Fred Ridgeway

Frederick Gerrard Ridgeway (16 October 1953 – 12 November 2012) was an Irish-born stage and television actor, best known for his role as Charlie Clench in the National Theatre production of One Man, Two Guvnors, which brought him to Broadway in 2012.

Ridgeway was born into a Catholic family in Dublin, Ireland, the youngest son of railway worker Benjamin Ridgeway and Christine née McCormack. The family relocated to Peckham in south-east London, where his father worked at Peckham Rye station. His earliest engagement with acting came during his time as a student at St Thomas the Apostle College, Nunhead, where his A Level English teacher, Terry O'Brien, encouraged him to join the National Youth Theatre. Despite this early exposure, Ridgeway did not pursue acting professionally at that stage. At 18, he entered the finance industry, eventually rising to the position of associate director at Exco after 25 years in the field. While working in finance in New York, he attended theatre classes at the Actors' Playhouse in Greenwich Village. After returning to Britain and settling in Chislehurst, he remained active in amateur dramatics, performing with the South London Theatre in West Norwood and the Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre in Crayford, Kent.

In 1996, at the age of 42, Ridgeway left his career as a money broker to become a professional actor. His first role was as an understudy for Tim Pigott-Smith in a National Theatre production of The Alchemist at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. His professional London debut followed in 1997, when he appeared in David Haig's My Boy Jack at the Hampstead Theatre. The following year he took on roles in Dealer's Choice, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Loot. His portrayal of Truscott of the Yard in Joe Orton's black comedy Loot drew notable critical attention; Sunday Times reviewer John Peter praised his "darkly funny performance, beautifully detailed but never fussy," while James Christopher described it as a "play-saving performance" comparable to the character Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers.

Alongside his stage work, Ridgeway appeared in television series including The Bill, Heartbeat, EastEnders, Midsomer Murders, and Casualty from the mid-1990s onward. In 2003 he appeared in Absolutely! (Perhaps) at Wyndham's Theatre. He also built a significant association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra in 2006, Sicinius Velutus in Coriolanus in 2007, and Egeon in The Comedy of Errors in 2010.

From 2008, Ridgeway appeared in a succession of plays by writer Richard Bean: The English Game (2008), England People Very Nice (2009), The Big Fellah (2010), and One Man, Two Guvnors (2011–12). His portrayal of an IRA member in The Big Fellah was described by a Guardian reviewer as "utterly terrifying." In One Man, Two Guvnors, the role of Charlie Clench — a criminal — was written by Bean specifically for Ridgeway. He was part of the original cast when the production opened at the South Bank in May 2011, remained with it throughout its UK tour, and traveled with the company to Broadway, where the play ran for five months in New York City.

Prior to the Broadway engagement, Ridgeway had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. He continued performing throughout the run, missing only two performances, and kept his illness concealed from most of his colleagues. Fellow cast members noticed his fatigue offstage but did not learn the cause until after the Broadway run concluded. James Corden, who played the lead role, later recalled: "When we got to New York, a lot of us in the cast started to realise he was unwell, but he never missed a beat. He never missed a cue, an entrance, a line." Ridgeway died in London on 12 November 2012 at the age of 59.

In his personal life, Ridgeway married Jeanne in 1983. They had two children, Sarah and Benjamin. Sarah appeared in the BBC soap opera Doctors, and Benjamin appeared in the films The New Adventures of Pinocchio and About a Boy.