Heartbeat star left acting friends gifts in his £735,000 will

HEARTBEAT favourite William Simons who died last year remembered his stage and screen pals in his £735,000 will.

William, who played affable chain-smoking PC Alf Ventress in the TV series, left legacies to the Actors’ Benevolent Fund, Equity Charitable Trust and the Royal Theatrical Fund.

The actor, who died aged 78 in June, also remembered Changing Faces, a charity supporting those with facial disfigurements, having suffered with acne.

The Swansea-born star was a child actor but almost quit because of his acne, saying later: “It was so bad that I just wanted to run away and hide.”

He also left a legacy to retirement home Denville Hall, whose famous residents included Lord Attenborough, Robert Hardy, Baron Rix and Peggy Mount.

William, who lived in Fulham, west London, left “all royalty rights owned by me at the date of my death” to the home.

The bulk of his estate was left to his second wife Jackie. The charities share six per cent of the remainder.

Bryn Newton, his agent and close friend, said of the will: “It doesn’t surprise me at all.

“He was the most generous lovely man and there were many smaller jobs over the years where he donated his fee to charity. Besides being fun, he was also the most honest and generous man. I miss him a lot, truly.”

William, known to friends as Bill, appeared in all 18 series of ITV’s Yorkshire police drama Heartbeat.

He enjoyed making Heartbeat so much he bought a house in Goathland, near Scarborough, where much of it was filmed. But he sold it 14 years later because the village was being invaded by fans of the show.

His TV credits also included Coronation Street, Emmerdale Farm, The Bill, Juliet Bravo and Rumpole Of The Bailey.

His will also leaves £5,000 to his solicitor Ian Cowie and to his friend Daniel Adams, who lives in rural France, where he bought a property.