Roger Lloyd-Pack


Roger Lloyd-Pack was an English actor. He is best known for the role of Trigger in Only Fools and Horses from 1981 to 2003 and Owen Newitt in The Vicar of Dibley from 1994 to 2007. He later starred as Tom in The Old Guys with Clive Swift. He is also well known for playing Barty Crouch, Sr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and for his appearances in Doctor Who as John Lumic in the episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel". He was sometimes credited without the hyphen in his surname. He died in 2014 from pancreatic cancer.

Early life

Lloyd-Pack was born in Islington, London, the son of Ulrike Elisabeth, an Austrian Jewish refugee who worked as a travel agent, and Charles Lloyd-Pack, who was also an actor. He attended Bedales School near Petersfield in Hampshire, where he achieved A Level passes in English, French and Latin. He subsequently trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he worked with actors including Kenneth Cranham and Richard Wilson.

Career

Roger Lloyd-Pack began his acting career at Northampton's Royal Theatre, which he revisited when he appeared in the tour of BlueOrange. On British television he was best known for portraying "Trigger" in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He was also known for his role in The Vicar of Dibley as Owen Newitt, and to international audiences his greatest fame was as Barty Crouch, Sr. in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
In 2005, he appeared in the second series of ITV's Doc Martin as a farmer who held a grudge against Doctor Ellingham for what he believed was the malpractice-related death of his wife. In 2006, he played John Lumic and provided the voice of the Cyber-Controller in two episodes of Doctor Who, "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel", opposite David Tennant, who had played his son in the same Harry Potter film. Lloyd-Pack's final TV appearance was in as Alex Greene.

Personal life

Lloyd-Pack was married twice: first to Sheila Ball, from whom he was divorced in 1972, and secondly to the poet and dramatist Jehane Markham, whom he married in 2000. He had one daughter, actress Emily Lloyd, and three sons. He lived most latterly in Kentish Town, North London, but also had a home near Fakenham in Norfolk.
Lloyd-Pack supported Tottenham Hotspur. He voiced the pre-match build-up montage video shown ahead of all Tottenham Hotspur's home matches which is still played today.
In June 2008, he appeared as a guest on the BBC's The Politics Show, arguing the case for better-integrated public transport. He was an honorary patron of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.
Lloyd-Pack supported the Labour Party and campaigned for Ken Livingstone in the 2012 London mayoral election. However, in 2013, he signed a letter in The Guardian stating he had withdrawn his support from the Labour Party, in favour of a new party of the left.
In a 2008 interview, when asked what profession he would have chosen aside from acting, Lloyd-Pack said: "Psychiatrist or a psychoanalyst or something in the psycho world because I’ve always been interested in that... or I might have been a photographer... I also would have loved to have been a musician." In that same interview, he listed his favourite directors as Peter Gill, Harold Pinter, Richard Eyre, Thea Sharrock, and Tina Packer, and also listed actor Paul Scofield as both a favourite and influence.
In January 2012, he and fellow actor Sarah Parish supported a campaign to raise £1million for The Bridge School in Islington.

Death

Lloyd-Pack died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Kentish Town aged 69 on 15 January 2014. His funeral was held at the church of St. Paul's, Covent Garden. It was attended by Sir David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, John Challis and Sue Holderness. Nigel Havers, Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Alison Steadman, Kathy Burke and Joely Richardson paid tribute to him. His body was buried at Highgate Cemetery. In March that year, the Sport Relief special of Only Fools and Horses was dedicated to the memory of both Lloyd-Pack and John Sullivan.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage