RADIO and stage actor Alfred Marks died yesterday aged 75 from lung cancer. He had been had been suffering from the illness for three months and recently it forced him to withdraw from the West End production of Mind Millie For Me, starring Felicity Kendal.

The actor, who starred in a series of theatre hits including Can Can and A Day In The Life Of, and his wife, Paddie, had been married for 46 years and had two children. His son, Gareth, regularly appears in the BBC drama Bugs.

Marks's family hoped he would respond to radiotherapy but it became apparent that the disease had taken too strong a grip. He was admitted to hospital only a few days before he died.

His career began at the age of nine in a Boys Brigade concert party production and he went on to appear as Sir John in Me And My Girl and in the Mikado for the English National Opera.

Marks, who was awarded the OBE in 1976, recently completed a tour of It Runs In The Family and appeared in the national tour of the Cherry Orchard.

He first came to public attention with his portrayal of the Iron Dictator in Karel Capel's Power And Glory and went on to play Herr Biedermann in Lindsay Anderson's production of The Fire Raisers.

His first love was theatre and it was in Montmarte in Brighton that he met and subsequently married the leading lady, Paddie O'Neil.

In career terms, his most successful period came in the 50s and 60s through series such as Alfred Marks Time and Sunday Night At The London Palladium, which he compered.

Theatre producer Sir Peter Hall paid tribute to Marks, saying: ``He could stand on the stage and do nothing and people laughed. It is a great loss but I think he had a great career.''