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Peter Copley (20 May 1915 - 7 October 2008) was a British television, film and stage actor.

Copley was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, son of the master printers, John Copley and Ethel Gabain.

He studied acting at the Old Vic school under Harcourt Williams and Murray Macdonald. He made his stage debut as the jailer in the Old Vic production of The Winter's Tale in 1932, and his West End debut three years later. His wartime naval service (1940-41) was sandwiched between a wide range of theatrical work, including a tour of south America with Edward Stirling (1936), a season at the Gate, Dublin (1939), wartime touring and a spell as director of the Worthing rep (1945). From 1945 to 1950, he was at the center of Olivier's Old Vic Company at the New Theatre, St Martin's Lane. He would talk about performing in Hamburg immediately after the war - seeing SS men sitting, broken, on the pavement, and finding a copy of Mein Kampf alongside the Bible in a dressing room.

Review after review singled Peter out - as a great swordsman in Cyrano de Bergerac (1945) opposite Ralph Richardson, or as the comic Ananias in the Old Vic's The Alchemist (1947), years later at the Duke of York Theatre in Tom Stoppard's Artist Descending a Staircase (1980), or for his Teiresias in Katie Mitchell's Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Phoenician Women (1995). He loved working at the RSC, in productions including The Cherry Orchard (1997) and Henry IV part II (2000).

He appeared on television hundreds of times, in everything from The Forsyte Saga (1967) to The Avengers (1961), The Bill (1984), and One Foot in the Grave (1990). His last appearance was as Greyhald Spold in Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic (2008) in 2008.

He was in many movies, including a role as the Jeweller alongside The Beatles in Help! (1965), and worked with some of the great directors. In 2005, he was in Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist (2005) and returned from Poland (where it was shot) with stories of how the director coaxed and bullied the child performers. He was impressed, a little shocked, but was, at 90, thrilled that, watching the children and director work, he still felt he was learning about acting. This, from a man who had worked with Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun (1987) and appeared in epoch-defining films such as Basil Dearden's Victim (1961).

It was this openness that made Peter a special actor. He was delicate, subtle and always stimulated. Not necessarily powerful or bombastic, he knew how to listen and to react, holding the audience - in any medium - by drawing them in rather than hitting them hard. He was never tedious about acting. Highly intelligent, well read and knowledgeable, he believed that his craft came first from instinct and observation, and that intellect could get in the way.

Peter had been a Communist party member in the 1940s and early 50s, and while he renounced the Soviet model, he remained a committed socialist. He trained as a lawyer and was called to the Middle Temple bar in 1963, though he never practiced. He was actively involved in the actors' union Equity and, until recently, was a venerable part of the campaign to reopen the Bristol Old Vic. Between 1980 and 1995, he appeared in 25 theater productions including a heartbreaking John of Gaunt in Richard II (1985) and the ghost and player king in Hamlet (1991).

Copley's TV credits included Thorndyke (1964), A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992), The Saint (1962), The Avengers (1961) and The New Avengers (1976), The Forsyte Saga (1967), Mogul (1965) (originally, The Troubleshooters), The Champions (1968), Department S (1969), Doomwatch (1970), Z Cars (1962), Fall of Eagles (1974), Survivors (1975), Father Brown (1974), Doctor Who (1963), Sutherland's Law (1973), Tales of the Unexpected (1979), Miss Marple: Nemesis (1987), Lovejoy (1986), The Bill (1984), Mystery!: Cadfael (1994), and One Foot in the Grave (1990).

Margaret Tabor was Peter's third wife, and they had a remarkable partnership. They had moved to Bristol in 1981. Copley died in 2008 at the age of 93. He was survived by his third wife, his daughter Fanny by his second wife, and by stepchildren Gid and Emma.

The son of commercial artists, Richard Williams studied at the Ontario College of Art and first worked in animation for Disney Studios in Burbank. His tenure there had a strong influence on his later work but proved somewhat stifling to his own creative flair. In 1955, aged 22, Williams moved to England and joined fellow Canadian George Dunning's company T.V. Cartoons Ltd., working primarily on television commercials. At the same time, Williams created his first animated short feature, The Little Island (1958), which won him the 1959 BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Though a critical success it received a mixed response at the box office. Consequently, his next venture was aimed at the mainstream market. Love Me, Love Me, Love Me (1962) turned out to be a commercial success and generated enough revenue for Williams to set up his own animation studio. In addition to producing commercials, Williams went on to create memorable title sequences for motion pictures, including What's New Pussycat (1965), The Liquidator (1965), The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) and The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976). He also produced several animated features, notably A Christmas Carol (1971) and The Thief and the Cobbler (1993). The latter project underwent numerous rewrites and re-edits and took 31 years to complete. In 1995, it was eventually released by Miramax in the U.S. as Arabian Knight.

