Actor Nicholas Ball has died at age 78, his agent announced Thursday.
The star played gang lord Terry Bates in BBC soap EastEnders, who attacked Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) while vandalizing the Queen Victoria pub, and in drama Footballers’ Wives he took on the role of club president and former rock star. Garry Ryan.
In a statement, Ball’s agent said he “passed away after a brief illness” and that his “successful acting career on stage and screen spanned an impressive six decades.”
Nicholas starred in EastEnders between 2007 and 2009 before his character Terry was arrested and found guilty of the murder of Jase Dyer (played by Stephen Lord) in one of the show’s biggest storylines.
Terry was eliminated from the show and is said to have died in 2019.
Nicholas also starred in the private detective show Hazell as the main character, James ‘Jim’ Hazell, a former Cockney policeman originally created by Gordon Williams and footballer Terry Venables, who wrote books under the name PB Yuill.
Actor Nicholas Ball has died at age 78, his agent announced Thursday. The star played gang lord Terry Bates in BBC soap EastEnders.
In a statement, Ball’s agent said he “passed away after a brief illness” and that his “successful acting career on stage and screen spanned an impressive six decades.”
Ball also appeared in episodes of crime shows Jonathan Creek, Hustle, Heartbeat and Bergerac along with the comedies Red Dwarf and The Young Ones and the drama The Crezz.
He also had roles in small and big screen films, including the war drama Overlord, the thriller Rogue Male, the crime drama The Krays: Dead Man Walking, and the Jilly Cooper adaptation The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous.
Ball recently filmed the 2024 rural drama The Kingdom By The Sea, alongside Coronation Street actress Rula Lenska.
He is survived by his widow Ayda.
Ball was previously married to comedian Sir Billy Connolly’s second wife, comedy actress turned therapist Pamela Stephenson after they met on the set of Not The Nine O’Clock News.
He starred in the private detective show Hazell as the main character, James ‘Jim’ Hazell, a former Cockney policeman originally created by Gordon Williams and Terry Venables.
Ball was previously married to comedian Sir Billy Connolly’s second wife, comedy actress turned therapist Pamela Stephenson after they met on Not The Nine O’Clock News.