A 70 year-old pantomime dame has collapsed and died during an amateur dramatics production of 'Dick Whittington' in Hampshire.
Bev Smith suffered a heart attack in the wings of the performance in the village of Curdridge, near Winchester, on Monday.
The sold out show was abandoned when the cast realised what had happened. They initially believed Smith had fainted, but the actor had suffered a massive heart attack, and died at the venue.
The Curdridge Amateur Dramatic Group secretary Geoff Appleby described how Smith "had just completed his first solo scene by singing The Sweetie Song and throwing sweets to the children in the audience," when he collapsed in the wings.
Smith was a news reader on Associated TV and had taken the role of Sarah the Cook in Dick Whittington.
Appleby added: "The pantomime will continue as scheduled. His family have encouraged us to do this as they felt it is what Bev would have wanted."
Smith leaves a wife, three children and two grandchildren. His daughter told the BBC: "He was a happy, gregarious, outgoing man who always had a smile on his face."