'Incomparable' and unflappable actor Denis Quilley dies at 75

Denis Quilley, who was forced by illness to leave the London cast of the Cole Porter hit Anything Goes earlier this year, has died aged 75.

Noted as one of London's leading "character" actors, he is fondly remembered by many as the limp-wristed Acting Captain Terri Dennis in the 1982 film Privates on Parade.

He drew acclaim for his subtle mix of high camp impersonations of Marlene Dietrich and Carmen Miranda with a heart-breaking monologue about how he found out about his partner's death in the Second World war.

Quilley, who died at his home in Highgate, North London, had cancer of the liver. His agent, Bernard Hunter, a friend for half a century, said that the actor's wife, Stella, and his children were at his bedside.

"He was a wonderful man and I have nothing but admiration for him," Mr Hunter said. "He was the sort of man that made friends with every actor he met."

Quilley was known as an unflappable, versatile actor with a booming baritone voice. Over 50 years he became a familiar face in demanding roles in comedies, dramas, musicals and Shakespeare, in which he was widely recognised as an actor who could hold a production together.

His television appearances included the comedy drama Rich Tea and Sympathy and the epic A.D. Anno Domini, while on film, he acted in Murder on the Orient Express and Evil Under The Sun, adapted from the Agatha Christie novels. But theatre was his first love, with roles that began at the Old Vic as Aufidius opposite Anthony Hopkins's Coriolanus. Other successes were in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, The Front Page, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Macbeth and School for Scandal.

Michael Blakemore, who directed Quilley in Privates on Parade, said: "He was an incomparable actor. He seemed to sum up the great virtue of the British theatre - professionalism. He never gave less than a good performance.

"He was often much better than people gave him credit for. He was a brilliant singer, comedian and a great straight actor. Often in the British theatre you are not given credit for great versatility."