‘Barry Lyndon’ actor, Murray Melvin, dies aged 90
The English actor, Murray Melvin, who worked with Stanley Kubrick in 1975’s Barry Lyndon, has passed away at the age of 90.
Best known for his role in the 1961 film A Taste Of Honey, for which he won the award for ‘Best Actor’ at Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for ‘Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles’ at the BAFTAs, Melvin played a gay textile designer who befriends a young pregnant woman. In addition, Melvin also thrived in Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Devil’s and the 2004 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera.
Away from his time on the silver screen, Melvin also appeared in the BBC TV series Torchwood, where he worked with the show’s creator Russell T Davies and stars John Barrowman and Eve Myles.
In a tribute to Melvin, Davies wrote on Instagram: “Murray Melvin (1932-2023), bless him, he played the wonderful villain in Torchwood, Bilis Manger, and he loved it! But what a career! He created the great, gay Geoffrey in A Taste of Honey, on stage and on film. Tons of work with Joan Littlewood and Ken Russell. Amazing. Such a gent. He lived through a century that saw the understanding of his identity change so profoundly, and he did so with dignity, class and wit”.
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