Vale: Richard Johnson

Veteran UK actor Richard Johnson, star of stage and screen, has died, aged 87.

He died after a short illness in hospital in Chelsea, west London.

TV credits included The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Thriller, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Hart to Hart, Space; 1999, The Kenny Everett Television Show, Tales from the Crypt, Kavanagh QC, Magnum PI, Murder She Wrote, Midsomer Murders, Waking the Dead, Silent Witness, Doc Martin, Lewis, Spooks, The Robinsons, The Royals, The Charles and Camilla story and Whatever Love Means.

His film roles included Never So Few, The Haunting of 1963, Some Girls Do, Antony and People, Hennessy, Aces High, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, What Waits Below, Turtle Diary, Julius Caesar, Screamers, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.

Johnson was also a renowned theatre actor, working in the newly formed Royal Shakespeare Company, where he played a number of roles, including Anthony in ‘Anthony & Cleopatra’ on two occasions.

He is perhaps most famous, however, for the film role he did not take. He was forced to decline the role of James Bond, because he was contracted to MGM. The part would end up going to Sean Connery.

Source: Telegraph