Simon Shelton, the British actor most well known for playing Tinky Winky on the children’s TV show “Teletubbies” in the late 1990s, has died at age 52.
Shelton’s niece, “The Inbetweeners” actress Emily Atack, announced his death on social media, saying that Shelton, also known as Simon Barnes, was taken from the family “suddenly.” No cause of death was given.
Shelton, a trained ballet dancer and choreographer, took over as Tinky Winky in 1998 after the original actor was fired. He also played the Dark Knight in the 1990s children’s TV show “Incredible Games.”
"Teletubbies" was broadcast in more than 120 countries in 45 languages. “I didn’t know it would be as big as it was, but I did know as soon as I started working on it that it had something special,” Shelton told the BBC in 2008.
Shelton is survived by his wife Emma Robbins and three children.
Twitter fans gave moving tributes to Shelton and said he would always be remembered.
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