Robert McBain

Robert McBain (9 October 1932 – 24 April 2004) was an English actor, photographer and artist. He was born Robert Digby Bosher, in Wembley, Middlesex. His mother was Iris Rousham (who was sometimes called Barbara or Peggy) and his biological father was John Bosher. Stage appearances: Julius Caesar at the Royal Court Jingo with the Royal Shakespeare Company St Joan at the Old Vic Tom Stoppard's Dirty Linen at the Arts Theatre Gonzalo in The Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe (2000) Chebutykin in The Three Sisters at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond (2002)McBain appeared in many television programmes including: Z-Cars (1963) – Mr Reardon Upstairs, Downstairs (1974) – Hamish Mathews The Professionals (1978–1982) – Deville / Mr. Lewis Fawlty Towers (1979) – Mr Xerxes Casualty (2003) – Bob Jones (final appearance)He also started in feature films such as: Ordeal by Innocence (1984) – Hotel Manager Out of Order (1987) – CO Armstrong A Fish Called Wanda (1988) – Hotel Clerk Bullseye! (1990) – LawyerHe had his eldest son, Angus, with his first wife, Ann Clark, and two more children, Jon and Hannah, during his 11-year marriage to actress Patricia Brake. In 1979, he married Maggie Henderson and they worked together many times over their 25 years of marriage; both in the West End and writing and performing many recitals. Throughout his life, he developed his talents in photography and art, exhibiting his photographs in 1997 and, inspired by Matisse and Degas, he studied life-drawing and painting in the studio of Bobby Gill for over ten years. McBain also had an interest in social history, taking a course in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck College and researching and writing his one-man show, The Secret Lives of Arthur J. Munby, which he last performed in November 2003. McBain died in Charing Cross Hospital on 24 April 2004 after a brief illness.