Bernard Hepton

Bernard Hepton born 19 October 1925 27th July 2018 was a British actor of stage film and television Hepton was known as a particularly versatile character actor He trained at Bradford Civic Theatre school under Esme Church along with actors such as Robert Stephens He had extensive stage experience as an actor under Sir Barry Jackson in addition to a spell as Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep and Liverpool Playhouse On television he played Toby Esterhase in the BBC Television adaptations of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smileys People and George Smiley in the radio adaptations He also played the Kommandant in Colditz 197274 and later appeared for the same production team as Albert Foiret in three seasons of Secret Army 197779 Before that he had made a guest appearance in an episode of the first series of Catweazle in 1970 where he played a naturalist Other notable performances included Thomas Cranmer in both The Six Wives of Henry VIII 1970 and Elizabeth R 1971 He played Sam Toovey in the 1989 television adaptation of Susan Hills ghost story The Woman in Black On radio Hepton played the role of Albert in Stranger In The Home by Alan Dapre also the role of The Old Man in the Corner the Baroness Orczy amateur and mostly sedentary sleuth in the BBC dramatizations called The Teahouse Detective 19982000 His appearances in feature film were less frequent He made a brief appearance as Thorpey a gangster in the classic British film Get Carter 1971 and had another small role as Milton Goldsmith in Voyage of the Damned 1976 He was a fan of the Rugby League team Hunslet Hawks and also played standoff for them in the 195253 season winning a Yorkshire Cup Medal Description above from the Wikipedia article Bernard Hepton licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia