Former Emmerdale and Foyle’s War star Jay Benedict has died at the age of 68. The American born actor’s agency announced that Benedict died on 4 April as a result of contracting Covid-19.

Benedict was born in Burbank, California, but moved to Europe in the 1960s and spent most of his working life in the UK. He appeared as Newt’s father in James Cameron’s Aliens and as “rich twit” in the final film of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. He is perhaps best known in the UK for playing Doug Hamilton in Emmerdale and John Kieffer in Foyle’s War.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear client Jay Benedict, who this afternoon lost his battle with COVID-19. Our thoughts are with his family ❤️ — TCG ArtistManagement (@TCGArtist) April 4, 2020

Benedict was married to Allo Allo actor Phoebe Scholfield, with whom he had two sons, Leopold and Freddie, who are also actors. He had one other child, Alexis, from a previous marriage.

Shocked to hear one of our most brilliant actors and kind lovely man Jay Benedict has passed. Married to my lovely friend Phoebe Scholfield #AlloAllo My heart goes out to her and her family at this sad time #PhoebeScholfield @FreddieBenedict #LeoBenedict #SyncorSwim #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/YJ7nn25ftv — Vicki Michelle (@vickimichelle) April 5, 2020

Allo Allo star Vicki Michelle paid tribute to her friend’s husband, calling him “one of our most brilliant actors and a kind lovely man”.