Simon Gipps-Kent

Simon Gipps-Kent (born Simon Trevor Kent; 25 October 1958 – 16 September 1987) was an English theatre and film actor in the 1970s and 1980s, known for his teenage portrayals of British royalty and nobility. He was born into a show business family in Kensington, London. His television debut was on the BBC in 1971 followed with a London West End theatre debut in 1972. He continued to act on stage, film and television until the year before his death in 1987.

Early life and education Simon Trevor Kent was born in London to Peter Gipps Kent, a variety artist, and Sonia (née Aebersold) Kent, a dancer. At age 12 he decided acting would be his career. As a youth he attended the Ladbroke Grove School in West London where he wrote, produced, directed and acted in his own play as a way of gaining recognition. For five months in 1983 he appeared in the London Shakespeare Group's productions of Betrayal and Twelfth Night, which also played a short season at the Donmar Warehouse and toured extensively for the British Council in China, Japan and throughout the Far East, Middle East and Africa.

Television and films His first television appearance was at age 13 in Philip Saville's 1971 O Fat White Woman for BBC's Play for Today, in a story by William Trevor of a teacher who takes pleasure in abusing his students. He returned to Play for Today in 1974 in After the Solo. He appeared as the bookworm orphan Peter Beresford in the 1972–73 BBC adaptation of Noel Streatfeild's 1970 children's book Thursday's Child. At age 15 he headlined as the preteen orphan Stephen in the BBC television adaptation of M. R. James's Lost Hearts, first broadcast on Christmas Day 1973, as part of the A Ghost Story for Christmas series and now preserved in the British Film Institute (BFI) collection.

In 1974, in a film for the then Children's Film Foundation, he starred in The Firefighters as a "junior firefighter" accused of arson who must, with the aid of his younger brother and sister, prove his innocence and find the real arsonists before his court appearance. That production and the entire CFF archive are now curated by the BFI. Also in 1975, he appeared in Edward the Seventh, again portraying young Prince Edward ("Bertie"), this time for ITV. For a time he also played Kenton Archer in the BBC radio serial The Archers.

In 1976 Gipps-Kent appeared on British television starring in Westway made by HTV for ITV. He starred in A Traveller in Time (1978), a BBC series based on the children's book by Alison Uttley about the Babington Plot, and in "V for Victory", an episode of the TV series Enemy at the Door. Also in 1978, he was featured in episodes of The Devil's Crown as Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, and played the part of "Willie" in Peter McDougall's supernatural drama Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man, both for the BBC. Gipps-Kent had the uncredited speaking part of a posh party boy in Quadrophenia (1979), based loosely on the 1973 rock opera of the same name by The Who, and appeared in the Doctor Who story The Horns of Nimon.

Death Simon Gipps-Kent died in his flat on Cavendish Road in the London Borough of Brent on 16 September 1987, aged 28.

The Tomorrow People Paul 4 episodes: The Doomsday Men Great Expectations Young Pip TV movie 1975 Edward the Seventh Younger Bertie Miniseries 1977 Enemy at the Door Billy le Prevost Episode: V' For Victory 1978 The Devil's Crown Arthur Miniseries 1979 Quadrophenia Boy at Party Uncredited 1979–1980 Doctor Who Seth 4 episodes: The Horns of Nimon 1980 To Serve Them All My Days Chad Boyer Miniseries 1982 Blackadder Rudkin Original Pilot