text: Personal life and death Ackland and his wife Rosemary (née Kirkcaldy) were married for 51 years. They had seven children, thirty-two grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Despite his filming taking him to far-flung locations, he said Rosemary and he "were hardly ever apart". Daughter Kirsty married Anthony Shawn Baring, a descendant of the merchant banker Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet and a descendant of Robert Rundell Guinness, founder of the merchant bank Guinness Mahon.
  In 1963, their house in Barnes caught fire. Rosemary saved their five children but broke her back when jumping from the bedroom window. She was told she would miscarry and never walk again, but she later gave birth and after 18 months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, was able to walk again. Their eldest son, Paul, died of a heroin overdose in 1982, aged 29. In 2000, Rosemary was diagnosed with motor neurone disease; she died on 25 July 2002.
  In 2020, Ackland participated in the "Letters Live" project, and was recorded from his home in Clovelly, Devon. His letter reflected on the COVID-19 crisis and his hopes for how the country could draw "strength from adversity".
  Ackland died at home in Clovelly, on 19 November 2023, aged 95.
  Filmography
  Film
  Television
  Video games
  Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) (voice) as Pieter Van Eckhardt
  Audio books
  Rise of the Ogre (Audiobook) (2006) (Narrator)
  Honours
  He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Civil Division for Services to Drama in the 2001 New Years Honours List.