John Nettleton

British character actor of prolific output, a RADA graduate of 1951 and first on the professional stage the following year in Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus'. Nettleton was for many years an ensemble member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He first graced the screen in 1956 and soon found his niche in the portrayal of magistrates, clerics, aristocrats, befuddled professors and stiff-upper-lip military officers. He was best known for his role as the bespectacled Sir Arnold Robinson, Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister (1980), a consummate civil servant and frequent sounding board and advisor to Sir Humphrey Appleby (as played by the inimitable Nigel Hawthorne). In the sequel Yes, Prime Minister (1986), his character was later promoted to the position of President of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. Nettleton's other roles of note have included Sir Francis Bacon (both in Elizabeth R (1971) and in Churchill's People (1974)), Arthur Spender in the advertising sitcom The Happy Apple (1983) and Conservative MP Stephen Baxter in The New Statesman (1987). He made guest appearances in numerous episodic TV shows and miniseries, ranging from The Avengers (1961), Department S (1969) and Foyle's War (2002) to period dramas like The Edwardians (1972), The Flame Trees of Thika (1981) and Brideshead Revisited (1981). Nettleton was married to the actress Deirdre Doone from 1954 until his death on July 14 2023 at the age of 94.