Actor and Fulham fan Ray Brooks, who starred in Eastenders, Cathy Come Home, Mr Benn and Big Deal, has died aged 86.

Brooks passed away peacefully with his loved ones by his bedside having suffered from a short illness, his family told the BBC. A statement prepared by his sons, Will and Tom, disclosed that Brooks had spent the last few years living with dementia. It read:

“His three true loves were family (he also had a daughter Emma, who died in 2003), Fulham Football Club, and spending time in Brighton, where he was born.”

Brooks famously narrated the cartoon Mr. Benn following a character who entered a magical costume shop and was transported to various places based on the costumes he wore. Only thirteen episodes of the series were ever shot, but Brooks became a household name with so many families because it was repeated twice a year for over two decades.

Brooks also played Norman Phillips in ITV’s Coronation Street, Joe Macer, who eventually killed his wife, the popular Pauline Fowler, in the BBC’s Eastenders, and starred in the long-running BBC comedy Big Deal as gambler Robbie Box alongside fellow Fulham fanatic, Sharon Duce, He also featured in a number of films, including The Knack … And How To Get It, winner of the 1965 Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival.

A year later Brooks starred in the critically acclaimed Cathy Come Home, by Ken Loach, which focused on the housing shortage of the late 1960s. In 2000, a British Film Institute poll rated it as the second best TV programme of all time after Fawlty Towers.

Brooks battled to save Fulham Football Club in the 1980s, famously wearing a ‘Save Fulham’ badge during an appearance on Wogan at the height of the fight against the Fulham Park Rangers plans. May Ray rest in peace.