Ray Brooks, born Raymond Michael Brooks, (20 April 1939), is a British actor.
His acting career began on TV with his largest roles at the time being on Coronation Street as Norman Phillips and Taxi! as Terry Mills. At the same time, he would also play small roles in films such as H.M.S. Defiant.
His rise to prominence came after starring in The Knack... and How to Get It as Tolen, followed by a dramatic turn in The Wednesday Play as Reg in Cathy Come Home. Once Brooks was in the spotlight, he had starring roles in Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D., The Flesh and Blood Show, Tiffany Jones, and House of Whipcord, and played a memorable supporting role in Carry On Abroad.
By the late '70s, his film career was beginning to decline. However, was still in work elsewhere, as he released an album, narrated Mr. Benn and King Rollo, and voiced Detective Sergeant Dave Brook in the radio series Detective. Brooks also starred in two Britcoms with Sharon Duce; the two played a gambler and his girlfriend in Big Deal and middle-aged foster parents in Growing Pains.
Brooks' final noteworthy TV role was Joe Macer in EastEnders, a character written in as a love interest for Wendy Richard's Pauline Fowler. The two got married in 2006 until Pauline died suddenly in that year's Christmas Episode. When Brooks left the series in 2007, it was revealed that Joe had been Pauline's killer all along, just before he was also Killed Off for Real by falling out of a window.
Works on TV Tropes he appeared in:
Film
- H.M.S. Defiant (1962) — Hayes
- The Knack... and How to Get It (1965) — Tolen
- Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966) — David Campbell
- The Flesh and Blood Show (1972) — Mike
- Carry On Abroad (1972) — Giorgio
- House of Whipcord (1974) — Tony
- Z Cars, 3 episodes:
- "The Peterman" (1963) — Jimmo
- 2-episode story "Infamous Conduct" (1970) — Ken Jackson
- Coronation Street, 10 episodes (1963-64) — Norman Phillips
- Dixon of Dock Green, episode "The Heister" (1966) — Ken Hardy
- The Avengers, episode "Noon Doomsday" (1968) — Farrington
- Jackanory, 30 episodes (1969-78) — Storyteller
- Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), episode "The Man from Nowhere" (1969) — Marty
- Doomwatch, episode "Survival Code" (1970) — Geoff Harker
- Mr. Benn, 14 episodes (1971-2005) — Narrator
- Play for Today, episode "A Touch of the Tiny Hacketts" (1978) — Raymond Collis
- King Rollo, 13 episodes (1980) — Narrator
- Rumpole of the Bailey, episode "Rumpole and the Female of the Species" (1983) — Tony Timson
- Woof!, episode "Get Me to the Church" (1994) — Mr. Tully
- EastEnders, 116 episodes (2005-07) — Joe Macer
