Charles Stapley

Charles Stapley was born in Ilford, Essex, the son of a business executive father who worked for the Blue Circle cement company in London.[1] He was educated at Ilford County High School and Brighton and Hove Grammar School after the family moved to Portslade, East Sussex.[1]

Stapley served in the Royal Air Force at the end of the Second World War.[2] He then worked in the film distribution division of the Rank Organisation.[2]

He subsequently acted in the theatre before moving into television, including playing 26 different roles in Associated Television's series The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1955–56.[1][2] He appeared in The Benny Hill Show, but was best known for playing Ted Hope in the television soap opera Crossroads.[1][2]

Stapley's first wife was Nan Winton, BBC television's first female newsreader.[1] They were divorced in 1962.[3] He had two further marriages, both of which ended in divorce.[1][4] He had a son and a daughter from each of his first two marriages.[1][2]

In November 1978, whilst married to his third wife, he met Beatrice Mills and they soon started an affair.[2][4] She eventually left her husband Mark Mills, and moved to London to be with Stapley.[4] Six years later, her three children joined them after Mark Mills was jailed for fraud, and Stapley became their stepfather.[4] The eldest, then 15, was Heather Mills, who would later call him "evil" and a "snooty actor".[4] Stapley commented that "Heather is simply a very confused woman for whom reality and fantasy have become blurred".[2][4] They "repeatedly clashed in print".[2]