Bill Stalker

After nine months with Cop Shop, Stalker was tired of both working in serials and of playing Fanelli. He quit the show to explore various film offers. However, on 28 November 1981, during a weekend break between taping his final scenes for Cop Shop, he was killed when his motorcycle slid and collided with a car in wet weather in Toorak, Victoria. His pillion passenger, then-girlfriend New Zealand born actress Catherine Wilkin, suffered a fractured hip and leg injuries in the accident.

Stalker moved to Australia in 1979 and was a member of the original main cast of airport drama serial Skyways at which time, in Australia's TV Times, he commented on his career and move from New Zealand (read Bill's comments in 1979 TV Times). His role in Skyways was as Peter Fanelli, head of airport security and ex-cop. Fanelli soon proved to be one of the show's most popular characters, and when Skyways was cancelled in 1981 the character was quickly moved to the police serial Cop Shop, with Fanelli re-entering the police force heading Riverside CIB as a Detective Sergeant (read TV Times on Stalker's run in both soaps and his sudden death).

One of his early acting roles was as a biker in the New Zealand television series Pukemanu, which also starred Ginette MacDonald. In 1971, he joined Bruno Lawrence's musical and theatrical co-operative Blerta, where he performed with many popular New Zealand entertainers. He left the group after one tour in 1972, but returned in 1975 until the group disbanded in 1976. In 1977 he was in the film Wild Man. Stalker was an original regular cast member of soap opera Close to Home.

William Robert Stalker (3 August 1948 – 28 November 1981) was a New Zealand actor, most famous for his roles in television, both in his native country and Australia.