Dozens of mourners stood shoulder to shoulder on Monday to celebrate the life of a popular Bushey actor.

Frank Jarvis, of Merry Hill Road, died suddenly last month at the age of 69.

Mr Jarvis, vice president of the Abbots Langley Gilbert and Sullivan Society, enjoyed a successful and varied career on stage and screen, starring in numerous episodes of Doctor Who and Grange Hill.

Other notable credits included the blockbuster films A Bridge Too Far and The Italian Job, in which he starred in one of the most famous scenes in cinema history, as, stranded in a bus teetering on the edge of a cliff, he waited to hear Michael Caine’s famous “idea.”

Friend and society colleague Brenda Southorn, said: “He was a really funny man with a great sense of humour. If you wanted to liven up a dinner party would always invite Frank. He had so many funny anecdotes because of the people he had met in his career. He will be sorely missed by us all.”

Mr Jarvis, who was first introduced to the society in 1970, also enjoyed passing his knowledge to local students, helping many of them to win places at drama schools.

His famous sense of humour was also in evidence at his funeral service at West Herts Crematorium, where Italian Job theme music Self Preservation Society was played.