Leo McKern In 1983, McKern was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the performing arts. He frequently travelled between England and Australia both to visit family and friends, and to appear in various films and plays. As he was frightened of flying, he booked tickets to travel on cargo ships. This gave him time and peace to read scripts and contracts, with the added benefit of feeling he was on holidays. McKern informed his daughter Abigail that he suffered from stage fright, which became harder to control with age. He also worried that his stout frame
Leo McKern McKern appeared in a series of advertisements for Lloyds Bank, widely shown on British television, in which he portrayed a character reminiscent of Rumpole. McKern wrote one radio play, which became the film "Chain of Events" (1958). He also provided the voice of Captain Haddock in the 1992 and 1993 BBC Radio adaptation of "Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin". Suffering in his final years from ill health McKern moved into a nursing home near Bath in Somerset in 2002, where he died a few weeks later at the age of 82. His body was cremated at Haycombe Cemetery in Bath.