
Died at 67
male
Marcus Gilbert (1958 - 2026) was a British actor, known for his roles in Jilly Cooper's Riders and Army of Darkness (Evil Dead 3). He appeared in films including A Hazard of Hearts (1987), A Ghost in Monte Carlo (1990), Biggles (1986), Rambo III (1988) and Legacy (1990), and on television and in commercials. He also worked in the theatre, including playing the young Viscount Goring in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband with the Middle Ground Theatre Company on their national tour in 2000. In 2006, Gilbert starred as Jordan Power in the world premiere of Starry Starry Night, at The Mill at Sonning. After training at the Mountview Theatre School (graduated 1981 - alumni), Gilbert became a founder member of the original Odyssey Theatre Company touring London schools with productions of contemporary classics. This was followed by seasons at the Dundee Repertory Theatre and the Library Theatre, Manchester. He made over 50 commercials including one for Lee Jeans called Mean Jeans, directed by Willi Patterson, which won the best cinema commercial award in 1986. Gilbert also ran his own film production company, Touch The Sky Productions, and while making a documentary about his climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2004 he visited the Arusha Children's Trust in Tanzania and filmed an appeal for the trust. Gilbert was married to Homaa Khan from 1992 until her death in 2020. Together they had two children. In 2023 it was announced that Gilbert was in a relationship with Lysette Anthony, his co-star from A Ghost in Monte Carlo over thirty years earlier. Gilbert passed away on 11th January 2026 following a long battle with cancer.

Thomas & Friends[e] is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on The Railway Series books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Britt Allcroft. The series centers on various anthropomorphic steam locomotives as well as other vehicles living on the fictional Island of Sodor. Initially being filmed in live action on model sets, whereas the latter half of its run was produced using CGI, over 500 episodes were produced over the course of 24 series.

