Kevin Stoney served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, where he trained as a pilot and was sent to the Middle East. However, he crashed so many planes that he had to be reclassified as a navigator. As an actor he did his best work for the small screen, often appearing as doctors, police officers or haughty butlers. He was equally effective as outright villains. He was considered for several decades to be one of British television's most reliable supporting actors, although he is now mostly remembered by cult television fans for his roles in series like The Avengers (1961), Doctor Who (1963), The Prisoner (1967), The Tomorrow People (1973) and Blake's 7 (1978).