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Actor Ian 'loved this area with a passion'
THE wife of actor Ian Carmichael, who died with his family by his side at his Grosmont home, said he "loved this part of the world with a passion".
Kate Fenton, 55, said his two daughters, Lee and Sally, and their dogs were sitting with Mr Carmichael, 89, in front of the fire when he passed away on Friday.
She said he had fallen ill over Christmas and was suffering from blood clots in his lungs, spending a month in hospital in Scarborough and Whitby.
She said: "He just sat down and it was just instant. He didn't suffer and that was a great blessing."
Mr Carmichael, who went to Scarborough College, was a film, television, stage and radio actor.
He was one of the biggest stars of British film in the 1950s and early 1960s. He was also famous for his TV roles as Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey and recently appeared in ITV's The Royal, which was largely filmed in Scarborough.
Mr Carmichael moved to Grosmont with his first wife Pym 30 years ago. She died five years later.
Nine months after she died he met novelist Kate Fenton. They married in the early 1990s.
Mrs Fenton said: "Ian loved this part of the world with a passion.
"He has been here for 30 years now, God, knows, I have been with him 25 of those.
"We are not having a grand memorial service in London. It will be here where we live and where our hearts are."
Mr Carmichael, who was awarded an OBE in 2003, attended Scarborough College from 1928 to 1934. It was a place that held bad childhood memories for him, due to its "Dickensian" discipline, and at one point he vowed never to return to the town.
He joined ITV's The Royal in 2000 and filmed in and around Scarborough as recently as last year.
As well as his wife, he leaves two daughters, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
A service of thanksgiving will be held for Mr Carmichael at St John the Evangelist Church in Sleights on Wednesday February 17 at 2pm, followed by a private family cremation in Scarborough.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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