[2] A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Beckley went on to carve out a career on film and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s, often playing villainous roles, as well as being a veteran of numerous stage productions.

[2] When he was five years old, Beckley and his mother moved to Portsmouth and when the Second World War broke out he was sent to Winchester, where he attended boarding school at Winton House.

While his mother wanted him to do "something nice and safe", like working in the civil service, Beckley discovered that acting was what was going to make him happy when he saw a performance in Portsmouth of Emlyn Williams' The Corn is Green by the Court Players, a local repertory company.

[2] After guest roles in popular TV series such as Sergeant Cork, The Saint, Z-Cars and the then revolutionary[5] comedy programme Dig This Rhubarb[6] Beckley made his film debut in 1965 as Ned Poins in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight.

Beckley appeared in a number of films for director Peter Collinson: The Penthouse (1967); The Long Day's Dying (1968); and most memorably as Camp Freddie in The Italian Job (1969).

[7] He remained active in the theatre, appearing in the West End in Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings with Elaine Stritch and in Snap with Maggie Smith.

[7] Although he kept a house in Fulham, London, and had three dogs, Beckley spent time living in California during the last year of his life in an apartment in West Hollywood.