Possibly the high point of his career was as animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), for which Williams won two Academy Awards: one for Best Visual Effects and the other for animation direction and (CGI) creation of cartoon characters. An occasional voice-over actor, he also provided the voice for the Tex Avery character Droopy Dog. In 2001, Williams published a text book, entitled The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles, and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion, and Internet Animators.

Diminutive, sharp-featured English character actress, one of two daughters born Avril Williams at military barracks in West Yorkshire to an army officer and subsequent teacher. On stage in amateur dramatics from 1949, she was trained at the Old Vic school in London and made her debut at the Royal Court Theater eleven years later as the second witch in Macbeth. By that time, she had adopted her middle-name 'Elgar' as a surname. In the course of a lengthy career on the stage, Elgar was lauded for her versatility, her broad gallery of characters ranging from eccentric to waspish and from arch to timid. Noteworthy stage portrayals have included Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, the Duchess of York in Richard III and Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. On television from 1956, Elgar proved equally adept at both comedy and drama. Among few recurring appearances were the eponymous hero's dominating mother in the police sitcom Rosie (1977), followed by what was arguably Elgar's best known role, as Yootha Joyce's snobbish sister Ethel in George & Mildred (1976). Other interesting performances have included a BBC adaptation of Jean Anouilh's Joan of Arc (1964) (as Joan), busybody neighbour Betsy-Jane Duckworth in Spring and Port Wine (1970) and the austere matriarch of the Fenwick mining family in The Stars Look Down (1974).

Avril Elgar retired from acting in 2011 and died on September 17 2021 at the age of 89. Her husband of 43 years was the actor James Maxwell who predeceased her in 1995.

Daphne Heard was born on 1 August 1904 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. She was an actress, known for To the Manor Born (1979), Lorna Doone (1963) and Jude the Obscure (1971). She died on 22 June 1983 in Bristol, England, UK.

June Barrie was born in 1929 in Bristol, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Children of the New Forest (1964), Softly Softly (1966) and The True Mistery of the Passion (1960). She died on 24 April 2019 in Bristol, England, UK.

Colin Tarrant was born on 14 June 1952 in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Rainbow (1988), The Bill: Target (1996) and The Bill (1984). He was married to Valerie Hays. He died on 26 January 2012 in Bristol, England, UK.

Born in Batley, Yorkshire, Gordon Rollings began his career in radio in Israel, then progressed into the circus in Paris and trained as a clown. His first television appearance was in Play School (1964) (this was the very first broadcast on BBC2). He then went onto appear as Charlie Moffit in Coronation Street (1960). From there a progression of various television and film appearances occurred. He found late fame as Arkwright in the John Smith's Yorkshire Bitter ads with his beloved "Tonto". He died, after reaching a height of notoriety, of cancer in Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Diana Wynne Jones was born on 16 August 1934 in London, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Archer's Goon (1992) and Jackanory (1965). She was married to John A. Burrows. She died on 26 March 2011 in Bristol, England, UK.

Katharine Page was born on 21 February 1908 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She was an actress, known for Vanity Fair (1956), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and Only Fools and Horses (1981). She died on 21 February 2003 in Bristol, England, UK.

