Obituary: Geoffrey Wilkinson
Versatile actor whose face graced screen and stage for 40 years
by Ray Brown

Thursday September 6, 2007
The Guardian

Geoffrey Wilkinson, who has died of a heart attack aged 64, was a strolling player par excellence, one of the mainstays of British stage, screen and radio drama for 40 years. Geoffrey's was a face made familiar by television. Seen this year in the comedy drama Shameless, he had started in the Catherine Cookson dramatisation The Mallens in 1979.

He was Alec Keegan, one of several bit parts in Coronation Street (1979-88), and other series included Last of the Summer Wine (2003-04), Heartbeat (1996, 2001, 2003), The Royal (2003) and Only Fools and Horses (1986). In 2002 he played Conservative MP Sir Anthony Meyer in Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play. On stage he ranged from Romeo and Juliet to Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw, while film roles included Calendar Girls (2003) and Brideshead Revisited, to be released next year. He loved it all.

Geoffrey was born into a working-class family in Sneinton, Nottingham. His father was a lorry driver; his mother, a tailor, had a strong sense of humour; and he had one sister Christine, who was three years his senior. At Manvers secondary school, Rushcliffe, Geoffrey played Banquo in Macbeth, and his talent was noted and encouraged. Leaving school at 15, he trained in light engineering before moving into retail sales. He found some creative satisfaction in amateur dramatics at the Co-operative Arts Centre.

Then, at 20, he won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. On graduating, he took bit parts and toured youth theatre. With flowing locks, a beard and a crimson velvet cloak, Geoffrey enjoyed the hedonism of the 1960s. But an actor's life is rarely lucrative, so he went back to Nottingham, worked at the Raleigh bicycle factory, wrote poetry, played the guitar and then took a proper job, with the National Coal Board.
However, his love of theatre ultimately overcame his need for a regular income. By 1981 he was working at the Crucible theatre, Sheffield, and was cast opposite Rita May in her play Neighbourly Love. They fell for each other, and she became his third wife.
A year ago he auditioned for the role of Joe "Tiger Boy" Sweeting in my play Vacant Possession. In this, his final year, he had found a role that thoroughly suited him. I sent him five pages of script, and he turned up word perfect in the role. He told his young co-actor, Jamie Smelt, that he had waited 40 years for a part that was really his own.
Geoffrey and Jamie carried on taking notes and running lines through a developmental tour of 40 shows, and again when we opened on the Edinburgh fringe last month. His last performance was fresh and stunning, but a few minutes later he collapsed, and died in intensive care without regaining consciousness.
An endlessly amiable man, he had a fine, informed intelligence honed on crossword puzzles, and was a devotee of the Goon Show, jazz and Beethoven. He had an extensive repertoire of old songs, and we busked I'm a Rambler just before his last performance. He claimed never to have had a hangover, no matter how hard he tried. And he did sometimes try - but tipples never interfered with his professional life. To work with him was pure joy. On stage he had presence and grace.
Geoffrey is survived by Rita and three children from his previous two marriages, plus two stepchildren and 11 grandchildren.


Geoffrey James Wilkinson, actor, born October 5 1942; died August 13 2007

"I've been torpedoed!"
Askey replies..
"Well I didn't do it!"