15 Facts About Ross Davidson

William Russell "Ross" Davidson was a Scottish actor best known for his role as Andy O'Brien in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Ross Davidson played water polo at international level for Scotland.

Ross Davidson left teaching to run a pub and disco in Glasgow, but furthered his ambitions to act by attending night classes.

Ross Davidson made his screen acting debut on television in A Degree of Uncertainty, a BBC Play for Today set in a Scottish university, then appeared as a kilted dancer in Stanley Baxter on Television.

Ross Davidson had small parts as a member of a mime troupe in The Comedy of Errors and a photographer in Widows II, as well as appearing in the film The Pirates of Penzance and the Monty Python short The Crimson Permanent Assurance, made to accompany the group's feature The Meaning of Life.

Ross Davidson played the altruistic nurse Andy O'Brien for 18 months, after which his screen alter-ego was the first main character to be killed off, dying in a road accident in August 1986.

Just before he left EastEnders Ross Davidson recorded a pop single, "Jigsaw Puzzle", that failed to chart.

Ross Davidson then returned to acting in stage plays and returned to the small-screen in 1987 as a television presenter.

Ross Davidson presented the BBC lunchtime magazine show Daytime Live and the sports challenge series Run the Gauntlet.

Ross Davidson later returned to acting and appeared in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside and in the Welsh soap Pobol Y Cwm.

Ross Davidson played the role of Peter O'Dell in the Scottish soap Take the High Road for three years.

Ross Davidson starred as Andy Morgan in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks from 1999 to 2002.

Ross Davidson took his ex-wife's maiden name, Ross, as his stage name.

Ross Davidson had a son with his second wife, Barbara Black, before they married in 2005.

In February 2005 Ross Davidson was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and swiftly underwent surgery.