Stewart Bevan was born on March 10, 1948, in St Pancras, central London, to a canteen manager, Gwen (nee Snow),and a truck driver, Ray Bevan. His father later became the personal driver to celebrity hairdresser Raymond Bessone, and his mother became his housekeeper.
Raised in Southall, Middlesex, Stewart walked out of school at 15 after being caned for standing up for a Sikh classmate. He then worked at Pierre Cardin's London fashion store and attended amateur dramatics classes, winning an award for playing Alec in Noël Coward's Still Life at a drama festival held at the Questors theatre in 1964.
He enrolled at the Corona theatre school, where he auditioned to play a schoolboy in the landmark Sidney Poitier film To Sir, With Love (1966) and worked as a dancer with Jayne Mansfield when she toured the UK in cabaret. He soon gained big-screen credits, including Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969),Burke & Hare and The Flesh and Blood Show (both 1972),Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973),The Ghoul (1975),and the John Wayne vehicle Brannigan (1975).
After his appearance in Doctor Who, Bevan went on to appear in many popular drama series, including Public Eye (1975),Silent Witness (1997),Shoestring (1979),Blake's 7 (1980),and The House of Elliot (1994). He also had a stint in the soap opera Emmerdale (1977) as Ray Oswell and later appeared in Douglas Camfield's all-star TV version of Ivanhoe (1982) and Noel's House Party (1993-94).
In addition to his television work, Bevan was a familiar face on TV adverts, appearing in campaigns for Fairy Liquid and Kellogg's Bran Flakes in the 80s and 90s, respectively. He also had a successful theatre career, making his West End debut in the first production of Conduct Unbecoming (Queen's theatre, 1969-70) and touring with David Soul in Ira Levin's Deathtrap in 2002.
Stewart Bevan is survived by his wife, Virginia, and their daughters, Coral Bevan and Wendy Bevan. His three sisters predeceased him.
