Ivor Dean

Ivor Donald Dean 21 December 1917 10 August 1974 was a British stage film and television actor With his lugubrious demeanour he was often cast as worldweary police officers or butlers and it is for the role of Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal in the 1960s series The Saint opposite Roger Moore that he is best knownDean played Teal for almost the entire run of the series except three instances in early episodes where other actors were used It was on the third occasion in an episode called Starring The Saint which featured Dean in another role that the producers saw the ideal actor for the part Dean proved the ideal foil for Moores Simon Templar invariably one step behind and allegedly hoping for the day when he could pin something on Templar Deans character however seemed to have a respect for his adversary nonetheless Dean reprised the role in all but name in Randall and Hopkirk Deceased 196869 in which he played Inspector Large who had an even more adversarial relationship with the much less suave Jeff Randall Dean also appeared in oneoff roles in several other ITC series including Jason King and The Persuaders he appeared as a butler in 3 episodes of the longrunning LWT sitcom Doctor at Large and featured in three episodes of The Avengers In 1964 he played estate agent Alfred Wormold in the longrunning soap opera Coronation Street selling No 13 Coronation Street to Stan Ogden and his wife Hilda Dean also portrayed Long John Silver in a FrancoGerman television adaptation of Treasure Island entitled Die Schatzinsel L île au Tresor 1966 He contributed to a followup script with Saint producer Robert S Baker but it never materialised before his death Baker continued to develop the project and it was finally made as the 10 part serial Return to Treasure Island in 1986 It was scripted by John Goldsmith and the part of Long John Silver was played by Brian Blessed His other film appearances include Theatre of Death and the Pride segment of The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins In 1949 Dean married British actress Patricia Hamilton with whom he had three daughters He died of heart failure aged 56 in Truro Cornwall in August 1974