Historical past-making New Zealand actor James Laurenson, recognized for his roles on The Crown and Coronation Road, has died aged 84.
His dying was reported by a number of UK retailers in the present day, with The Telegraph UK reporting that he handed on April 18.
The actor was born in New Zealand and studied at Canterbury College Faculty in Christchurch earlier than shifting to the UK within the Nineteen Sixties to start his performing profession.
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He starred in Australian sequence Boney in 1971, which prompted controversy as not solely was he a non-Aboriginal actor taking part in the function of the half-Aboriginal Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte – sporting darkish make-up for the function – but in addition that he was a Kiwi.
His efficiency later earned glowing critiques, with The Age writing on the time that his ”tall body and darkish, rugged beauty … ought to make him Australia’s latest TV intercourse image”, whereas the Sydney Morning Herald predicted that he would have “half the ladies of Australia drooling over their units”.
His most distinguished function noticed him make historical past, performing in a Prospect Theatre Firm manufacturing of Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II as Piers Gaveston, together with a younger Ian McKellen, after they carried out TV’s first ever homosexual kiss in 1970.
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The kiss got here three years after the decriminalisation of homosexuality, with McKellen later remarking that kissing Laurenson “was a bonus all through the run”.
Laurenson’s first massive function was in 1968, showing as Reverend Peter Hope within the long-running cleaning soap Coronation Road. He continued his profession in quite a few UK productions, together with State of Play, Spooks, The Lifeless of Jericho, Prime Suspect and Midsomer Murders. He additionally appeared in US sequence Cagney and Lacey and Remington Steele.
A few of his most up-to-date roles embrace the movie Matilda The Musical in 2022,The Terror in 2018 and The Crown in 2016, the place he performed the recurring function of Physician Sir John Weir, Doctor Royal to King Edward V and different royals.
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He was beforehand married to actress Carol Macready however they divorced in 1997, sharing one son named Jamie. Laurenson is survived by each him and his second spouse, Cari Haysom.
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