Biography: Bill Treacher (born 4 June 1930, died 5 November 2022) was an English actor. He was known for portraying the role of Arthur Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1985 to 1996, and was the first person to be cast for the show. Treacher grew up in the East End of London. After his national service in the Royal Air Force, he worked as a steward with P&O, where he saved enough money to attend drama school. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Treacher, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.