David Ryall  David John Ryall (5 January 1935 – 25 December 2014) was an English stage, film and television character actor. He had leading roles in "Lytton's Diary" and "Goodnight Sweetheart", as well as memorable roles in Dennis Potter's "The Singing Detective" and Andrew Davies's adaptation of "To Play the King". He also portrayed Billy Buzzle in the ITV sitcom "Bless Me, Father" and Frank in the BBC sitcom "Outnumbered". Born in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, Ryall was educated at Shoreham and Wallington grammar schools. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1962, during which time he won the Caryl Brahms Award for a Musical. On leaving RADA, he went into repertory work in Salisbury, Bristol, Leicester and Birmingham (including "King Lear" and "The Master Builder") and then into Laurence Olivier's company with the National Theatre at the Old Vic from 1965–73. During this time he was involved with many new and influential plays, including Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" and "Jumpers", Peter Shaffer's "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" and Adrian Mitchell's "Tyger". Other work at the National Theatre included "Guys and Dolls", "The Beggar's Opera", "Coriolanus" and "Animal Farm" (for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award in 1985), "The School for Wives", "Wild Oats", "Democracy" and "The UN Inspector". In 1979 Ryall played a small role as a mechanic in the episode Earnshaw Strikes Back in the long running BBC series Last of the Summer Wine. In 1983 he worked on 'A Matter of the Officers' and "Jean Seberg" with Julian Barry, who remained a lifelong friend. In 1984 Ryall performed a one-man show of stories and poems by Edward Bond at the NT, entitled "A Leap in the Light". Ryall portrayed discredited scientist Frank Skuse in the March 1990 docudrama "Who Bombed Birmingham?" In 1994 he played Feste in Sir Peter Hall's production of "Twelfth Night" – a performance which was praised highly by Sir Alec Guinness in his autobiography. In 1996–97, working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he played God in "The Mysteries", and Polonius in "Hamlet", for which he was nominated for the "Helen Hayes Award" during its tour of the United States.