Actor Jay Benedict, has passed away at the age of 68 due to complications related to coronavirus.

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Born in Burbank, California in 1951, Benedict and his family left the Untied States for Europe in the 1960’s.

Following this move Benedict developed a career that lasted over 50 years and would see him grace both theatre stages as well as the big and small screen.

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His first film role, at the age of 11, was in the 1963 Tony Saytor film La Bande à Bobo.

In 1977 he played Deak in the Tosche Station scenes in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope which were deleted from the film before release – but were included in the film’s deleted scenes.

Subsequent film appearances include the extended version of Aliens (pictured below), The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission, Icon, The White Knight, The Russia House, Saving Grace, Rewind and The Dark Knight Rises.

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He has also appeared widely on television, most notably as Frank Crowe in an episode of the BBC‘s award-winning 2003 docudrama television miniseries Seven Wonders of the Industrial World and for his role as Captain/Major John Kieffer in ITV‘s Foyle’s War.

His theatrical credits included The Rocky Horror Show in the Kings Road in the early 1970s, Harold Pinter‘s production of Sweet Bird of Youth, The Reverend Lee in The Foreigner and Riccardo in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Filumena in which he played opposite Pierce Brosnan in the latter’s first stage role.