrey, Maynard embarked on his show business career at age 8, performing impressions in Working Men’s Clubs. He later was a band singer and stage actor, adopting his stage name from a wine advertisement. He became...
Maynard was known for his wild off-stage life, sharing similarities with his grizzled Heartbeat television character. At one point, he was known as the highest-paid TV comic in Britain, but did not take good care of his finances. He then retreated to smaller stage roles before returning to glory with several successful television series.
Born Walter Frederick George Williams on October 8, 1928 in the village of Heath End in Surrey, Maynard embarked on his show business career at age 8, performing impressions in Working Men’s Clubs. He later was a band singer and stage actor, adopting his stage name from a wine advertisement. He became...
- 3/31/2018
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Bill Maynard, the British actor best known as playing eccentric poacher Claude Jeremiah Greengrass in the British police series <em>Heartbeat</em>, has died. He was 89.
His daughter-in-law Jacqueline Reddin said he passed away while in hospital in Leicestershire, having recently broken his hip in a fall from a mobility scooter.
Maynard, whose real name was Walter Williams (taking his stage name from a billboard for Maynard's Wine Gums), first appear on British TV in 1953 in <em>Face the Music</em>, and would go on to star in shows such as <em>Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!</em>, <i>The Gaffer</i>, <i>In Sickness and In Heath </i>and ...
His daughter-in-law Jacqueline Reddin said he passed away while in hospital in Leicestershire, having recently broken his hip in a fall from a mobility scooter.
Maynard, whose real name was Walter Williams (taking his stage name from a billboard for Maynard's Wine Gums), first appear on British TV in 1953 in <em>Face the Music</em>, and would go on to star in shows such as <em>Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!</em>, <i>The Gaffer</i>, <i>In Sickness and In Heath </i>and ...
- 3/30/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The New Issue of Murania Press’ Blood ‘N’ Thunder issue #38 will be available Labor Day Weekend. A few highlights from the upcoming issue:
This issue’s outstanding feature is a lengthy excerpt from Nathan Madison’s recently published book, Anti-Foreign Imagery in American Pulps and Comic Books, 1920-1960. In this richly detailed, extensively illustrated piece Nathan explores “Yellow Peril” fiction from the pulps. His exhaustive study complements Bill Maynard’s celebration of Fu Manchu’s centennial from our last issue.
Another book published earlier this year, Will Murray’s Skull Island, pitted Doc Savage against King Kong and aroused much interest not only among the Bronze Man’s fans in general but devotees of Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe in particular. BnT contributor and Wold Newton adherent Rick Lai examines Skull Island and catalogs its deviations from the Universe in an unusually absorbing work of scholarship. In a...
This issue’s outstanding feature is a lengthy excerpt from Nathan Madison’s recently published book, Anti-Foreign Imagery in American Pulps and Comic Books, 1920-1960. In this richly detailed, extensively illustrated piece Nathan explores “Yellow Peril” fiction from the pulps. His exhaustive study complements Bill Maynard’s celebration of Fu Manchu’s centennial from our last issue.
Another book published earlier this year, Will Murray’s Skull Island, pitted Doc Savage against King Kong and aroused much interest not only among the Bronze Man’s fans in general but devotees of Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe in particular. BnT contributor and Wold Newton adherent Rick Lai examines Skull Island and catalogs its deviations from the Universe in an unusually absorbing work of scholarship. In a...
- 9/4/2013
- by Glenn Hauman
- Comicmix.com
My mother Pat Ashton, who has died aged 82, was an actor for over four decades. Probably her most important TV role was that of Annie, wife of a burglar (Bob Hoskins) who comes out of prison to find that his old friend (John Thaw) has moved in, in Thick As Thieves (1974). When Yorkshire TV declined a second series, the writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais took the idea to the BBC, where it was developed into the much-loved series Porridge.
Pat was born and raised in Wood Green, north London. During her early years, the piano was the focus of entertainment at home, with her brother Richard playing all the popular songs of the day. Her grandmother had been a trapeze artist, performing in front of the tsar in Russia, and Pat quickly became fascinated with music hall, learned to tap-dance from an early age and went on to...
Pat was born and raised in Wood Green, north London. During her early years, the piano was the focus of entertainment at home, with her brother Richard playing all the popular songs of the day. Her grandmother had been a trapeze artist, performing in front of the tsar in Russia, and Pat quickly became fascinated with music hall, learned to tap-dance from an early age and went on to...
- 6/23/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
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