Andrew Ray

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Andrew Ray (31 May 1939 – 20 August 2003) was an English actor who was best known as a child star.

Andrew Ray was born in North London, the son of the famous radio comic Ted Ray and his wife, showgirl Dorothy (Sybil). Ray's life was transformed at the age of 10 when he was cast in the title part of The Mudlark, a 20th Century Fox film starring Alec Guinness and Irene Dunne. He played a street urchin who ends up meeting Queen Victoria. The film was chosen as the Royal Command Performance in 1950 and catapulted Ray to child stardom.

He went on to star in numerous film and theatre roles over the next few years, including on screen performances in The Yellow Balloon (with Kenneth More), Escapade (with Sir John Mills), Woman in a Dressing Gown (with Sylvia Sims), Serious Charge (with Anthony Quayle and Cliff Richard), The System (with Oliver Reed and David Hemmings) and Twice Round the Daffodils (with Juliet Mills and Kenneth Williams).

Noteworthy theatre roles included Flowering Cherry (with Sir Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson), and Taste of Honey on Broadway (with Angela Lansbury and Joan Plowright).

At the age of 19 he married the Zimbabwean actress Susan Burnet, and they later had two children.

Despite a rocky period in his twenties, Ray subsequently appeared in numerous film, theatre and television roles over the years - including as nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs for Anglia Television, and as King George VI in Crown Matrimonial on stage and television. So successful was his depiction on stage of the stammering George VI that he was cast in the same role (though when George was still Duke of York) in the hit television series Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978).^[1]

He also featured in television series such as Tales of the Unexpected, Upstairs, Downstairs, Inspector Morse, and Peak Practice. He portrayed Herbert Pocket in the 1974 television remake of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations.

In later years Ray was a committed member of Equity and served as a Councillor of the Actors' union.^[2]

Andrew Ray died at the age of 64, in 2003 from a heart attack. His brother Robin Ray was a well-known television and radio personality, who died in 1998, also at the age of 64.

[edit] References

^ [1] Article from The Independent by Tom Vallance August 26, 2003
^ [2] Andrew Ray's obituary on the British Equity website. Accessed January 1, 2008.