Christopher was very keen on films when he was at school and made 16mm films so when his father met the managing director of Gaumont British News he was told to send the lad along resulting in him becoming a camera assistant,' sound was just starting to come in. A year later he was ferrying film from the cameramen back to the studio for processing but going by tube instead of by taxi, as he was told to do but charging for a taxi on his expenses, making more money that way than his £1 a week wages, After that he wanted to get into features. When technicolor arrived in Britain he was asked to direct the first one at Denham which was Wings of the Morning, He went to see the head of Technicolor and talked his way into a job mainly in the labs and became the first permanent employee when new labs were built at Denham, working on Thief of Baghdad, With the outbreak of war he went into the RAF but in their film unit and found his friend Jack Cardiff there making A Matter of Life and Death and got Christopher in working as lighting cameraman with Geoffrey Unsworth on The River then as camera operator on The Red Shoes, When Jack left Christopher became a fixture with The Archers film producers firstly on The Small Back Room with Freddie Francis as his operator, Sound on Colonel Blimp took 4 men to lift the Technicolor camera which could only go up and down because of its weight and size. If it had gone sideways it would have tipped over, It took over 2 weeks walking round Shropshire looking for suitable locations for Gone to Earth as there were no jeeps in those days so everything had to be carried over fields, Jennifer Jones had married Selznick 2 weeks previously so he was more or less blackmailed into using her as he financed most of the film, Powell refused to direct and Pressburger to write but Christopher went over as representative but was unable to take any of his crew so the gaffer was Gregg Toland ,, In one instance Jennifer was in a candle lit bedroom scene when Selznick came in and said there was too much light, Christopher said he'd brought him over and if he wasn't happy he'd go back home. Selznick saw the rushes next day & publicly apologised. Technicolor, on the strength of the film decided to build labs over here and employed staff who in the main had all been educated to university level He served time in the RAF but in their film unit

Peggy Ann Wood was born on 14 June 1912 in Chiswick, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Lillie (1978), North & South (1975) and Edward the King (1975). She was married to Ronald Russell. She died on 30 May 1998 in Bristol, England, UK.

Constance Chapman was born on 29 March 1912 in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK. She was an actress, known for A Kind of Loving (1982), Born and Bred (1978) and The Avengers (1961). She was married to Travers Cousins. She died on 10 August 2003 in Bristol, England, UK.

Joy Harington was born on 22 February 1914 in London, England, UK. She was a producer and writer, known for Kidnapped (1952), Fothergale Co. Ltd. (1965) and Paul of Tarsus (1960). She died on 22 October 1991 in Bristol, England, UK.

Stephen Mallatratt died of leukemia at the age 57. He achieved fame by adapting Susan Hill's novel The Woman In Black which premiered in Scarborough as a stocking filler over Christmas in 1987.

The Woman In Black is a classic thriller for two actors, the successor to Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, is now the second longest-running West End play - after The Mousetrap. It has been translated into a dozen languages and produced in 40 countries.

In the mid-1970s, Mallatratt, while working as an actor in Alan Ayckbourn's company in Scarborough, wrote An Englishman's Home. It was, recalls Ayckbourn, a near-perfect first play. Like his better known peers - John Osborne, Harold Pinter, Ayckbourn himself - Mallatratt's writing was addressed and stamped by his experience as an actor.

Although never a "brand-name" playwright, Mallatratt's craft and professionalism made him well-known as a core member of the Coronation Street script-writing team from 1985, and as the author of such fine television series as his 2002 version of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga and last year's Island At War, set on a fictional Channel Island.

Born and bred in Mill Hill, north London, he came from a lower middle-class background. After Orange Hill school he defied expectations in his brightness - "Oxbridge material" is the phrase - by working briefly in the building trade, and training as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

He caught the theatre bug in his teens as a member of the Watford Palace audience. After Central, he worked as a rep actor and was spotted by Ayckbourn in Ipswich. He was tall, slim, blond, good-looking. Despite these handicaps, says Ayckbourn, he struggled through. He exuded an air of diffidence and thoughtfulness, on and offstage.

One of his closest friends, the actor David Neilson, who still plays a Coronation Street character molded by Mallatratt, Roy Cropper, says that he was a much better actor than he had the confidence for: "He had an excellent line in scoutmasters and other English eccentrics."

When Ayckbourn invited Mallatratt to Scarborough, he was still under contract to the Ipswich theatre, but he paid out his employers. Mallatratt originated roles in such Ayckbourn modern masterpieces as Confusions, Absent Friends and Bedroom Farce; other Ayckbourn protégés of this glorious past half-century at Scarborough were the playwrights James Saunders, Stephen Lowe, Robert Eaton and Tim Firth.

Mallatratt moved on to Bristol. When the Old Vic closed its collaborative operation in the nearby Little Theatre in the late 1970s, he and Neilson were among the outstanding group of actors who took the place over; others were Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Pam Ferris and George Costigan.

One of the group's final productions was Mallatratt's Comic Cuts, about a bingo hall swindling the Arts Council for funding. When the play was revived in the West End 10 years later as The Glory Of The Garden, the title of an Arts Council report, it was not so funny - the cuts were no longer far-fetched. Too much reality had kicked in.

