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Actor Ben Cross, best known for playing athlete Harold Abrahams in the movie Chariots of Fire, has died at the age of 72.
His representatives said he died “suddenly” after a short illness.
His daughter Lauren wrote on his Facebook page saying she was “completely brain” that her “dear father” had died.
She said he had been “sick” for a while, but there had been a “rapid decline in the past week”.
Cross, who died in Vienna, Austria, had two children, Lauren and Theo.
His representatives said he had just finished shooting the horror film The Devil’s Light and will appear in a lead role in the romantic drama film Last Letter From Your Lover later this year.
He was born Harry Bernard Cross in London into a working class Catholic family.
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Ben Cross as British athlete Harold Abrahams in Chariots of Fire
After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (Rada), he moved from stage to stage and took a small role in the 1977 war film A Bridge Too Far, starring Sir Sean Connery and Sir Michael Caine. starred.
In the same year he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before gaining a greater notoriety than Billy Flynn – the lawyer representing murderer Roxie Hart – in a 1978 version of Chicago.
It was a performance that was probably believed to have earned him his role in 1981’s Chariots Of Fire, which went on to win four Oscars, including Best Picture.
Cross played Jewish runner Harold Abrahams in the film, which was based on the true story of two British men in 1924 for Olympic gold.
BBC religion editor Martin Bashir said Cross’s portrayal of Abrahams “had the burden of becoming an outsider”.
He later appeared as Malagant in the 1995 film First Knight and Sarek in the 2009 remake Star.
Cross also appeared as Rudolf Hess in the 2006 production of BBC Nuremberg: Nazi’s on Trial.
James Bond star Colin Salmon, who worked on The Devil’s Light alongside Cross, tweeted: “It was good to work with him, see his smile and his craft.
“He wrote songs for the Sinatra of Bulgaria, had so many stories and spoke in Bulgarian and German on set. Go well Ben RIP.”
American television and film director Todd Holland also paid tribute, saying he had met Cross early in his own career.
“We did a screen test at Pinewood Studios. I went with his family to his house for dinner,” he said.
“Ben Cross was a nice man and a talented actor. That movie was never made. But … what a classy guy.”
The Guardian reports that he is survived by his wife, Deyana Boneva Cross.
