Barry Joseph Evans, actor; born June 8, 1943, died February 9, 1997
THE actor Barry Evans, whose death is being investigated by the police, made his name as a youthful ever-smiling character in the 1960s-1970s comedy series Doctor in the House and Mind Your Language. Despite earlier appearances in a range of screen dramas and stage performances with the National Theatre and Young Vic he was never able to shake off this
boyish image.
Born in Guilford, Surrey, Evans was orphaned and brought up in a Dr Barnardo's Home in Twickenham. A John Gielgud scholarship took him to the Central School of Speech and Drama. He had his first major role in Spring Awakening at the Royal Court Theatre and soon after appeared in Chips with Everything on Broadway.
Evans then toured with the Nottingham Playhouse company in Britain and the Far East and also appeared in the films, The Class (1961) and The White Bus (1966) and in television productions ranging from Redcap (1964) to Much Ado About Nothing (1967).
After a year with the National Theatre, he found himself playing a former grammar school boy desperate to lose his virginity in the 1968 film Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. With music by Stevie Winwood and Traffic and the Spencer Davis Group, it was well tuned in to the mood of the era.
The following year saw him, in Alfred the Great and in the role with which he would be most associated - the medical student Michael A Upton in the ITV sitcom Doctor in the House, which was adapted from the film series from 20 years earlier .
The scriptwriters for the updated series included such comic luminaries as John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Bill Oddie.
Evans played in a second series the following year and in two follow-up Doctor at Large sequels.
His next career moves saw him in Crossroads and in several big-screen films before he starred as teacher of mature foreign students Jeremy Brown in the sitcom Mind Your Language. This ran from 1977-79 and a further 13 episodes were made in 1986..
Between the series of Mind Your Language he had worked with Dick Emery in a TV comedy thriller, Legacy of Murder, had had a season with the Young Vic had toured with Jimmy Edwards in Doctor in the House, and played Norman in The
Norman Conquests.
Back in 1976 he had been in the film Adventures of a Taxi Driver and in real life he now turned to taxi driving.
Mr Evans's body was found in Monday night in his home in the village of Claybrook Magna, Leicestershire, after his white Montego car was found in nearby Hinckley.
Two men and a girl subsequently arrested have been released after questioning.
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