The Professionals star forced to sell computers before tragic cancer death

Actor Lewis Collins was best known for his tough-guy role in The Professionals, in which he played agent Bodie alongside Martin Shaw's character Doyle. Together, the duo were among the biggest stars of televison in the late 1970s and early '80s as they played the sometimes rebellious double-act of the fictional police and spy agency Ci5. The Cheshire-born actor previously worked as a drummer and a hairdresser before finding television fame. His early work included roles in popular TV series such as Z Cars and The New Avengers, as well as a recurring role in The Cuckoo Waltz. However, he became a household name with the debut of The Professionals in 1977, which ran for six years and won him a global following as hard man William Bodie.

Towards the end of The Professionals, Collins played the lead in the British thriller Who Dares Wins, as an SAS soldier who infiltrates a terrorist group. His tough guy persona was no act. After the show ended, he applied to join the Special Air Service, and passed the initial selection stages for the territorial unit 23 SAS, before senior officers ruled that his celebrity status made him a security risk.

He previously shared: "I was just playing myself in The Professionals.

"I was a sensitive, shy boy, but I went to a very hard school and you had to learn the ground rules.' After he was clubbed to the ground in a street fight by a boy wielding a brick, Collins took up martial arts and became a judo brown belt.

After The Professionals wrapped up he auditioned for the role of James Bond. "I was in Albert R Broccoli's office for five minutes, but it was really over for me in seconds," he is reported to have said. "He's expecting another Connery to walk through the door and there are few of them around."

James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli decided he didn't want Collins for the role.

Unlike his co-star Shaw, Collins was never able to match his success in The Professionals.

He continued working across the '80s and '90s and was last seen on screen in 2002 in The Bill.

Collins studied film directing at the University of California, and tried to make his fortune with a computer company surfing the tech explosion.

He would go on to set up a business where he sold computers. However, he didn't ever fully abandon his acting ambitions.

In the summer of 2012, he was forced to withdraw from 1066, a film based on the Battle of Hastings, in which he was to play the English King Harold's father, the warlord Godwin, Earl of Wessex.

Collins sadly died in 2013 after a five year battle with cancer aged 67. Despite withdrawing from the limelight he received an outpouring of condolence messages on social media when news of his death was announced.