Obituary: George Baker, actor fondly remembered as television’s affable Chief Inspector Wexford

Born: 1 April, 1931, in Bulgaria. Died: 7 October, 2011, in Wiltshire. Aged 80

THERE was a cheerful and relaxed feel about George Baker that he brought to the character of Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. That avuncular quality suited the character admirably and it much appealed to the public.

On the set, Baker was on first-name terms with everyone behind and in front of the camera. He was liked by everyone and everyone enjoyed his company. His affable courteous manners maintained spirits throughout the many years of filming.

But Baker had shown he could play tough and nasty too and indeed was one of Ian Flemings’ choices to play James Bond. The casting, of course, went to Sean Connery but the two were firm friends and had appeared together in an ITV Play of the Week in 1959 called The Square Ring.

But it was Reginald Wexford that made Baker a star. With his west country burr and stolid, rather plodding methods, Wexford became a television favourite. There was a certain grumpiness in his manner, but it was mixed with a down-to-earth affability that made Baker’s realisation so watchable. There was never anything underhand or gratuitously violent and Baker rather enjoyed playing him straight down the middle.

George Baker was born in Bulgaria, where his father was a diplomat. But as war approached, Baker and his mother, an Irish nurse, hastily returned to Britain. His father stayed in Bulgaria and Baker was never to see him again.

After school at Lancing College in Sussex and National Service, he joined various repertory theatres. Baker made his London West End debut in Frederick Lonsdale’s Aren’t We All? (1953), but it was the cinema that spotted Baker’s real potential. His handsome appearance and excellent voice made him ideal for heroic cameo characters

Baker’s first major role came in The Dam Busters, in which he played Gp/Capt David Maltby. Baker always considered he got the role because the two looked so similar. “When I met Gp Capt Whitworth,” Baker wrote years later, “he fell into the habit of calling me Dave, which was really quite disconcerting.”

Throughout the Sixties, Baker was often seen on stage with the Old Vic company and the Royal Shakespeare Company, including Richard II with John Justin and Maggie Smith (which visited Moscow), The Importance of Being Earnest and with Barbara Jefford in Saint Joan.

At the RSC in 1975, Baker had various roles in Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry V, he played Claudius in a memorable modern dress production of Hamlet (played by Ben Kingsley) and in 1978 he directed the Prospect Company with Derek Jacobi in The Lady’s Not for Burning.

In 1965, he started a brave venture managing the Regency Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmund’s, Suffolk. But television lured him back and he made one of his most memorable appearances in the award winning series I, Claudius on BBCTV. His Tiberius was a central character and Baker, with his white hair and bushy eyebrows, delivered a thrilling performance in a cast that was star-studded, including, of course, Jacobi.

There was much good humour on set as the actors’ real ages were out of kilter with those of their character’s. As Sian Phillips ruefully wrote in her memoirs: “Not for the first time, I was playing the mother of someone [Baker] who was my senior.”

Baker’s other films included Goodbye Mr Chips, The 39 Steps three Bond movies: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (with George Lazenby) The Spy Who Loved Me (with Roger Moore) and You Only Live Twice (with Connery).

He maintained a significant presence on television, with a host of roles in popular series such as The Fenn Street Gang, Z Cars and Minder.

Baker was an inspector to Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple and while filming at Ealing Studios the director John Davies stopped to listen: as soon as he heard the warmth of Baker’s voice, he knew he had found his Wexford for his planned series based on Rendell’s books.

Between 1987 and 2000, Baker filmed 23 episodes of the series, with Christopher Ravenscroft as his sidekick and Louie Ramsay as his wife – she was also the actor’s third wife. It proved a hugely successful enterprise and won large audiences in the UK and sold worldwide.

Rendell has spoken over the weekend enthusiastically of Baker’s portrayal of her character: “George was not just the most wonderful actor, but the most wonderfully warm and vibrant person. George made Wexford.”

Baker married three times and all his wives predeceased him. He is survived by four daughters from his first marriage and one from his second.

ALASDAIR STEVEN