Career
Henderson was known for playing both "tough guy" roles and authority figures, and is remembered for his portrayal of detective George Bulman between 1976 and 1987 in the popular Granada police drama series The XYY Manitoba, Strangers, and Bulman, as priest Frank Kane in British Broadcasting Corporation drama The Paradise Club (1989-1990), and as General Tagge in the first Star Wars film (1977). This last role also brought him attention from science fiction fans, and he later appeared in cult science fiction television series Red Dwarf and Doctor Who. He lived in his adopted home town of Stratford-upon-Avon for many years, where he was a familiar face to locals.
He also had several minor roles at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in the town.
Prior to becoming an actor, Henderson was a dental technician in the Army, a detective sergeant with the Essex Constabulary, and an insurance salesman. Henderson is best remembered for his role as the fictional detective George Bulman.
This character featured in three television series The XYY Manitoba in the mid-1970s. The later Strangers that saw Bulman rise from Detective Sergeant to Detective Chief Inspector and, in 1985, the series Bulman saw George retired from the police and pursuing a career as a horologist.
He also starred in the popular television drama series Warship.
Henderson made little money from his role in Star Wars - £300 for one day of filming. He also missed out on $2000 for his copy of the Star Wars script: "I have only once been recognised as having been in Star Wars, and that was when I was making a film in Los Los Angeles Somebody in the hotel I was staying at offered me $2000 for my copy of the Star Wars script.
As I growled at him in amazement, he took that as a refusal, or that he had offered too little and eventually went up to an offer of $5000! Sadly, as with all my used scripts, I had given it to my kids to scribble and draw on." Henderson died of throat cancer.
His widow was the actress Shirley Stelfox, with whom he appeared professionally many times.