James Rooney Martin BEM (13 March 1931 – 18 February 2025) was a Scottish film and television actor. He is best known for playing Eric in the sitcom ''

Still Game ''Still Game'' is a Scotland, Scottish sitcom produced by Effingee Productions, The Comedy Unit and BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis (Still Game character), Jack Jarvis, ...

'', in which he was one of the few actors who was actually an old age pensioner. Prior to acting, Martin served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

from 1949 until 1956 before joining the Royal Navy Reserves.

Life and career

Early life

Born in

Partick Partick (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to the north Broo ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, for many years Martin lived in

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

. Before working on ''

'', he was a helper working at Campie Primary School's after-school club in the town.

Royal Navy

Martin joined the

in 1949 when he was 17 years old. He served in the Navy for seven years, after which he joined the Royal Navy Reserves in which he spent five years. Martin stated he "loved every second" of his Royal Navy career, stating it to be " the best thing I ever did in my life". He further added that he "was born right in Glasgow dock land, and had to leave school at 14". During his Navy career, he spent over two years in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, based at

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. Following the

1953 Ionian earthquake The 1953 Ionian earthquake (also known as the Great Kefalonia earthquake) struck the southern Ionian Islands in Greece on August 12. In mid-August, there were over 113 recorded earthquakes in the region between Kefalonia and Zakynthos, and the mo ...

, Martin and other Royal Navy personnel assisted with rescue and recovery efforts. Martin had served on the

HMS Bermuda Seven commissioned ships of the British Royal Navy have been named ''Bermuda'' and given the prefix HMS (''Her Majesty's Ship'' or ''His Majesty's Ship'', depending on the sex of the monarch), after the British Overseas Territory and former Impe ...

at a point of his Navy career.

Acting career

Whilst working as a firefighter in the fire service, Martin had a lot of free time due to the nature of his shift rota. During his career in the fire service, Martin met Freddie Young who worked at the Young Casting Agency in Glasgow, and poised the idea to Martin to begin work in television. His acting career began by "walk on" jobs which lasted roughly eighteen months before he began to be offered lines to say during television productions. During that same period, Young secured Martin the position of assistant stage manager at a theatre. Following suggestions from others that he turn to acting full–time, Martin resigned as a firefighter and began studying dramatic art and related studies course at

Telford College Telford College is a further education college in Telford, Shropshire, England. It operates from one main site and many in-company training sites and community-based courses spread out across Shropshire and the whole of the United Kingdom. Dur ...

. His professional acting career began in 1982 following his casting as a minister in the television series ''

Maggie Maggie or Maggy is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret, or Marigold. People Maggie * Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician * Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist * Maggie Alderson (born 1959), ...

''. He subsequently appeared in other successful television productions such as ''

Taggart ''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries ''Killer'' from 6 until 20 Septe ...

'' and ''

Take the High Road ''Take the High Road'' (renamed ''High Road'' from 1994 to 2003) was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, which started in February 1980 as an ITV (TV network), ITV daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in ...

''. During his time working on the series ''Barmy Aunt Boomerang'', Martin met with

Michael Hines Michael Hines is a television and film director based in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the ...

who was working on a new Scottish sitcom. Martin was offered the role of "Auld Eric" in the sitcom which became known as ''

'', a role he played during both inceptions of the show, first from 2002 until 2007, and again from 2016 until 2019. Martin appeared in at least seven other television productions and five films. He also co-starred (with Jane Nelson Peebles, Anita Vettesse, Iain Wotherspoon, and

Alan McHugh Alan McHugh is a Scottish actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his roles in television shows such as ''Taggart'' (as Assistant Chief Constable Strathairn), ''Take the High Road'', ''Limmy's Show'', and ''Rab C. Nesbitt''. He co-wrot ...

) in the 2009 short films ''Relatively PC'' and ''Relative Confusion'', part of a sitcom series by the Inclusive Digital Economy Network teaching the importance of inclusive HCI, produced by

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

Prof. Emeritus Alan F. Newell and directed by David Goodall. In 2014 he made a short appearance in episode 1x02 of '' Lovesick'' playing the main character's neighbour. He also appeared in

Peter McDougall Peter McDougall (born 1947, Greenock, Scotland) is a Scottish television playwright whose major success was in the 1970s. McDougall claims to have had very little schooling and to rarely read books. He began his working life at the age of fourtee ...

's '' Just Another Saturday'' (1975) under the name of Jimmy Martin.

Awards and recognition

Martin was awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

(BEM) in the

2024 Birthday Honours The 2024 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Charles III, King Charles III to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens ...

for services to Military Veterans and to charity.

Death

Martin died on 18 February 2025, at the age of 93. He died at the Erskine Edinburgh Retirement Home in the city of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, and is survived by his wife Christine, daughter Jennifer and granddaughters Laura and Elaine. His funeral occurred on 7 March 2025 at Mortonhall Crematorium and was attended by his ''Still Game'' co–stars, members of The Royal Navy Association and staff from the Erskine Edinburgh Retirement Home. His coffin was draped in the Royal Navy white ensign flag.

Filmography

References

External links

*
James Martin
featured in University of Dundee Prof. Alan F. Newell's "Relatively PC" and "Relative Confusion" sitcoms on YouTube, instructional videos for human-computer interaction {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, James 1931 births 2025 deaths 21st-century Scottish male actors Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors Male actors from Glasgow People from Partick People from Musselburgh Recipients of the British Empire Medal