Hywel Thomas Bennett was a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett was best known for a series of films in the 60s starring opposite Hayley Mills, and later on television as James Shelley in the sitcom Shelley. After becoming known for his role in the comedy film The Virgin Soldiers, Bennett made appearances in films such as Loot and Percy. He was in EastEnders during 2003 as crime bossJack Dalton.
Bennett debuted on stage in the role of Ophelia in a Queen's Theatre production of Hamlet in 1959. His first film appearance was as Leonardo in the 1966 Italian Il marito è mio e l'ammazzo quando mi pare, directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile, a comedy in which a young wife carefully plans to murder her husband, who is 40 years her senior, to marry a young beatnik. He starred opposite Hayley Mills in several films, including The Family Way, Twisted Nerve and Endless Night. He starred in The Virgin Soldiers, the film adaptation of Loot by Joe Orton, and Percy. In 1969, contemporary critic Roger Ebert called him "one of England's best young actors". On television Bennett appeared in Doctor Who and The Sweeney. He played major parts in several Dennis Potter television plays, including Where the Buffalo Roam, an episode of 1978's Pennies from Heaven, "Better Think Twice", in which he played Tom, a pimp; Karaoke ; and Cold Lazarus. He took the lead role in Shelley and its sequel The Return of Shelley. He was also the villainous Mr Croup in Neil Gaiman's serial Neverwhere. Bennett also starred in the four-part BBC mini-series Malice Aforethoughtbased on a novel written in the 1920s by Francis Iles. Bennett's character, Ricki Tarr, was pivotal in the BBC serial based on John le Carré's novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He also appeared in Lock, Stock... as Deep Throat. In 2003, Bennett joined the cast of the long-running soap operaEastEnders as Jack Dalton – the ruthless gangland kingpin of Walford. Bennett also appeared as an occasional character, Peter Baxter, on The Bill and was in the first episode of Jam & Jerusalem. He appeared in the 1986 music video of "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It" by Bonnie Tyler and Todd Rundgren in which he lip synced Rundgren's vocals.
From 1970 to 1988, Bennett was married to Cathy McGowan, who was the presenter of the TV rock showReady Steady Go! in the mid-1960s. They had a daughter, Emma. In 1998, he married Sandra Layne Fulford. Bennett retired from acting in 2007 after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, and later moved to Deal, Kent. He died on 25 July 2017, aged 73.
