Farewell, Jason King: TV’s dandy detective Wyngarde dies at 90
P ET ERWyngarde,w ho played flamboy antlydressed TV sleuth Jason King, has died aged 90.
The actor became an international sex symbol after starring as King in Department S and its Seventies spin-off, named after his character.
Wyngarde, who was once voted Britain’s best-dressed man, also had roles in The Avengers, The Saint, The Prisoner and Doctor Who, and appeared as villain Klytus in the 1980 film Flash Gordon.
He signed his 1969 contract to play King on a restaurant napkin and made the character – with his handlebar moustache and sharp suits – his own. The suave detective is said to have inspired Mike Myers’ comic creation Austin Powers.
Admitting that he drank too much, Wyngarde once compared himself to his most famous role, saying: ‘Jason King had champagne and strawberries for breakfast, just as I did. I’m amazed I’m still here.’
His agent Thomas Bowington described him yesterday as a unique actor, adding: ‘There were few things in life he didn’t know.
‘He was a mentor on everything from sports cars to how to make a good cup of tea and how to do a tie and shirt.’
The son of a diplomat, Wyngarde is said to have become interested in acting as a child during the Second World War while interned by the Japanese in a camp near Shanghai, where the writer JG Ballard was also held as a boy. He was married to actress Dorinda Stevens for three years in the 1950s, but shared a flat in the 1960s with actor Alan Bates. The two men were thought to have been in a relationship. Mr Bowington said Wyngarde died in a London hospital on Monday, having been ill for a couple of months.