Sir Donald Sinden dies aged 90 | Stage | theguardian.com

Diana Dors and Donald Sinden in An Alligator Named Daisy, 1955. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar

The stage, film and television actor Sir Donald Sinden has died at his home aged 90 [11 September], his family has announced.

Sinden made his name in theatre as a Shakespearean actor and also had more than 70 credits for film and TV productions since the late 1940s.

He had developed prostate cancer several years ago and his death, a few weeks before his 91st birthday, at his home in Romney Marsh, Kent, has been described as a “huge loss” by his family.

His son, the actor and film director Marc Sinden, said in a statement: “My father has finished dying. He suffered for a few years from prostate cancer which slowly spread.”

Sinden trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and made his film debut in 1953 with The Cruel Sea, later going on to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company in leading roles such as King Lear and Malvolio in Twelfth Night.

He was awarded a CBE in 1979 and was granted a knighthood in 1997 for his services to drama.

Marc Sinden, who has his own production company, added: “He bravely continued presenting our Sky Arts documentary series Great West End Theatres in spite of a minor stroke, until it became just too difficult for him and at his insistence his illness was kept from all but the closest friends.

“It had been an ambition of his to get as many of his wonderful theatrical memories and anecdotes…

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