He often played the part of a strong and resilient cockney. He is best remembered as a character actor in films such as Chance of a Lifetime, The Cruel Sea, Sink the Bismarck!, The Yangtse Incident, Reach for the Sky, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Too Many Crooks, Smokescreen, Island of Terror, Too Late the Hero, Eye of the Needle and Steptoe and Son Ride Again. He also appeared in the big-screen versions of Dad's Army and Till Death Us Do Part. In 1963, Kydd appeared as the lovable smuggler Orlando O'Connor in Crane starring Patrick Allen as a Briton who moved to Morocco to run a cafe and had an aversion to smuggling. The programme ran for 39 episodes and was watched each week by over 16 million viewers. Sam's character was so popular that when Crane finished he was given his own programme, Orlando, a children's adventure series which ran for 126 episodes. He also appeared on TV in The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Pickwick Papers, Mess Mates, Arthur Askey, Benny Hill, Charlie Drake, Harry Worth, The Expert, Dixon of Dock Green, Fossett Saga, Curry and Chips, The Tony Hancock Show, Minder, Crossroads, Coronation Street (playing the part of Mike Baldwin's father, Frankie), The Eric Sykes Show, and Follyfoot. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1974 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. Personal life and death He married Pinkie Barnes, an ex-international table tennis champion (she was World Doubles Finalist in 1948) and one of Britain's first women advertising copywriters. Their son, Jonathan Kydd, followed his father into the acting profession. Sam Kydd died of emphysema on 26 March 1982, aged 67. His son Jonathan Kydd reported that his father smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day, and he has edited 4 volumes of his father’s memoirs, the first of which is 'Be a Good Boy Sam' 1945-52 Selected filmography The Captive Heart (1946) as POW in Top Bunk (uncredited) They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) as Eddie (uncredited) Fortune Lane (1947) (uncredited) Frieda (1947) as ex-P.O.W. A Song for Tomorrow (1948) as Sergeant To the Public Danger (1948) as Police Driver Colonel Bogey (1948) as Bit Role (uncredited) Love in Waiting (1948) as Bit Part (uncredited) It's Hard to Be Good (1948) as Husband (uncredited) Scott of the Antarctic (1948) as Leading Stoker E. McKenzie R.N. A Piece of Cake (1948)