Keith Barron

Keith Barron (8 August 1934 – 15 November 2017) was an English actor and television presenter who appeared in films and on television from 1961 until 2017. His television roles included the police drama The Odd Man, the sitcom Duty Free, and Gregory Wilmot in Upstairs, Downstairs.

Career
Born in Mexborough in South Yorkshire, Barron completed his national service in the Royal Air Force and his acting career started at the Sheffield Repertory Theatre, where he worked with a young Patrick Stewart and also met his wife, Mary, a stage designer. He became well known to British television viewers in the early 1960s as the easygoing Detective Sergeant Swift in the Granada TV series The Odd Man and its spin-off. His major breakthrough, however, was as Nigel Barton in the writer Dennis Potter's semi-autobiographical plays Stand Up, Nigel Barton and Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton (both 1965) in BBC1's The Wednesday Play anthology series; he later played a very similar character in Potter's Play For Today episode Only Make Believe (1973).

Barron made many one-off television appearances, from Redcap and Z-Cars in the mid-1960s, to Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Strange Report, The New Avengers, Thriller, The Professionals, Foyle's War, and A Touch of Frost. He made two appearances in Upstairs, Downstairs as Australian Gregory Wilmot. In 1982, he appeared in the Dutch show De lachende scheerkwast. In March 1983 he was a guest in the Doctor Who story Enlightenment, replacing Peter Sallis who was unavailable. He was a frequent voiceover artist for British TV commercials and public information films. Barron also played a starring role as Bob Ferguson in the 1993 Granada series The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, entitled The Last Vampyre.

In 1989 he starred on television in a story of relationships in a new town in the Midlands entitled Take Me Home, with Annette Crosbie as his wife and Maggie O'Neill as his girlfriend. One of his best-loved and best-remembered roles was in the 1980s Yorkshire Television sitcom Duty Free. In the 1990s he co-starred in the sitcoms Haggard and All Night Long. In 1990, he appeared as a contestant on Cluedo, facing off against fellow actor Andrew Sachs.

On the big screen he appeared in Baby Love (1968) and David Puttnam's film Melody (1971) as Mr Latimer.

Barron voiced the character of Morgan Jefferies in the 1995 BBC Radio 4 sitcom England's Glory opposite Lynda Baron.

Barron also appeared as a celebrity guest in Dictionary Corner on several episodes of the Channel 4 words and numbers game Countdown between 1999 and 2008.

In the 2000s he was a regular character on the ITV Sunday-night drama Where the Heart Is. In 2014 he reprised his role of David Pearce in the touring stage show of the TV series 'Duty Free'. He also starred in the first series of the BBC drama The Chase.

He was the star on Bunn and Co., a radio show that was broadcast from March 2003 to April 2004 on BBC Radio 4. Barron's performance in the BBC's Test the Nation IQ test show on 2 September 2006 gave him an IQ of 146. In 2007 Barron joined ITV1's Coronation Street as George Trench. In 2011, Barron starred in the BBC show, Lapland, a role which he returned to for a series, Being Eileen, from February 2013.

Personal life
Barron served in the RAF as part of his National Service. In 1980, he and his wife opened a restaurant in Hayle in Cornwall. After three years they returned to London and Barron resumed his acting career full time.

Barron died on 15 November 2017 after a short illness. He was survived by his wife of 58 years, Mary Pickard, and his actor son, Jamie. He lived in the Surrey town of East Molesey, a short distance from Hampton Court Palace and had a second home in St Ives, Cornwall.

Selected filmography

 * Baby Love (1969) – Doctor Robert Quayle
 * The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970) – Jake Braid
 * The Firechasers (1971) – Jim Maxwell
 * She'll Follow You Anywhere (1971) – Alan Simpson
 * Melody (1971) – Mr. Latimer – Daniel's father (uncredited)
 * Freelance (1971) – Gary
 * Nothing But The Night (1973) – Dr. Haynes
 * The Land That Time Forgot (1974) – Bradley
 * At the Earth's Core (1976) – Dowsett
 * Voyage of the Damned (1976) – Purser Mueller
 * God's Outlaw (1986) – Henry VIII
 * La passione (1996) – Roy
 * Police 2020 (1997) – Eddie Longshaw
 * Lapland (2011, TV Movie) – Maurice
 * In Love with Alma Cogan (2012) – Cedric

