Neat and funny, with precise articulation and a range of tone covering rheumy-eyed grizzling to sarcastic pomposity and mock disbelief, Charles Kay, who has died aged 94, was one of the very best supporting actors of the past seven decades.
He did occupy, outstandingly well, the title roles in classic Molière comedy (Tartuffe at the Edinburgh festival in 1974, Harpagon in The Miser at the National Theatre in 1991), but he made his name bolstering the major companies in our postwar theatre.
