Pat Roach

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title: "Pat Roach" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1937-births", "2004-deaths", "english-male-film-actors", "english-male-professional-wrestlers", "english-male-television-actors", "people-from-bromsgrove", "deaths-from-esophageal-cancer-in-england", "male-actors-from-birmingham,-west-midlands", "20th-century-english-businesspeople", "english-male-judoka", "20th-century-english-sportsmen"] description: "British professional wrestler and actor (1937–2004)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Roach" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British professional wrestler and actor (1937–2004) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Pat Roach
image	Pat Roch, undated.jpeg
caption	Roach in an undated publicity shot
birth_name	Francis Patrick Roach
birth_date
birth_place	Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
death_date
death_place	Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England
occupation	Actor, author, businessman, wrestler
years_active	1960–2004
spouse
children	2
module	{{Infobox professional wrestler
child	yes
names	{{plainlist
height	6 ft
weight	19 stone (120 kg)
trainer	Alf Kent
debut	1960
retired	2000
::

| name = Pat Roach | image = Pat Roch, undated.jpeg | caption = Roach in an undated publicity shot | birth_name = Francis Patrick Roach | birth_date = | birth_place = Birmingham, Warwickshire, England | death_date = | death_place = Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England | height = | television = | occupation = Actor, author, businessman, wrestler | years_active = 1960–2004 | spouse = | children = 2 | module = {{Infobox professional wrestler | child = yes | names = {{plainlist|

• Judo Pat Roach
• Bomber Pat Roach
• Big Pat Roach | height = 6 ft | weight = 19 stone (120 kg) | billed = | trainer = Alf Kent | debut = 1960 | retired = 2000 Francis Patrick Roach (19 May 1937 – 17 July 2004) was an English professional wrestler, martial artist and actor. During an acting career between the 1970s and the 1990s, he appeared in multiple films, usually as a henchman. He appeared in the Indiana Jones film series, as the West Country bricklayer Brian "Bomber" Busbridge in the 1980s British television series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, and in the role of Petty Officer Edgar Evans in the television production The Last Place on Earth.

Early life

Roach was born and brought up in Birmingham, West Midlands, the son of Francis "Frank" Roach (born 1905). He was National Judo Champion in 1960, and Midland Area Black Belt Champion in 1962.

Sports career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Pat_Roach.jpg" caption="Roach during his wrestling career"] ::

Roach boxed as an amateur before becoming professional as a protege of Jack Solomons.

He began his professional wrestling career under the name of "Judo" Pat Roach. After his acting career had begun, he continued to wrestle under the name of "Bomber" Pat Roach, having previously been billed as "Big" Pat Roach before receiving affectionate cheering from the audience. He was trained by Alf Kent and his first official wrestling match was against George Selko in 1960. Roach held both the British and European heavyweight championships at one time.

Acting career

Roach made his acting debut as the red-bearded bouncer in the Korova Milkbar in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. He worked on another Kubrick film, Barry Lyndon, where he played a hand-to-hand brawler named Toole who engages Ryan O'Neal in a fistfight. Roach went on to play a number of strong-man supporting character roles in films in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, including the nonspeaking role of Hephaestus in Clash of the Titans.

Pat cameoed as a SPECTRE assassin in the 'unofficial' James Bond film Never Say Never Again, and as bandit-warlord Lord Brytag in the sword-and-sorcery film Red Sonja. He appeared as the skull-helmeted General Kael in the film Willow; the evil wizard Thoth-Amon in Conan the Destroyer and as the Celtic chieftain in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

In 1985, he played Petty Officer Edgar Evans in the Central TV serial The Last Place on Earth about Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole. Roach was turned down as Darth Vader in Star Wars; however, its director, George Lucas, subsequently cast him as several burly villains in the Indiana Jones film series in the 1980s. In Raiders of the Lost Ark he played two roles, the first being a giant Sherpa who fights Jones in the bar in Nepal, the second being a German Luftwaffe mechanic who fistfights with Jones before being killed by an aircraft's propeller blades on the airstrip in Egypt. In the next film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Roach played the Thuggee guard overseer in a mine who fights with Jones before being killed in a rock crusher. His final appearance in the series was as a Gestapo officer in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where he appears only briefly due to the character's fight with Jones having been cutdirector Steven Spielberg considered the scene "too long", and served as a subplot.

