Scottish actor John Stahl, known for his role as Rickard Karstark in Game of Thrones, has died at the age of 68. His agent Amanda Fitzalan Howard confirmed his death in a statement in which she described Stahl as “an actor of remarkable skill and a stalwart of Scottish theatre. He died on the Isle of Lewis on March 2, 2022, and is survived by his wife, Jane Paton.” No cause of death has been disclosed. Mirror reports that along with his work on Game of Thrones, Stahl was known for playing Tom’ Inverdarroch’ Kerr in the British soap opera Take the High Road. Stahl played that role from 1982 to 2003 when the show ended.
The BBC reports that Stahl performed in many theater productions along with his TV work. This included many roles for The Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre. Some of his theater credits include The Winter’s Tale, Gagarin Way, Mary Stuart, The James Plays, and Stah’s own play The Architect. He also had some vocal performances to his credit, including voicing several characters in many Doctor Who audio stories.
Several of Stahl’s former colleagues have expressed their grief over his death. The National Theatre of Scotland tweeted, “We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of John Stahl. We were fortunate to work with John on Mary Stuart and The James Plays. His passing is a huge loss to the industry, and he will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his loved ones.” Stahl’s High Road co-star said, “Sorry to hear my old High Road colleague John Stahl has passed. I remember him being upset when some idiot in production decided to drop his character’s name Inverdarroch and use Tom Kerr instead. He’ll always be Inverdarroch to me, the only man to best Sneddon in a fair fight.”
John Stahl’s cause of death has not been disclosed.
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