Jack Shepherd, the esteemed English actor renowned for his portrayal of the titular character in the 1990s ITV detective drama “Wycliffe,” has died at the age of 85.
The Leeds-born television star passed away in a hospital following a brief illness, surrounded by his wife and children, according to the PA news agency.
“His passing is a sad loss to us all,” stated his agency, Markham, Froggatt and Irwin, in a statement.
Among his accolades was an Olivier Award for his performance in the original production of the play “Glengarry Glen Ross” in 1983.
Earlier in his career, he played Bill Brand in the 1970s ITV series of the same name, depicting the life of a fictional, impassioned Labour MP.
Shepherd also had a prolific career in film and was a respected playwright and theatre director.
Following his education in Leeds, he received a scholarship to Newcastle University to pursue fine art before relocating to London to study at The Central School for Speech and Drama.
He subsequently performed at the National Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre.
His breakthrough television role as Bill Brand earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in 1977.
A Spectator tribute last year described the show as a “time capsule of the 1970s – the brown everywhere, the fag-smoke and lunchtime beer, the patterned wallpaper, the rusty Ford Cortinas and sense of national decay”.
The character Shepherd embodied was described as “part of a long tradition, reminding the Left of the principles it has wandered from in the search for power”.
As the thoughtful Det Supt Charles Wycliffe, Shepherd solved murders in Cornwall across 36 episodes between 1993 and 1998.
His work as an actor in BBC productions ranged from portraying a schoolteacher in “Play for Today: Pidgeon – Hawk Or Dove?” (1974) to a barrister in “Blind Justice” (1988), and from embodying the Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn in the BBC docudrama “Beethoven” (2005) to an Auschwitz inmate in the drama “God on Trial” (2008).
Shepherd directed “The Two Gentlemen Of Verona” in 1996 at Shakespeare’s Globe, a production that also reached Broadway.
He collaborated with director Bill Bryden on multiple theatre productions and was also a skilled saxophonist and jazz pianist.
Jack Shepherd is survived by his wife, Ann Scott, and his five children: Jan, Jake, Victoria, Catherine, and Ben.
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