Terry Scott

By 1985 he was suffering from creeping paralysis and often had to wear a neck brace on stage and TV.

Scott was dogged by ill-health for many years and in 1979 his life was saved by a four hour brain operation after a haemorrage.

In 1978 the Scott and Whitfield were named by the Variety Club of Great Britain as Join Personalities of the Year. On the London stage he starred he proved hugely popular in shows such as A Bed Full of Foreigners, The Mating Game and Run For Your Wife which he also toured in the Middle East. He was also one of Britain's most famous pantomime 'dames'.

In 1975 he controversially praised the apartheid regime in South Africa.

In 1974 he narrowly escaped death when was driving from a stage performance in Billingham to a radio interview in Middlesbrough nearby. His route took him on the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge which consists of a "gondola", carrying passengers and cars, suspended from rails on an overhead structure. Scott mistook this for a conventional toll bridge and accidentally drove his car through the safety gate on the approach road and off the riverbank, landing in the safety netting below.

He filmed a cameo role as a trade union official in Carry on at Your Convenience (1971) but the scene was cut from the final film. This was due to the finished film being too long and his part not vital to the story line.

Although he played Joan Sims' son in Carry on Up the Jungle (1970), he was three years her senior in real life.

In 1969 he joined up with comic actress June Whitfield in the series Happy Ever After which later evolved into Terry and June and ran for a record breaking 14 years.

A brilliant comic actor Terry Scott was one of the most familiar faces on British television in the 1960s and 70s. At the height of his popularity his classic comedy series, Terry and June, (in which he co-starred with June Whitfield) was watched by 15 million viewers weekly. Born Owen John Scott in Watford he began his theatrical career in his teens at the Watford Amateur Dramatic Society playing small comic roles.

In 1949 he was contracted by the BBC to appear on a radio show with comic Bob Monkhouse which was not successful. Later he teamed up with another comic Bill Maynard which led to the popular TV series Great Scott, It's Maynard. On stage in the late 50s he worked in farces with comedians such as Brian Rix before going on to star in another popular TV comedy Hugh and I (with Hugh Lloyd) which regularly topped the ratings during the 60s.

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Navy and in 1945 he used his demobilisation gratuity to enter show-business as a manager of seaside shows around Britain.