Actor Terrence Morgan, whose career was launched by Sir Laurence Olivier, has died at 83.

His wife Georgina and daughter Lydia were at his bedside at the Nuffield Hospital, Woodingdean, when he died of heart failure two hours after he was admitted on Thursday evening.

Mr Morgan, who was born in Lewisham but moved to Hove in 1958, suffered a heart attack five years ago and Mrs Morgan said his condition had gradually deteriorated, particularly over the past year.

During his career Mr Morgan performed with stars including Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Harry Secombe and Peter Cushing.

He became a household name in the starring role of the television drama Francis Drake in 1961, which also had a young Michael Crawford making his TV debut appearance.

Mrs Morgan said: "We were very happily married for 58 years. He was a very kind man with a wonderful sense of humour which he had right up to the end. We are very sad."

Mr Morgan started working life as a clerk for Lloyds of London before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

He joined the Army and served for two years before he was invalided out.

Lord Olivier spotted Mr Morgan in his first West End performance in There Shall Be No Night and chose him to star opposite Vivien Leigh in The Skin of Our Teeth in 1946.

It was during the production he met his wife, who was also in the cast.

The couple married a year later and embarked on an 11-month tour of Australasia with the Oliviers before returning to London.

A fan of Brighton and the sea, Mr Morgan bought a property in Brunswick Terrace in the late Forties and converted it into flats, moving into one of them. They had to return to London to be near the studios but returned to Hove four years later.

Mr Morgan, who became a grandfather, was a founder member of the Dome restoration project, president of the hotel, guesthouses and restaurants' association and was previously one of the directors of the Brighton Festival.

His daughter Lydia Morgan said: "He was a wonderful father. I can remember being on the set watching him but my earliest memories are of when I was about five, having a long walk along Brighton seafront with him. He was a very special person."

A funeral service for family and friends will take place tomorrow at All Saints Church, Hove, at 2pm, followed by a burial at Hove cemetery.

Flowers and inquiries to Hanningtons, 01273 778733.