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Tributes are paid to actor Lewis Collins

Tributes are paid to actor Lewis Collins

TRIBUTES have been paid to the actor Lewis Collins who has passed away at the age of 67.

Mr. Collins will be best remembered for his role in the hit TV series The Professionals (see below) in which he played the all-action character Bodie opposite co-star Martin Shaw. 

The cult series, which ran on ITV between 1977 and 1983, also starred Gordon Jackson as head of a crime fighting unit called CI5.

His early career had included appearances on such TV classics as Z Cars, Warship and The New Avengers. Other television credits included The Cuckoo Waltz, Cluedo and The Grimleys. His final appearance on TV was in an episode of The Bill in 2002.

In films, Mr. Collins mostly played tough-guy characters including SAS captain Peter Skellen in Who Dares Wins (1982). His other films included Code Name: Wild Geese (1984) and Commando Leopard (1985), see below.

In the early 1980s, he auditioned for the role of James Bond but said that producer Chubby Broccoli had considered him “too aggressive” to play the iconic character.

Mr. Collins had been living for many years in the United States where he ran a successful computer business.

He had been diagnosed with cancer five years ago and passed away at his home in Los Angeles.

Among the many tributes was one from his co-star in The Professionals, Martin Shaw. He said: “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.”

To see the opening titles of The Professionals, click here.

To view an except from an interview gave on the set of Commando Leopard, click here.

To view footage from an appearance on The Bob Mills Show in 1997, click here.

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