James Beck

Beck was born on 21 February 1929 in Islington, North London, and attended Popham Road Primary School. After attending Saint Martin's School of Art and doing his national service as a physical training instructor in the British Army, Beck became an actor. ==Career==

Theatre In 1949, Beck made his career acting debut in Little Lambs Eat Ivy at the Granville Theatre, Ramsgate. and followed in Peace Comes to Peckham and Miranda, In 1968, he was offered the role of Private Walker in ''Dad's Army'', originally written by Jimmy Perry for himself. Perry approved of the casting of Beck: "He had the right mix of cheekiness and charm. He gave the role a bit of oomph." Always in demand, he continued to work on TV programmes including A Family at War (1970) and Romany Jones (1972–73), in which he played the lead character of Bert Jones. He also recorded a pilot for an uncommissioned series called Bunclarke With an E (1973), which was to be based on scripts originally written for ''Hancock's Half Hour'' and in which Arthur Lowe was also to appear. ==Death==

By 1973, Beck had recorded five series of ''Dad's Army'' and had nearly finished working on the sixth, besides working on the radio series of the show. suffering from pancreatitis. He died three weeks later of a combination of heart failure, renal failure, and pancreatitis. He was 44. ==Filmography==

Film Television Radio ==References==