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Alun Lewis

Actor with Welsh parents

Alun Lewis Bennett, known professionally as Alun Lewis, is a British actor and musician born in 1949 in London to Welsh parents, Sarah Gwen (née Lewis) and Gorden Bennett, both from Carmarthenshire.

He is the younger brother of actor Hywel Bennett, who was born in Garnant, a mining village in the Amman Valley, Carmarthenshire, in 1944. The Bennett family lived in Garnant, where Hywel grew up speaking Welsh on his grandparents' farm, before relocating to London - so while Alun himself was born after the family's move to England, his Welsh roots on both sides run directly back to that Carmarthenshire village.

Lewis trained as an actor at RADA after appearing with the National Youth Theatre in Zigger Zagger at the Strand Theatre in the West End in 1968. He is best known for his television roles as postmaster Vic Windsor in ITV's Emmerdale and as Darryl Stubbs in the BBC1 sitcom Birds of a Feather, which he played from 1989 to 1994.

Alongside his Emmerdale co-stars Steve Halliwell and Billy Hartman, Lewis was also a member of the 1990s country rock trio The Woolpackers, who had a UK hit single, "Hillbilly Rock Hillbilly Roll", in November 1996. His daughter, from his marriage to Annette Ekblom, is the composer Amelia Warner.

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British actor of Welsh parentage, best known as Vic Windsor in Emmerdale and Darryl Stubbs in Birds of a Feather.

Lewis and his elder brother Hywel Bennett took different professional names for the stage and screen, but both built long careers rooted in the same Welsh family background from Carmarthenshire.

Career Highlights

  • Played postmaster Vic Windsor in ITV's Emmerdale
  • Played Darryl Stubbs in BBC1's Birds of a Feather (1989-1994)
  • Formed 1990s trio The Woolpackers with Emmerdale co-stars, scoring a UK hit single, Hillbilly Rock Hillbilly Roll, in November 1996

ℹ️ Born Alun Lewis Bennett, 1949, London, England, to Welsh parents from Carmarthenshire.

Alun Lewis was born in London to Welsh parents from Carmarthenshire; his family's roots lie in Garnant, the same Amman Valley village where his brother, actor Hywel Bennett, was born and where the family lived before moving to London.

From: kyngmary
Starred in the BBC TV series 'Birds of a Feather'.