Roy Kinnear

Made his stage debut in 1955 as Albert in Young at Heart.

After his schooling in Edinburgh, the British character actor Roy Kinnear attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Following national service, Kinnear appeared on stage, radio, and television in Scotland before becoming a household name in Britain in the early 1960s as one of the original members of the television series That Was the Week That Was (1962).

He appeared in eight films directed by his close friend Richard Lester: Help! (1965), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), How I Won the War (1967), The Bed Sitting Room (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), Juggernaut (1974), The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989).

Around this time, he also established his film career, specializing in jovial, yet sometimes slightly sinister, characters, such as Finney, Moriarty's henchman, in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975).

Appeared in Anna Pavlova (1983) with James Fox, who plays the part of Mr. Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), which is the same role Kinnear played in the original version, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).

He appeared in the music videos, Mike + the Mechanics: All I Need Is a Miracle (1986) and Mike + the Mechanics: Taken In (1986), by Mike + The Mechanics.

While filming The Return of the Musketeers (1989), he fell from a horse, breaking his pelvis. Tragically, he died the next day in hospital, from a heart attack brought on by his injuries.