Dennis Waterman, famous for playing hard-nosed characters in The Sweeney, Minder and New Tricks, has died, aged 74, in hospital near his home in Spain, with his fourth wife Pam at his side.
A statement from the actor’s family read: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved Dennis, passed away very peacefully in hospital in Spain, on Sunday afternoon, with Pam by his side.”
Comedian Matt Lucas, who with David Walliams parodied Waterman in sketch show Little Britain, led the tributes, posting: “I grew up watching Dennis Waterman’s iconic performances in The Sweeney and Minder.
“His guest appearance in our Little Britain Live show at Hammersmith Apollo – in which he hilariously duetted with David’s absurd impersonation of him – remains the absolute highlight of my career.”
Waterman became a household name in the 1970s as DS George Carter in The Sweeney, with John Thaw as Jack Regan, his Flying Squad partner.
Waterman then starred as Terry McCann in Minder, playing the bouncer and partner of George Cole’s dodgy dealer character Arthur Daley.
He sang the Minder theme song, I Could Be So Good for You, as well as those for other shows he starred in – Stay Lucky, On The Up and New Tricks – giving rise to the joke on Little Britain, where David Walliams portrayed a tiny Dennis Waterman turning down roles if he could not “write the theme tune, sing the theme tune”.
Waterman was married four times – to Penny Dixon, actresses Patricia Maynard and Rula Lenska, and Pam Flint – and claimed he lost his virginity at about the age of 14 to a teacher at his school.
He said: “She was a teacher, but not my actual teacher. When it came to it, she said, ‘Alright, alright but you’ve got to help me with the marking first’.”
He wed Penny in 1972, but they split four years later after Waterman reportedly cheated on her with Dudley Moore’s partner model Suzy Kendall, actress Romy Schneider and producer’s assistant Theophila Littleton.
A year after splitting with Penny, he wed Patricia.
They had two daughters, Hannah, who became an actress, and Julia.
But his affairs continued and they divorced in 1987.
He wed Rula Lenska shortly after, but they divorced in 1998 amid allegations Waterman had been violent towards her.
He denied the claims, until 2012, when he confessed he had slapped and punched Rula twice.
But he said: “She certainly wasn’t a beaten wife, she was hit and that’s different. It happened and I’m very, very ashamed of it.”
Waterman was born in Clapham, South London in 1948, the youngest of nine children to British Railways ticket collector Harry and his wife Rose Juliana, who made curtains for a living.
He once said: “I’m the last of nine kids and six years younger than the one before. I think ‘a mistake’ is the word I’m looking for.”
One of his sister was a Bluebells dancer, while his brother Peter was a welterweight boxing champion, the youngest British competitor at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Sadly, in 1958 when Peter fought British lightweight champion Dave Charnley, he ended up in hospital with serious brain damage, ending his career.
It was thanks to his sister that the young Dennis fell into acting.
He recalled: “My eldest sister dragged us all to amateur dramatics. We all had to do it. I had to go to rehearsals and miss the football.”
After failing his 11-plus, he went to Corona Stage School in Hammersmith.
He was an acting natural and appeared in his first film, Night Train To Inverness, at the age of 11, in 1960.
Aged 12, he also had roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and appeared in The Music Man in London’s West End.
At 13, he had his first major TV role, playing the lead in BBC series Just William, based on Richmal Crompton’s books.
Waterman recalled: “It may be a class thing, but I’d never read the books.”
After that, he travelled to the US to film a TV series called Fair Exchange, with his mother travelling with him as his chaperone.
In a wry nod to his later marital woes, he recalled: “Another sister came over to join us, met the boy upstairs and married him.
"My siblings who lived in LA stayed married. The rest of us seem useless at marriage.”
There were roles in 1968 drama Up The Junction, the TV series Colditz, Hammer film Scars of Dracula, and Hollywood Western Man in the Wilderness.
But starring in The Sweeney from 1975 to 1978 propelled him to fame, attracting 19 million viewers at the show’s peak.
He once said: “We filmed The Sweeney in some horrible places, rotten places in London.
"We’d try to have a quiet drink now and again and very large people with very large hands and broken noses would come over and say, ‘You’re just like the policeman who nicked me, you must be really good’.”
In Minder, he became firm friends with George Cole.
In his autobiography, Cole, who died in 2015, wrote: “More than 30 years later, I count him as one of my closest friends.
"I even managed to teach Dennis how to do the Times crossword. In return, he taught me to swear in public.”
Waterman met fourth wife Pam in 1996 when he appeared in panto in Windsor where she was working as a stage manager.
Initially, he said he had no plans to wed her. He added: ”She’s been married twice, I’ve been married three times, so I can’t see any point.”
But in December 2011, after 15 years together, they wed in a secret, low-key ceremony attended by Pam’s son Matt and Dennis’s older sister Joy.
His last role was in the 2020 Australian film Never Too Late.
After a career spanning more than 60 years, he put his success down to good fortune, saying: “I plan my golf more than my career. I’ve always been lucky.
"I’m lucky I’ve been successful, because I can’t do anything else.”
