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Keith Barron

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Keith Barron
Barron in 1974
Born(1934-08-08)8 August 1934
Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died15 November 2017(2017-11-15) (aged 83)
Occupation(s)Actor, television presenter
Years active1961–2017
Spouse
Mary Pickard
​
(m. 1959)​
Children1

Keith Barron (8 August 1934 – 15 November 2017) was an English actor and television presenter who appeared in films and on television from 1961 until 2017. His television roles included the police drama The Odd Man, the sitcom Duty Free, and Gregory Wilmot in Upstairs, Downstairs.

Career

Born in Mexborough in South Yorkshire ,[note 1]Barron completed his national service in the Royal Air Force[1] and his acting career started at the Sheffield Repertory Theatre, where he worked with a young Patrick Stewart and also met his wife, Mary, a stage designer.[2] He became well known to British television viewers in the early 1960s as the easygoing Detective Sergeant Swift in the Granada TV series The Odd Man and its spin-off . His major breakthrough, however, was as Nigel Barton in the writer Dennis Potter's semi-autobiographical plays Stand Up, Nigel Barton and Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton (both 1965) in BBC1's The Wednesday Play anthology series; he later played a very similar character in Potter's Play For Today episode Only Make Believe (1973).

Barron made many one-off television appearances, from Redcap and Z-Cars in the mid-1960s, to Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Strange Report, The New Avengers, Thriller, The Professionals, Foyle's War, and A Touch of Frost. He made two appearances in Upstairs, Downstairs as Australian Gregory Wilmot. In 1982, he appeared in the Dutch show De lachende scheerkwast. In March 1983 he was a guest in the Doctor Who story Enlightenment, replacing Peter Sallis who was unavailable. He was a frequent voiceover artist for British TV commercials and public information films. Barron also played a starring role as Bob Ferguson in the 1993 Granada series The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, entitled The Last Vampyre.

In 1989 he starred on television in a story of relationships in a new town in the Midlands entitled Take Me Home, with Annette Crosbie as his wife and Maggie O'Neill as his girlfriend. One of his best-loved and best-remembered roles was in the 1980s Yorkshire Television sitcom Duty Free. In the 1990s he co-starred in the sitcoms Haggard and All Night Long. In 1990, he appeared as a contestant on Cluedo, facing off against fellow actor Andrew Sachs.

On the big screen he appeared in Baby Love (1968) and David Puttnam's film Melody (1971) as Mr Latimer.

Barron voiced the character of Morgan Jefferies in the 1995 BBC Radio 4 sitcom England's Glory opposite Lynda Baron.[3]

Barron also appeared as a celebrity guest in Dictionary Corner on several episodes of the Channel 4 words and numbers game Countdown between 1999 and 2008.[1]

In the 2000s he was a regular character on the ITV Sunday-night drama Where the Heart Is. In 2014 he reprised his role of David Pearce in the touring stage show of the TV series 'Duty Free'. He also starred in the first series of the BBC drama The Chase.

He was the star on Bunn and Co., a radio show that was broadcast from March 2003 to April 2004 on BBC Radio 4. Barron's performance in the BBC's Test the Nation IQ test show on 2 September 2006 gave him an IQ of 146. In 2007 Barron joined ITV1's Coronation Street as George Trench. In 2011, Barron starred in the BBC show, Lapland, a role which he returned to for a series, Being Eileen, from February 2013.[4][5][6]His last television appearance was in BBC comedy Not Going Out as a toy store employee in the Christmas Special which was shown after his death. He was given an "In Memory Of" at end of credits.

Personal life

Barron served in the RAF as part of his National Service. In 1980, he and his wife opened a restaurant in Hayle in Cornwall. After three years they returned to London and Barron resumed his acting career full time.[7][8]

Barron died on 15 November 2017 after a short illness. He was survived by his wife of 58 years, Mary Pickard, and his actor son, Jamie.[9][7] He lived in the Surrey town of East Molesey, a short distance from Hampton Court Palace and had a second home in St Ives, Cornwall.[10]

Selected filmography

Television

Radio

Notes

  1. ^ 'South Yorkshire' did not exist before 1 April 1974. 'West Riding of Yorkshire' is correct.

References

  1. ^ a b Childs, Martin (17 November 2017). "Keith Barron: Yorkshire actor rarely off our screens for half a century but best known for Eighties sitcom 'Duty Free'". The Independent. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Start of his career". BBC News. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  3. ^ "England's Glory". British Comedy Guide. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  4. ^ "BBC One commissions new six part comedy series, Lapland". BBC. BBC Online. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  5. ^ Munn, Patrick (31 October 2012). "TV Castings: Sydney Rae White Joins Sky1′s 'Starlings', Keith Barron To Reprise Role On BBC One's 'Lapland'". TV Wise. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  6. ^ "Being Eileen". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  7. ^ a b Hayward, Anthony (16 November 2017). "Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  8. ^ "Keith Barron, prolific television actor – obituary". The Telegraph. 15 November 2017. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Death notice". The Guardian. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Keith Barron | Deceased Estates | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  11. ^ "The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim". imdb.com. BBC. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  12. ^ Lawson, Mark (15 November 2017). "Keith Barron: from coppers to adulterers, a star of hit TV to the end". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  13. ^ Freeling, Nicholas. Not as far as Velma. suttonelms.org.uk

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