 george baker, mbe (1 april 19317 october 2011) was an english actor and writer. he was best known for portraying tiberius in i, claudius, and inspector wexford in the ruth rendell mysteries. ==personal life== baker was born in varna, bulgaria. his father was an english businessman and honorary vice consul. he attended lancing college, sussex; he then appeared as an actor in repertory theatre and at the old vic. baker's third wife, louie ramsay, who died earlier in 2011, played his onscreen wife dora in the ruth rendell mysteries. baker was survived by five daughters (four from his first marriage, one from his second). ==career== baker first made his name in the dam busters and his first starring role was in the ship that died of shame with richard attenborough. this was followed by a string of ealing films, and his film the 1950s swashbuckler, the moonraker has been shown all over the world since 1958. however, over time, baker became better known as a television actor. he was the second (to guy doleman) of many actors to portray the role of "number two" in the series the prisoner, appearing in the series' first episode. he appeared in his own tv comedy series bowler. he was also in the first episode of some mothers do 'ave 'em, playing a company boss interviewing the show's hapless main character. in the acclaimed 1976 drama serial, i, claudius, baker played the emperor tiberius caesar. in the late 1970s, he starred as inspector roderick alleyn in four adaptations of the mystery novels of ngaio marsh with new zealand settings, in a production for new zealand television. from 1988 to 2000, he played inspector reg wexford in numerous television adaptations of mysteries by ruth rendell and this is probably the role for which he became best known. in 1993, following the death of his second wife, he married the actress louie ramsay, who played mrs wexford in the same televisio
1931_births 2011_deaths 20th-century_English_male_actors 21st-century_English_male_actors Deaths_from_pneumonia English_male_film_actors English_male_television_actors Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire People_educated_at_Lancing_College People_from_Varna