Stage and Screen Actor John Challis, Best Known For 'Only Fools and Horses' Dies at 79

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that actor John Challis has died at age 79.

Challis is best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass, as well as Monty Staines in the ITV sitcom Benidorm.

His other television appearances include Dixon of Dock Green, Thriller, The Sweeney, Doctor Who (The Seeds of Doom), Dracula, Beau Geste, Juliet Bravo, Coronation Street, Bloomers, Citizen Smith, Ever Decreasing Circles, Doctor Snuggles, Chance in a Million, The Bill, One Foot in the Grave, Open All Hours, The New Statesman, Don't Wait Up, Soldier Soldier, Brass Eye, My Family, In Sickness and in Health, Benidorm and Heartbeat.

On BBC radio, he played an interrogator in the play Rules of Asylum by James Follett, broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 1973. He also played Dibden Purlew in Getting Nowhere Fast from 2001 to 2004. In 2006 he took a cameo role in BBC's The Impressionists as Station Master Garre Saint Lézasr.

In addition to his work on screen, Challis appeared on stage several times, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre. In 1995 he performed in productions of Richard III and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Regents Park in London.

He appeared in the pantomime Peter Pan as Captain Hook at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport and at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. His other panto roles include Ebenezer in Aladdin at the Weston Playhouse, and King Rat in Dick Whittington at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport.