Actor Kenneth Griffith Dies At 84

Actor and documentary-maker Kenneth Griffith has died at the age of 84.

He was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire and had been  a familiar face on TV and cinema screens since the 1940s, including the 1960's cult TV hit, The Prisoner.

Griffith, who died at his London home, also made often controversial films on such subjects as the Boer War - on which he was an expert - and Ireland.

Kenneth Griffith was a regular in the British-made Boulting Brothers films in the 1950s and 1960s, such as I'm All Right Jack. This starred Peter Sellers, whom Griffiths often appeared alongside in movies such as Only Two Can Play and Heavens Above!

Griffith was also in such action movies as the A Night to Remember (1958) - about the sinking of the Titanic - The Wild Geese (1978) and Who Dares Wins (1982).

He was also in demand for his comedy touch, and had a brief but memorable role confronting Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Griffith played alongside Grant again shortly after, in the 1995 film The Englishmen Who Went up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, which was made and set in Wales.

According to the British Film Institute's screenonline website, "perhaps his most famous, and contentious, work" was Hang Out Your Brightest Colours: The Life and Death of Michael Collins, made in 1972 for ITV, about the IRA leader assassinated in 1922.

The film was banned by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), and not shown until 1994.

According to screenonline, the episode left Griffith "a frustrated and bemused figure".

Screenonline described Griffith as "a world-class documentary film-maker" who knew that "refusing to compromise his views has damaged his career".

In 1993 BBC Wales showed five of his documentaries, including the Michael Collins film.