“All of us will miss him terribly,” his three children Juliet, Samuel, and Joseph West wrote in a statement

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Timothy West photographed on August 19, 2024
Timothy West, an acclaimed British actor known for his work on The Day of the Jackal, has died at age 90, according to his family.

A statement shared on X (formerly Twitter) by his children Juliet, Samuel, and Joseph West on social media confirmed that he died on Tuesday, Nov. 12, surrounded by his loved ones.

“After a long and extraordinary life on and off the stage, our darling father Timothy West died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening,” the family wrote. “He was 90 years old.”

“Tim was with friends and family at the end. He leaves his wife Prunella Scales, to whom he was married for 61 years, a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. All of us will miss him terribly,” the statement continued.

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Timothy West and his wife Prunella Scales in their home on Dec. 13, 2023
They expressed their gratitude to “the incredible NHS staff at St George’s hospital, Tooting and at Avery Wandsworth for their loving care during his last days.”

Several actors and public figures have paid their respects to West in light of the tragic news. Sports commentator Keith Olbermann wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “It can be of little comfort, Sam, but your father’s work was so authentic and empathetic that though I did not in reality know him – he made me feel as if I did. My sincere condolences.”

EastEnders alum Tracy-Ann Oberman called him “the most wonderful actor and human being.”

English broadcaster Piers Morgan wrote, “RIP Timothy West, 90. A wonderful actor, and delightful man. My Life Stories interview with him, as the love of his life Prunella Scales sat in the audience, was so moving. They were married 61yrs, and his devotion to her after she developed Alzheimer’s was profoundly touching.”

West was born in West Yorkshire, England on Oct. 20, 1934. He had his first screen appearance in the 1960 BBC One miniseries adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion. Throughout his career, he starred in several iconic, long-running British television shows, including EastEnders, Coronation Street, and Not Going Out.

The actor also held roles in a variety of movies, including the hit 1973 political thriller The Day of the Jackal – which was nominated for one Academy Award and three Golden Globe awards. Other big screen credits are Luc Besson’s 1999 French epic The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, also starring Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman, and the 2003 romantic drama Beyond Borders with Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen.

More recently, West starred in the BBC One and HBO television series Gentlemen Jack for its two seasons that aired between 2019 and 2022.

His last screen credit is the Nov. 13 episode “Go Out Dancing” of the British medical soap opera Doctors.

West also frequented the theater scene and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the United Kingdom. His popular stage roles include playing the title roles in multiple productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and King Lear and Chekhov’s’s Uncle Vanya.

The actor was married to Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales, 92, with whom he presented the Channel Four documentary series Great Canal Journeys from 2014 to 2019.

He is survived by Scales and his three children Juliet, Samuel and Joseph.