Actor, writer, poet Bob Goody has died. He was 71.
Goody had a long and varied career taking in both straight acting and comedy. He worked regularly with Mel Smith and appeared in hit shows including in The Kenny Everett Television Show and featured in numerous TV dramas and sitcoms. He co-wrote the BBC sitcom Wilderness Road as well as two volumes of performance poetry: Mixing With The Sharks and Life and Death And A Few Other Bits and Pieces.
He also appeared frequently onstage. In 1991 he played the Chief Weasel in Alan Bennett's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows for the National Theatre at The Old Vic in London. He also wrote the libretto for The Fashion, an opera for Deutsche Oper am Rhein, with music by Giorgio Battistelli.
His writing partner Richard Cottan has written this:
"My lifelong friend and erstwhile writing partner Bob Goody has died, aged 71, after a long battle with cancer.
A Brighton boy, Bob was an immensely gifted, charismatic actor, writer and poet. He trained at RADA in the early 70s and whilst there met a young, unknown theatre director called Mel Smith. With Bob being long and thin and Mel maybe not so much, it was suggested they should 'do' something together. Along with musician Peter Brewis, they wrote and performed a series of two-man black comedy theatre shows - 'Ave You ‘Eard The One About Joey Baker?’ ‘Irony In Dorking’ (which won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award) and The Gambler; an Olivier Award nominated show which ran in the West End at The Comedy Theatre. In 1980 they went on to write and co-star in their own TV series, Smith & Goody.
Outgoing, warm, ineffably generous, Bob was a natural performer. With his distinctive appearance and unique comic talent he was an unforgettable presence on both stage and screen. Among hundreds of theatre, TV and film appearances, he was an original member of theatre company Shared Experience and performed a one-man show 'The Insomniac In Morgue Drawer Nine' for them in 1982. He subsequently toured with the RSC, was part of Patrick Barlow’s National Theatre Of Brent and played Chief Weasel in Alan Bennett’s acclaimed adaptation of 'The Wind In The Willows' for the actual National Theatre. Also a brilliant improviser, he was recently lauded for his roles in three improvised feature films by director Jon Sanders.
Bob never stopped writing; ‘Bic’ and notepad always at hand, right to the end. In 1985 he and I co-wrote the BBC1 sitcom Wilderness Road. In 2008 he wrote the libretto for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein opera 'The Fashion'. And then, after being press-ganged into a solo appearance at a festival in Totness and having to come up with something to the fill the spot, the poetry appeared. What began as a knockabout diversion ended up as a recently published book of verse - War And Paracetamol - charting Bob's life, and more particularly, the journey of his illness. Funny, profound and often in extremely bad taste, these verses are in many ways Bob’s true artistic legacy."
Bob is survived by beloved wife Gina, brother Dave, daughters Gemma, Seonaid and Sophie, and grandchildren Zack, Ayah, Constance and Dolores who all mourn a great man.
