Lewis collins where is he now

Although he passed the tests with flying colours, his fame went against him: he was turned down because he was just too well-known. He soon came out from behind the kit to play bass in a band called The Mojos, but it was acting that brought him to centre stage. Roles in repertory productions of Shakespeare and Chekhov, and bit-parts in various TV dramas, all helped to prepare Collins for the role of his lifetime: badass Bodie.

Collins was never able to parlay his Professionals experience into a lasting acting career. He moved to LA in the hope of kickstarting a Hollywood career, but switched to running a computer business and married a schoolteacher, Michelle Larrett. The couple had three kids, Oliver, Everett and Cameron. Apart from a cameo role in The Bill in , Collins fell off the radar. This year, Studio Lionsgate is to start shooting a remake of The Professionals , and the big question is, who is hard enough to take on the role that Collins made his own?

Actor Lewis Collins, star of the cult television show The Professionals, has died at the age of Collins, who played taciturn tough guy Bodie alongside Martin Shaw, had fought a five-year battle with cancer. Privacy is asked for at this very sad time,' his agent said in a statement.

Speaking yesterday, Shaw paid tribute to his co-star. I send my love and condolences to his family, and the great many who will miss him. Father-of-three Collins, who was born in Merseyside, lived with his wife Michelle and sons Oliver, Elliot, and Cameron in Los Angeles in the years before his death. Known for his role as tough-guy Bodie, Collins was a popular character in The Professionals, which was famed for its Ford Capris, tight trousers, and s rule-free approach to policing.

The Professionals made stars of Collins and Shaw, was based around the adventures of a fictional crime fighting unit called CI5, which had been instructed by the Home Secretary to use any means necessary to deal with serious crime. Former paratrooper and SAS solider William Bodie, played by Collins, was a keen partier and ladies man, more relaxed than his on-screen partner Raymond Doyle, who was brought to life by Shaw.

The duo answered to George Cowley, the founder and head of CI5 played by Gordon Jackson, who would tell his agents to 'fight fire with fire' in order to get their targets. Father: Collins had three sons, Oliver, Elliot and Cameron and was photographed picking one of his children up from a sports event in Los Angeles in Icon: The actor died peacefully surrounded by his family, according to his agent. The show's memorable theme tune and action-packed plots made it a huge hit on ITV in the late s and early s.

Initially, Anthony Andrews, best known for Brideshead Revisted, was contracted to play Bodie, but he and Shaw did not have the chemistry that producers were looking for. Michael Grade : 'He was Bodie. A big hunky macho character with a lovely innocence about him.

Piers Morgan : 'Sad news about Lewis Collins. Terrifically cool actor. Loved watching The Professionals as a kid. Colin Baker : 'He was the year below me at drama school. Had style! Born in Birkenhead, Wirral, Collins started out as a hairdresser before he started playing drums and guitar in pop groups, and had a number of other jobs before he decided to become an actor.

After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and performing on numerous theatre tours, he won the role that would make him famous in , continuing until the series ended in Action hero: Collins's character William Bodie was a ruthless former paratrooper who was not afraid to take on criminals including terrorists, hit-men and spies. In he auditioned for the role of James Bond but his audition was deemed 'too aggressive'. He subsequently applied to join the Territorial SAS, a unit open to part-time reservists but was rejected because of his fame, despite passing the entrance tests.

He also appeared in s sitcom The Cuckoo Waltz, which dealt with the comic complications that ensue when impoverished newlyweds Chris and Fliss Hawthorne, played by David Roper and Diane Keen, take in a lodger, Gavin Rumsey Collins to ease their financial problems. Family man: Collins with wife Michelle Larrett and their month old son Oliver at their wedding in The couple had three sons. Hollywood calling: The actor was born in the Wirral but relocated to Los Angeles where he lived in this low-key house with his family.

At its height, The Professionals was watched by 12 million viewers a week, and Collins became a heart-throb. He was even considered to replace Roger Moore as James Bond. Of all the many unreconstructed hardmen of 70s and 80s British TV, Collins was the most unremittingly macho in real life. He was a black belt in jujitsu and a crack shot, and had taken the entrance tests to join the SAS. He and Martin Shaw, who played Ray Doyle, worked out in the gym for their roles; and Collins often did his own stunts.

The actor Anthony Andrews had originally been cast as Bodie, but left after only four days on set. Collins quickly made an impression, not just for his hardman aura, but for comedy, an acting skill he had developed in the mids Granada sitcom The Cuckoo Waltz. His character was never troubled by self-doubt.

When asked by a besotted, helpless woman there were plenty of those in The Professionals which is Bodie and which Doyle, Bodie replies insouciantly: "Bodie's the incredibly handsome one.

Perhaps inevitably, Bodie and Doyle were satirised. In a Nissan car ad a few years later, one Professionals-like rogue cop remarks: "This car's well-sprung," prompting the reply: "Yeah, just like your perm. But John Simm, who starred in the hit cop show Life on Mars , acknowledged Collins's influence on his portrayal of Sam Tyler, saying: "If there's anything in my head about the way Sam looks and acts, for me it's Bodie as played by Lewis Collins.