Eugene Roche

Born 22 September, 1928, in Boston.

Died 28 July, 2004, in Los Angeles, aged 75

EUGENE Roche’s name may not have been widely known but he appeared in many of the most popular television dramas made in the United States. His craggy, jovial features made him ideal casting as a hardened policeman, a curmudgeonly neighbour or a somewhat devious attorney.

From the Seventies he was seldom out of work in Hollywood. He was in such hit television series as Magnum PI, Webster, All in the Family and Soap, all of which were shown on UK television and gained large audiences.

In the US, he was known affectionately as the "Ajax Man" after a series of commercials he made at the start of his career for the bathroom product.

After many years in theatre, Roche started getting good parts in television. His "lived-in" face and sense of comedy made him ideal for a wide range of - often zany - characters. In All in the Family (1976), Roche played Pinky Petersen, the lively and cantankerous neighbour. This was followed by the hugely popular spoof Soap (1978-80): a glorious lampoon of the genre, which built up a cult following on both sides of the Atlantic. Roche played a sly, devious lawyer called Ronald Mallu.

For five years from 1983, Roche was the paunchy old-school detective Luther Gillis in yet another hit, Magnum PI. At this time he also had a role as the loveable landlord Bill Parker in Webster.

His film career started with the comedy thriller Cotton Comes to Harlem (1972), and two years later he was involved in Slaughterhouse Five, in which he played Edgar Derby, a GI who finds a porcelain figure in the ruins of Dresden and then is shot for looting.

That year he was a New York cop opposite Gene Hackman in the Oscar-winning The French Connection. There were many attempts to film a TV spin-off from the movie and Roche had been lined up for a major role.

Roche made guest appearances in TV series, ranging from Lou Grant, Starsky and Hutch and Taxi to Hart to Hart, Murder She Wrote and Hotel. No matter how small the role, Roche always brought energy and commitment to the scene.

Roche died of a heart attack and is survived by his wife, Anntoni, and nine children.