British actor David Watson has died, aged 74.

He passed away on 5 October (14) after a suffering a heart attack during a trip to New York.

Watson began his career as a choirboy at London's iconic Westminster Abbey and sang at Queen Elizabeth Ii's coronation in 1953.

He later toured nightclubs and cabarets as a singer before embarking on a stage career.

Watson broke into U.S. Tv in western series Rawhide alongside Clint Eastwood in 1965, while he also appeared in teen soap Never Too Young and period adventure show Daniel Boone.

He is best known for playing chimpanzee archaeologist Cornelius in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the second film in the original franchise. Cornelius was originally played by Roddy MCDowall, but the actor was unavailable to shoot the sequel so Watson replaced him in the 1970 film. MCDowall returned for the rest of the series.