Leo McKern would not appeal to audiences. In 1997 he appeared in a party political broadcast for the United Kingdom Independence Party. McKern and his wife Jane Holland had two daughters. Leo McKern Reginald McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002), known professionally as Leo McKern, was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. Notable roles he portrayed include Clang in "Help!" (1965), Thomas Cromwell in "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), Tom Ryan in "Ryan's Daughter" (1970), Paddy Button in "The Blue Lagoon" (1980),
John Mortimer in 1975. Although not Mortimer's first choice of actor (in an interview on the DVD set, he said he wanted Alistair Sim -- "but he was dead"), Leo McKern played the character with gusto and proved popular; accordingly, the idea was developed into a series, "Rumpole of the Bailey", for Thames Television in which McKern again took the lead role. Mortimer also wrote a series of Rumpole books. In September–October 2003, BBC Radio 4 broadcast four new 45-minute Rumpole plays by Mortimer with Timothy West in the title role. Mortimer also dramatised many of the real-life cases of the barrister