A STAR WHO WILL NEVER DIE

Welcome! to the first ever tribute page for that bloke, you know the one, you can neverremember his name but he’s in everything, he sort of always does *this* expression and he always played a bank manager or a mechanic or a vicar or an escaped convict or something, bit typecast but he obviously made a good living, is he still alive? there was this old guy on the last Only Fools and Horses special who looked just like him only about three times older but you’d expect that wouldn’t you?

-- Rex (rex@waitrose.com), July 14, 2002

Answers

say what you will, but unquestionably his greatest triumph came as the third darren on "bewitched." now that he's dead, i just wish i had taken that bit of bone marrow he offered for my reliquary. the hair is full of beatles. tho' better him then jeremy bentham i reckon. wait, does a toenail count??

-- hurley (michel@tcn.org), July 14, 2002.

Ah yes! The boards will never see Dermot's like again, nor yet the small screen be enlarged by his inimitable presence.

Unfortunately, it was never my great honour and privilege to work on the same stage or set as, err, Donald, but he leaves a tremendous vacuum in the firmament of stardom which will never quite be healed.

His was a shining light of immeasurable incandescence that illuminated every role he undertook, however small, while at the same time, Roland was always professional enough to not upstage even the lowliest of 'lesser mortals' or extras that were fortunate enough to bask in the reflected glory of his magnificent performances. For, erm, Ralph was never reticent to give some small hint, or pointer, or direction to those with whom he worked. Though he often showed just a hint of impatience when he felt that the standard of others fell short of his own: He set but one standard for himself - perfection.

We will seldom again experience such a master of understated melodrama, method-acting or characterisation, as, um, Malcolm.
That, you see, was his forte. He could slip effortlessly from Shakespeare to Shake'n'vac advert, without the slightest hesitation, or, indeed, perceptible change of style. Pathos or Farce; Patrick was able to veer effortlessly and seemlessly from one to the other, while never stumbling over a single line.

Yes. Jason was a real Actor's Actor. Even perhaps a little ahead of his time, since he never achieved the popular appeal that was due to a talent of such enormity.

Derek will be sadly missed, or as he sometimes wickedly said - "I will be madly hissed, when I take that final curtain call". And that was another of David's many virtues; that he could be witty, self-mocking, and even insecure about his undoubted ability.
The tragic face behind the mask of comedy is a cliche that was frequently all too true in, ummm, Trevor's case; but being the trouper he was, he never let any hint of his own personal tragedy spoil the immense enjoyment he brought to his enthralled audience.

Goodbye and good luck, Singeon old love, wherever you're appearing now. I'm sure you're still putting bums on seats, and rolling 'em in the aisles.

-- Marcus Danzillion (that.lovey@thespians.com), July 19, 2002.