Rudolph Walker

 ( 1939 Births ) 

Walker was married to Lorna Ross in 1968, but they divorced after having two children.

Walker appeared in the first episode of the ITV sitcom On the Buses, "The Early Shift" (1969), and the first episode of Mr. Bean as "The Examiner" (1990). His other notable roles included as barrister Larry Scott in the 1985 BBC series Black Silk, by Mustapha Matura and Rudy Narayan.

Since 2001, Walker has played Patrick Trueman in the BBC One television soap opera EastEnders, for which role he was voted best actor in 2002 at the annual Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards, and in 2010 he appeared in the Internet spin-off series . He also starred in a BBC One sitcom called The Crouches, about a family from Walworth, in South-East London. He played the grandfather for both series (2003–2005).

Although much of his work has been on television, he has appeared in several movies, including 10 Rillington Place, King Ralph (along with his Love Thy Neighbour co-star, Jack Smethurst), and Let Him Have It. On the stage, Walker appeared in the first production of Mustapha Matura's Play Mas at the Royal Court Theatre in 1974, and has played the titular character in stage productions of Shakespeare's Othello, directed by David Thacker and Charles Marowitz, and also Caliban in a production of The Tempest directed by Jonathan Miller. Walker was also John Gower in Thacker's 1989 production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

He also played opposite Diane Parish in Lovejoy (starring Ian McShane) where they played father and daughter.

Walker also lent his voice to the British children's television series Teletubbies, in which he renarrated the opening and closing sequences for the American dubbed version and voiced some of the voice trumpets for both the British and American versions.

His work on radio includes in 1997 reading a five-part abridgement by Margaret Busby on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, Listings, Radio Times, Issue 3814, 10 March 1997, p. 115. and presenting Hidden History: Universal Tongue (2001), produced by Pam Fraser Solomon.

Walker was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1999, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel on his 60th birthday at Lord's cricket ground.

A biography for children about Walker, written by Verna Wilkins, was published by Tamarind Books on 4 September 2008.