Peter Vaughan, who will be most famous to comedy fans as Grouty in Porridge, has died aged 93.
Vaughan was only in three episodes and the movie version of the prison sitcom but he made an immediate impact as the menacing hard man of HMP Slade.
He was working right up to his death and most recently attracted a whole new fanbase as Maester Aemon in Game of Thrones. He had been due to appear at the Museum Of Comedy in London on December 18 to discuss his career in a show entitled "It's Only Grouty" and his memoir, Once A Villain, had only been published earlier this year.
He also appeared in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith and TV dramas Chancer and Our Friends in the North.
His agent Sally Long-Innes said: "Very sadly Peter Vaughan passed away at approximately 10.30 this morning. He died peacefully with his family around him."
