The highly regarded film and stage actor who gave his name to Ilford’s theatre has been commemorated in a Royal Mail stamp marking remarkable lives.

Kenneth More is one of 10 people, including poet Dylan Thomas, actor Sir Alec Guinness and football player and manager Joe Mercer, remembered in the stamp set.

The centenaries of their births all fall in 2014 and achievements from the fields of science, economics and design also feature.

More, who died in 1982, founded a career upon carefully crafted roles, including a portrayal of Second World War pilot Douglas Bader in the 1956 film Reach for the Sky.

Other films and television series to feature his talents included Doctor in the House, The 39 Steps, The Forsyte Saga and Father Brown.

Steven Day, the manager of the Kenneth More Theatre in Oakfield Road, said: “It’s absolutely brilliant and falls at a great time for us.

“It’s his 100th anniversary and our 40th anniversary.

“It’s a great bit of publicity for the theatre.”

More, from Buckinghamshire, officially opened the theatre on January 3, 1975.

From the 1960s onwards, new theatres were occasionally named after living actors and it was regarded as a rare and special honour.

The stamps are available from tomorrow at royalmail.com/remarkablelives, by phone on 08457 641 641 and in 10,000 post offices throughout the UK.