Charles Kay obit

Charles Kay obituary

Stalwart supporting actor who appeared at the RSC and the National, and on TV in I, Claudius and Fortunes of War 

He was not on the list.

Neat and funny, with precise articulation and a range of tone covering rheumy-eyed grizzling to sarcastic pomposity and mock disbelief, Charles Kay, who has died aged 94, was one of the very best supporting actors of the past seven decades.

He did occupy, outstandingly well, the title roles in classic Molière comedy (Tartuffe at the Edinburgh festival in 1974, Harpagon in The Miser at the National Theatre in 1991), but he made his name bolstering the major companies in our postwar theatre.

In the first phase of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court he was in plays by Arnold Wesker (Roots, with Joan Plowright, and The Kitchen, in 1959) and John Osborne (Luther, with Albert Finney, in 1961; he was Pope Leo).

He joined Peter Hall’s Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963 to appear as the Duke of Clarence (Ian Holm as Richard III) in the legendary Wars of the Roses cycle and a characteristic sharply edged double of the Player Queen and Osric in the David Warner Hamlet (1965).

And in 1967 he moved on to Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre, notably as a forlorn and moody Celia in the all-male As You Like it (Ronald Pickup as a flower-power Rosalind, Anthony Hopkins as a slatternly Audrey). His Celia wanted to be anywhere but that forest.

With that triple springboard he could launch into major television series – he had first appeared on TV in 1961 – and the West End, where he appeared in 1978 as the Egyptian doctor in a Haymarket revival of Shaw’s The Millionairess, and graced the first London cast of the long-running ghost story The Woman in Black (adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill’s novel) in 1989 at the Strand, Playhouse and Fortune.

More recently, he was a splendidly dyspeptic grandee, the Earl of Caversham, in a 2010 revival of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville.

He had started in rep in a 1958-59 season at the Belgrade, Coventry, in one of his favourite roles, Lord Fancourt Babberley, the farcical drag hero in Charley’s Aunt (“ I’m Charley’s Aunt from Brazil, where the nuts come from”); in 2012 he ended his London stage career in the same play at the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark – as the po-faced college scout Brasset.

Born in Coventry with the name of Alfred Charles Piff, he as the son of Charles Piff, who had served in the first world war, and his wife Frances (nee Petty), who lived to be 100. He had a younger sister who married and emigrated to America.

Charles was educated at Warwick school (evacuated during the second world war to north Wales) and Birmingham University, where he studied medicine. He trained as a dental surgeon but, after doing his national service, enrolled at Rada, where he won the Bancroft gold medal in 1958.

He had already joined the BBC radio repertory company in 1957, and went straight from Rada to his local theatre, the Belgrade, where, in a company that included the future RSC stars Patsy Byrne and Alan Howard, he played an astonishing range of parts, not only in the premiere of Roots (as Jimmy Beales), but also in Julius Caesar, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Merchant of Venice, Beverley Cross’s One More River, and Great Expectations (as Herbert Pocket).

Notable roles in the 1970s included the blind prophet Teresias in The Bacchae for the Actors Company, formed by Ian McKellen and Edward Petherbridge; Dauphin to the Saint Joan of Eileen Atkins at the Old Vic; and another sceptical cold fish, Cassius, in Julius Caesar at Chichester.

He also played Sam in a fine 1978 revival of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming at the Garrick, alongside Timothy West, Gemma Jones and Michael Kitchen, and a riveting Bosola in a 1979 Birmingham Rep production of The Duchess of Malfi, with Janet Suzman and Peter Eyre.

One of his closest friends was Penelope Keith – they had both “walked on” at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1963 – and they worked together in two Bernard Shaw comedies: in one performance of The Millionairess at the Haymarket, he tripped over a rug on entering and rendered Keith speechless with mirth for several minutes; and in Mrs Warren’s Profession on tour. In the latter, said the director Alan Strachan, Kay was witty and civilised as the architect Praed, sprouting a surprise vein of melancholy.

