Michael Elphick, the British acting legend who played EastEnders villain Harry Slater, died at just 55 from a heart attack complicated by his drinking. He collapsed at his London home days before his 56th birthday, complaining of chest pains, and died on September 7, 2002.
A career launched by Laurence Olivier
Born in Chichester, the son of a butcher, Elphick caught the acting bug early, starring in school productions including Noah and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He did not seriously consider acting as a career until age 15, first toying with joining the Merchant Navy and working at his local boatyard during school holidays.
However, when he was taken on as an apprentice electrician at the Chichester Festival Theatre at 15 as it was being built, his interest became irresistible after watching stars such as Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave and Sybil Thorndike. Olivier told the youngster to enroll in drama school and gave him the two speeches he used in his audition.
At 18, despite offers from several drama schools, Elphick chose the Central School of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage, London, partly because Olivier himself had studied there. After graduating, his first roles were menacing 'heavies', but in 1969 he won the role of the Captain in Tony Richardson's Hamlet, and his career bloomed.
Film, stage and television success
Elphick won roles in The First Great Train Robbery and The Elephant, played Phil Daniels' father in Quadrophenia in 1979, starred as Pasha in Gorky Park in 1983, and appeared as Jake in Withnail and I in 1987. On stage, he played the Player King in Hamlet in the West End and on Broadway, with his final West End appearance in 1997 as Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Albery Theatre.
On television, he had a small role in Coronation Street in 1974 before appearing in The Professionals and Private Schulz, a World War Two drama where he played the lead. In the 1980s, he played Irish labourer Magowan in the first series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, then won the role of Sam Tyler in four series of Three Up, Two Down.
In 1986, he landed his biggest role to date in Boon, playing Ken Boon, a retired fireman who opened a motorbike despatch business and became a private investigator. The show ran for seven series with an audience of 11 million viewers at its peak. After Boon ended, he played Harry Salter, a former Fleet Street journalist who opened a news agency in the North East, in the series Harry, but it was soon cancelled.
EastEnders villain and personal struggles
He later appeared as Billy Bones in Ken Russell's Treasure Island and Barkis in David Copperfield. In 2001, he joined EastEnders as Harry Slater, introduced as a love interest for Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor. Harry was exposed as a truly evil character who had sexually abused his niece, Kat Slater, played by Jessie Wallace, when she was 13, resulting in the birth of her daughter Zoe, played by Michelle Ryan, who was brought up to believe Kat was her mother. The scene where Kat revealed the truth to Zoe was watched by 19 million people.
Behind the scenes, Elphick was struggling with heavy drinking, which affected his performance, and his character left the same year he joined, killed off-screen. He had first tried to stop drinking in 1988 before joining Alcoholics Anonymous in the early 1990s, but in 1993 he admitted he was still drinking. Three years later, he confessed he was drinking heavily and had even considered ending his life following the death of his long-term partner, teacher Julia Alexander, in 1996. The couple had been together since 1963 until she died of cancer.
He later said: "At the time of Julia's death I said that I felt like shooting myself. I actually said I was going to shoot myself on my 50th birthday and that really was how I felt. But I don't feel like that any more."
Tributes from co-stars
Following his death, his EastEnders co-stars paid tribute. Barbara Windsor said: "I liked him very much. He was a terrific actor and has left a great legacy of great shows." June Brown, who played Dot Cotton, added: "I was so shocked. He was a very humble man who had no side to him. He was such a wonderful actor over the years and I'm sure the world of theatre and TV will miss him." Martin Kemp, who worked with Elphick in The Krays and EastEnders, said: "He was lovely to work with and he was a great actor." His mother, Joan, said: "He wanted to be an actor from the age of 10 and was very quiet and very kind, just like his father - a very nice person. Michael won a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage in London when he was 18. Before that he did a lot of theatre and worked with Laurence Olivier."
