BRITISH actor, screenwriter and film director Lionel Jeffries, who had life-long links with Dorset, died yesterday at the age of 83.

His great-grandfather William Allison had a barber’s shop in the Square which boasted a royal standard because he had cut the hair of King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, during a stay at the resort’s Royal Bath Hotel.

His grandmother was born in Bournemouth and Mr Jeffries was named after an uncle who was also born in the town. His mother lived in Charminster.

Born in Forest Hill, London, on June 10, 1926, Lionel Charles Jeffries lived in Bournemouth and Verwood.

He attended Wimborne Grammar School before training at RADA after his World War II service, for which he was awarded the Burma Star.

He deeply regretted the loss of the old Georgian school buildings and branded their replacement “like something out of Belsen.”

Mr Jeffries described going back to the school as “the most horrendous experience of my life,” adding: “I will never go back to Wimborne again – it’s too upsetting.”

Renowned for his bald head, baritone voice and bristling moustache, the actor made his big screen debut in 1950, only turning to television in the mid-1980s when he appeared in the popular TV thriller series Inspector Morse.

The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star appeared in more than 70 films and directed the celebrated film version of The Railway Children as well as The Amazing Mr Blunden and Wombling Free.

Later, while based in Westbourne, he became involved in many worthy local causes including Dorset Wildlife Trust, the Wessex branch of the Variety Club of Great Britain, Relate and a campaign to keep the Poole and Bournemouth cleft centre open.