BroadwayWorld is sad to report that Timothy Lancaster West, CBE, stage and screen actor, has died at age 90.
West played repertory seasons in Newquay, Hull, Northampton, Worthing and Salisbury before making his London debut at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1959 in the farce Caught Napping. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for three seasons: the 1962 Arts Theatre Experimental season, the 1964 ‘Dirty Plays’ season, and the 1965 season at Stratford and later at the Aldwych Theatre appearing in The Comedy of Errors, Timon of Athens, The Jew of Malta, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Peter Hall’s production of The Government Inspector, in a company which included Paul Scofield, Eric Porter, Janet Suzman, Paul Rogers, Ian Richardson, Glenda Jackson and Peter McEnery.
West played Macbeth twice, Uncle Vanya twice, Solness in The Master Builder twice and King Lear four times: in 1971 (aged 36) for Prospect Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Festival; on a worldwide tour in 1991 in Dublin for Second Age; in 2003 for English Touring Theatre, on tour in the UK and at the Old Vic; and in 2016 at the Bristol Old Vic.
West was artistic director of the Forum Theatre, Billingham, in 1973, where he directed We Bombed in New Haven by Joseph Heller, The Oz Obscenity Trial by David Livingstone and The National Health by Peter Nichols. He was co-artistic director of the Prospect Theatre Company at the Old Vic from 1980 to 1981, where he directed Trelawny of the ‘Wells’ and The Merchant of Venice. He was director-in-residence at the University of Western Australia in 1982.
In 2004, West toured Australia with the Carl Rosa Opera Company as director of the production of H.M.S. Pinafore, also singing the role of Sir Joseph Porter.
West’s big break came with the major television series Edward the Seventh (1975), in which he played the title role from the age of twenty-three until the King’s death; his real-life sons, Samuel and Joseph, played the sons of the King as children. His father Lockwood West also portrayed King Edward VII in 1972 in an episode of the LWT television drama series Upstairs, Downstairs. Other screen appearances have included Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Thirty Nine Steps (1978), Masada (1981), Cry Freedom (1987) and Luc Besson’s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). In Richard Eyre’s Iris (2001) he plays Maurice and his son Samuel West plays Maurice as a young man.
West starred as patriarch Bradley Hardacre in Granada TV’s satirical Northern super-soap Brass over three seasons (1982–1990). He appeared in the series Miss Marple in 1985 (in “A Pocket Full of Rye” as the notorious Rex Fortescue) and made an appearance as Professor Furie in A Very Peculiar Practice in 1986. In 1997, he played Gloucester in the BBC television production of King Lear, with Ian Holm as Lear. From 2001 to 2003, he played the grumpy and frequently volatile Andrew in the BBC drama series Bedtime.
In 1989, West played Nigel in the Thames Television sitcom After Henry alongside his real-life wife, Prunella Scales, who played Sarah France. They appeared together in the episode “Upstagers” aired on 21 March 1989.
At Christmas 2007, he joined Not Going Out as Geoffrey Adams. He reprised the role in two episodes of series three; Geoffrey Whitehead played the role in later seasons. In 2011, he appeared alongside John Simm and Jim Broadbent in the BBC series Exile, written by BAFTA-winning Danny Brocklehurst.
In February 2013, West joined the cast of ITV soap Coronation Street, playing Eric Babbage. He joined the cast of EastEnders in 2013, playing Stan Carter from January 2014. He filmed his final scenes for EastEnders in February 2015.
In 2019, West played Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes, a recreation of three missing episodes of the BBC comedy Dad’s Army.
