Veteran British actor Ian Abercrombie dies

Veteran British stage and screen actor Ian Abercrombie, who was the voice of Chancellor Palpatine in the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, has died aged 77.

He passed away at a Los Angeles hospital from complications of kidney failure and had recently been diagnosed with lymphoma.

“Though he played a villain on our show, you would be hard pressed to meet a kinder person,” said Dave Filoni, a supervising director for Clone Wars.

“He loved to laugh and his sense of humour always lightened our record sessions. I will miss his stories, I will miss his performances and I will miss his contribution to our show.”

Essex-born Mr Abercrombie began his career as a dancer and made his American stage debut in a 1951 production of Stalag 17.

He appeared in the film Army of Darkness and on such TV shows as Wizards of Waverly Place and Birds of Prey, in which he played Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler.

He also voiced the worldly owl Ambrose in the animated movie Rango starring Johnny Depp.