Victor Spinetti

Vittorio Giorgio Andre "Victor" Spinetti (2 September 1929 – 19 June 2012) was a Welsh actor, author, poet and raconteur. He appeared in dozens of films and stage plays throughout his fifty-year career, including the three 1960s Beatles films A Hard Day's Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour. Born in Cwm, Spinetti was educated at Monmouth School and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, of which he became a Fellow. After various menial jobs, Spinetti pursued a stage career and was closely associated with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. Among the productions were Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be and Oh, What a Lovely War! (1963), which transferred to Broadway and for which he won a Tony Award. Spinetti's film career developed simultaneously; his dozens of film appearances included Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew, Under Milk Wood, The Return of the Pink Panther and Under the Cherry Moon. During his later career, Spinetti acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company in such roles as Lord Foppington in The Relapse and the Archbishop in Richard III at Stratford-upon-Avon; and, in 1990, he appeared in The Krays. At age 70+, Victor remained active under the theatre lights playing Baron Bomburst in the musical version of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in 2003 and Baron Zeta in the operetta "The Merry Widow" in 2004. In 2008 he appeared in a one-man show, A Very Private Diary, which toured the UK as A Very Private Diary ... Revisited!, recounting his life story. Spinetti was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011 and died of the disease in June 2012.