Much respected for his work in all the media, Bob Peck's untimely death from cancer robbed them of a powerful, authoritative presence, equally at home as Macbeth (Stratford, 1982-83) or the detective whose family life is threatened in TV's Edge of Darkness (BBC, 1985), perhaps the role for which he is most widely known, or the puritanical Welsh farmer in On the Black Hill (d. Andrew Grieve, 1987). More actor than star, despite his easy command, his versatility was a byword. Tall, rather sombrely good-looking, he was in demand for international films, including Jurassic Park (US, d. Steven Spielberg, 1993) as game warden Muldoon, but film perhaps used him least well of the media. A graduate of the Leeds College of Art, he was a keen amateur actor before auditioning for the Royal Court and, in 1975, joining the RSC for nine years. He was married to TV actress Jill Baker, who appeared in the film, Hope and Glory (d. John Boorman, 1987). Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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