Neville Alfred Morris Buswell (20 January 1943 – 25 December 2019) was a British actor, best known for his role as

Ray Langton Ray Langton is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Neville Buswell. Storylines Ray Langton was born at Number 2 Gas Street. Throughout his childhood, he was in trouble with the police most o ...

in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...

''.

Early years

Buswell attended Belmont Abbey School near

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester, England, Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. ...

from 1955 to 1960, and represented the school at rowing and rugby - he was a fast and aggressive open side wing forward - and took part in the thriving amateur dramatics society with leading roles in

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

operettas and straight plays such as Patrick Hamilton's ''

Rope A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarl ...

''.

Career

He first appeared on ''

'' in 1966, leaving that same year. He returned in 1968 and remained in the cast for ten years until he chose not to renew his contract rather abruptly in late 1978. He wanted to move to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to be with his wife and her relatives. In the plot line, Ray was written out just as abruptly, leaving his wife Deirdre and young daughter to live in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. For the next 13 years, Buswell worked as a croupier, and later as a supervisor/manager at a Las Vegas casino and from 1991 as a mortgage broker. He was asked to play a bit role in the one-off special ''Viva Las Vegas'' in 1997. After 26 years away, Buswell was written back into ''Coronation Street'' in episodes that aired in March 2005, for a six-week run. His character Ray Langton died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in an episode that aired in the UK on 10 April 2005. Ray died at Deirdre and Ken's wedding reception in the Rover's Return. Buswell retired in February 2008 at the age of 65 and continued to live in Las Vegas.

References

External links

* 1943 births 2019 deaths 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors English expatriates in the United States English male soap opera actors People from Chapel-en-le-Frith {{UK-tv-actor-1940s-stub