Timothy West, acclaimed British stage and film star, dies at 90

LONDON – British actor Timothy West, who played war leader Winston Churchill three times and the classic Shakespearean title roles of Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth, has died at the age of 90.

In a statement, his children said West died “peacefully” in his sleep “with his friends and family at the end.”

“After a long and extraordinary life on and off the stage, our beloved father Timothy West died peacefully in his sleep last night,” said his children Juliet, Samuel and Joseph.

Throughout his long career, West was a regular presence on stage and screen, and his versatility allowed him to play a wide range of characters. He distinguished himself as a leading actor in numerous Shakespeare productions, while recurring roles in the two most popular soap operas on British television, “Coronation Street” and “Eastenders,” kept him in the public eye in later life.

West, who was born in the northern English city of Bradford, made his theater debut in London in 1959, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s, where he gained his acting chops.

On television, he had roles in numerous adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels, including “Hard Times,” “Oliver Twist” and “Bleak House.” “Hard Times” was parodied on ITV’s “Brass” from 1982 to 1984, in which he played a ruthless self-made businessman. It returned for a third series in 1990,

West played Churchill three times, in “From Churchill and the Generals” in 1979, “The Last Bastion” five years later and in “Hiroshima” in 1995.

He was married for 61 years to actress Prunella Scales, famous for her role as Sybil Fawlty in the classic 1970s BBC comedy “Fawlty Towers.”

The couple’s long romance was featured in 10 series of Channel 4’s “Great Canal Journeys” between 2014 and 2021. The show, which was ostensibly a love letter to narrowboats and the British countryside, was widely praised for its in which he honestly described Scales. Slow deterioration with dementia.

West was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1984 for services to theatre.