Kay featured in many classy television series: Churchill’s People (1975) as Sir Thomas Fairfax; in I, Claudius (1976) as Gallus; Edge of Darkness (1985) with Bob Peck; and Fortunes of War (1987) with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh. He kept good company again in a comic TV movie written by David Turner, The Prodigal Daughter (1975), as a junior cleric – alongside another great friend, Jeremy Brett – with Carolyn Seymour and Alastair Sim as an elderly rector.

In films he was less prominent, appearing in Bachelor of Hearts (1958), a campus comedy written by Leslie Bricusse and Frederic Raphael, and Piccadilly Third Stop (1960), a London criminal caper of theft, blackmail and adultery led by Dennis Price and Mai Zetterling, both directed by Wolf Rilla.

Later, he was the Archbishop of Canterbury in Branagh’s Henry V (1989) and the solicitor Gribsby (who only appears in the rarely done four-act version of the play) in Oliver Parker’s enjoyable The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) with Reece Witherspoon, Judi Dench, Colin Firth and Rupert Everett.

He returned to the RSC twice in later years – as a British art historian in David Edgar’s Pentecost (1994), a tremendously well-argued response to the tragedy of Sarajevo and the provenance of a lost fresco in the ruins of a Byzantine church; and as the acerbic wiseacre Lafeu in Gregory Doran’s exquisite 2003 production of All’s Well That Ends Well, with Dench as the Countess, and Guy Henry as Parolles.

Like John Gielgud, Kay did the Times crossword every day and for many years played bridge with Keith, Brett and John Saunders. He lived on his own in Parson’s Green, west London, and then latterly in a nursing home in Wimbledon. His family, he always said, was “a family of friends”.

 

 Charles Kay (Alfred Charles Piff), actor, born 31 August 1930; died 8 January 2025

Actor

Schadenfreude

Professor Maltus

Post-production

 

Fifty Years on Stage (2013)

Fifty Years on Stage

8.6

TV Movie

Loach (segment "The National Health")

2013

 

The Shadow Line (2011)

The Shadow Line

7.9

TV Mini Series

Sir Richard Halton

2011

2 episodes

 

Jamie Bamber, Ben Daniels, Robert Glenister, Bill Paterson, Bradley Walsh, Harriet Walter, and Freema Agyeman in Law & Order: UK (2009)

Law & Order: UK

7.7

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St John Artemis

2009

2 episodes

 

Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie in Marple (2004)

Marple

7.9

TV Series

Canon Pennyfather

2007

1 episode

 

Annette Badland, Neil Dudgeon, and Nick Hendrix in Midsomer Murders (1997)

Midsomer Murders

7.9

TV Series

Henry York

Arno Gibbs

1998–2006

2 episodes

 

Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II (2005)

Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II

6.0

TV Movie

Pope Paul VI

2005

 

Colditz (2005)

Colditz

6.7

TV Mini Series

Colonel Henry Cartwright, Military Attaché in Switzerland

2005

1 episode

 

Guy Henry in Holby City (1999)

Holby City

5.8

TV Series

Des Mitchum

2005

1 episode

 

Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench, and Frances O'Connor in The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

The Importance of Being Earnest

6.8

Gribsby

2002

 

Colin Baker and Charles Kay in Doctor Who: Excelis Rising (2002)

Doctor Who: Excelis Rising

TV Series

The Curator (voice)

2002

 

Casualty (1986)

Casualty

6.1

TV Series

Professor Weinberg

2001

1 episode

 

Masterpiece (1971)

Masterpiece

8.5

TV Series

Mr. Greenway

1999

1 episode

 

Charlotte Coleman, Edward Jewesbury, and Charles Kay in Beautiful People (1999)

Beautiful People

6.7

George Thornton

1999

 

Goodnight Mr Tom (1998)

Goodnight Mr Tom

7.8

TV Movie

Mr. Greenway

1998

 

Dominic Monaghan and Patricia Routledge in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1995)

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

7.6

TV Series

Monty Francis

1998

1 episode

 

Alan Davies in Jonathan Creek (1997)

Jonathan Creek

8.1

TV Series

Elliot Strange

1997

1 episode

 

Colin Blumenau, Nula Conwell, Peter Ellis, Trudie Goodwin, Jon Iles, Gary Olsen, Eric Richard, John Salthouse, Tony Scannell, Jeff Stewart, Mark Wingett, and Delia Swan in The Bill (1984)

The Bill

6.7

TV Series

George Brand

Ralph Goodwin

Prof. Crampton

1990–1997

3 episodes

 

Caroline John in P.R.O.B.E. (1994)

P.R.O.B.E.

