Lewis Collins

Lewis Collins
Lewis Collins as "Bodie" in The Professionals
Born	(1946-05-27)27 May 1946 Bidston, Birkenhead, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Died	27 November 2013(2013-11-27) (aged 67) Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death	Cancer
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1971–2002
Spouse(s)	Michelle Larrett (m. 1992–2013) (his death)
Children	Three sons

Lewis Collins (27 May 1946 – 27 November 2013) was an English film and theatre actor. His career defining role was playing the character of Bodie in the late 1970s - early 1980s British television series The Professionals.

The son of Bill Collins, a shipwright and amateur musician, who played the piano in local clubs with the dance band The Savoy Swingers, Lewis was born in Bidston, Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula in the County of Cheshire. At the age of two he won 'The Most Beautiful Baby in Liverpool' contest. He was educated at Bidston Primary and Grange School in Birkenhead, and the Birkenhead Institute School.

When he was 13 years of age his father bought him a drum kit for £25. His first gig was playing with his father's band, and he also joined a group of older school pupils to form The Renegades, at the start of the Merseybeat music scene in Liverpool in the late 1950s. His passion for firearms started in his youth from a membership of the Liverpool Central Rifle Club.
On leaving school, he took an apprentice hairdresser's position at the Andre Bernard Salon, alongside fellow apprentice Mike McCartney. He gained a reputation for his barbering skill, and became the local hairdresser for singer Helen Shapiro.
In the same period he was writing songs with Mike at the McCartney home, and when drummer Pete Best was dropped from The Beatles Mike McCartney suggested Collins as a possible replacement, to band member and his elder brother Paul McCartney. Turning down the option of an audition with The Beatles, Collins continued playing music on an amateur basis for a number of local bands, including The Eyes and The Georgians.
In late 1964 Collins quit hairdressing to become the bass player with The Mojos (which his father managed), performing on their charting singles "Goodbye Dolly Gray" and "Until My Baby Comes Home", and relocated from Liverpool to London with them when the band appeared to have a bright future. However the band failed to chart again and broke up, and finding himself in the midst of cosmopolitan London in 1966 during the Swinging Sixties, Collins made a living engaged in temping work such as delivery van driving, cleaning windows and being a waiter, before deciding that he wanted to become an actor after hearing a play being performed on the radio.