Terence Beesley

Terence Beesley (7 September 1957 – 30 November 2017) was an English actor.

Early life and education Born in London to Irish parents, he studied at the City Lit in London in 1980, and then trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career Television His television work included Cadfael, The Bill, Where the Heart Is, Heartbeat, Midsomer Murders, EastEnders (as Derek Branning in 1996), Casualty, Down to Earth, Plotlands, Agatha Christie's Poirot, She's Out and What Remains. He starred in Peter Kosminsky's 15: The Life and Death of Phillip Knight, and played General Bennigsen in the BBC adaptation of War and Peace.

Theatre His stage work included British theatre performances as the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III (1995) and as the Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1994) for multi Barrymore award winner director Mark Clements and his own adaptation (with Colin Wakefield) of Nikolai Gogol's "Diary of a Madman" (as a one-man play) at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Along with Jonathan Church and Jules Melvin, he was a founder of the Triptych Theatre Company. Their first production, Jack Shepherd's In Lambeth at the Lyric Studio, received much critical acclaim.

Personal life He met actress Ashley Jensen in 1999 when they were appearing in a production of King Lear at the Manchester Royal Exchange, and they married in Big Sur, California in 2007. Their son was born on 20 October 2009.

Death Beesley died at the family home in Camerton, Somerset, on 30 November 2017, aged 60, having been found unconscious in a car in his garage. An inquest in February 2018 ruled suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1989 The Phantom of the Opera Joseph Buquet 1990 Strike It Rich Croupier 1994 Decadence Giovanni 1996 EastEnders Derek Branning 3 episodes 1999 Human Traffic Moff's Father 2006 The Listening John Strobel 2014 Sharkproof Armen 2016 London Has Fallen Fire Dept. Head