'Grand Prix' star Brian Bedford dies

Brian Bedford, who played fictional BRM driver Scott Stoddard in John Frankenheimer's 1966 film Grand Prix, has died at the age of 80.

The classically-trained Briton had one of his earliest breaks when he landed the role of Stoddard, although he had the distinction of being the only actor playing one of the main protagonists who didn't actually drive: the only times he got near one of the race cars used in the film's production were for close-up shots.

Despite Grand Prix's success, Bedford's career rapidly gravitated away from the screen and onto the stage, where he become world-renowned for his portrayals of the colorful cast of characters that populate the works of Shakespeare, Molière and Chekhov.