Annette Kerr - Telegraph After their first meeting in repertory at Newquay in 1949 she was among Williams's closest confidantes, whether in London as they shared theatrical aspirations, or in rep, where they kept up a regular correspondence. In between eviscerating colleagues and repeatedly proclaiming any situation to be "the end," he shared with Annette Kerr his tastes in literature, history, philosophy and humour. He addressed her as "My dearest Mentor," including such endearments as "O many sounding congratulations on your attractive dark head." One diary entry, from December 1952, attests to Williams and Annette Kerr having enacted the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet into his tape recorder. Perhaps emboldened by that, Williams proposed to her in September 1961, and suggested living together just over a year later. Sensibly, recognising his need for solitude as well as his sexuality, she turned him down, pointing out that the sight of her smalls would be anathema to him, having already told him in 1953: "You know how you loathe people when you see them often." Catherine Annette Kerr Peacock was born at Elderslie, Renfrewshire, on July 2 1920, later abbreviating her name. A move from Scotland came after her father, David, who had been blinded during the Great War, trained as a physiotherapist under the auspices of St Dunstan's Charitable Trust (now Blind Veterans UK) and took up a post at Watford General Hospital. While still at school his daughter made her stage debut at the Watford Palace Theatre, a venue she would return to in repertory seasons in 1953 and 1955. Her training at the Central School of Speech and Drama was interrupted by the Blitz, which forced the school to evacuate to Exeter; she would later return to that city too, playing at the Northcott Theatre for a season in 1980. On three occasions - a tour of Anastasia in 1954; a thriller at Bournemouth later that year, Poison Unsuspect; and repertory at the New Theatre, Bromley, in 1955-56 - she worked with another of Williams's friends, Sheila Hancock. Often wearing a look of concern, Annette Kerr appeared alongside Sean Connery in Scotty Brown's Bridge (Strand, 1956), and a young Gary Oldman in a revival of Ben Travers's Thark (Theatre Royal, York, 1979). A thriller starring Dame Flora Robson, The House By The Lake (Duke Of York's, 1956-57), ran for more than a year. Annette Kerr played a nurse, as she did in several screen appearances, beginning with Home Tonight (ITV, 1961), a daily, 15-minute soap cut short by a technicians" strike. Annette Kerr, Helen Weir, Richard Felgate, David Purcell and Alan White in Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' at the Saint Martin's Theatre She enjoyed travelling the country for regional productions, calling on an array of colleagues who became friends. A favourite venue was the Redgrave, Farnham, where she appeared with Irene Handl and Alfred Marks in Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus in 1975, and in seasons from 1979 to 1982. Nonetheless, she was happy to join the takeover cast of The Mousetrap for a year from November 1976 as it was a convenient commute from her west London home. Later she played Fairy Blackstick in Thackeray's The Rose and the Ring (Sutton Centre, Nottinghamshire, 1983), an early production of Gregory Doran (now artistic director at the RSC). Her last parts were in a new play, Acts Of Kindness (Everyman, Cheltenham, 1988) and in episodes of 2point4 children (1992-96) and One Foot in The Grave (1995). In later life she became a resident at the actors" retirement home, Denville Hall, where she died. She is survived by a brother, three nephews and three nieces. Annette Kerr, born July 2 1920, died September 23 2013