The actor Ray Brooks, who has died aged 86 after suffering from dementia, will be remembered by many television viewers for his mop of curly hair as he enjoyed a string of comedy successes in the 1980s and 90s. Later, switching to soap with EastEnders, he played Pauline Fowler’s second husband, Joe Macer, who killed Pauline in a Christmas Day row in 2006 that ended with him hitting her over the head with a frying pan.
But Brooks had made an indelible mark on screen early in his career in two productions that captured contrasting sides of the swinging 60s. First came a starring role in the 1965 film comedy The Knack … and How to Get It, as Tolen, the sharp-dressing womaniser who tutors his fellow lodger, Colin (played by Michael Crawford), a shy teacher, in the art of seduction, with Rita Tushingham as Nancy, their guinea pig. The New York Times described Brooks as “the ultimate in cool, with his dark suit, dark glasses, hipster haircut, droopy eyelids and disrobing voice”.
