Nicky Henson endured a brave 19 year battle with two types of cancer before he died this week at the age of 74.
The hugely popular actor was best known for starring in The Psychiatrist episode of Fawlty Towers – which John Cleese later revealed was his favourite.
Henson also starred in Downton Abbey, Coronation Street and EastEnders during his long career – before he was forced to quit the BBC soap over his illness.
In an interview with the Mirror last year, Henson said: “I’ve been fighting cancer for 18 years now so it’s just part of my life. Whatever happens, happens. It’s not so much fighting it, it’s keeping a sense of humour.”
(Image: BBC)
It was Christmas Day 19 years ago when Henson first went to hospital with what turned out to be gastro-intestinal stromal tumours.
He explained: “I’d started to get terrible stomach pains and the doctor said it was very bad indigestion from Christmas parties. But I woke up on Christmas Day grey and green.
“I came downstairs and we opened presents, then my poor wife [Marguerite Porter, who was the senior principal at the Royal Ballet] decided something must be really wrong. She dialled NHS Direct who said, ‘Take him straight to hospital’.
“By the time I got there I was bleeding from my backside. Everything was closed over the Christmas holiday so I couldn’t get an X-ray until the day after Boxing Day.
“When I had the scan, a doctor came in and said, ‘I’m afraid I have bad news.'”
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
Henson was told he had a large tumour but doctors would have to operate to find out more.
“I rang my wife, who came in and I said to her, ‘We mustn’t feel sorry for ourselves, we’re going to sort this out’. The next morning I woke up and all the fear had gone.
“My brain just went, ‘Right, I’m 57 years old, I don’t care if I never work again, this is my new job now, pointing at my stomach’. That’s how it’s been ever since, even if it did come as a shock as I wasn’t used to being ill,” said Henson.
(Image: BBC)
(Image: Chris Barham/ANL/REX)
Surgeons took out half of Henson’s colon and a third of his stomach as they tried to rid his body of the tumour that had attached to his organs.
The operation was a success and Henson said he felt fine until a few years later when he landed the role of Toby Belch in Twelfth Night at the RSC, which had been his dream part.
I didn’t have any symptoms but, after a routine scan, the oncologist said, ‘Oh dear, it’s come back’. I was put on Gleevec for six months to reduce the tumour to an operable size.
“I went through dress rehearsals for the play and was sweating a lot, and my voice was gone by the end of each show. I did the first night and went straight home to bed – I lay there and knew I could never do theatre again.
“I rang my wife the next morning in tears,” he revealed.
(Image: BBC)
(Image: ITV/REX)
During a second operation, surgeons found Henson had another tumour attached to his spleen.
He was put on penicillin and Gleevec for the rest of his life to keep the cancer at bay. But in 2008, Henson was diagnosed prostate cancer.
“I had radiation for it and then developed really bad kidney stones so I kept on having operations for that. I had something like 21 medical procedures over 12 months.
“Eventually my urethra was worn out so I have a stent now, which has to be replaced every five to six months,” Henson said last year.
Despite his ongoing treatment, Henson said he considered himself ‘so lucky’
(Image: ©Alpha Press)
“It’s amazing what they can do now. When my generation heard the ‘c’ word we thought that’s it.
“My three sons looked it all up on the internet and said, ‘Listen dad, it’s not like the old days – you’ll be alright’.
“And I have been for 18 years. I have four grandchildren who I never thought I’d see. I’m also still working, which really helps.”
Henson had been starring in EastEnders when his Gastrointestinal stromal tumour returned.
He played Honey Edwards’ dad Jack but left the same year over his health battles.
As he continued treatment, Henson praised his wife Marguerite for her ‘extraordinary’ support and said she save his life around ‘three or four times’.
He also thanked his former Fawlty Towers co-star John Cleese.
The Basil Fawlty actor treated Henson and Marguerite to a trip to St Kitts in 2018.
“We rented a house and had a good laugh for 10 days. We’ve known each other for over 50 years now, since The Frost Report,” Henson said.
(Image: Alamy Stock Photo)
After two decades of battling cancer, Henson said he considered himself to be one of the lucky ones.
He told the Mirror last year: “I’ve been fighting cancer for 18 years now so it’s just part of my life. Whatever happens, happens. It’s not so much fighting it, it’s keeping a sense of humour.
I swim half a mile every day but I’ve always done that. I haven’t smoked for about 45 years, but I drink alcohol and I’m not going to stop having a good time.
If I’m going to be here, you need to enjoy it! I consider myself a very lucky person.”
Henson’s friend Ian Oglivy broke the news of his death on Monday morning.
He wrote: “After an illness which started twenty years ago, and which was born with great fortitude and good humour, my oldest and dearest friend, my mate Nicky Henson, has gone.”
