Corrie Ray dies in Las Vegas at 76
Actor Neville lived in obscurity in US after quitting soap in 1978
CORRIE legend Neville Buswell, who played womaniser Ray Langton before quitting in a doomed bid to find Hollywood fame, has died at 76.
The actor passed away on Christmas Day in Las Vegas, where he had lived in obscurity, working in the casinos, a bank and even a newsagents, since leaving Coronation Street in the late 1970s.
His character was Deirdre Barlow’s first husband and father of her daughter Tracy, but was written out in 1978 when Buswell opted not to renew his contract.
Buswell was born in 1943 in Chapelen-le-Frith, Derbys, where he was a keen rower and rugby player.
He started his acting career by appearing in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and in stage plays.
He had a brief spell in Corrie in 1966, but returned in 1968, staying 10 years.
Buswell’s American dream got off to a bad start when two videos he took of his Street appearances to show producers failed to work on US machines.
He once said: “I had no plans to give up acting. That was really all I knew. But I talked myself out of going to Los Angeles and stayed in Las Vegas after it became clear I would have to start again right from the beginning.”
He and his wife Sue had decided to go to Vegas as her brother was already there.
Buswell said: “It became increasingly obvious they were having a good life, and the weather was great.”
After four months out of work, Buswell landed a job at a casino, starting as a poker dealer and ending up as pit boss with 26 employees under him.
It was at the tables that he had his only brush with Hollywood fame as stars such as Mickey Rooney and Chuck Norris were regulars.
Buswell and Sue lived in a modest £210,000 bungalow in Sin City, but as she also worked at a casino the couple barely saw each other, Buswell once revealing how they were only off work together for one day in the year.
That led to his decision to quit the casino to work in a friend’s newsagents. He said: “I was getting paid only about £4 an hour, but I loved it.”
He left there to work in a bank before offering consumer loans for cars, boats and home improvements to customers.
At the time, he said: “I enjoy having a nice, ordinary job. I never really had the urge to act again.” The attention he had got from soap fans in the UK had been part of the reason he decided to leave.
He said: “It became difficult for my wife Sue and I to go out to restaurants and supermarkets and places like that and get any peace.
“It was a novelty at first, and I didn’t want to run away from people because they were fans of the show.” But in Vegas, only once in 13 years was he recognised from his days on the cobbles.
And when he reflected on his life, he said: “I have no regrets.”
Buswell’s character Langton seduced a string of women before he wed Deirdre, played by Anne Kirkbride, in 1975.
His exit storyline involved Langton leaving for a new life in Amsterdam.
Buswell returned for a bit part in the Corrie special Viva Las Vegas in 1997 and reappeared in 2005, when Langton died at Deirdre’s wedding to Ken Barlow.
Four years ago, police said they wanted to interview Buswell over an alleged sex attack on a 12-year-old girl in his studio dressing room in the 1960s.
Buswell denied exposing himself to the girl, insisting: “That is not true.”
A Coronation Street spokeswoman said: “We are saddened to hear of the death of Neville Buswell.”
The cause of his death is unknown.
I enjoy having an ordinary job ..I never had the urge to act again
NEVILLE BUSFIELD ON NEW LIFE IN NEVADA