David Ryall ✝

David John Ryall (5 January 1935 – 25 December 2014) was an English stage, film and television character actor. He had leading roles in Lytton's Diary and Goodnight Sweetheart, as well as memorable roles in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective and Andrew Davies's adaptation of To Play the King. He also portrayed Billy Buzzle in the ITV sitcom Bless Me, Father and Frank in the BBC sitcom Outnumbered. Born in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, Ryall was educated at Shoreham and Wallington grammar schools. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1962; during which time he won the Caryl Brahms Award for a Musical. On leaving RADA, he went into repertory theatre in Salisbury, Bristol, Leicester and Birmingham (including King Lear and The Master Builder) and then into Laurence Olivier's company with the National Theatre at the Old Vic from 1965 to 1973. During this time he was involved with many new and influential plays, including Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Jumpers, Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun and Adrian Mitchell's Tyger. Other work at the National Theatre included Guys and Dolls, The Beggar's Opera, Coriolanus (for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award in 1985) and Animal Farm, The School for Wives, Wild Oats, Democracy and The UN Inspector. In 1979 Ryall played a small role as a mechanic in the episode, Earnshaw Strikes Back, in the long running BBC series Last of the Summer Wine. In 1983 he worked on 'A Matter of the Officers' and Jean Seberg with Julian Barry, who remained a lifelong friend. In 1984 Ryall performed a one-man show of stories and poems by Edward Bond at the NT, entitled A Leap in the Light.