Larry Lamb

Biography: Lawrence Douglas "Larry" Lamb is an English actor who has worked frequently in television. He is best known for playing one of the greatest villains of British soap Archie Mitchell in the BBC television soap EastEnders, Michael Shipman in the BBC television show Gavin & Stacey and Mischievous Marty in the cult sitcom Who?s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Lamb was born in Edmonton to Jessie White and Ronald Douglas Lamb. Larry is the eldest of four. Lamb had a turbulent childhood; he was verbally abused by his father and often had to keep his parents from fighting. Lamb attended Edmonton County Grammar School, and later Lamb joined the oil industry, which resulted in him working in Libya and Canada, where he attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. This developed his amateur interest in acting into a professional level, performing at Canada?s Stratford Festival in 1975-76.

After returning to the UK from Canada Lamb became a regular cast member, along with Kate O?Mara, in the BBC?s North Sea ferry-based soap Triangle (1981-83), in which he played Matt Taylor, the ship?s Chief Engineer.

Other credits include The New Avengers, The Professionals, Fox, Minder, Lovejoy, Get Back, A Touch of Frost, Our Friends in the North, Taggart, Casualty, Kavanagh QC, Spooks, Midsomer Murders, and The Bill.

In 2008, he began playing the part of twisted, manipulative Archie Mitchell, the father of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders. He based his portrayal of Archie on his own father. Archie was killed off in a murder storyline at Christmas 2009.

Lamb has also appeared in various films, including the 1980s hit Buster and Essex Boys. In 1983, he had a small speaking role (as a worker at the coal mine, near the end of the film) in the blockbuster Superman III, which starred Christopher Reeve and Richard Pryor.

Lamb lives with his girlfriend, Clare Burt. He is the father of BBC 6 Music disc jockey, Celebrity Scissorhands and Big Brother?s Little Brother presenter George Lamb, from his previous marriage to Linda Martin. He has another son named John and has three daughters Vanessa Clare (born 1969) Eloise Alexandra (born 1999) and Eva-Mathilde (born 2003) with Clare Burt.

Lamb is sponsoring two young Senegalese girls, Fatou and Oumou, through school.

In 2011, Lamb participated in the BBC production of "Who Do You Think You Are" and found out that he descended from a line of proprietors of Day?s Menagerie and the famous Martini Bartlett lion tamer