RIP Ian Richardson

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Very sad news. A wonderful actor and by all accounts a good and charming man, and so prolific on British TV in recent years that this is genuinely shocking.

From BBC News online

Actor Ian Richardson, best known for his role as scheming chief whip Francis Urquhart in the BBC's House of Cards, has died suddenly at the age of 72.
The stage and TV veteran had not been ill and had been due to begin filming an episode of ITV's Midsomer Murders next week, according to his agent.

Born in Edinburgh in 1934, he was an honorary associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He recently appeared in the BBC's Bleak House and Sky One's Hogfather.

Famous for his sonorous voice and stern demeanour, he was made a CBE in 1989.

Richardson won a Bafta award for his role as the Machiavellian Urquhart in 1990's House of Cards.

He went on to be nominated for both its sequels, To Play the King and The Final Cut, as well as the 1992 drama An Ungentlemanly Act.

Other TV roles included Sherlock Holmes, Lord Groan in Gormenghast and Sir Godber Evans in Porterhouse Blue.

His many films included Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Jane Austen biopic Becoming Jane, due for release next month.

But it is for the deliciously devious Urquhart - a character he based on Richard III - that he remains best known.

He was recently seen as the Chancellor in the BBC's Bleak House

The Tory politician's famous one-liner - "You may very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment" - has since passed into Westminster parlance.

"I'm grateful for the part as it put me on the map," he said in 2005.

"The only trouble is getting rid of it. So many people seem to think that I am like him."

Richardson died in his sleep at his London home in the early hours of Friday morning.

He is survived by his wife, Maroussia, and two sons.

Author Michael Dobbs, who wrote the novel on which House of Cards was based, described him as "a superb actor" who was "very careful not to let the fame get in the way of his personal integrity".

House of Cards director Paul Seed said: "I cast him in House of Cards because of his comic talent and he was utterly brilliant. He was the most sophisticated craftsman comic actor in this country."

He added: "I just loved working with him and am hugely in admiration at the talent and technique that he had. His passing is the end of a generation of that kind of actor."