Born June 18, 1927, in London, England; died of skin cancer, November 4, 1995, in London, England. Actor. Paul Eddington was an actor successful both in the theater and in television. He trained for the stage with the Entertainments National Service Association and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Duringthe 1950s he toured with different productions through the British provincesand made his West End debut as the Rabbi in The Tenth Man in 1961. He later began receiving lead roles on a regular basis, playing Prince Andrei in the Bristol Old Vic company production of War and Peace (1962) and playing oppositeSir John Gielgud in Forty Years On (1968). Eddington made his television debut in the late 1950s on a children's program called Robin Hood, but he scoredhis first great success in the genre as the mild-mannered Jerry Leadbetter in the British comedy The Good Life, which played on the BBC from 1975 to 1979. Eddington's most famous role, however, was as the bumbling Jim Hacker in the series Yes, Minister, which ran on the BBC from 1980 to 1990. The show, which was broadcast in the United States as Yes, Prime Minister, was an enormouspopular success, and won for Eddington a knighthood. Eddington returned to the stage briefly after Yes, Prime Minister left the air, starring opposite Harold Pinter in No Man's Land (1993) for which he received a London Theatre Award for best actor. He continued to appear before audiences until the end, including a role in the play Home (1994), as Justice Shallow in John Caird's television adaptation of King Henry IV (fall, 1995), and in an interview with Jeremy Isaacs on Face to Face which aired on BBC just days before his death. Eddington published his autobiography, So Far, So Good, in 1995.
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