Hywel Bennett

Bennett debuted on stage in the role of Ophelia in a Queen's Theatre production of Hamlet in 1959.

His first film appearance was as Leonardo in the 1966 Italian Il marito è mio e l'ammazzo quando mi pare ("It's my husband and I'll decide when to kill him"), directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile, a comedy in which a young wife carefully plans to murder her husband, who is 40 years her senior, to marry a young beatnik.

He starred in The Virgin Soldiers (1969), the film adaptation of Loot (1970) by Joe Orton, and Percy (1971). In 1969, contemporary critic Roger Ebert called him "one of England's best young actors".

From 1970 to 1988, Bennett was married to Cathy McGowan, who was the presenter of the TV rock show Ready Steady Go! in the mid-1960s. They had a daughter, Emma. In 1998, he married Sandra Layne Fulford.

He appeared in the 1986 music video of "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It" by Bonnie Tyler and Todd Rundgren in which he lip synced Rundgren's vocals.

In 2003, Bennett joined the cast of the long-running soap opera EastEnders as Jack Dalton – the ruthless gangland kingpin of Walford.

Bennett retired from acting in 2007 after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, and later moved to Deal, Kent. He died on 25 July 2017, aged 73.