Michael Darbyshire

Michael Darbyshire (15 October 1917 – 20 November 1979) was an English actor of stage and screen. He played the role of Hubert Davenport, the Victorian ghost, in the BBC TV children's comedy series Rentaghost and one of the eccentric inventors in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. On stage, he appeared in the original West End cast of the musical Pickwick in 1963, its Broadway transfer in 1965, and a BBC TV adaptation in 1969.

He was a member of the Players Theatre Company based in London in Villiers Street, appearing regularly and also on many occasions on the BBC TV series The Good Old Days.

Michael Darbyshire died in 1979, during the interval of the first performance of a production of the Ray Cooney farce, Chase Me Comrade, at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, aged 62. On the opening night, he played the first act splendidly. When he failed to respond to the call for the second act, he was found dead in his dressing room.