John Abineri

John Abineri (18 May 1928 – 29 June 2000)[1] was an English actor.

Born in London, he attended the Old Vic drama school and described himself as "Well educated from the age of five to eighteen".[2] He spoke a number of languages (including German, Russian and French) fluently, which led to him being cast as a number of different nationalities.

His extensive television performances included numerous roles in Cult TV drama series, for which he is now probably best remembered. He had regular roles in Survivors as Hubert Goss, and in HTV's Robin of Sherwood as Herne the Hunter.[3] He appeared on four occasions in Doctor Who and also in the Blake's 7 episode Hostage, taking over the role of Ushton after the sudden death of the actor Duncan Lamont, with whom he had co-starred in the Doctor Who serial Death to the Daleks.[4][5] He also appeared as Sir George Mortenhurze in the BBC's The Moon Stallion, as Arnold Rimmer's father in Red Dwarf, and as Father Gruber in the 1989 TV adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days.[6][7][8]

He received an Emmy nomination for his performance as Chingachgook in the TV adaptation of Last Of The Mohicans (1971) and Hawkeye, The Pathfinder (1973).[9] He also played the butler in the original Ferrero Rocher Ambassador's reception advert.[10]

His film credits include roles in Funeral in Berlin (1966), The McKenzie Break (1970), Pope Joan (1972), The Godfather Part III (1990) and Giorgino (1994).[1]

He was the father of actors Sebastian Abineri, Daniel Abineri and Jaz Abineri.[11]