Ray Brooks, voice of Mr Benn, dies aged 86

Maia Davies & John HandBBC NewsBBCBrooks’s sons stated their dad ‘shunned the highlight’ regardless of his dazzling TV careerTV actor Ray Brooks, who starred in a number of the UK’s best-known programmes in a profession spanning 5 many years, has died aged 86.Brooks narrated the traditional Seventies youngsters’s present Mr Benn and performed the male lead within the ground-breaking Nineteen Sixties BBC drama Cathy Come Residence.He additionally starred in primetime Eighties programmes Huge Deal, during which he performed loveable rogue gambler Robbie Field, and Working Wild, because the comedian lead Max Wild.Brooks additionally grew to become one in all few actors to seem in each Coronation Road and EastEnders. He performed Norman Philips within the ITV cleaning soap within the Nineteen Sixties, and arrived in Albert Sq. 40 years later to painting Joe Macer, who infamously murdered his spouse Pauline Fowler.He died on Saturday after a brief sickness, his household informed the BBC.In a press release, the actor’s sons Will and Tom stated their dad thought he was finest recognized for Mr Benn, “with folks regularly asking him to say the catchphrase ‘as if by magic!'”.The cartoon adopted Mr Benn who, by means of dressing up in a magical costume store, discovered himself in a brand new journey each episode.Brooks’s sons added: “Though solely 13 episodes have been made, they have been repeated twice a yr for 21 years.”Brooks starred alongside Sharon Duce within the Eighties primetime present Huge DealThe checklist of TV reveals during which Brooks appeared within the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies reads like a run-down of the British small display’s greatest hits of the period.They included roles in Hazard Man, Dixon of Dock Inexperienced, Emergency-Ward 10, The Avengers, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Z Vehicles.He additionally had plenty of movie successes, together with within the 1965 movie The Knack… and Easy methods to Get It, which received the Palme D’Or on the Cannes Movie Pageant.He performed Georgio, the waiter within the crumbling resort, in Carry On Overseas in 1972, and likewise appeared within the 1966 Dr Who film Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.Brooks additionally loved appearances within the theatre, together with Alan Ayckbourn’s Absent Buddies alongside Richard Briers, Peter Bowles and Phyllida Regulation. He additionally starred reverse Felicity Kendal in Tom Stoppard’s On The Razzle.Brooks in Cathy Come Residence, which is considered one in all Britain’s most ground-breaking TV programmesHis most acclaimed function got here early in his profession when he performed Reg within the gritty BBC TV play Cathy Come Residence, which chronicled Britain’s housing scarcity within the late Nineteen Sixties.Directed by Ken Loach and filmed in a documentary fashion, it adopted a younger couple’s battle with homelessness. It’s often cited as one of the influential TV broadcasts of all time.However arguably Brooks’s greatest mainstream successes got here within the Eighties, with two successive primetime main roles.In Huge Deal, his character Robbie Field seeks to make a dwelling enjoying poker and betting on horses and canine – whereas attempting to maintain his relationship collectively along with his accomplice Jan, performed by Sharon Duce. The fast-talking Londoner grew to become one in all TV’s best-loved working-class characters in an period of Del Boy Trotter and Arthur Daley Brooks joined EastEnders in 2005 as Joe Macer, who went on to marry and homicide one of many present’s unique characters, Pauline FowlerTheir marriage soured – together with a memorable scene during which Pauline hit Joe over the pinnacle with a plate. Joe killed Pauline, who died in the midst of Albert Sq. on Christmas DayJoe tried to cease Dot Branning – one other iconic EastEnders character – from calling the police after she discovered he was liable for Pauline’s deathDuce went on to seem in an episode of Working Wild, Brooks’s subsequent large hit – the place he switched channels to ITV for a sitcom a couple of former Teddy Boy going by means of a mid-life disaster.His common partnership with Duce was revived by the BBC in 1992’s Rising Pains, which noticed the pair play a pair who develop into foster dad and mom.All through his profession his unmistakeable voice noticed him land a number of roles as narrator, together with the beloved youngsters’s present Mr Benn, The Pickwick Papers and 30 episodes studying the tales to younger viewers in Jackanory.He additionally voiced 1000’s of adverts for corporations together with Guinness, Whiskas, Marmite and R Whites Lemonade.Will BrooksOne of Brooks’s proudest possessions was a specifically commissioned illustration displaying him having a drink with Mr BennNonetheless, his sons stated Brooks “shunned the limelight” in actual life.They stated: “His three true loves have been household [he also had a daughter Emma, who died in 2003], Fulham Soccer Membership, and spending time in Brighton, the place he was born.He was among the many movie star Fulham followers who fought in opposition to the membership’s proposed merger with QPR within the Eighties – and son Will recalled that Brooks even wore a “Save Fulham” badge throughout an interview on Wogan on the time.The household revealed that he had spent the previous few years dwelling with dementia however died peacefully on Saturday along with his household at his bedside.