Michael Graham Cox

Michael Graham Cox (6 January 1938 – 30 April 1995) was an English actor born in Wolverhampton and educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School. He studied music with German at Bristol University before relocating to London, where he first lived in a flat on Oxford Street and later settled at Randolph Crescent W9. He was subsequently relocated by the Paddington Church Commissioners to a garden flat at 32 Clifton Gardens, near pubs including The Warrington, The Prince Alfred, and The Warwick Castle, where he regularly socialised with friends such as Jane Morgan, Tony Osoba, Michael Aspel, and John Inman.

Cox established his Shakespearean credentials through Stratford roles with the Old Vic on tour in the late 1950s. His stage work extended to Broadway in 1962, where his credits included Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Saint Joan. In the early 1960s he also appeared in West End productions, among them Noël Coward's Hay Fever alongside Prunella Scales and Roland Culver. The 1970s brought further stage work, including appearances at the Roundhouse with the Prospect Theatre's Histories tour, and productions at the Young Vic featuring Antony opposite Delphine Seyrig's Cleopatra and work alongside James Bolam's King Lear.

His screen career included a notable role as Palmer in Ken Russell's 1969 film Women in Love, as well as minor roles in Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far and Cry Freedom. In 1982 he appeared as Wally Brabham in episode ten of series three of Minder, titled Broken Arrow. His television work also included the role of kindly teacher Mr. Butterworth in Grange Hill and a starring role alongside Derek Nimmo and Rosemary Leach in the sitcom Life Begins at Forty.

Cox is particularly remembered for his voice work, having voiced Boromir in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film The Lord of the Rings and reprising the role in the 1981 BBC radio serialisation. He also provided the voice of Bigwig in the 1978 feature film Watership Down. His BBC radio work included dramas produced and directed by Jane Morgan, among them her Dickens series.

Cox died on 30 April 1995 at a hospice in Wimbledon following several strokes, diabetic complications, and dementia. He was buried beside his brother John at the Catholic Diocese of Beaconsfield. His wife, Davina Beswick, a fellow alumna of Bristol Old Vic, died on 31 July 2018 in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was survived by his son Dominic, a Cambridge-educated architect, as well as his niece Susan and her mother June.