Dennis Waterman was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including The Sweeney, Minder and New Tricks, singing the theme tunes of the latter two.
35 Facts About Dennis Waterman
2.
Dennis Waterman was known for the range of roles he played, including drama, horror, adventure, comedy, comedy-drama, musical and sport.
3.
Dennis Waterman appeared in 29 films, the last being released in 2020.
4.
Dennis Waterman was born on 24 February 1948, as the youngest of nine children to Rose Juliana and Harry Frank Dennis Waterman in Clapham, south west London.
5.
Two older sisters, Joy and Vera, had already left home by the time Dennis Waterman was born, and another brother, Allen, had died as a young child.
6.
Dennis Waterman's father had been an amateur boxer and made all of his sons box.
7.
Dennis Waterman was educated at the Granard Primary School, a state primary school on the Ashburton Estate in Putney, southwest London, followed by Corona Stage School, an independent school at Ravenscourt Park in Hammersmith, West London.
8.
Dennis Waterman appeared in two small stage roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1960 season.
9.
Dennis Waterman was a series regular in the 1962 CBS comedy Fair Exchange, playing teenager Neville Finch.
10.
Dennis Waterman later appeared in the premier of Carving a Statue, produced by Peter Wood on 17 September 1964 at the Haymarket Theatre, London.
11.
Dennis Waterman was in the original cast of Saved, the play written by Edward Bond, and first produced at the Royal Court Theatre in November 1965.
12.
Dennis Waterman had a major role in the feature film version of Up the Junction in which he played Peter, boyfriend to Polly.
13.
Dennis Waterman played the brother of a victim of Count Dracula in the Hammer film Scars of Dracula, and the boyfriend of Susan George in Fright.
14.
Dennis Waterman appeared alongside Richard Harris and John Huston in a Hollywood western, Man in the Wilderness.
15.
Also in 1974, Dennis Waterman appeared in episode 4 of the second series of the comedy programme Man About the House entitled "Did You Ever Meet Rommel", in which he played a friend of Robin, a German student by the name of Franz Wasserman.
16.
Dennis Waterman guest starred in a 1974 Special Branch episode entitled "Stand and Deliver".
17.
Dennis Waterman became a household name as DS George Carter in The Sweeney during the 1970s.
18.
In 1976, Dennis Waterman released his first album, Downwind of Angels, arranged and produced by Brian Bennett.
19.
In 1978, Dennis Waterman returned to the RSC to play Sackett in Bronson Howard's comedy Saratoga.
20.
Dennis Waterman starred in a television film made by Tyne Tees Television entitled The World Cup: A Captain's Tale.
21.
Dennis Waterman played the part of Bob Jones, the club captain.
22.
The cast included Amanda Redman, with whom Dennis Waterman had an eighteen-month affair during the run of the musical and with whom he later went on to star in the TV series New Tricks.
23.
Dennis Waterman took the lead male role in the BAFTA Award-winning BBC adaptation of Fay Weldon's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.
24.
In 1988, Dennis Waterman voiced Vernon's sidekick Toaster in the children's animated series Tube Mice, which starred George Cole.
25.
Dennis Waterman was a regular cast member in every season of New Tricks, from 2003 to 2014, and sang the theme song.
26.
Dennis Waterman narrated the reality-format television programme Bad Lads' Army and appeared in the 2009 BBC2 miniseries Moses Jones.
27.
In 2020, Dennis Waterman starred in the Australian drama-comedy film Never Too Late which had been filmed in Adelaide, Australia, the previous year.
28.
The Minder Podcast revealed that Dennis Waterman was semi-retired and living in Spain.
29.
Dennis Waterman emigrated to Spain with his wife Pam in 2015 after New Tricks ended, living at a villa in La Manga, and playing golf at the La Manga Club.
30.
Dennis Waterman was banned from driving for three years in January 1991, following his second drink-driving conviction in four years.
31.
Dennis Waterman was a fan of Chelsea FC His love of football was reflected in his being chosen to present Match of the Seventies from 1995 to 1996, a nostalgic BBC show celebrating the best football matches from the 1970s.
32.
Dennis Waterman died from lung cancer at his home in La Manga, Spain on 8 May 2022 at the age of 74.
33.
Dennis Waterman was caricatured by David Walliams in the radio and TV comedy series Little Britain, in sketches where he visits his agent looking for parts.
34.
The Dennis Waterman caricature is offered, but always declines, respectable parts because he is not allowed to "write the theme tune, sing the theme tune" of the particular production.
35.
In November 2006, Dennis Waterman made a guest appearance in Comic Relief Does Little Britain Live, alongside the comedy character version of himself.