{"id":4610,"date":"2021-09-19T15:24:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T13:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1355470"},"modified":"2021-09-19T16:00:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T14:00:11","slug":"only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Fools and Horses actor John Challis dies aged 79"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"> The actor was best known for playing Boycie in the classic sitcom. <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By Helen Daly\n                \t\t<\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Sunday, 19 September 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n<p>John Challis has died at the age of 79 after a long battle with cancer.<\/p>\n<p>The actor, best known for playing Boycie in Only Fools and Horses, died \u201cpeacefully in his sleep\u201d, according to a statement released by his family.<\/p>\n<p>The statement, shared by Only Fools and Horses\u2019 Twitter account, said: \u201cIt is with heavy hearts that we bring you such sad news. Our dear friend and yours, John Challis, has died peacefully in his sleep, after a long battle with cancer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe will always be loved for being \u2018Boycie\u2019 and leaves a great legacy of work that will continue to bring pleasure and smiles for many years to come.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"&quot;twitter-tweet&quot;\" data-dnt=\"&quot;true&quot;\"><p lang=\"&quot;en&quot;\" dir=\"&quot;ltr&quot;\">MEDIA STATEMENT FROM THE FAMILY OF JOHN CHALLIS<br \/>Sunday September 19, 2021<br \/><br \/>\u201cIt is with heavy hearts that we bring you such sad news. Our dear friend and yours, John Challis, has died peacefully in his sleep, after a long battle with cancer.<br \/><br \/>Full Media piece below <a href=\"\/\/t.co\/oeIDrkAa4T&quot;\">pic.twitter.com\/oeIDrkAa4T<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Only Fools and Horses News (@onlyfoolsnews) <a href=\"\/\/twitter.com\/onlyfoolsnews\/status\/1439576059138252802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&quot;\">September 19, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><p>\u201cPlease respect the privacy of John\u2019s family and friends at this difficult time, and be assured that in the future there will be an occasion to celebrate John\u2019s life \u2013 when everyone will be welcome to come along.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It continued: \u201cThe family has asked that, rather than sending any flowers, any donations are sent to John\u2019s chosen animal charities: <a href=\"\/\/cuanwildliferescue.org.uk&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">cuanwildliferescue.org.uk<\/a>, <a href=\"\/\/tusk.org&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">tusk.org<\/a>, <a href=\"\/\/britishhedgehogs.org.uk&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">britishhedgehogs.org.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs Boycie would have said\u2026 you know it makes sense!\u201d<\/p> <p>Challis was born in Bristol in 1942, and was undoubtedly known for his role as Terrance Aubrey \u201cBoycie\u201d Boyce in Only Fools and Horses, starring opposite Sir David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst.<\/p>\n<p>He also starred in The Green Green Grass, an Only Fools spin-off showing the dynamics of Boycie and long-suffering wife Marlene (played by Sue Holderness).<\/p>\n<p>More recently, Challis starred in Benidorm after arriving on the classic sitcom in season seven, playing Monty Staines until 2018.<\/p>\n<p>He is survived by wife, Carol Davies.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The actor was best known for playing Boycie in the classic sitcom. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":4611,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79-scaled.jpg",2560,1706,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/only-fools-and-horses-actor-john-challis-dies-aged-79-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The actor was best known for playing Boycie in the classic sitcom.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/4610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}