On television Roach played the down-to-earth and easy going Brian "Bomber" Busbridge in the long running comedy-drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. He appeared in all four series, but was absent from the final two-part Christmas special.

He was a guest on Central TV's Bullseye game show in 1984.

He appeared in season 11 episode 39 ("Swan Song") of The Bill, playing the character Reg Warren.

Personal life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Bromsgrove_cemetery_Pat_Roach_1.jpg" caption="Roach's grave in [[Bromsgrove"] ::

Roach married Doreen Harris in 1957. They had a son and a daughter.

In the 1990s, Roach owned and co-managed a scrapyard in Saltley, Birmingham. He also ran a gym on Gravelly Hill North, Erdington, in North-East Birmingham.

Roach died on 17 July 2004 of esophageal cancer. His body was buried in extension section B at Bromsgrove Cemetery, Worcestershire.

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	A Clockwork Orange	Milkbar Bouncer	Uncredited
1975	Barry Lyndon	Corporal Toole
1979	Unidentified Flying Oddball	Oaf
1980	Rising Damp	Rugby Player
1981	The Monster Club	Great Uncle	Uncredited
Raiders of the Lost Ark	Giant Sherpa / 1st Mechanic
Clash of the Titans	Hephaestus
1983	Never Say Never Again	Lippe
1984	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	Chief Guard
Conan the Destroyer	Man Ape / Thoth-Amon
1985	Red Sonja	Brytag
1988	Willow	General Kael
1989	The Return of the Musketeers	French Executioner
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	Gestapo
1990	Wings of Fame
The Big Man	Billy
1991	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	Celtic Chieftain
1996	The Portrait of a Lady	Strongman
1997	Kull the Conqueror	Zulcki
2003	Crust	The Bull
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Gangsters	IRA Muscle	2 episodes
1978	Hazell	Big Arti	Episode: "Hazell and the Maltese Vulture"
1980	Play for Today	Man in the Street	Episode: Pasmore
Juliet Bravo	Doulton	Episode: "The Anastasia Syndrome"
1983–86, 2002–04	Auf Wiedersehen, Pet	Brian "Bomber" Busbridge	Main role
1985	Minder	Painter	Episode: "Return of the Invincible Man"
The Last Place on Earth	Edgar Evans	Miniseries
1989	Casualty	Len	Episode: "Chain Reaction"
1991	The Storyteller: Greek Myths	Atlas	Miniseries
1995	Space Precinct	Ogree	Episode: "Illegal"
The Bill	Reg Warren	Episode: "Swan Song"
The Detectives	Police Constable	Episode: Twitchers
1996	Heartbeat	The Masked Marvel	Episode: "Thanks to Alfred"
1997	Pirates	Red-Eye the Wrongdoer	Episode: "Long Gone Silver - Part One"
1998	The New Adventures of Robin Hood		2 episodes
2001	Starhunter	Goran	Episode: "Cell Game"
::

Championships and accomplishments

• Joint Promotions :British Heavyweight Championship (once) :European Heavyweight Championship (twice)

• Premier Promotions|Premier Wrestling Federation :*Ken Joyce Trophy (1992)

Publications

• If, Brewin Books (co-written childhood autobiography)
• Pat Roach's Birmingham, Brewin Books (2004)

References

References

1. (19 July 2004). "In Remembrance: Pat Roach". The Guardian.
2. "Pat Roach". The Independent.
3. (11 November 1967). "Judo at Kyrle Hall". Sports Argus.
4. Davies, Rod. (28 December 1965). "Boxing". Sports Argus.
5. Arnold, Charles. (1970). "The Mick McManus Wrestling Book". Pelham Books.
6. (2 January 1965). "World-Wide Wrestling". Sports Argus.
7. Garfield, Simon. (1997). "The Wrestling". Faber & Faber.
8. (19 July 2004). "Obituary: Pat Roach". The Guardian.
9. ''The Stunts of Indiana Jones'' (2003; DVD). [[Paramount Pictures]].
10. "Swan Song".
11. (19 July 2004). "Pat Roach". The Daily Telegraph.
12. "Pat Roach Biography".
13. (18 July 2004). "Cancer claims life of actor Pat Roach". The Scotsman.
14. Bentley, David. (17 July 2014). "Nostalgia: Birmingham's Pat Roach and Auf Wiedersehen Pet". [[Birmingham Mail]].

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