Z-Cars star Jimmy Ellis has died, aged 82.
The Northern Irish actor was best known for playing Bert Lynch in the police drama, which aired from 1962 to 1978.
He died following a stroke at Lincoln Hospital on Saturday morning (March 8).
His son Toto told BBC News of his father's death: "It was sad to watch him slip away. The last words he heard were that he was a hero, a legend and we all loved him.
"He blazed a trail for Northern Ireland actors, in that he was the first character not to change his accent. Dad was so proud of his roots and his beliefs."
Ellis was also known for playing Norman Martin in the BBC's Billy trilogy of plays in the 1980s, alongside a young Kenneth Branagh.
Branagh said of his former co-star: "I was blessed to begin my career working with him, and I will never forget his generosity to me.
The Northern Irish actor was best known for playing Bert Lynch in the police drama, which aired from 1962 to 1978.
He died following a stroke at Lincoln Hospital on Saturday morning (March 8).
His son Toto told BBC News of his father's death: "It was sad to watch him slip away. The last words he heard were that he was a hero, a legend and we all loved him.
"He blazed a trail for Northern Ireland actors, in that he was the first character not to change his accent. Dad was so proud of his roots and his beliefs."
Ellis was also known for playing Norman Martin in the BBC's Billy trilogy of plays in the 1980s, alongside a young Kenneth Branagh.
Branagh said of his former co-star: "I was blessed to begin my career working with him, and I will never forget his generosity to me.
- 3/10/2014
- Digital Spy
Actor who played Bert Lynch in BBC police drama Z-Cars and appeared in shows ranging from Doctor Who to Nightingales
The actor James Ellis (also known as Jimmy), who has died aged 82, was the longest-serving original cast member of the hugely popular BBC television series Z-Cars. When Z-Cars began in 1962, it represented a major change in the way the police were characterised in fiction. The BBC police series Dixon of Dock Green had been running for seven years, with Jack Warner playing the understanding, avuncular police constable Dixon. Z-Cars, by contrast, had the actors Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor making cynical remarks about the death of a murdered police colleague whose funeral they were attending, and Ellis, as Constable Bert Lynch, hearing from a colleague how he beats up his wife, without doing anything about it. Z-Cars attempted to show how moral anarchy in the rundown industrial area of the...
The actor James Ellis (also known as Jimmy), who has died aged 82, was the longest-serving original cast member of the hugely popular BBC television series Z-Cars. When Z-Cars began in 1962, it represented a major change in the way the police were characterised in fiction. The BBC police series Dixon of Dock Green had been running for seven years, with Jack Warner playing the understanding, avuncular police constable Dixon. Z-Cars, by contrast, had the actors Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor making cynical remarks about the death of a murdered police colleague whose funeral they were attending, and Ellis, as Constable Bert Lynch, hearing from a colleague how he beats up his wife, without doing anything about it. Z-Cars attempted to show how moral anarchy in the rundown industrial area of the...
- 3/10/2014
- by Dennis Barker
- The Guardian - Film News
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