Biography

Bill Treacher

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Born
June 4, 1930 · Dagenham, Essex, England, UK
Died
November 5, 2022 · Suffolk, England, UK (pneumonia and complications from COVID-19)
Birth name
William Charles Treacher
Height
5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Bill was a proper London Cockney, born with the sound of London's Bow Bells, but brought up in Hackney and Bethnal Green. He was one of a family of six boys and two girls. He left school at fourteen, starting work as a tailboard monkey -- hanging on to the back of railway lorries, carrying parcels to stations. He did his national service in the RAF, after which he decided to be an actor. With money being scarce, he enlisted for four years as a state room steward on a P &O liner in order to pay his way through drama school. From there, he went into rep, Summer School, radio and commercials. He was Sidney the milkman in Mrs Dale's Diary on the radio, a greengrocer with a ring of confidence in a toothpaste commercial. He married Kate, an Australian actress, three years after they met, when he was 35 and she was 21. They had a son Jamie, born in 1974, and a daughter Sophie, born in 1978. They made their home in a 19th century Suffolk gamekeepers cottage. Bill went on to become known as Arthur Fowler in the BBC's Eastenders.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

Trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, whose alumni include Antony Sher, Terence Stamp, Julia Ormond, Rupert Friend, Angela Lansbury, Daniel Hunt, Matthew Goode, Sue Johnston, Minnie Driver, Steven Berkoff and Julian Fellowes.
After his national service in the Royal Air Force, he worked as a steward with P&O, where he saved enough money to attend drama school.
By 1995, Treacher had requested to be written out of the series EastEnders, stating: "By the time I finished, even the sound of the theme music was making me feel ill. I felt depressed." He also stated in a 2003 BBC documentary interviewing past stars of the show that he felt "compelled" to leave with advancing age. He said the stress of a gruelling schedule working long hours on the show was affecting his health and that doctors told him that if he did not leave the job soon and relax it would kill him.
In a statement announcing his death, his family confirmed that Treacher's health had been deteriorating for some time.
In 2015, Treacher told the press that he suffered from ataxia, a degenerative disease that hinders balance and the ability to walk. Treacher said that as a result of this he had fully retired and he sometimes had to rely on a wheelchair for mobility. He also said that he no longer watched EastEnders, calling it "a load of old rubbish these days".

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