Drug abuse campaigning actor dies

David Kossoff campaigned against drug abuse after his son's death

Actor, broadcaster, author and drug abuse campaigner David Kossoff has died at the age of 85 following a battle with liver cancer.

His best known television role was the hen-pecked husband Alf Larkins in The Larkins first broadcast in the 1950s.

He boosted his career reading his own published Bible stories on television but after his son Paul died from drugs he started to campaign against abuse.

Born in the East End of London, he lived at Hatfield in Herts.

His fame was built on a series of British films such as A Kid for Two Farthings (1955) and for his role as Morry in The Bespoke Overcoat (1956).

The son of Russian parents, Kossoff experienced tragedy when his son Paul, guitarist with the rock band Free, died following years of drug abuse at the age of 25.

He gave more than 350 performances in schools of a one-man show warning of the dangers of drugs and broadcast frequently on the subject.

For the last decade he was involved in charity work raising money for hospices and guide dogs.