Lewis Collins

Lewis Collins (born 27 May 1946 in Bidston, Birkenhead, Wirral, Cheshire) is an English actor best known for his tough-guy role as Bodie in The Professionals. He was educated at Bidston Primary and Grange School in Birkenhead. He started out as a ladies' hairdresser before playing drums and guitar in pop groups. He had a number of other jobs before deciding to become an actor. Collins trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art then went into Rep at Chesterfield and Glasgow, toured with Prospect Theatre Company and then to London's West End. He also did tours in America and Canada. Stage included City Sugar and The Three Penny Opera.

In 1982 he auditioned for the role of James Bond but his audition was deemed "too aggressive". His best-known role outside The Professionals is that of SAS officer Captain Peter Skellen in the 1982 film Who Dares Wins. He subsequently applied to join the Territorial SAS, a unit open to part-time reservists but was rejected because of his fame, despite passing the entrance tests. His preparation for the film gave him a passion for guns, and in 1981 he was fined £300 after discharging a shotgun in his living room. In 2002, after a tip-off from his estranged father, police searched his house in Chalfont St Peter, discovering machine guns, pistols, shotguns and ammunition. Collins hadn't lived at the house for several years and was not charged over the matter.