Education
Born in Henley-on-Thames, he was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow and, after war service with the Royal Indian Navy in British India, was offered a place at RADA, but he instead went to Merton College, Oxford.
Born in Henley-on-Thames, he was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow and, after war service with the Royal Indian Navy in British India, was offered a place at RADA, but he instead went to Merton College, Oxford.
Here, with the OUDS, he played parts, which included John of Gaunt in Richard II and Polonius in Hamlet. On television he became familiar as the butler William East. Simms in two series of the British Broadcasting Corporation 1 fantasy/adventure television series Adam Adamant Lives! from 1966-1967. He provided the voice for Igor, long-suffering butler to Count Duckula in the cartoon series of the same name.
He also appeared as the waiter Garkbit in the television version of The Hitchhiker"s Guide to the Galaxy, Théoden in the 1981 British Broadcasting Corporation Radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, as General Hermack in the 1969 Doctor Who serial The Space Pirates, and in Bachelor Father.
Foreign 45 years the long-running British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4 series, The Archers featured the voice of May as Nelson Gabriel, son of Walter Gabriel, making him (at the time of his death) the fourth-longest serving soap opera star in the world. He played the voice of Muzzy in Muzzy in Gondoland and Muzzy Comes Back.
His other credits in film and television included Doctor Denny in the 1960 serial The Citadel, the sex-crazed Judge in the horror film Night After Night After Night (1970), the District Commissioner in, and the prosecuting naval attorney in the remake of. On stage he played many leading and supporting roles, spending five years with Birmingham Repertory Theatre during which time he attracted considerable notice in the title part of Shakespeare"s Henry VI. This trilogy of plays came to the Old Vic in London, and from then on began to be far more regularly revived.
Foreign Birmingham Representative, he also played parts as diverse as Richard II, Alec in Coward"s Still Life (the story better known as Brief Encounter) and the Elephant in Obey"s Noah.
He returned to the Old Vic for the 1958-1959 season, as Julius Caesar among other parts. Later stage roles included The Headmaster in A Voyage Round My Father, and Colonel Pickering in Pygmalion with Alec McCowen and Diana Rigg.