7.0

TV Series

Julius Quilter

1996

1 episode

 

Lee Turnbull in Willie's War (1994)

Willie's War

7.4

Captain Bassett

1994

 

Never Mind (1994)

Lloyds Bank Channel 4 Film Challenge

8.8

TV Series

Danson

1994

1 episode

 

Law and Disorder (1994)

Law and Disorder

8.1

TV Series

Judge Wallace

1994

6 episodes

 

Heart of Darkness (1993)

Heart of Darkness

5.7

TV Movie

Secretary

1993

 

Brighton Belles (1993)

Brighton Belles

4.8

TV Series

Humphrey

1993

1 episode

 

Patrick Malahide and William Simons in Alleyn Mysteries (1990)

Alleyn Mysteries

7.6

TV Series

Colombo Dimitri

1993

1 episode

 

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (1992)

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

7.8

TV Series

Capulet (voice)

1992

1 episode

 

Fiddlers Three (1991)

Fiddlers Three

6.8

TV Series

J J Morley

1991

14 episodes

 

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Pam Ferris, Philip Franks, and David Jason in The Darling Buds of May (1991)

The Darling Buds of May

7.8

TV Series

Monsieur Eugène Mollet

1991

2 episodes

 

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

8.7

TV Series

Professor Presbury

1991

1 episode

 

Kenneth Branagh in Henry V (1989)

Henry V

7.5

Archbishop of Canterbury

1989

 

Storyboard (1983)

Storyboard

7.1

TV Series

Spender

1989

1 episode

 

Joss Ackland and Hartmut Becker in A Quiet Conspiracy (1989)

A Quiet Conspiracy

8.7

TV Mini Series

Dr. Bruchner

1989

3 episodes

 

Thompson

5.9

TV Series

Various Roles

1988

2 episodes

 

Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)

Rumpole of the Bailey

8.4

TV Series

Robin Peppiatt

1988

1 episode

 

Menace Unseen (1988)

Menace Unseen

7.3

TV Mini Series

Edward Coniston

1988

3 episodes

 

Fortunes of War (1987)

Fortunes of War

7.7

TV Mini Series

Dobson

1987

7 episodes

 

London Embassy (1987)

London Embassy

7.6

TV Mini Series

Anthony Blair

1987

1 episode

 

School for Vandals (1986)

School for Vandals

6.9

Neil

1986

 

West of Paradise (1986)

West of Paradise

5.7

TV Movie

Rene Rousseau

1986

 

Elizabeth Bennett, Joan Blackham, Reece Dinsdale, and John Thaw in Home to Roost (1985)

Home to Roost

6.7

TV Series

Mr Padbury

1986

1 episode

 

Joanne Whalley, Joe Don Baker, and Bob Peck in Edge of Darkness (1985)

Edge of Darkness

8.3

TV Mini Series

Pendleton

1985

6 episodes

 

Time for Murder (1985)

Time for Murder

6.4

TV Series

Mr. Kaufman

1985

1 episode

 

Leonard Rossiter in The Life and Death of King John (1984)

The Life and Death of King John

7.1

TV Movie

King Philip of France

1984

 

Amadeus (1984)

Amadeus

8.4

Count Orsini-Rosenberg

1984

 

George Cole in Minder (1979)

Minder

7.8

TV Series

John Sutton

1984

1 episode

 

By the Sword Divided (1983)

By the Sword Divided

8.1

TV Series

Sir Henry Parkin

1983

1 episode

 

Geraldine Chaplin in My Cousin Rachel (1983)

My Cousin Rachel

6.8

TV Mini Series

Rainaldi

1983

4 episodes

 

The Citadel (1983)

The Citadel

8.2

TV Mini Series

Mr. Hopper

1983

1 episode

 

Don Henderson, Diane Keen, Peter Sallis, and Don Warrington in Crown Court (1972)

Crown Court

7.3

TV Series

Robert Elliss QC

Robert Ellis QC

Robert Elliss

1974–1983

14 episodes

 

BBC Play of the Month (1965)

BBC Play of the Month

6.8

TV Series

Vladimir Talberg

de Levis

Tybalt

1967–1982

3 episodes

 

John Cleese, John Barron, Richard Griffiths, Peter Jones, David Kelly, Bruce Montague, and Barry Morse in Whoops Apocalypse (1982)

Whoops Apocalypse

7.2

TV Series

French Foreign Minister

1982

1 episode

 

Adolfo Celi, Oliver Cotton, and Anne-Louise Lambert in The Borgias (1981)

The Borgias

7.3

TV Mini Series

Cardinal d'Amboise

1981

1 episode

 

John Nettles in Bergerac (1981)

Bergerac

6.9

TV Series

Peter Westgate

1981

1 episode

 

Peter Bowles and Penelope Keith in To the Manor Born (1979)

To the Manor Born

7.4

TV Series

Cadwallader

1981

1 episode

 

John Fraser, Georgina Hale, and Joan Sims in Lady Killers (1980)

Lady Killers

7.3

TV Series

Sir Henry Curtis Bennett, K.C.

Sir Henry Curtis Bennett

1980–1981

4 episodes

 

Chintz

TV Series

Stanley Trumper

1981

1 episode

 

BBC2 Playhouse (1973)

BBC2 Playhouse

6.8

TV Series

King

1981

1 episode

 

John Duttine in To Serve Them All My Days (1980)

To Serve Them All My Days

8.5

TV Mini Series

Alcock

1980–1981

5 episodes

 

Play for Today (1970)

Play for Today

7.8

TV Series

C.A. Brunston, Q.C.

1980

1 episode

 

Haunted: Tales of the Supernatural (1980)

Haunted: Tales of the Supernatural

Podcast Series

Man (voice)

1980

1 episode

 

A Question of Guilt (1980)

A Question of Guilt

8.7

TV Series

Dr. Addington

1980

4 episodes

 

Alan Bates, Leslie Browne, and George De La Pena in Nijinsky (1980)

Nijinsky

6.6

Argentine Ambassador

1980

 

BBC2 Play of the Week (1977)

BBC2 Play of the Week

7.4

TV Series

Arthur Wright

1978

1 episode

 

Brian Cox in The Devil's Crown (1978)

The Devil's Crown

8.1

TV Series

Louis VII

1978

5 episodes

 

Christopher Benjamin, Kenneth Colley, Vivien Heilbron, Philip Madoc, Patrick Mower, Ron Pember, Brendan Price, Sandy Ratcliff, and Maurice Roëves in Target (1977)

Target

7.4

TV Series

Charles Rosetti

1977

1 episode

 

Supernatural (1977)

Supernatural

7.1

TV Mini Series

Dr. Felix Kraus

1977

2 episodes

 

I, Claudius (1976)

I, Claudius

8.8

TV Mini Series

Gallus

1976

1 episode

 

Lee Remick and Rod Steiger in Hennessy (1975)

Hennessy

6.2

Westminster Guide

1975

 

Churchill's People (1974)

Churchill's People

5.8

TV Series

Sir Thomas Fairfax

1975

1 episode

 

Jeremy Brett, Carolyn Seymour, and Alastair Sim in The Prodigal Daughter (1975)

The Prodigal Daughter

7.6

TV Movie

Father Vernon

1975

 

Lee Remick and Warren Clarke in Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974)

Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill

7.6

TV Mini Series

Montague Porch

1974

1 episode

 

Microbes and Men (1974)

