TV STAR and pantomime actor, Barry Howard of Bournemouth has died at the age of 78.

Born in Nottingham in 1937, Barry said in a Daily Echo interview in 2001 that he had attended the local grammar school and that his parents ran a butcher's shop, which he helped in from the age of 14 or 15. He had said that he had never had any formal dance training as a child, with exception to a few basic ballroom steps at school.

He said that he served with the RAF for just under two years at a combined headquarters for the Air Force in Germany and the BAOR - British Army on the Rhine, working as a telephone operator on 'a big 24-position switch board.'

However, he had a passion for musical theatre which he pursued through the RAF's amateur dramatics group putting on a show 'every two weeks.'

After leaving the armed forces, he toured around schools with the show, Rumpelstiltskin, and then worked for Butlins Holiday Camp in Ayre.

He then pursued professional training by auditioning for LAMDA, Central School and Birmingham, the latter of which he was accepted into which he attended while helping backstage at the Alexandra Theatre.

He went on to star in popular 1980s sitcom, Hi-de-Hi!, playing the role of Barry Stuart-Hargreaves, who, with his wife, Yvonne, teaches ballroom dancing at Maplins holiday camp, which was set in the 1950s.

However, he first appeared on stage in Bournemouth in 1966 in the role of Mr Sowerberry, the undertaker in Oliver, with his first pantomime in the town in 1975.

Barry went on to star in a theatre-version of Hi-De-Hi! in 1983 and during an interview with the Daily Echo, he said that each visit to the holiday resort was 'like coming home'. The same year he helped to open the sixth annual Somerford Carnival with fellow comedy star, Su Pollard, which was attended by an estimated 5,000 people.

He also featured in The Rocky Horror Show at the Pavilion theatre in October 1991 and then a touring production of Scrooge, before giving his time to a gala show for the Variety Club of Great Britain, which raised £10,000 for the charity. In 1995, he appeared in Sleeping Beauty alongside June Brown and Denise Van Outen.

Mr Howard also appeared in Terry and June, numerous stage shows and later had a guest role as Oliver Barnes in the 2009 Doctor Who Christmas special.

Barry died on April 28 following a battle with blood cancer.