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British actor Alec McCowen, who played gadget inventor Q opposite Sir Sean Connery in "rogue Bond" film Never Say Never Again, has died at the age of 91.

His death was announced by talent agency Conway van Gelder Grant.

Born in 1925, the Rada-trained actor performed with the RSC and starred in the first production of Equus in 1973 .

The National Theatre also marked his passing , calling him "one of the most highly-regarded actors of his generation".

Other notable stage roles included the Fool alongside Paul Scofield in Peter Brook's 1962 production of Shakespeare's King Lear.

He also travelled the world with a one-man performance of St Mark's Gospel and played a detective in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy.

To many, though, he will be best remembered for his brief appearance as Q - here nicknamed Algy - in 1983's Never Say Never Again.

"Now you're on this, I hope we're going to have some gratuitous sex and violence!" he was seen telling Connery's James Bond in the "unofficial" remake of 1965's Thunderball.

The character Q has also been most recently played by Ben Whishaw, as well as Desmond Llewelyn and John Cleese.

McCowen, who was made an OBE in 1972 and a CBE in 1986, is survived by his sister Jean, two nephews and two nieces.

His partner, the actor Geoffrey Burridge, died in 1987.

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