Stage and screen star Roger Lloyd-Pack, best known to TV fans as Only Fools And Horses’ endearingly dim-witted Trigger, has died at the age of 69. He had been fighting pancreatic cancer.
According to his agent the performer, who worked prolifically in theatre, television and film, died peacefully on 15 January surrounded by his family.
The Islington-born son of Hammer Horror star Charles Lloyd-Pack, the actor was undoubtedly best known for his work on TV sitcoms, both in Only Fools And Horses and The Vicar Of Dibley, though his career took in a vast range of work.
On stage, he worked extensively at the National Theatre, in productions including Rosmersholm and Yerma, in the West End and across the UK. In recent years he appeared in Jez Butterworth’s The Winterling at the Royal Court, played Sarah The Cook in the Barbican’s production of Dick Whittington And His Cat, starred in Dealer’s Choice at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Trafalgar Studios, and joined Mark Rylance in the hugely successful Shakespeare’s Globe productions of Richard III and Twelfth Night, playing the Duke Of Buckingham and Sir Andrew Aguecheek.
Friends and colleagues have been paying tribute to the actor, his Only Fools And Horses co-star David Jason leading the way, saying: “I was very saddened to hear of Roger’s passing… He was a very intelligent man and a very fine actor capable of many roles. I shall remember him with fondness and for all the good times we had together.”
On Twitter his Globe co-star Paul Chahidi said: “Terribly sad news about Roger Lloyd Pack. A wonderful actor & human being. An honour to have shared the stage with him.”
Samuel Barnett, who worked with Lloyd-Pack on both Dealer’s Choice and the Globe productions, said: “Absolutely gutted to hear about Roger Lloyd Pack. Loved him. A dear, dear man. Kind, gentle, full of goodness, hugely talented, big heart.” Samuel West, who directed him in Dealer’s Choice, described him as: “A top bloke, a great actor and a friend to innumerable causes… his Ash [in Dealer’s Choice] was devastatingly cool, cruel and sad – so unlike the joyous, approachable, beautifully silly man.”
Lloyd-Pack is survived by his wife, the poet Jehane Markham, and four children.