Jay Benedict

Jay Benedict April 11 1951 April 4 2020 was an American actor who spent most of his life and career in the United Kingdom He was frequently cast as American characters in British films and television programmes He was best known for his television roles as Doug Hamilton in the soap opera Emmerdale and as CaptainMajor John Kieffer in the detective drama Foyles War in the episodes Invasion and All Clear He also played Russ Jorden Newts father in the special Extended Edition of the film Aliens Benedict was born in Burbank California He moved to Europe with his family in the 1960s and spent most of his working life in England He was of half German descent His theatrical credits include The Rocky Horror Show in the Kings Road in the early 1970s Harold Pinters production of Sweet Bird of Youth The Reverend Lee in The Foreigner and Riccardo in Franco Zeffirellis production of Filumena in which he played opposite Pierce Brosnan in the latters first stage role and Bill Wilson cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous in a touring production of One Day at a Time In 2013 he appeared opposite Steven Berkoff and Andree Bernard in the world premiere of the formers one act play An Actors Lament at The Berkoff Performing Arts Centre at Alton College followed by a second performance at The Sinden Theatre Homewood School Tenterden in Kent two nights at The Maltings Theatre Cinema in BerwickuponTweed and then a threeweek run at the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe In May 2014 it was revived with a short run at the Theatre Royal Margate with a further oneweek run scheduled at The Gaiety Theatre Dublin in September 2014 In August 2014 he returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the world premiere of Terry Jastrows The Trial of Jane Fonda playing World War II veteran Archie Bellows He also appeared widely on television most notably as Frank Crowe in an episode of the BBCs awardwinning 2003 television miniseries Seven Wonders of the Industrial World John E Jones III in Novas Judgment Day Intelligent Design on Trial Alan Kalanak in the 2001 Christmas Special edition of Jonathan Creek and Yves Houdet in Thames Televisions miniseries of Angus Wilsons AngloSaxon Attitudes Other television appearances include Lilyhammer as Agent Becker Queen Victorias Men Lord Melbourne Sharpes Honour General Verigny Bergerac Martin Colley Death Train Halloran Harnessing Peacocks Eli Drew and Only Love Roger He provided the voice for Shiro Hagen in Star Fleet the English adaptation of the Japanese XBomber His first film role at the age of 11 was in the 1963 Tony Saytor film La Bande à Bobo In 1977 he played Deak in the Tosche Station scenes in Star Wars which were deleted from the film before release Subsequent film appearances include The Dirty Dozen Next Mission Didier le Clair Icon Carey Jordan The White Knight Turkish Ambassador The Russia House Spikey Saving Grace the MC Rewind and The Dark Knight Rises Rich Twit In 2003 he was third lead in Vicente Arandas version of Carmen playing Don Prospero Source Article Jay Benedict from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30