Well-known in the 1960s and 1970s as an actor who specialised in playing violent thugs.

Off-screen, he was notorious for his violent temper and his habit of provoking fights in pubs for no other reason than to prove what a hard man he was. He was a gangster who was an associate of the Krays and the Richardsons. He ran a protection racket and worked as a drug dealer in the West London district of Fulham. He was also a friend of Princess Margaret whom he met on the Caribbean island of Mustique.

Following the death of a fellow gangster, Johnny Darke, in 1978 at a club in Fulham, he was charged with murder. He was acquitted of all charges but his notoriety put an end to his acting career and he drifted into obscurity. He died of AIDS in October 1993.