The actor Ray Lonnen, who has died of cancer aged 74, was a familiar face on British television whose unshowy versatility brought him a number of leading roles, most notably as the eponymous hero of the acclaimed IRA drama Harry's Game (1982), a hugely successful political thriller by Gerald Seymour (based on his own 1975 novel). The British agent Harry Brown is sent on a dangerous undercover mission in Belfast to find the assassin (played by Derek Thompson) of a prominent British politician. The evocative theme tune by Clannad gave the group their first taste of international exposure and a top 5 chart hit.
Born in Bournemouth, the middle of three children, Lonnen trained at the Hampshire School of Acting and was rarely out of work after making his professional stage debut in 1959. When he appeared alongside John Alderton at York Repertory Theatre in 1962, both men were spotted by a casting director and offered roles in the hospital soap Emergency Ward 10 Lonnen ruefully recalled that while Alderton became a regular, "they gave me about six lines".
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