Nicholas Selby

Nicholas Selby, born James Ivor Selby on 13 September 1925 in Holborn, London, was a British actor whose career spanned film, television, and theatre. He died in London on 14 September 2010, one day after his 85th birthday, and was survived by his daughter, Alison, and two grandchildren. His wife, Kathleen Rayner, whom he had cared for during a prolonged illness, predeceased him.

Selby's path to the stage began during World War II, when he served in the British Army and made his acting debut in Dangerous Corner at Preston, Lancashire, performing under the forces' entertainment organisation ENSA. Following the war, he enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1948, where his student performance in Mary Hayley Bell's Men in Shadow earned him a commendation. He subsequently built his early professional experience through repertory seasons in Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry, York, Hornchurch, and Cambridge.

His first West End appearance came in 1959 in William Douglas-Home's Aunt Edwina. The following January, he created the role of the hit-man Ben in the London premiere of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter at the Hampstead Theatre Club. In 1963 Selby began his association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing as Casca in Julius Caesar, the Bishop of Winchester in The Wars of the Roses, and Antonio in The Tempest. His membership with the RSC continued for a decade before he joined Peter Hall at the new National Theatre in London in 1976. There he played Menander in Tamburlaine and the Captain in Tales from the Vienna Woods in his first season, later appearing as van Swieten in the inaugural production of Amadeus and as the parliamentary Speaker in The Madness of George III. His final stage role was Dilly Knox in Breaking the Code in 1987.

In 1974, Selby brought his stage work to Broadway, appearing in the play Sherlock Holmes. His television career was equally extensive, encompassing more than one hundred dramas for the BBC and ITV, among them Our Friends in the North, Poldark, and House of Cards.