Leo McKern, Australian star of 'Rumpole,' dies at age 82
Mr. McKern, a diabetic who had been ill for some time, died at a nursing home near his home in Bath, western England, said his agent, Richard Hatton.
Mr. McKern starred as Horace Rumpole in 44 episodes between 1975 and 1992, playing a crafty lawyer given to quoting poetry, swilling "Chateau Thames Embankment" at Pomeroy's wine bar and dueling at home with his wife, Hilda — "she who must be obeyed."
The distinctive appearance of Mr. McKern's fleshy face was due in part to a glass left eye, the result of an accident when he was a 15-year-old apprentice to an engineer.
"Rumpole," created by British lawyer John Mortimer, won a global audience, and Mr. McKern resigned himself to the inevitable typecasting. "With Rumpole one comes to be reconciled to the fact that it isn't half a bad thing to be stuck with," he once said.
Mortimer praised Mr. McKern: "He not only played the character Rumpole, he added to it, brightened it and brought it fully to life." Actor Peter Bowles, who played Guthrie Featherstone in "Rumpole," called Mr. McKern "one of those rare actors who had no pomposity. He wasn't a luvvie. He never took himself seriously and had always kept the child within him."
Born Reginald McKern in Sydney, he moved to Britain in 1946, two years after making his stage debut.
Some of his early British stage appearances came at the Old Vic Theater between 1949 and 1952 and at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater between 1952 and 1954.
In 1967 and 1968, Mr. McKern was one of several actors who played No. 2, the authoritarian figure in the cult television show "The Prisoner," starring Patrick McGoohan.
Mr. McKern's film roles included "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), The Beatles' "Help!" (1965), "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), "Ryan's Daughter" (1970) and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981).
His last film role was as a bishop in "The Story of Father Damien" in 1999.
He is survived by his wife, Jane Holland, and two daughters. A private family funeral was planned.