Like all the best showmen, he left his audience torn between laughter and tears.

There was plenty of both yesterday as family and friends gathered to say farewell to Mike Reid.

The 67-year-old actor was best known for his TV role as Frank Butcher, the cockney wheeler-dealer with a heart of gold and complicated love life in EastEnders.

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Barbara Windsor lead the EastEnders' stars in tribute to actor and comedian Mike Reid who died of a heart attack

But he earned his stripes in entertainment as a stand-up comedian.

And his sense of humour echoed through the Essex church as his coffin was carried in to the tones of his 1975 children's hit Ugly Duckling.

A host of faces from television and entertainment mixed with fans, friends and family at the service.

Reid suffered a heart attack in Spain last month. His widow Shirley, 68, who was at his side when he died in Marbella, sobbed as she followed the coffin into the Little Easton village church.

Among the mourners were Reid's two on-screen wives in EastEnders - Pam St Clement, who plays Pat Butcher, and Barbara Windsor, who plays Queen Vic landlady Peggy Mitchell.

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EastEnder: Mike Reid in the role that made him a household name as EastEnder Frank Butcher

They arrived with fellow EastEnder June Brown (chain-smoking Dot Branning) and Bobby Davro, a new addition to the cast, on a bus laid on for members of the BBC1 soap.

Later Sid Owen, who played Reid's son Ricky in the show, arrived with his girlfriend, children's TV presenter Polly Parsons.

Other familiar faces included boxing champion Henry Cooper, football agent Eric Hall and comedians Russ Abbot and Frank Carson.

Dozens of fans braved driving rain to stand in the churchyard as Rat Pack classics played out in the build up to the service.

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Grief: Reid's widow Shirley struggles to contain her grief at the loss of her larger than life husband

June Brown: 'He was a big man'

Reid's family arrived in a fleet of black limousines, one with a floral arrangement in the shape of a duckling on the roof. Another depicted the opening scene of EastEnders showing the River Thames snaking through London.

There was a string of tributes during the short service, with rousing applause after each. The Frank Sinatra anthem My Way was also played.

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The floral tribute to much-loved actor Mike Reid sent by the cast of EastEnders

One of his stepsons Jimmy spoke of how Reid's arrival had changed his life.

"He came into my life when I was just eight years of age and my sister was two. He was 20 himself," he said.

"Up until then life had not been kind to our family but once he arrived everything changed for the better."

Outside church Miss Windsor, in a pale grey trouser suit, said his EastEnders co-stars had been hoping Reid might return to the show.

"He made me laugh, he made me cry, I loved working with him," she said.

Reid joined the cast of EastEnders in 1987, staying until 1994.

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Ricky: Sid Owen rose to fame as the EastEnders star's son Ricky

Pam St Clement who played Reid's onscreen wife and lover Pat Butcher and comic Russ Abbot pay their respects

He also appeared between 1996 and 2000 and made guest appearances in 2002 and Pam St Clement was too distraught to speak yesterday.

June Brown said: "It's so hard to talk about our loss, he was a big man."

Reid worked as a stuntman in the 1960s, doubling for Roger Moore on the TV series The Saint.

He had roles in films including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Dirty Dozen.

In the 1970s he joined Bernard Manning, Frank Carson and others on the stand-up show The Comedians.