Mallatratt returned to Scarborough in autumn 1985 and acted in Ayckbourn's production of The Brontes Of Howarth by Christopher Fry. When Ayckbourn took a sabbatical to join Peter Hall as a National Theatre associate, Mallatratt stayed on as the stand-in resident writer for stand-in artistic director Robin Herford.

Herford commissioned a play about witchcraft in Heptonstall that became the not too dissimilar precursor of The Woman In Black. The rest is history; Herford's only regret is that Mallatratt was about to hit "an even longer stride" as a dramatist.

He is survived by three successive wives, the actors Vanessa Mallatratt and Eileen O'Brien (with whom he had a daughter, Hannah), and the stage manager Emma London.

John Witty was born on 17 September 1915 in Bristol, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Broken Horseshoe (1952), Love in Waiting (1948) and Hell Below Zero (1954). He was married to Genine Graham and Tita Dane. He died on 14 January 1990 in Bristol, England, UK.

John Turner was born in Bristol in 1947 and educated at Cotham Grammar School. After leaving school aged sixteen, he was a musician in France and Germany; had a short spell as a Sapper in the army; but was rather more successful selling vacuum-cleaners door to door.

He later managed The Troubadour folk club in Clifton, Bristol, became a session musician (bass) on several records produced locally, and was a founder member of The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra. During a stint as a travelling Guitar teacher, he met his future wife, Pat Vedmore, who taught at one of the schools he visited.

His BBC career began in 1974, when he composed the music for a TV series, The Age of Innocence, and during the seventies he also presented a folk music programme for BBC Radio Bristol. This began a lifelong fascination with local radio, which encouraged him to learn the techniques of interviewing and presenting, and led to him taking over the mid-morning programme, Compass. This included the highly popular phone-in section, Person to Person, during which he would play devil's advocate to a succession of callers.

He presented Compass for many years, often with a co-presenter, such as Jenni Mills and Polly Lloyd, but a change in Radio Bristol's management in the 2000s, led to him being moved to present the Breakfast show, with which he never seemed to be entirely comfortable. In 2007, aged 60, he decided to retire from broadcasting and spent much of his increased leisure time with trips to France, one of his favourite countries.

John White was born on 7 November 1936 in Stepney, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Tentacles (1977), The First Churchills (1969) and Howards' Way (1985). He was married to Julie Stevens. He died on 28 September 1993 in Bristol, England, UK.

Patrick Waite was born on 16 June 1968. He was an actor, known for Musical Youth: Tell Me Why (1983), Musical Youth: Never Gonna Give You Up (1983) and Musical Youth: Youth of Today (1983). He died on 18 February 1993 in Bristol, England, UK.

John Elliot was born on 4 July 1918 in Castle Hill, Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. He was a writer and producer, known for Mogul (1965), Rainbow City (1967) and The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962). He was married to Elizabeth Haynes. He died on 14 August 1997 in Clifton, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Eddie Large was born on 25 June 1941 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Impressionable Jon Culshaw (2004), Opportunity Knocks (1956) and The ITV Play (1968). He was married to Patsy Ann Scott and Sandra Baywood. He died on 2 April 2020 in Bristol, England, UK.

P.R. Reid was born on 13 November 1910 in India. He was a writer and actor, known for Victory (1981), The Colditz Story (1955) and Colditz (1972). He was married to Nicandra Hood, Mary Stewart Cunliffe-Lister and Jane Cabot. He died on 22 May 1990 in Frenchay, Bristol, England, UK.

Bonnie Hurren was born on 11 May 1944 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She was an actress, known for The Spies (1966), The £1,000,000 Bank Note (1968) and Coronation Street (1960). She was married to Robert Meech and Leon Leake. She died on 27 January 2011 in Bristol, England, UK.

Becky Watts was born on 3 June 1998 in Bristol, England, UK. She died on 19 February 2015 in St George, Bristol, England, UK.

William Stair was born on 14 May 1938. He was a writer, known for Point Blank (1967), Zardoz (1974) and Boon (1986). He died on 25 March 1991 in Bristol, England, UK.

Paul Ferris was born on 2 May 1941 in Corby, Northamptonshire, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Persecution (1974), Maroc 7 (1967) and The Creeping Flesh (1973). He died on 30 October 1995 in Redcliffe, Bristol, England, UK.