About Geoffrey Hughes (actor)
Geoffrey William Hughes DL (2 February 1944 – 27 July 2012) was an English actor. Hughes provided the voice of Paul McCartney in the animated film Yellow Submarine (1968), and rose to fame for portraying bin man Eddie Yeats in the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street from 1974 to 1983, making a return to the show in 1987. He is well known for playing loveable slob Onslow in the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995) and "Twiggy" in the sitcom The Royle Family, playing the part from 1998 to 2008. From 2001 to 2005 he played conman and rogue businessman Vernon Scripps in the ITV police drama Heartbeat, taking over as the show's main rogue from Bill Maynard's Claude Greengrass, and returning to the programme briefly in 2007. Hughes was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the 1990s and in 2010 he suffered a relapse which led him to retire from acting. He died from the illness in 2012 at age 68. == Life and career == Hughes was born at 21 Leven Street in Kirkdale, Liverpool to Ada (née Tulloch) and William Arthur Hughes. He had one younger brother, Gordon. He was brought up in Norris Green, where he attended Ranworth Square Primary School and Abbotsford Secondary Modern School. He started his acting career in repertory at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and soon made his West End debut in the Lionel Bart and Alun Owen musical Maggie May.
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