EastEnders legend Rudolph Walker aka Patrick Trueman was homeless while starring on BBC TV soap

The actor behind EastEnders' long-time lovable rogue Patrick Trueman has revealed how a divorce late in life left him penniless and homeless despite working every day on one of Britain's biggest soaps

Soap legend Rudolph Walker spent two years broke and homeless but kept his pain hidden from his EastEnders co-stars and children.

The 84-year-old, who plays Albert Square’s loveable rogue Patrick Trueman, admitted things got so bad, he’d often break down and cry on the way to the Elstree studio as he struggled with the “utter despair” of his “double life”.

Even while he was on one of the BBC ’s biggest shows, Rudolph lived out of a suitcase and relied on favours from friends to put a roof over his head. All the time, his co-stars were unaware of the depths of his problems, which had started in the mid 2010s after an extremely punishing divorce from his second wife, Dounne Alexander MBE, whom he had married in 1998.

Legal costs had left him penniless despite being in his 70s and having worked for more than 40 years. He found himself with nothing but a car to his name. Things got so desperate, he would even hope for late-night filming sessions, as it meant the BBC – who were unaware of his issues – might offer to put him up in a hotel near the set.

He says: “It was painful. It was extremely difficult. I just didn’t have any financial means. I was literally starting from scratch again in my 70s, with nowhere to live. It was a time of great pain and loneliness.”

Still he was determined to hide what he was going through from those around him, as he carried on as normal at work, playing the happy-go-lucky Patrick. “Some days on my way to the studio, I would pull up at the side of the road, have a cry,” he reveals. “I’d pull myself together, arrive at the studio and the environment would act as a tonic, and I was ready to go. I suppose it was a sort of double life.”

Only Diane Parish, who plays Denise Fox, had an inkling something might be amiss. She would pull Rudolph aside during breaks, to ask if he was OK. “Diane knew there was something going on, but I never revealed the depth of what was happening,” he says. “I am who I am.”

Rudolph has finally opened up about his hard times ahead of the release of his autobiography, Walking With Dignity. He was driven to “utter despair” after securing a stay in a cheap hotel, which turned out to be more of a boarding house. “There was a wash basin, small bed, and a TV in the corner, with a communal shower and toilet in the corridor,” he says. “I sat on the bed and cried. Questions of: ‘Who am I? Why am I in this position?’ There was no way the public watching me as Patrick every other night were aware that was what was happening.”

The star, who turns 85 later this month, is not one to be defeated, however. He believes the strength he gained from his early years in Trinidad helped him get through the toughest days of his life. “There is something in me from childhood that has said, ‘I will survive’, like Gloria Gaynor said in the song,” he says. “Regardless of how difficult things are, regardless of how little I have, I will survive. I came from a background where I had very little, so when I had absolutely nothing – even at the height of fame – I had that resilience, that will to survive.”

He adds: “My philosophy is: ‘Smile and try to be happy.’”

It’s why he never fully explained how bad things were at the time to his adult children, Darren, 52, and Sheona, 48. He explains: “I know today, people will go to a psychiatrist, seek help, and maybe I should have done, but I was getting it with the people that I had around me.”

“I am where I am today because of decisions I made over the years. Am I happy with where I am today? Yes, I’m extremely happy. [So] maybe someone, the old man up there, is looking after me.” Rudolph’s first wife, Lorna Ross, whom he wed in 1968 but separated from in the early 90s, arranged for him to stay in her friend’s home. “Bless her,” he says. “We are still extremely good friends. It didn’t take me out of what I was experiencing, but it cushioned a lot.”

Today, just over a decade on, he’s back on his feet, and surrounded by “fantastic” neighbours at his home in Reading. “Never give up,” says the star, who launched the Rudolph Walker Foundation in 2009, empowering young people through the arts. “One of the things that always sticks with me is where there’s life, there’s hope.”

Born and raised in Trinidad, Rudolph had a challenging relationship with his mother – she would sometimes hit him and he would play dead to make her stop. There was also an incident when a neighbour inappropriately touched him, which he now brushes off. And when he boarded the Oranje Nassau ship for a new life in the UK in 1960, he discovered all but one of the black passengers were confined to the lower decks.

Once in London, he faced ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’ signs as he looked for accommodation. A girlfriend told him: “If there is war between Blacks and whites, I’ll fight for the whites”.

Rudolph became a household name as Bill Reynolds in sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, which is now criticised for its depiction of race relations in 1970s England. He recalls how opportunities for Black actors were few and far between, adding: “There was definite prejudice, sometimes even from people who were trying to be helpful.”

Rudolph, who joined EastEnders in 2001, says there’s still work to be done. He says: “Yes, we’re seeing more actors and newscasters of Afro-Caribbean descent on TV. But how much can one measure that, because the population is far greater now?

“Where the changes are still a long, long way off is in the area of decision making and this right across the board, not just in my industry.” With progress still to be made, Rudolph has no intention of slowing down. “I feel alright,” he laughs. “I still try and get on the tennis court whenever I can. I played a charity cricket match last week with Chris Tarrant – I think they were surprised I was able to get three overs. I surprised myself actually! For now, I want to carry on my work with the Rudolph Walker Foundation, and take it to Africa and the Caribbean.”

Rudolph, who also starred in Ben Elton’s The Thin Blue Line and 1980s legal drama Black Silk, as well as working alongside Hollywood icons like Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and John Goodman, was made a CBE for services to drama and charity in 2020.

He married his third wife, retired headmistress Evangeline Vincent in 2016. She died this year, something Rudolph feels too raw to talk about. “When I set sail from Trinidad, I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d be where I am today,” he says. “I’ve done what I felt happy doing, to the best of my ability. I want my children and grandchildren to be proud.”

• Rudolph shares more of his story in Walking With Dignity, released September 26 by Chronos Publishing, £12.99, from all good bookstores.