Actor Ewen MacIntosh has died aged 50.
The TV star was best known for playing deadpan accountant Keith Bishop in the hit television sitcom The Office alongside Ricky Gervais from 2001 until 2003 and also appeared in Little Britain, Miranda, After Life and Celebrity Come Dine With Me.
A message by Just Right Management shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday (February 21) read: “With great sadness we announce the peaceful passing of our beloved comedy genius Ewen MacIntosh. His family thank all who supported him, especially Willow Green Care Home. There will be a private cremation for family & close friends soon & a celebratory memorial later in the year.” His cause of death is yet to be revealed.
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The sad news comes after Ewen shared a photo of himself from hospital in February 2022. He said on social media at the time: “Bad times for me I’m afraid chums. Stay strong out there.”. Heartbroken fans have since taken to social media to pay tribute to the comedian. One fan said: “RIP Ewen MacIntosh. #TheOffice remains my favourite sitcom after all these years, and all of his scenes were absolute gold. ‘Under weaknesses you’ve put eczema’ Legend. Top drawer in #Afterlife too.” Someone else penned: “Saddened to hear of the passing of @ewenmacintosh. Absolutely loved him in The Office. I think some of the funniest scenes of the series’ were involving him!”
(Image: BBC)
(Image: BBC)
Ewen’s The Office co-star Ricky also took to X to share an emotional post with his followers. He wrote: “Extremely sad news. The very funny and very lovely Ewen Macintosh, known to many as ‘Big Keith’ from The Office, has passed away. An absolute original. RIP.” Fans will remember Ewen’s iconic scene where his character “Big Keith” made Inappropriate comments during a conversation with Tim Canterbury, played Martin Freeman, while taking a huge bite from a Scotch egg. The scene needed multiple takes as his co-star struggled to keep a straight face each time he took a bite.
(Image: Getty Images)
Ewen previously told The Independent: “The Scotch egg scenes were something that were planned quite late on, maybe even on the day. The props guy nipped out to Sainsbury’s to get some and it’s a good job he bought a lot because I went through them. We were reusing them by the end, turning them around to hide the bites because we did so many takes. The funny thing is, they don’t really have Scotch eggs in America, so when the show started to do well there, Americans were like, ‘I love that guy with the apple…’ I was like: ‘That’s not an apple, my friend’.”
During his career, Ewen appeared in various television shows and formed a double act with Tim FitzHigham and they performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007. In 2009, be appeared alongside several other celebrities in a charity music video for the Chris Rea song Driving Home for Christmas.
He was also a regular on the radio sitcom Cabin Pressure as Carl, the bored ATC operator. In 2013 he appeared in a national TV advert for ao.com. A year later, he starred as Barry the window cleaner in the film The Confusion of Tongues. In 2017, Ewen also appeared as Lionel in British romantic comedy film Finding Fatimah. Ewen also presented various music programmes on Now 80s and Now 90s.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
