20 Facts About Hywel Bennett

Hywel Thomas Bennett was a Welsh film and television actor.

Hywel Bennett had a lead role in The Family Way and played the titular "thinking man's layabout" James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley.

Hywel Bennett was born on 8 April 1944 in Garnant, Carmarthenshire, Wales, the son of Sarah Gwen and Gorden Hywel Bennett.

Hywel Bennett was the brother of actor Alun Lewis, who is best known for playing Vic Windsor in Emmerdale.

Hywel Bennett debuted on stage in the role of Ophelia in a Queen's Theatre production of Hamlet in 1959.

Hywel Bennett continued with the company for five years, his roles including Richmond in Richard III at the Scala Theatre in 1963.

Hywel Bennett made his television debut in 1964, making early appearances in episodes of Doctor Who and Theatre 625.

Hywel Bennett then starred as nervously virginal newlywed Arthur Fitton opposite Hayley Mills in the Boulting brothers' adaptation of Bill Naughton's play The Family Way.

Hywel Bennett was the preferred choice for the role of Brian Roberts in Bob Fosse's Cabaret, but wrongly assumed it was a singing role and didn't read the script.

Hywel Bennett returned to the festival in 1990 as Long John Silver in a stage adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Hywel Bennett appeared in several National Theatre productions including playing Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Marlow in the She Stoops to Conquer.

Hywel Bennett directed productions in provincial theatres, including a 1975 adaptation of J B Priestley's I Have Been Here Before at Theatr Gwynedd, Bangor.

In 1979, Hywel Bennett appeared as the field agent Ricki Tarr in Arthur Hopcraft's six-part BBC2 adaptation of John le Carre's novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, playing the character with "an ever-thinning veneer of boyish charm masking years of self-delusion and betrayal" according to the BFI.

Hywel Bennett then starred in two further BBC miniseries - Malice Aforethought and The Consultant.

Hywel Bennett provided further voiceovers for Budweiser and Hoffmeister advertisements.

Hywel Bennett lost weight to give the character a "hungry and haunted look".

Hywel Bennett was often cast in unsavoury roles including club owner Arthur 'Pig' Mallion in Dennis Potter's final, linked television plays Karaoke and Cold Lazarus and the villainous Mr Croup in Neil Gaiman's serial Neverwhere.

In September 1986, Hywel Bennett sought treatment for alcoholism at the Priory Hospital, Roehampton.

Hywel Bennett retired from acting in 2007 after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.

Hywel Bennett died on 24 July 2017 at the age of 73.