Donald Sinden dies at 90

Sitcom career spanned four decades

Donald Sinden, who became a stalwart of sitcoms after forging his name as a Shakespearean actor, has died at his home at the age of 90.

He had developed prostate cancer several years ago and his son, the actor and film director Marc Sinden, said: 'My father has finished dying. He suffered for a few years from prostate cancer which slowly spread.'

'He bravely continued presenting our Sky Arts documentary series Great West End Theatres in spite of a minor stroke, until it became just too difficult for him and at his insistence his illness was kept from all but the closest friends.

'It had been an ambition of his to get as many of his wonderful theatrical memories and anecdotes down on film to share with people, in and outside of our profession, who may have never heard his extraordinary tales of a hugely long career.

'Not many knew, for instance, that he was the last person living to have known Oscar Wilde’s lover Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie) and was one of only two people to attend his funeral.

'He worked out that he only had a total of five weeks unemployment between 1942 and 2008, which was probably a record in itself.'

After training at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sinden became widely known with the gentle ITV sitcom Our Man at St Mark's, about village life. He took over as in the lead role of the vicar from Leslie Phillips in 1964 and stayed for the remaining three series.

From 1975 to 1979 he starred in LWT sitcom Two's Company, playing an English butler to Elaine Stritch's abrasive American author. Most of the episodes were two-handers, with the pair exchanging sharp lines based on the transatlantic culture clash.

In 1981, Sinden starred in Never the Twain as a snooty antiques dealer who lived next door to a competitor played by Windsor Davies. Despite their mutual antagonism, the characters discovered that their son and daughter were to be married. The series ran for 11 series until 1991.