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Barry Foster (21 August 1927 – 11 February 2002) was a British actor who appeared in numerous film roles and is known for his leading role as a Dutch detective in the ITV drama series, Van der Valk, which spanned five series over 20 years from 1972. Born as John Barry Foster in Beeston, Nottinghamshire (recorded as Basford), his family moved to Hayes, Hillingdon when he was a few months old. His father was a toolsetter. He attended Southall County Grammar School (which became Villiers High School in the 1970s). Foster worked as a plastics organic chemist at the local EMI Central Research... MORE

Barry Foster (21 August 1927 – 11 February 2002) was a British actor who appeared in numerous film roles and is known for his leading role as a Dutch detective in the ITV drama series, Van der Valk, which spanned five series over 20 years from 1972. Born as John Barry Foster in Beeston, Nottinghamshire (recorded as Basford), his family moved to Hayes, Hillingdon when he was a few months old. His father was a toolsetter. He attended Southall County Grammar School (which became Villiers High School in the 1970s). Foster worked as a plastics organic chemist at the local EMI Central Research Laboratories, while unsuccessfully submitting ideas to advertising agencies. Foster trained as an actor for two years at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, arriving there at the age of 20, a little older than the other students. It was here he became friends with an actor called David Baron, better known as playwright Harold Pinter. Foster would go on to appear in three of Pinter's plays, The Basement and The Tea Party and A Slight Ache towards the end of his career, in 1987. Foster's professional stage debut came in 1952 as 'Lorenzo' in The Merchant of Venice in County Cork. Then in LESS