Barrie Stanton Ingham: – [Heath 1943–1950]

Barrie Stanton Ingham was born on February 10, 1932 in Halifax, Yorkshire to Irene (née Bolton) and Harold Ellis Stead Ingham. He was educated at Heath Grammar School and became a Royal Artillery officer.

He made his début with the Library Theatre, Manchester as a 24-year-old appearing, over two seasons, in Ring Around the Moon, The Tempest, Henry V, A Streetcar Named Desire and as Fortinbras to John Neville’s Hamlet.

There followed two years at London’s Old Vic Theatre, initially as Fortinbras, graduating through several Shakespeare productions to leading roles as Cecil Farringdon (The Magistrate), Lelie (Sganarelle) and Damis (Tartuffe).

He went on to play leading roles in London at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, the English Stage Company and the Mermaid Theatre Company and as leading man in many West End musicals, plays and revues, such as, John Arden’s The Happy Haven (Royal Court, 1960), the Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall revue England, Our England (Prince’s Theatre, 1962), James Bernard’s musical Virtue in Danger (Mermaid Theatre; Strand Theatre, 1963) and alongside Harry Secombe in Pickwick (Saville Theatre, 1964).

He made his Royal Shakespeare Company début in 1967 in Jose Tirana’s The Criminals, going on to play Brutus (Julius Caesar, 1968), Leontes (The Winter’s Tale), Andrew Aguecheek (Twelfth Night, 1969) and the Duke in Measure for Measure (1974). He played in Charles Laurence’s Snap, with Maggie Smith (1974) and the thriller Double Edge (1975), before joining Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi in the short-lived Platforms company.

Sir John Gielgud gave him his Broadway début as Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing. He played in many Broadway musicals, including Copperfield. His five Broadway appearances included Camelot (1981–82), Aspects of Love (1991–92) and a four-year run from 1997 of Jekyll and Hyde. He played Herbie opposite Angela Lansbury in the London production of Gypsy: A Musical Fable in 1973 but, when the production transferred to Broadway, he did not stay with the show.

Other stage work included The American Clock (National Theatre, 1986), The Man Who Came to Dinner (RSC, 1989), King Lear (Ludlow Festival, 1996), Anything Goes (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 2003) and Glorious! (Birmingham Rep and Duchess Theatre, 2005).

He featured in over 200 British and American films and TV productions. After playing Sejanus in Granada TV's The Caesars (1968), he had a short spell as an ambitious government minister in The Power Game in 1969. In 1971 took the leading role in the series Hine, as an unscrupulous arms dealer.

He was known for voicing Basil of Baker Street, the lead character of Disney's The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Day of the Jackal (1973) and Dr Who and the Daleks (1965).

He also appeared as King Pellinore in the 1981–82 revival of Camelot to critical acclaim. In 1991–92, he appeared in the final cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love, opposite Sarah Brightman on Broadway. His last Broadway outing was in the Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde as Sir Danvers Carew. He opened the show in 1997 and subsequently stayed for the next four years until the show closed in January 2001. He was also seen, as was the final Broadway cast, in the 2001 filmed version of the musical.

He also acted in Australia, such as in Noël Coward's Private Lives, in Sydney in 1976.

He was professor at the University of Texas at Austin, theatre consultant to Baylor University and artistic advisor to the Shakespeare Society of New York. His two one man shows have played worldwide.

Among the accolades he received were Honorary Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre of Great Britain Player, Australian Theatre Most Distinguished Actor Award, Drama-Logue Award for the Best Performance in a Broadway Musical, Southern California Motion Picture Council Award.

He met his wife Tarne Phillips in their first theatre jobs and they married in 1957.

He died on January 23, 2015, two weeks before his 83rd birthday, at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He is survived by his wife Tarne, daughters Catrin, Liane, Francesca and Mali, and eight grandchildren.

John R Hudson