Peter Vaughan, best known for his roles in Porridge and Game Of Thrones, has died today aged 93, his agent said.

The actor, who had a career in theatre, television and film spanning more than 75 years, died this morning, surrounded by his family.

A veteran tough guy of screen and stage, Peter Vaughan was a giant both physically and as an actor.

Peter Vaughan, who has died at age 93, will be best remembered for his portrayal of 'genial' Harry Grout in the classic sitcom Porridge, despite only appearing in three episodes

He died surrounded by his family this morning, his agent confirmed. He is pictured as Aemon Targaryen in the fantasy drama series Game of Thrones

During his career, Vaughan worked alongside some of the biggest names of his generation, including Sir Anthony Hopkins, Frank Sinatra and Ronnie Barker.

But he will be best remembered for his portrayal of 'genial' Harry Grout in the classic sitcom Porridge, despite only appearing in three episodes.

Even after seven decades in the industry, he continued to excel and went on to gain himself a whole new generation of fans with his role as Aemon Targaryen in the fantasy drama series Game of Thrones.

His many other roles included parts in TV shows Citizen Smith - in which he played the authoritarian father of Robert Lindsay's girlfriend - and as the ageing butler William Stevens in Merchant Ivory's film The Remains of the Day.

Confirming his death today, his agent Sally Long-Innes said: 'This is to confirm that very sadly Peter Vaughan passed away at approximately 10.30 this morning. He died peacefully with his family around him.'

After the news was announced, hundreds of Game of Thrones fans - including those who produce, write and star in the show - paid their respects to the actor using the traditional tribute for members of the Night's Watch, which was led by Vaughan's character.

Breneck O'Connor, who played Olly in the show, was among those who tweeted: 'Now his watch is ended.'

Daniel Portman, who stars as Podrick Payne, followed the same line of tribute, tweeting: 'And now his watch is ended. Lucky to meet him briefly once, a wonderful actor and lovely man. Sleep well, Peter Vaughan.'

His many other roles included parts in TV shows Citizen Smith and Chancer. Vaughan is pictured in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in 1969

During his career, Vaughan worked alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins, Frank Sinatra and Ronnie Barker. He is pictured as Ogre, centre, in Time Bandits in 1981

Fellow Castle Black resident Luke Barnes, who played Rast, said he was 'absolutely gutted' to learn of Vaughan's death.

He tweeted: 'Even in his old age he refused to sit whilst anyone else was standing. Absolute gentlemen.

'Not often you get to work with an actual legend. He was so kind and so gentle and so interesting.'

GoT producer and screenwriter Bryan Cogman said it was an 'honour to have known" the late actor, adding: 'Rest in Peace to our own Maester Aemon, Peter Vaughan, who passed away this morning at age 93.'

Tributes also came in from across the industry, including from Former Doctor Who screenwriter Phil Ford who wrote: 'A superb actor who could be menacing and funny and often both at the same time.'

Vaughan is pictured with Clive Owen, who played DCI Tanner, in Chancer, a series on ITV

With deep-set eyes that would flash with glints of menace or devilment, Vaughan excelled as the on-screen villain. He is pictured as Sir Ensor Doone in Lorna Doone

Peep Show actor Jim Howick said: 'The brilliant Peter Vaughan. R.I.P. What a career.'

Tall and large-framed with an unmissable presence, Vaughan made his mark on the acting world as villain Harry 'Grouty' Grout - the head of HMP Slade protection racket - in Porridge alongside Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale.

He was appearing in a play when he was asked to take on the role.

More than 40 years later, Vaughan described how fans were obsessed with the character, despite his other famous roles.

'I still get people saying "Let you out, have they, Grouty?'',' he said.

'I was in just three episodes and, of course, the feature film, so I have to thank the writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais for the fact I'm one of the characters people always remember when they talk about Porridge because Grouty is so prominent - even though I'm not there.

'Everybody's frightened to death of him, so they talked about him a lot and so it was a huge character but I didn't have to be there,' he previously told the Sunday Post.

Vaughan served in the army during the Second World War, seeing action in Belgium, Normandy and the Far East. He is pictured in Sweet Medicine in 2003

At the time of his death, he lived with his second wife Lillias Walker in Mannings Heath, West Sussex. He is pictured in A Man Without Friends in 1972

Actor Christopher Biggins, who also appeared in Porridge, told BBC Radio London that Vaughan was 'a joy to work with'.

'He was not only an imposing character and gave the most wonderful performance, but he had a real twinkle in his eye and he was quite naughty,' he said.

With deep-set eyes that would flash with glints of menace or devilment, Vaughan excelled as the on-screen villain.

But he showed his versatility with one of his most celebrated roles, as Felix Hutchinson - Christopher Eccleston's character's father - in Our Friends In The North.

Alongside Mark Strong, Gina McKee and Daniel Craig, Vaughan played 'a hard nut with Alzheimer's', a role which earned him a Bafta nomination.

Describing it as his best experience in TV, he said after: 'The great thing about it from my point of view was being able to show people the terrible Alzheimer's Disease.

Brenock O'Connor, who is part of the Game of Thrones cast, paid tribute to Vaughan with a line from the show 'his watch is ended'

Bryan Cogman, a writer and producer on Game of Thrones, described it as an 'honour' to have known the actor

Luke Barnes, who played Rast in Game of Thrones, described Vaughan as 'kind, gentle and interesting' as he paid tribute

'As Felix, over the course of four decades, I was able to go from a hard nut right the way through the various stages of that illness and it was really the first time it had been brought seriously to notice.

