Hywel Bennett
Hywel Thomas Bennett (8 April 1944 – 24 July 2017) was a Welsh actor who appeared in many films and TV shows. He was born in Garnant, Carmarthenshire, Wales, and his first language was Welsh. When he was four, his family moved to south London, and he learned English with a London-Welsh accent. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began acting on stage before moving to television in the mid-1960s.
His breakout film was The Family Way (1966), where he had a lead role. He also starred in Twisted Nerve (1968) and Endless Night (1972), and appeared in The Virgin Soldiers (1969) and Loot (1970). Bennett played Ricki Tarr in the BBC’s adaptation of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). He later became well known for playing the “thinking man’s layabout” James Shelley in the TV series Shelley, which ran from 1979 to 1992.
In the 1980s and 1990s he moved into more varied and sometimes villainous roles, including Mr Croup in Neverwhere (1996) and Jack Dalton in EastEnders (2003). He also appeared in The Bill (2002–2005) and other programs, and did voice work for commercials.
Bennett worked on stage with the National Theatre and appeared in productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar and other classics. He continued acting in film and television while also taking on theatre directing work in his earlier years.
He married Cathy McGowan in 1970; they had a daughter named Emma, and they divorced in 1988. He sought treatment for alcoholism in 1986. In 1998, he married Sandra Layne Fulford. Bennett retired from acting in 2007 after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. He died at his home in Deal, Kent, on 24 July 2017, aged 73.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:19 (CET).