Balding, piercing-eyed British character actor, on stage from 1926 almost continuously until the late 1940's. Prior to acting worked in the coal mining industry in the north of England.
Played Edward VII in the tv series Upstairs, Downstairs before his son, actor Timothy West took the role of the king.
During the war he became a full time war reserve policeman while doing part time work for the BBC and wrote and organized police concerts in which son Timothy played in a lot of them.