'It was a great privilege to play that part, it blazed the trail.'

He went on immediately to make acclaimed performances in a film version of The Crucible and a stage production of Twelve Angry Men.

Throughout his long career, Vaughan also appeared in 1967 spy thriller The Naked Runner, starring Frank Sinatra.

'The great thing about Frank was that you had to stand up to him very quickly. If you did that, he respected you, otherwise he'd walk all over you,' Vaughan said.

Born in Shropshire in April 1924, Vaughan was the son of a bank clerk and nurse. He went to school in Uttoxeter before joining the theatre group in Wolverhampton. He is pictured in Strange Report

He served in the army during the Second World War, seeing action in Belgium, Normandy and the Far East. He is pictured in the The Gold Robbers

But recently it was starring in Game Of Thrones - as the blind, scholarly mentor and guide to Jon Snow (Kit Harington) after the young man joins the Night's Watch - which made him famous to millions around the world.

The actor was partially sighted and portrayed the blind character for five years.

Speaking of that role, he said: 'People talk about Grouty but, good heavens, the fan mail I get from all over the world because of Game of Thrones is enormous.

'It's just grown and grown and once you're hooked, that's it.

'I have always approached every part I have done as if it will be my last and that it's the one I will be judged by.'

Born in Shropshire in April 1924, Vaughan (pictured) was the son of a bank clerk and nurse

Born in Shropshire in April 1924, Vaughan was the son of a bank clerk and nurse. Vaughan's parents did not have a happy marriage and he spent his younger years as something of a loner, an experience that left him emotionally repressed.

The Ohms were of Austrian origin and Peter was their only child.

He recounted his school days in Uttoxeter as being unremarkable and, although he played both cricket and football for the school, he was not good enough to follow sport professionally.

After leaving school, he joined the Wolverhampton Repertory Theatre. His career had been marked out by Miss Joy Belford, a supervisor of the Staffordshire Education Committee who had seen his performances in school plays.

He soon decided that he could not become a successful actor with the name Ohm so he adapted his mother's maiden name Vorn, altering the spelling to Vaughan.

But his time in touring theatre was was interrupted during the war when he was called up to the army in 1942.

He saw service as an officer in Normandy and Belgium, before being transferred to the Far East.

While in Singapore, where he was commissioned in the Royal Corps of Signals, he had his first experience of radio work as a newscaster for Radio Malaya.

At the end of the war the radio company offered him a three-year contract but he decided to rejoin his old rep company in England.

Vaughan as Hermann Goring in Countdown to War (left) and in an appearance in Sherlock Holmes (right)

The actor (right) in The Signalman's Apprentice in 1971

From Wolverhampton he went on to the Manchester Library Theatre and by the early 1950s he had joined the Birmingham Repertory Company.

It was at Birmingham that he met another young actor who was to become a lifelong friend, Donald Pleasence. Vaughan said Pleasence, later famous as James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld opposite Sean Connery in You Only Live Twice, 'became like an older brother to me'.

Vaughan began his career on the stage and did not get a break onto the screen until 1959, when he was well into his thirties.

His first West End performance came in 1954 in a production of Moliere's Le Malade Imaginaire. He decided to stay in London and went into lodgings with Donald Pleasence.

In those lean years he and Pleasence queued together for dole money and would then go to Lords to watch cricket.

In 1970, Vaughan was cast as the head of the villagers in Sam Peckinpah's violent and controversial Straw Dogs (pictured, left)

Vaughan took a few television and film roles, often cast as the villain. Joking about his roles, he said: 'Luckily I'm not beautiful - otherwise I might have starved'. He is pictured left in The Persuaders and right in Sherlock Holmes

Vaughan took a few television and film roles, often cast as the villain. Joking about his roles, he said: 'Luckily I'm not beautiful - otherwise I might have starved'.

His big break came in 1964 when he starred in Orton's comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane. It was considered outrageous at the time and caused a sensation. He recalled that Judy Garland used to come and take the whole cast out for dinner.

Film parts followed and in 1970 he was cast as the head of the villagers in Sam Peckinpah's violent and controversial Straw Dogs.

He was one of the group Peckinpah called his 'British Wild Bunch' and by way of explanation Vaughan later said: 'We did go round as a gang. And there were one or two ... escapades'.

I have always approached every part I have done as if it will be my last and that it's the one I will be judged by Peter Vaughan

Meanwhile, his television career took off with the plum role of Detective Chief Superintendent Cradock in London Weekend's The Gold Robbers. He was well known on the set for his sense of humour and practical jokes which, according to Pleasence, were part of Vaughan's persona.

He was quoted as saying: 'There are at least two Peters. One is shy and reticent, the other is the wild Peter - with a great sense of humour.'

He was more and more in demand on television in a wide range of productions from the popular sitcoms to action series dramas such as Fox.

here were adaptations of Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and dramas, including Winston Churchill - The Wilderness Years.

Dividing his time between television and films, such as The Missionary, The French Lieutenant's Woman and Brazil, would have been enough for many but he also enjoyed radio drama where, with his physical presence hidden, he played roles like frail old Mr Dorrit in Dickens' Little Dorrit.

Vaughan described himself as a character actor, saying he did not have the looks to play romantic leads.

'If you're a character actor, you don't need to wait for the next leading role,' he once said.

'But if you are a leading man you have to wait for the next part. Sometimes that means long periods without work.'

At the time of his death, he lived with his second wife Lillias Walker, whom he met in his repertory days, their son David and his twin step-daughters in Mannings Heath, West Sussex.