Microbes and Men

8.8

TV Series

Roux

1974

2 episodes

 

Janet Suzman in Miss Nightingale (1974)

Miss Nightingale

4.8

TV Movie

Sidney Herbert

1974

 

Patrick Stewart, Barry Foster, Gayle Hunnicutt, Charles Kay, and Laurence Naismith in Fall of Eagles (1974)

Fall of Eagles

8.1

TV Mini Series

Tsar Nicholas II

1974

7 episodes

 

Mark Kingston and Carmel McSharry in Beryl's Lot (1973)

Beryl's Lot

7.7

TV Series

Monsieur Henri

1973

1 episode

 

Laurence Olivier in The Merchant of Venice (1973)

The Merchant of Venice

7.2

TV Movie

Prince of Aragon

1973

 

Once Upon a Time

TV Series

Rev. Charles Dodgson

1973

1 episode

 

Gene Barry, Barry Morse, and Catherine Schell in The Adventurer (1972)

The Adventurer

6.2

TV Series

Inspector Chilton

1973

1 episode

 

Tom Courtenay in She Stoops to Conquer (1971)

Stage 2

6.3

TV Series

Duke Ferdinand

1972

1 episode

 

Detective (1964)

Detective

7.6

TV Series

Edgar Allan Poe

1968

1 episode

 

Richard Beckinsale, Freddie Fletcher, Arthur Lowe, Jack Rosenthal, and Paula Wilcox in ITV Playhouse (1967)

ITV Playhouse

7.0

TV Series

the French soldier

1968

1 episode

 

Maurice Kaufmann in Champion House (1967)

Champion House

TV Series

Jean-Louis Dufay

1967

1 episode

 

NET Playhouse (1964)

NET Playhouse

7.3

TV Series

1967

1 episode

 

The Deadly Affair (1967)

The Deadly Affair

6.7

Lightborn (in "Edward II") (uncredited)

1967

 

Drama 61-67 (1961)

Drama 61-67

7.0

TV Series

Massingham Fox

1966

1 episode

 

ITV Play of the Week (1955)

ITV Play of the Week

6.7

TV Series

Eric Sawbridge

Richard

Snobby Price

1962–1966

3 episodes

 

David Warner in The Wars of the Roses (1965)

The Wars of the Roses

8.5

TV Mini Series

Clarence

The Dauphin

1965–1966

6 episodes

 

No Hiding Place (1959)

No Hiding Place

7.5

TV Series

Charlie

1964

1 episode

 

Geoffrey Bayldon and Charles Kay in The Victorians (1963)

The Victorians

TV Mini Series

Clement Hale

Wilfred Denver

Gimlet ...

1963

8 episodes

 

Young and Willing (1962)

Young and Willing

5.8

Edgar Tibbs

1962

 

Top Secret (1961)

Top Secret

6.8

TV Series

Solnikov

1962

1 episode

 

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse

TV Movie

Badger

1962

 

Looking About

TV Series

Ambrose Rookwood

1961

1 episode

 

Galileo

TV Movie

Ludovico

1961

 

ITV Television Playhouse (1955)

ITV Television Playhouse

7.9

TV Series

Dick

Gil

1961

2 episodes

 

Probation Officer (1959)

Probation Officer

6.7

TV Series

Kenneth Wheatley

1960

1 episode

 

Piccadilly Third Stop (1960)

Piccadilly Third Stop

6.2

Toddy

1960

 

Hardy Krüger in Bachelor of Hearts (1958)

Bachelor of Hearts

5.7

Tom Clark

1958

 

Thanks

Jetfighter (1988)

Jetfighter

Video Game

special thanks (as Dr. Charles Kay)

1988

 

Self

Horizon (1964)

Horizon

8.5

TV Series

Self - Narrator (voice)

1980

1 episode

 

Archive Footage

Tom Hulce in 'Amadeus': Music from the movie Amadeus (1984)

'Amadeus': Music from the movie Amadeus

7.5

Music Video

Count Orsini-Rosenberg (archive footage)

1984