Keith Skinner
Keith Skinner (born 1949) is a British actor and crime historian and author. Acting career. He worked as an actor in cinema and television. His career began when he starred as Bruno in the 1966 film "Mademoiselle". In 1968, he was cast in Franco Zeffirelli's adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" as Balthasar, Romeo's manservant and trusted friend. He appears at various stages in the film including galloping on horseback to tell Romeo (played by Leonard Whiting) of Juliet's "death" and accompanies Romeo back to Verona again on horseback towards the end of the film. Skinner  starred in one episode of "The Jazz Age" in 1968. He played Harry Lampton in five episodes of the early seventies' TV series "Man at the Top" and appeared in three episodes of "Z-Cars" from 1969 to 1972. He went on to appear in an episode of "Play for Today", one episode of "Out of the Unknown" in 1971, two episodes of "So it Goes" in 1973 and two episodes of "Beryl's Lot" (1973-1976). In 1976 he appeared in the British musical "The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella". In 1977, Skinner worked again with  Zeffirelli when he played the possessed boy in the TV miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth". In 1980, he starred in Frank Loesser's musical "Guys and Dolls". In 1985, Skinner appeared in an episode of "Doctor Who". Career as crime historian and author. From an early age, Skinner developed an interest in the history of Jack the Ripper. As an adult, he started researching his own family history and undertook more thorough research on the Ripper as well. From there, he moved on to the history of the Metropolitan Police and he is now an established crime historian and author. In  2001, he worked on the film "From Hell" as an historical consultant. He also worked as a historical researcher and consultant for the documentaries "The Hunt" (2001) and "Hunt For Jack the Ripper" (2001). He has also co-authored a number of historical books, namely: