Michael Elphick

Michael John Elphick (19 September 1946 – 7 September 2002) was an English film and television actor. He played the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1983 film Gorky Park. With his gruff Sussex accent and lip-curling sneer, he often played menacing hard men. Elphick struggled with an addiction to alcohol; at the height of his problem, he admitted to consuming two litres (½ gallon) of spirits a day, which contributed to his death from a heart attack in 2002.