Actor succumbs to cancer at 78

Barry Howard, who was best known for playing Barry Stuart-Hargreaves in Hi-de-Hi!, has died at the age of 78.

His agent Sharry Clark , tweeted: 'My lovely friend and client Barry Howard has passed to Spirit today. I will miss him more than I can say. RIP lovely man.'

She also told the BBC he had been suffering from cancer.

Howard had only a handful of small parts in TV series, before landing the role of the camp and snooty dance instructor in Hi-de-Hi in 1980. In the show he and his wife Yvonne, played by Diane Holland, would struggle to maintain their air of dignity among the more downmarket activities the were forced to endure in the holiday camp.'

He also starred in a number of pantos, but said after leaving Hi-Di-Hi in 1986 he found it difficult to get other jobs.

In 2010 he told one interviewer: 'I have found it, in all honesty, frustrating because I am, after all, an actor. Casting people always wanted a similar limp-wristed rather fey "is he or isn't he?" character and I got bored with it all.'

He had a number of minor roles in shows including You Rang, M'Lord and Doctor Who, playing a minibus driver in the 2009 Christmas special.

In 2012 Howard appeared in the fifth series of the Radio 4 comedy Fags, Mags and Bags as Frank Butcher. Sanjeev Kohli, who played Navid in that comedy, called Howard ‘a lovely man and a wonderful guest’ on the show.

Published: 28 Apr 2016