Nigel Terry

Died: April 30, 2015.

Nigel Terry, who has died aged of emphysema aged 69, had major roles in several historical films, including King Arthur in the 1981 epic Excalibur, but seemed to deliberately shy away from stardom. He was as likely to be found in an Edinburgh Fringe production as he was in a Brad Pitt blockbuster.

A handsome, brooding figure, he was most memorable in period roles, beginning with a moronic Prince John in The Lion in Winter in 1968, holding his own in a royal family that included Peter O'Toole as Henry II, an Oscar-winning Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Anthony Hopkins as the future Richard the Lion Heart.

Thirty-six years later Terry was reunited with O'Toole in Troy, with O'Toole as the Trojan king Priam, Terry as the high priest Archeptolemus and Brad Pitt fleshing out the cast as Achilles.

In some ways Terry and O'Toole were quite similar - maverick figures who ploughed their own furrows and enjoyed a drink or two on the way. But ultimately Terry lacked either the focus or desire for the sort of stardom that O'Toole achieved.

After his death, the wife of one of Terry's old school friends recalled a chance meeting. "One day, in around 1980-81, and at the height of Nigel's success, my husband came upon him in Eastbourne sitting on a pavement leaning against a pub at about 9 am.

"They exchanged greetings and it transpired that Nigel, under the influence of 'whatever', had got on the wrong train from London late the previous night, ended up in Eastbourne and had spent the night on the beach. Quite a character!"

Born Peter Nigel Terry in Bristol in 1945, he was the son of a decorated RAF pilot who subsequently worked as a probation officer in Cornwall. He studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and began his acting career in theatre.

The Lion in Winter might have been expected to lead to other films, but during the 1970s he worked largely in theatre, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and also in Edinburgh Fringe productions - Athol Fugard's People are Living There at the Adam House Theatre in Chambers Street in 1973 and Caryl Churchill's Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, at the Traverse in 1976.

Excalibur might once again have led to Hollywood, but instead Terry established an ongoing relationship with the English arthouse director Derek Jarman. He appeared in five of his films - Caravaggio (1986), in which he played the title role of the Renaissance artist, The Last of England (1988), War Requiem (1989), Edward II (1991) and Blue (1993).

He also appeared in dozens of television dramas and Doctor Who provided him with one of his last credits in 2008 when he played a general who tries to kill the Doctor (David Tennant).

He never married though at one time he was linked romantically with his Excalibur co-star Cherie Lunghi. In the 1990s he moved from London back to Cornwall to be near his parents in their final years. A very private person, he lived alone in a cottage outside St Ives.

BRIAN PENDREIGH