- He studied at Belfast's Methodist College and Queen's University, and the Bristol Old Vic. He began his acting career in 1952 at Belfast's Group Theatre before moving to England in the early 1960s.
- Father with his first wife of Amanda Ellis, Adam (1960-1988) and Hugo-James Ellis, and with his second wife of Toto Ellis.
- Awarded an honorary doctorate from Queen's University in 2008 for services to the performing arts.
- Father was a sheet metal worker and mother a mill worker.
- His family lived very close the the poverty line.
- Awarded a scholarship at 12 to a grammar school and had to cross town on 2 trams to get there.At 18 went to Queens University reading English literature and French.
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