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Lewis Collins (born 27 May 1946 in Bidston, Birkenhead, Merseyside) is an English actor. He is best known for his tough-guy role as Bodie in The Professionals.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Acting career 1.2 The Professionals 1.3 After The Professionals 2 Personal life 3 TV roles 4 Film roles 5 External links

Collins father knew Paul McCartney's family and was a one time road manager for The Beatles. Collins first love was music, but his first job was as an apprentice hairdresser.

Collins learnt to play the guitar, and appeared in a number of merseybeat bands such as The Renegades, The Eyes and The Georgians. In December 1964 he joined The Mojos as bassist. The band's pre-Collins chart success was never repeated, and the band split in September 1966. Collins then took a number of jobs, including roadie, selling encyclopaedias, crisps and soft-drinks door-to-door around Warrington.

In 1968, Lewis began study at LAMDA, and appeared in a production of Romeo and Juliet during his three years study. After graduation Collins made several theatre appearances which resulted in a number of minor TV roles in shows such as Z-Cars, Rooms and Marked Personal. It was after this period of minor success that he enrolled in the British Parachute Regiment and also tried out for elite commando unit, the Special Air Service. Although he passed all the trials, he was turned down because of his high public profile, which compromised the SAS' policy of anonymity.

Collins first came to mass public attention from 1975, when he starred in Granada TV's popular comedy series The Cuckoo Waltz as Gavin Rumsey, who lodged with a couple of newlyweds. Collins showed comic ability, but never extended his comedic acting career after he left the show in 1977

Martin Shaw had already been cast in The Professionals, but the script needed a partner. First choice for the role of Bodie Anthony Andrews was dropped after three days of filming, and Collins was hired to replace him. Ironicially, in 1977 Collins appeared with Shaw in Obsession, an episode of the popular ITV series The New Avengers.

Collins was picked to play Bodie alongside Shaw as the two actors had not got on shooting Obsession, creating the required sparky and abrasive relationship that the producers of The Professionals wanted for Bodie and Doyle. Filming of The Professionals commenced in June 1977, and last for four series until 1981 as the viewing figures dropped and Shaw wanted to develop his career.

Talk of reviving The Professionals first arose in 1994, after ex-producer David Wickes made plans to produce a whole new series. A 1996 Nissan car advert sent up Bodie and Doyle was extremely successful, proving that the series was still popular. Collins began negotiations with the producers which would see him return to the series as Bodie, now in Cowley's former role as Head of CI5. Eventually the talks fell through and Collins was replaced by Edward Woodward in the eventual one-off revival.

After completing the fourth and final series of The Professionals in 1981, Collins struggled to find work thanks to the typecasting of his hugely popular role as Bodie. Therefore he often found himself cast in macho, hard-man roles in foreign B-movie action flicks.

Considered for the role of James Bond in replacing Roger Moore on For Your Eyes Only and later The Living Daylights, Collins drew on his experiences in the Territorial Army to portray an SAS officer in his lead role of Peter Skellern in the 1982 film Who Dares Wins. In making the film he suffered a broken nose during a fight scene, and it was panned by the critics as a purely Collins vehicle not a real action movie.

One of his finest roles since The Professionals came in 1988 in the ITV Jack the Ripper mini-series, in which he played Michael Caine's sidekick Sergeant George Godley. In the late 1980s Collins based himself in Los Angeles, taking minor parts in several American mini-series while he studied for and passed Film directors' exams. He spent much of the 1990s in theatre productions, and in number of TV shows in brief guest appearances, including as Colonel Mustard in ITV's fourth mini-TV Cluedo series.

His most recent TV appearance was in August 2002 as Dr Peter Allen in an episode of the ITV 1 series The Bill.

Collins married school teacher Michelle Larrett in 1992, and the couple have three sons: Oliver, Elliot and Cameron.

Collins holds his own Private Pilot's Licence and his hobbies include parachuting and sports shooting. He also holds a black belt in Ju-Jitsu.

• The Cuckoo Waltz, Granada TV sitcom, 1975-1977 - as Gavin Rumsey
• The Professionals, 1977-1983 - as William Andrew Philip Bodie
• Robin Of Sherwood, 1986 - episode "The Sheriff Of Nottingham" as Phillip Mark
• Jack the Ripper, 1989 - as Sergeant George Godley

• Who Dares Wins (1982)
• Codename: Wildgeese (1984)

• Lewis Collins at the Internet Movie Database