Iain Blair (12 August 1942 – 3 July 2011) was a Scottish actor and author who, using the pen name Emma Blair, wrote a series of romantic novels. Early life, education and early career Blair was born in Glasgow and spent the first few years of his life there. His father died shortly after his birth, and following the death of his mother, when Blair was eleven, he moved to the United States to live with an aunt. He wanted to return to Scotland, however, and got a part-time job at age fifteen to save up for his fare home. After graduating a year later from West Division High School in Milwaukee he returned to Glasgow to begin work with an insurance company. But he quickly became bored with the job and he moved to Australia at seventeen where he worked as a proof reader on the Sydney Bulletin newspaper, and as a lifeguard at Sydney's South Steyne Beach. Acting career After a year in Australia he returned to his native Glasgow once again, where he worked as a feature writer on the Sunday Post. But following a visit to the cinema to see Burt Lancaster in The Flame and the Arrow he resolved to become an actor. He won a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and after graduating from there secured work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. During a 20-year career in acting he appeared in many acclaimed television dramas. Among his television acting credits are roles in The Borderers, the police series The Sweeney and Juliet Bravo, The Brontes of Haworth, Rock Follies, The Saint and the sitcom Citizen Smith. In addition to these roles, he featured in an unbroadcast educational episode of Only Fools and Horses in which he portrays an "oil man" who cons David Jason's Del Boy with a dodgy deal. His acting career came to an end after an exchange with Steven Spielberg when he went to audition for a part in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. He once recalled a difficult journey to the studio followed by a lengthy wait: "Eventually a rather small man came into the room. 'I'm Steven Spielberg. Can you come back tomorrow?' he announced, not expecting a negative. 'No, I fucking can't,' I replied in traditional Glasgow fashion. And that was the end of my acting career." Writing career