Phantom of the Opera actor Murray Melvin dead at 90

LONDON (AFP): Actor Murray Melvin, who appeared in the 2004 film version of The Phantom of the Opera, has died, his friends said. He was 90.

Melvin, who rose to prominence as Geoffrey, the gay art student, in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, died at St Thomas’ hospital in London on Friday.

“It’s with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Murray Melvin – actor, director and theatre archivist,” theatre director Kerry Michael wrote on Twitter.

“He had a fall in December, from which he never fully recovered.

“He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him.”

Melville, who was born in London in 1932, made his stage debut in 1957 at the Theatre Royal in Stratford in Macbeth.

During his career he worked with eminent directors Joan Littlewood, Ken Russell and Stanley Kubrick.

He stared in films such as Alfie with Michael Caine in 1966 and in Kubrick’s war drama, Barry Lyndon, in 1975.

He who won a BAFTA film award for Most Promising Newcomer and Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award for his role in A Taste of Honey in 1961.

“Murray Melvin: actor, director, Theatre Workshop alumnus, archivist and beautiful man, died yesterday,” broadcaster Samira Ahmed tweeted.

“He was 90. I was so lucky to call him my friend. I saw him the day before he died and he was always full of amazing stories from his life. I will miss him so much.”