Actor and broadcaster David Kossoff dies

Actor, broadcaster and author David Kossoff died this morning at the age of 85 following a battle with liver cancer, his family said today.

Kossoff, well known for his role as hen-pecked husband Alf Larkins in Fifties TV series The Larkins, had been ill for a number of months.

Born in the East End of London, he was also famous for British films such as A Kid for Two Farthings (1955) and for his role as Morry in The Bespoke Overcoat (1956).

Kossoff, who started his working life as a draftsman and furniture designer, also entertained millions of viewers in the Sixties by presenting his Bible stories, which he had published, on TV.

The son of Russian parents, Kossoff experienced tragedy in his life when his son Paul, guitarist with the rock band Free, died following years of drug abuse, at the age of 25.

After Paul’s death, Kossoff, who began acting through amateur theatre in the 1940s, gave more than 350 performances around schools of his one-man show warning of the dangers of drugs, Late Great Paul.

He said last year: “It’s a dramatisation of Paul’s life but it’s not just an explicit warning about drugs.

“It’s a warning against waste of every kind. It’s not intended to attract applause, rather to leave a bruise.”

His son Simon, 56, said: “He was a generous, peaceful and gentle human being.”