Tony Britton

Anthony Edward Lowry Britton (9 June 1924 – 22 December 2019) was an English actor. He appeared in a variety of films (including The Day of the Jackal) and television sitcoms (including Don't Wait Up and Robin's Nest He is the father of presenter Fern Britton, scriptwriter Cherry Britton and actor Jasper Britton. Life and career Britton was born in a room above the Trocadero public house in Temple Street, Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Doris Marguerite (née Jones) and Edward Leslie Britton. He attended Edgbaston Collegiate School, Birmingham and Thornbury Grammar School, Gloucestershire. During the Second World War he served in the Army and he also worked for an estate agent and in an aircraft factory. He joined an amateur dramatics group in Weston-super-Mare and then turned professional, appearing on stage at the Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He appeared in numerous British films from the 1950s onwards, including Operation Amsterdam (1959), Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and The Day of the Jackal (1973). Britton won the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor in 1975 for The Nearly Man.