John Glynn Edwards (2 February 1931 – 23 May 2018) was a British actor who worked in television and films. He came to national prominence for his portrayal of the barman Dave Harris in the television comedy drama series Minder (1979–1994).
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Early life
Edwards was born in Penang, then part of the Straits Settlements in Malaya, on 2 February 1931. His father, who spent little time with his son, was a rubber planter at the time of his birth and died in 1946. His mother died when he was very young, and he was brought up firstly by his grandparents in Southsea, Hampshire, and then by his father and stepmother, in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Edwards received his early formal education at Clayesmore School in Dorset. In his childhood he read Arthur Ransome's adventure novel Swallows and Amazons, which gave him a life-long passion for river-boating, which began with sailing expeditions along the River Avon in his tenth year.
Edwards performed in amateur dramatics in his teenage years and, after a period in Trinidad where he tried sugar farming, he returned to England and studied at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in London, before gaining employment as a stage manager at the King's Theatre in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.
