Charles Wilson was booed and hissed in his silent-screen days.

This stock player's performances went back to the 1890s.

In the Thirties and Forties, however, he could rely on 99 out of 100 in the audience to draw a breath of recognition when he appeared on the screen.

He was destined to play the guy holding the mortgage, the avaricious pawnbroker or the one who hated children - sterling performances all.

-Gordon Dean, St Lukes Road, Brighton