Kenneth MacDonald

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Kenneth MacDonald (20 November 1950 - 5 August 2001) was an English actor who was best known for the parts of Gunner Nobby Clark in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Mike Fisher in Only Fools and Horses. He was born in Manchester, the son of Scottish heavyweight wrestling champion Bill MacDonald, who died of kidney failure when Kenneth was 13.

He attended St Anthony's preparatory school in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire and went on to St Bernardine's Franciscan College in Buckingham where he took part in school productions, notably in 'Arsenic and Old Lace'. Ken left school at eighteen to help support his mother Emily. He took a job at a Kellogg's cornflakes factory. During night shifts he would perform Hamlet and other Shakespeare plays that he had learned at school, earning him the nickname "Hamlet". In 1975 he appeared in Last of the Summer Wine.

A year later he moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre. He got a couple of small television parts: Softly, Softly and Z-Cars.

Ken met his wife Sheila while he was appearing in panto in Crewe in 1976. She was the costume designer at the time.

When he landed the part of pub landlord Mike in the Only Fools and Horses episode Who's a Pretty Boy? in 1983, it was initially assumed to be a one episode role. However, the character made regular appearances until Kenneth's death in 2001.

His first television role was Benny in Softly, Softly in 1972. His last (posthumous) role was as Stephen Pearce in The Last Detective in 2003. He had also appeared in the Granada Television Rentals television adverts of the late 1970s.

He died 5 August 2001 after suffering a heart attack while on holiday with his family in Hawaii. He was 50 years old.

His character Mike was not Killed off in Only Fools and Horses but said to be in prison abroad.

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