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British character actor Ian Hendry launched his career with little fanfare as a "fall guy" for a prominent circus clown. Learning his theatrical rudiments at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Hendry logged in a number of respectable stage and TV credits. In 1961, he was Patrick MacNee's first co-star on TV's The Avengers, but was quickly dropped from the series when it was decided that a male-female co-starring team would have more audience appeal. Hendry was cast to good advantage in such films as Live Now Pay Later (1962), The Beauty Jungle (1964) and Repulsion (1965), and in such TV series as The Lotus Eaters. In 1971, Hendry won a BFA award (Britain's equivalent to the Oscar) for his performance as low-life hoodlum Eric Price in Get Carter. From 1963 to 1971, he was married to actress Janet Munro. Alas, after his final screen appearance in The McVicar (1980), Ian Hendry became ill and died of undisclosed causes at the age of 53.