COMEDY actor Paul Eddington, who approached death with the kind of

quiet dignity that he brought to a long and distinguished acting career,

has died aged 68.

News of his death, on Saturday evening, was announced last night by

Lady Caroline Marshall, wife of Sir Michael Marshall, the Conservative

MP for Arundel. The couple were close family friends of Mr Eddington.

Tall and debonair, he shot to fame as the long-suffering Gerry

Leadbetter in TV's The Good Life. He was the husband of snooty Penelope

Keith and neighbour of Felicity Kendal and his long-time actor friend

Richard Briers, the couple who went self-sufficient.

Eddington went on to international fame as the all too believably

incompetent politician Jim Hacker in the satirical double series Yes,

Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.

One of its biggest fans was the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,

and he was made a CBE in 1987 in recognition of his efforts in keeping

the nation amused. But he once said that Mrs Thatcher was not one of his

favourite people.

Beneath the smiles and the elegance, he was secretly nursing serious

health problems. He was diabetic, and for 40 years suffered from a rare

form of skin cancer, mycosis fungoides, which finally left him covered

from head to foot in dark blotches and sores. He also lost his hair as a

result of radiotherapy.

The disease restricted his later appearances and in 1994, when he

performed alongside Briers in the stage play Home, about two elderly men

in a mental hospital, a provincial tour was planned around hospitals

where his treatment could continue.

But he pulled through and the play later had a successful run at

Wyndham's Theatre in the West End to critical acclaim.

He commented: ''It's a thorough nuisance but the treatment slows down

the condition to such an extent that there's a very good chance of my

dying of something else.''

When he launched his autobiography, So Far, So Good, published just

two weeks ago, Eddington spoke movingly, bravely, and with good humour

of his illness.

''There's a stigma attached to one's appearance,'' he said. ''People

are reluctant to shake hands with you if they see you festering, and you

can understand it.

''I haven't had a great deal of television exposure looking as I do.

I'm hoping now to be famous for being grotesque instead of famous for

being a good actor.

''I look in the mirror every morning and it gives me a bit of a

fright. And I am discovering a way of coping with the caring look that

comes into people's eyes when you say you've got a touch of cancer.''

Eddington spent his early childhood in north London. His father's

family were Quakers and his mother's Catholic. Their marriage was not

happy and they separated when he was in his early teens.

The young Paul Eddington was sent to a Quaker boarding school. After

gaining no qualifications, he took a job as a window dresser in a

department store.

He was 17 when he decided he wanted to be an actor and, during the

Second World War, joined Ensa (Entertainments National Service

Association), playing troops concerts.

After the war, he joined Birmingham Repertory Company and went on to

work with other repertory companies, including Sheffield, where he met

his wife, Patricia Scott, whom he married in 1952. They had four

children.