Andrew Ray


Andrew Ray was an English actor who was best known as a child star.

Biography

He was born Andrew Olden in Southgate, Middlesex, the son of the 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.
He was featured in numerous films during the next few years, including The Yellow Balloon, Escapade, Woman in a Dressing Gown, The Young and the Guilty, Serious Charge with Cliff Richard, Twice Round the Daffodils, and The System. He also portrayed Herbert Pocket in the ITC remake of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations opposite Michael York. His later films included Rough Cut, The Bunker, Pope John Paul II and Paris by Night.
Theatre roles included Flowering Cherry, and A Taste of Honey on Broadway.
At the age of 19, he married the Rhodesian actress Susan Burnet and they later had two children.
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 in the television series Edward & Mrs. Simpson.
He starred in six episodes of television series Tales of the Unexpected, "The Wrong 'Un", "Royal Jelly", "Poison", "The Way To Do It", "The Best Chess Player in the World" and "Accidental Death". He also appeared in Upstairs, Downstairs, Inspector Morse, and Peak Practice.
In later years, Ray was a committed member of Equity and served as a Councillor of the actors' union.
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.

Filmography