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Michael Reid (19 January 1940 – 29 July 2007) was an English comedian and character actor, hailing...

Michael Reid (19 January 1940 – 29 July 2007) was an English comedian and character actor, hailing from Hackney in East London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround. He was also noted for his gravelly voice and strong Cockney accent. Michael Reid was born in Hackney, East London in 1940 during World War II, and the Blitz bombings of Central London caused him and his family to relocate to Tottenham, North London, where he attended Rowland Hill School. In 1958, he married his first wife, Sheila, and they had a daughter, Jane. They divorced in 1967, after which he married Shirley (née Collins) in 1971 and had two sons, Michael and Mark and a daughter, Angela (who in 2008 the press claimed to be a British National Party activist, though the rumour appeared unfounded). In 1985 his son Mark Edward accidentally shot dead his best friend and five years later he committed suicide aged 24 in Colchester, Essex, by setting himself on fire. Shortly after his son's death, Reid's granddaughter Kirsty Anne - Mark's daughter - died in her cot in Colchester, aged just six months. Mike had moved to a villa in