Gary Waldhorn

English actor and comedian (1943–2022)

Gary Peter Waldhorn (3 July 1943 – 10 January 2022) was an English actor and comedian known for his roles in British television and theatre. He is particularly remembered for his work in the main casts of several British sitcoms. Notable roles and characters played by him included Councillor David Horton in The Vicar of Dibley and Lionel Bainbridge in Brush Strokes.

Waldhorn was born in London on 3 July 1943 to Liselotte ( Popper) and Siegfried Waldhorn. His parents were Austrian Jews. He studied acting at the Yale School of Drama (graduated 1967) where he notably performed in new works written by playwright Lillian Hellman in 1966. While at Yale he met fellow student Christie Dickason, daughter of Indiana University academic David Howard Dickason, who became his wife and an active theatre director and choreographer in London and later a published playwright and novelist. He is known for his work in West End theatre productions and for his collaborations with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1972 he toured Australia and New Zealand in Harry M. Miller's production of Sleuth playing opposite Richard Todd.

Apart from appearing in The Vicar of Dibley, Waldhorn also made many television appearances from the 1970s including Softly, Softly, The Sweeney, Space: 1999, The New Avengers, Brideshead Revisited, The Professionals, Minder, Robin of Sherwood, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Bill, Heartbeat, Gallowglass and Lovejoy. He also played Lionel Bainbridge in the first three series of Brush Strokes before the character was written out, and Richard Beamish in the first series of All at No 20.

Waldhorn was a patron of Malawi Dream, a British registered charity working to help the people of Malawi in Africa. He married Christie Dickason on 2 April 1967; together they had one son, Joshua.