Born in Cwm, Spinetti was educated at Monmouth School and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, of which he became a Fellow.

During his later career, Spinetti acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company in such roles as Lord Foppington in The Relapse and the Archbishop in Richard III at Stratford-upon-Avon; and, in 1990, he appeared in The Krays.

Vittorio Giorgio Andre Spinetti was born on 2 September 1929[1] in Cwm, of Welsh and Italian descent from a grandfather who was said to have 'walked' from Italy to Wales to work as a coal miner, just to earn enough money to buy a plough.

[5] His parents, Giuseppe and Lily (née Watson),[1] owned the chip shop in Cwm, over which premises the family lived and where Spinetti was born.

The best explanation for this long-running collaboration and friendship might have been provided by George Harrison, who told Spinetti, "You've got to be in all our films ... if you're not in them me Mum won't come and see them – because she fancies you.

Spinetti's July 2010 performance of the song "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", at the Festival Theatre, Malvern in Worcestershire, was available on "The Beatles Complete on Ukulele" podcast.

[11] Spinetti appeared in around 30 films, including The Gentle Terror (1961), Sparrows Can't Sing (1963), The Wild Affair (1964), Becket (1964), Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967), The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968), Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?

(1969), This, That and the Other (1969), Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), Under Milk Wood (1972), Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973), The Great McGonagall (1974), The Little Prince (1974), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Voyage of the Damned (1976), Emily (1976), Hardcore (1977), Casanova & Co. (1977), Under the Cherry Moon (1986) and The Krays (1990).

[3] Spinetti's work in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop produced many memorable performances including Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (1959, by Frank Norman, with music by Lionel Bart), and Oh, What a Lovely War!

He appeared on Broadway in The Hostage and The Philanthropist, and also acted in 1995 with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in such roles as Lord Foppington in The Relapse and the Archbishop in Richard III, at Stratford-upon-Avon, although this was not a happy experience for him.

[3] Spinetti co-authored In His Own Write, the play adapted from a book by John Lennon with the Beatle which he also directed at the National Theatre, premiering on 18 June 1968, at the Old Vic.

His many television appearances on British TV, include Take My Wife in which he played a London-based booking agent and schemer who was forever promising his comedian client that fame was just around the corner, and the sitcom An Actor's Life For Me.

He had been told by The Sheriff of Nottingham (Jim Davidson) to kill his niece and nephew, who were escaped convicts (one of them played by Kenny Baker).

Later he voiced arch villain Texas Pete in the popular S4C animated TV series SuperTed (1982–84)[15] and narrated several Fireman Sam audiobooks.

From 1999 to 2002, Spinetti played Max, the 'man of a thousand faces', in the children's TV programme Harry and the Wrinklies, which also starred Nick Robinson in the title role.

His memoir, Victor Spinetti Up Front...: His Strictly Confidential Autobiography, published in September 2006, is filled with anecdotes and personal insights into life with the Beatles as well as previously unpublished photos of the Fab Four.

In conversation with BBC Radio 2's Michael Ball, on his show broadcast on 7 September 2008, Spinetti revealed that Princess Margaret had been instrumental in securing the necessary censor permission for the first run of Oh, What A Lovely War!.

"[10] Paul McCartney paid tribute to Spinetti on his website: "Victor was a fine man, a great pal and a fantastic actor and someone I am proud to have known for many years.

[citation needed] Preston FM scheduled a tribute broadcast, for 22 June, of a previously unaired in-depth interview with Spinetti, recorded when he visited Blackpool in July 2010, in Paul and Lucy Breeze's Best Kept Secrets in Conversation.