Aliens actor Jay Benedict succumbs to COVID-19

Aliens actor Jay Benedict has tragically passed away after suffering complications from the coronavirus. He was 68. His official website announced: "It is with profound sorrow that we must announce Jay's death on the 4th of April due to complications arising from a COVID-19 infection."

Benedict was known for playing Russ Jordan in James Cameron's 1986 release Aliens, sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror classic, Alien. He also appeared in detective drama Foyle's War, playing John Kieffer, a US Army officer and friend of Christopher Foyle. He had recently starred in Call The Midwife and Downton Abbey.

Soon after the news of his death broke out, tributes poured in remembering the actor. Vicki Michelle, who starred in "Allo Allo", paid tribute to the "lovely man".

She wrote: "Married to my lovely friend Phoebe Scholfield #AlloAllo My heart goes out to her and her family at this sad time #PhoebeScholfield @FreddieBenedict #LeoBenedict #SyncorSwim #COVID19."

"Only Fools and Horses" actor John Challis wrote: "Strangest coincidence this morning-talking on the telephone to my brother in law & telling him that my old friend Jay Benedict died yesterday."

His management wrote in their obituary: "Jay was born in California, but his family left the United States for Europe when he was a child. As a legacy of his itinerant childhood, he is English/French bilingual, and no slouch in Spanish and German, either.

"People meeting him in 'real life' are surprised that he sounds more English than American - but so would you if you'd lived in Europe for 50-odd years (some of them very odd indeed). This doesn't, however, prevent most casting agents from insisting that he play Americans - which he does happily and, not entirely surprisingly, like a native."

Benedict is survived by his wife Phoebe Scholfield and their two sons, Leopold and Freddie, as well as his daughter from his previous relationship.

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