Bill Thomas (actor)

In forty six years as a professional actor Bill played four hundred and sixty three characters but never a doctor, policeman or soldier, until his last film Loving Vincent in which he was Dr Mazery.

From 2010 he struggled to remember lines and gave up acting in 2016 to become the doorman at Selfridges, the famous department store in London's Oxford Street, effectively his West End debut, and the most glamorous job he ever had.

A generation of young adults know him as Mr Tucknott the pompous and terrifying bank manager in the classic Bodger and Badger series on BBCTV.

He was Arturo UI in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by David Gilmore at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and went on to lead roles in repertory for much his early career (including six plays by Shakespeare) having five children in the process with his wife, whom he met at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke in his first job out of Rose Bruford College.

He has a long connection with the Theatre Royal, Stratford, E15, where with Jeff Teare and Patrick Prior he pioneered a series of political dramas, developing and performing leading roles in satirical attacks on Margaret Thatchers government.