Date of Birth

10 January 1933, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Performed as Macheath in "Threepenny Opera" at Canada's Stratford Festival [1972]

Father of Adam Rodgers.

His final stage engagement was in the touring production of Alan Bennett's "The History Boys" in 2006; sadly, ill health forced his withdrawal.

The son of an accountant, he had early designs on becoming a doctor. But his mother, a typical stage mother who was a former singer and ran a dancing school, recruited him, from age five, into her charity singing and dancing shows and later prodded him into acting.

In real life, Rodgers separated from and divorced his first wife, Morna Watson, a former ballet dancer, and married actress Elizabeth Garvie who was 24 years his junior. He had five children in all, two from his first marriage (one son, one daughter), and three sons form his second.

One film musical highlight was him singing the Leslie Bricusse, Oscar-nominated tune "Thank You Very Much" while dancing on top of the coffin of Ebenezer in the musical film Scrooge (1970) starring Albert Finney.

One of BBC-TV's most prolific actors, he appeared in more than 100 dramas and comedies.

He was a memorable Mr Jingle in the musical "Pickwick" which played at the Saville Theatre in 1963, and then again on Broadway in 1965.

Educated at Westminster, he trained for the theatre at the Italia Conti School and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and had repertory experience in Birmingham, Northampton and Hornchurch.

Balding actor best remembered for playing William Fields in "Fresh Fields," Alec Callender in "May to December," vet Noah Kirby in "Noah's Ark" and Ronald Kegworthy in "Up Rising." The comedy "Fresh Fields" ranked 83rd in a BBC poll to determine the best British sitcoms of all time.

Date of Death

1 December 2007, Reading, Berkshire, England, UK

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