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Vale: Lewis Collins

UK veteran Lewis Collins, best known for The Professionals, has died aged 67 after a five-year struggle with cancer.

2013-11-29_1907UK veteran Lewis Collins, best known for The Professionals, has died aged 67 after a five-year struggle with cancer.

His agent said Collins died peacefully in his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday surrounded by his family.

The Professionals was a major hit on ITV from 1977 to 1983 due to its action-packed plots and memorable theme tune. The show thrust Collins, as Bodie, and co-star Martin Shaw, who played Doyle, to stardom as a crime-fighting duo.

The pair worked as agents of a fictional unit called CI5, an amalgam of MI5 and the CID, targeting major league criminals from international drug dealers to terrorists.

Born in May 1946 in Cheshire, Collins worked as a drummer in local bands and as a women’s hairdresser before becoming an actor. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and toured with several theatre companies before making his West End debut

Other TV appearances included Jack the Ripper, Cluedo and The Bill.

Shaw, appearing in a West End production of Twelve Angry Men, said: “I was very sad to hear today that Lewis has died. We spent a very tough four years together in making The Professionals, and shared in the production of what has become an icon of British television. He will be remembered as part of the childhood of so many people, and mourned by his fans. I send my love and condolences to his family, and the great many who will miss him.”

Source: The Guardian

2 Responses

  1. I was very saddened to hear of Collins’ passing. ‘The Professionals’ was one of the most iconic shows of its era and one never to be missed by my mates and I. The on-screen chemistry of the three main characters was just perfect.

  2. The Professionals was an amazing series with great acting and action from all three actors. RIP Lewis Collins, you were one of the original action stars.

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