My grandfather, John Baddeley, who has died aged 92, was an actor who had numerous credits across TV, radio, theatre and film.
Among his many roles he appeared in Coronation Street in 1967 as Douglas Preston, who had a brief liaison with Emily Nugent, and as the housing officer in Ken Loach’s celebrated TV play Cathy Come Home (1969), about a young woman’s descent into homelessness and poverty.
In the theatre he was particularly proud of his work in a one-man play, A Night with Rochester Sneath, based on the life of the politician, writer and hoaxer Humphry Berkeley, which he performed in 1985 at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond upon Thames and which was taken up by the BBC as a live radio play in 1990, with John reprising the role.
Working from 1954 until 2018, when his final appearance was in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Moonraker, John was able to make a living as an actor throughout his life, and never had to turn to any other kind of work. Over the years he became friends with many high-profile thespians, including Ronnie Barker, Richard Briers, Timothy West and his wife, Prunella Scales, and Miriam Margolyes.
John was born in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, to Sidney, a bank clerk, and Gladys (nee Emery), a secretary. A few years after his birth the family moved to Birmingham, where, following his father’s death in action during the second world war, he was raised by his mother and a maternal aunt, Edith.
After attending Warminster school in Wiltshire, where he befriended fellow future actor Christopher Benjamin, he was granted special dispensation to leave his national service in the RAF to attend the Birmingham Theatre School.
Afterwards he joined the Birmingham Repertory theatre, to which he returned numerous times. In 1957, the Rapier Players ofthe Little theatre in Bristol cast him as Peter van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank, with Penny Stephens in the title role. They married in 1960.
His appearances on BBC TV included Swizzlewick (1964), a twice weekly comedy drama series, and an early target of the “moral values” activist Mary Whitehouse, who complained about its portrayal of sexual freedom and prostitution. His later film work included appearances in The Dark Crystal (1982) and Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (1999).
Outside acting, John was a longstanding member of MCC and the Stage Golfing Society, serving as 2003 captain for the latter, as well as introducing a cup in his name.
He always had an optimistic and grateful take on life, saying in his 2009 memoir, Double Take: “If life were to be looked upon as a party, then I have felt rather like a wallflower – albeit not blushing. I’m glad I was invited.”
He is survived by Penny, two daughters, Tessa and Louise, and four grandchildren, Toby, Cory, Sophia and me. A son, Mark, died in 1990.
