The actor Simon MacCorkindale died last Thursday, aged 58, after a long battle with cancer.
Though best known for his screen work, MacCorkindale, whose career began on the stage, returned to theatre in 2008 when he took on the role of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music at the London Palladium.
MacCorkindale got his first break on television, in Agatha Christie thriller Death On The Nile in 1978. Screen success followed in films The Riddle Of The Sands, The Quartermass Conclusion and television dramas including Manimal, Falcon Crest and Counterstrike. In 2002 he joined BBC drama Casualty as hospital manager Harry Harper, a role he played for six years.
After leaving Casualty he returned to the stage, appearing in touring productions of Sleuth and The Unexpected Guest before joining The Sound Of Music.
Speaking to Official London Theatre in 2008, MacCorkindale said: “I love the theatre. I love that space and I love the feeling with the audience and I hadn’t done it for a long time. I just felt it was very important to me to get back in to do it.”
MacCorkindale is survived by his wife, the actress Susan George, with whom he lived on the stud farm they owned together in Exmoor.
CB