Television

 * A Chance of Thunder (TV Series) (1961) – Bank Cashier
 * The Night of the Match (TV Movie) (1961) – Bob
 * The Avengers (TV Series) (1961) – Technician
 * The Odd Man (1962–1963) – Det. Sgt. Swift
 * It's Dark Outside (1964) – Det. Sgt. John Swift
 * Crane (1965) – Rene Leclerc
 * The Troubleshooters (1965) – Miles
 * Stand Up, Nigel Barton The Wednesday Play (1965) – Nigel Barton
 * Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton The Wednesday Play (1965) – Nigel Barton
 * Spywatch (1967)
 * Further Adventures of Lucky Jim (1967) – Jim Dixon
 * A Family at War (1972) Major Harkness
 * Thinking Man as Hero (1973, TV Movie) – David Duncan
 * Armchair_Theatre (1973, Red Riding Hood TV Movie) – Henry
 * Upstairs, Downstairs (1974) – Gregory Wilmot
 * No Strings (1974) – Derek
 * The Foundation (1977) – Don Prince
 * The Professionals (1977) "Private Madness, Public Danger" – Charles Nesbitt
 * Telford's Change (1979) – Tim Hart
 * Prince Regent (1979) – Charles James Fox
 * Stay with Me Till Morning (1981) – Stephen Belgard
 * Tales of the Unexpected (1982) "A Harmless Vanity" – George Hitchman
 * De lachende scheerkwast (1982) - Mr Carrington
 * Doctor Who (1983) "Enlightenment" – Striker
 * Minder (1984) – Johnny Caine
 * Leaving (1984–1985) – Daniel Ford
 * Duty Free (1984–1986) – David Pearce / David
 * Room at the Bottom (1986–1988) – Kevin Hughes
 * Take Me Home (1989) – Tom
 * Haggard (TV series) (1990–92) – Squire Amos Haggard
 * The Good Guys (1992) – Guy Lofthouse
 * Sherlock Holmes The Last Vampyre (1994) – Rob Ferguson
 * Under the Hammer (1994) – Ned Nunelly
 * Ruth Rendell Mysteries A Case of Coincidence (1996) – Inspector Masters
 * Dalziel and Pascoe episode 6, 28 July 1997, – Dick Elgood.
 * Pie in the Sky episode 34, series 5–6, July 1997 – Chairman of a Jury housed overnight in the Luxor Hotel
 * Spywatch (1996) – Norman Starkey (adult)
 * The Round Tower, TV serial (1998) – Jonathan Ratcliffe
 * Peak Practice (2000) - Series 9 Episode 12 "Last Orders" - Jeff Barton
 * NCS: Manhunt (2001–2002) – Detective Superintendent Bob Beausoleil
 * Clocking Off (2003) – Roy Fletcher
 * Where the Heart Is (2003-2004) – Alan Boothe
 * Midsomer Murders: "The Straw Woman" (2004) – Alan Clifford
 * New Tricks (2005) – Ronnie Ross
 * The Chase (2006–2007) – George Williams
 * Pickles: The Dog Who Won the World Cup (2006, TV Movie) – Bernie
 * Foyle's War:S4E1 "Invasion" (2007) – David Barrett
 * Heartbeat series 18, episode 6 'Strike up the band' (2008) – Les Hepplewhite
 * Benidorm (2009) – Deputy Mayor
 * My Family Ben Behaving Badly (2010) - Harry
 * Doctors (2011–2015) – Arthur Barrett / Ludo Jameson / Brian Olsen
 * Being Eileen (2013) – Maurice
 * Stella (2014) – The Captain
 * DCI Banks (2015–2016) – Arthur Banks
 * Not Going Out (2017) – Michael (final television appearance) The BBC dedicated the episode in Barron's memory.

Radio

 * Not as Far as Velma, as Commissaire Henri Castang (1990)
 * To the Manor Born, as Richard Devere (1997)
 * My Turn to Make the Tea as Mr Pellet (2006)