EastEnders’ Ray Brooks leaves huge £1.5m fortune to two children after sad death
EastEnders and Coronation Street star Ray Brooks has left a staggering fortune to his children after his death last year, it has come to light, following a huge career
Ray sadly died last year(Image: BBC)A former EastEnders actor has left a huge sum of cash to his children. Actor Ray Brooks, who also appeared on ITV’s Coronation Street, died in August last year following a short illness.
He was also the famous voice of Mr Benn, narrating the classic 1970s children’s show. And now, his will, which was approved by the High Court last week, has set out some of Ray’s wishes.
His wife, Sadie, sadly died in 2021, meaning that his estate has been passed to his two children, Will and Tom. It has been claimed that Ray, who also appeared in the Sixties sitcom, Taxi!, has left £1,571,855 to his two children.
Ray died in August last year(Image: BBC)
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The will, of nine pages, was signed by Ray in 2012, according to The Sun. During his time on EastEnders, Ray’s character, Joe Macer, was best known for playing the second husband of Pauline Fowler, whom she killed during a row on Christmas Day in 2006.
Ray’s character was hit over the head with a frying pan and instantly became one of the BBC soap opera’s most-watched scenes of the year. Elsewhere, over the course of his career, which spanned five decades, he appeared as Norman Phillips on Corrie.
His character was the nephew of talent agent Lenny Phillips, but was later promoted after Dennis Tanner’s errors led to losses. Ray appeared in the soap for eight episodes before leaving to take on other jobs.
These included Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Carry On Abroad, and the Doctor Who spin-off, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150AD.
Although only 13 episodes of Ray voicing Mr Benn were ever recorded, in the cartoon the character was always dressed in a black lounge suit and bowler hat. In each episode of the iconic children’s animation, which, surprisingly, only ran on the BBC from 1971 to 1972, Mr Benn would leave his house at 52 Festive Road, London, and visit a fancy-dress costume shop.
There, he would inevitably be invited by the moustachioed, fez-wearing shopkeeper to try on a particular outfit – and end up going on a magical adventure.
At the time of Ray’s death, his sons, Will and Tom, said: “His three true loves were family (he also had a daughter, Emma, who died in 2003), Fulham Football Club, and spending time in Brighton, where he was born.”
A spokesperson for EastEnders said: “We are deeply saddened to hear that Ray Brooks has passed away. Ray will always be remembered fondly by everyone that worked with him at EastEnders. Our love and thoughts are with Ray’s family and friends.”
Speaking about his career to Sussex Life, the humble actor once confessed: “I don’t think I was ever that good an actor. I was more an image of a young man. I was never as good-looking as, say, my contemporary, David Hemmings. And don’t forget this was the period of Terence Stamp. So there was a lot of competition.”
