Personal Life
In 1964, Thaw married Sally Alexander (a theatre stage manager), but they divorced four years later. He met actress Sheila Hancock in 1969 on the set of a London comedy So What About Love?. She was married to fellow actor Alexander "Alec" Ross, and after Thaw professed his love to Hancock, she told him that she would not have an affair. After the death of her husband (from oesophageal cancer) in 1971, Thaw and Hancock married on 24 December 1973 in Cirencester, and he remained with her until his death in 2002 (also from oesophageal cancer).
Thaw had three daughters (all of whom are actresses): Abigail "Abs" Thaw from his first marriage, Joanna "Jo" Thaw from his second, and he also adopted Sheila Hancock's daughter Melanie Jane "Ellie" from her first marriage. Melanie legally changed her name from Ross to Thaw.
Thaw was a committed socialist and a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party. Thaw was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in March 1993 by Queen Elizabeth II. In September 2006, Thaw was voted by the general public as number 3, after David Jason and Morecambe and Wise, in a poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars for the past 50 years.
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