ROYAL Shakespeare Company actor Rory Kinnear recently attended a 40th anniversary celebration for That Was The Week That Was, the 1960s TV show acclaimed for single-handedly creating modern British satire.

Among such legends as Sir David Frost, Ned Sherrin, Lance Percival and Millicent Martin, there were places set for two of the team no longer around to enjoy the party - Willie Rushton and Rory's dad, Roy Kinnear.

It was a nice touch, and one much appreciated by Rory, who was 10 when his father died in 1988, aged 54, after falling from a horse while on location in Spain filming The Return of the Musketeers, a sequel to the very successful Musketeer movies of the 1970s.

Unlike some actors who have famous parents, Rory is happy to talk about his dad, whose rotund frame and twinkling eyes were a familiar sight in countless TV sitcoms and comedy shows for more than 25 years. He also appeared in more than 50 movies, including ones such as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder and the Hound of the Baskervilles with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

Anyone over the age of 40 will certainly remember Kinnear Snr's Bovver Boy dad to Dick Emery's Bovver Boy son on the classic Dick Emery Show in the 1970s.

"I love my dad immensely. I like talking about him, remembering him and keeping him alive in some way," says Rory, who is currently appearing as Tranio in the previews of the RSC's The Tamer Tamed at the Swan Theatre.

Surprisingly for someone coming from a theatrical family - his mum Carmel Cryan is an actress and his older sister Kirstine is in casting - becoming an actor was not an automatic career choice.

He studied English at Oxford University, where admittedly he performed in student drama, but all the time he was thinking about his parents' advice to consider a career with a bit more security than acting.

"My mum and dad would say you are too intelligent, don't bother. We only did it because we couldn't do anything else."

In the end he gave in to the inevitable and won a scholarship to drama school, which he completed in 2001.

"I eventually whittled most things out of my life and was left with acting," he says.

Since drama school 24-year-old Rory has "done a bit of telly", including Judge John Deed, Menace on Channel 5 and the recent ITV drama Second Coming with Christopher Ecclestone.

It is his first time with the RSC, where he is also rehearsing for The Taming of the Shrew, in which he also plays Tranio.

The play, to which The Tamer Tamed is a sort of sequel by John Fletcher, previews at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from April 1.

Rory's dad trod the boards for the RSC, also in The Taming of the Shrew, in Trevor Nunn's first season as artistic director. While in Stratford, he became great mates with Michael Williams, who was Rory's godfather.

The family is still close to Williams' widow Dame Judi Dench, who opened the Roy Kinnear Foundation care home for disabled young adults in Twickenham that is dedicated to Rory's dad, whose eldest daughter Karina, 31, was born with brain damage. Kinnear Jnr is an extremely likeable young man who, despite the setback of losing his father at such a young age, is clearly a chip off the old block. No doubt his dad would have been very proud of him.

Tickets for The Tamer Tamed and The Taming of the Shrew are available from the RSC ticket hotline on 0870 609 1110.