Andrew Ray

Andrew Ray (31 May 1939 – 20 August 2003) was an English actor born Andrew Olden in Southgate, Middlesex. His father was the radio comic Ted Ray, whose stage surname Andrew adopted professionally, and his mother was showgirl Dorothy Sybil, née Stevens. He had a brother, Robin Ray, a television and radio personality who died in 1998 at the age of 64.

Ray's career began in childhood when, at the age of ten, he was cast in the title role of The Mudlark (1950), a 20th Century Fox production starring Alec Guinness and Irene Dunne, in which he played a street urchin who encounters Queen Victoria. The film was selected as the Royal Command Performance in 1950. He continued working in film throughout the following years, appearing in The Yellow Balloon (1953), Escapade (1955), Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), The Young and the Guilty (1958), and Serious Charge (1959), the last of which featured Cliff Richard. Later film credits included Twice Round the Daffodils (1962), The System (1964), Rough Cut (1980), The Bunker (1981), Pope John Paul II (1984), and Paris by Night (1988). He also portrayed Herbert Pocket in the ITC television remake of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations (1974), opposite Michael York.

On stage, Ray appeared in Flowering Cherry alongside Sir Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson. In 1960, he made his Broadway appearance in A Taste of Honey, performing with Angela Lansbury and Joan Plowright. Ray had originally come from London, England, and the Broadway production represented a significant extension of his theatrical work beyond the United Kingdom.

His television career encompassed a wide range of roles. He played nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs for Anglia Television and portrayed King George VI in Crown Matrimonial on both stage and television. His stage performance as the stammering George VI led to his being cast as the same figure, then holding the title Prince Albert, Duke of York, in the television series Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978). He appeared in six episodes of Tales of the Unexpected, covering the installments "The Wrong 'Un," "Royal Jelly," "Poison," "The Way To Do It," "The Best Chess Player in the World," and "Accidental Death." Additional television credits included Upstairs, Downstairs, Inspector Morse, and Peak Practice.

At the age of nineteen, Ray married Rhodesian actress Susan Burnet, and the couple had two children. In his later years he was a committed member of the actors' union Equity, serving as a Councillor of the organization. Ray died on 20 August 2003 at the age of 64 from a heart attack.