John Profumo, 91; Politician In 1960s British Sex Scandal

At the trial, when Rice-Davies was told that Mr. Profumo had denied having the affair, she memorably replied, "Well, he would, wouldn't he?"

On the final day of the trial, Ward took a drug overdose and died three days later, after a jury found him guilty.

Mr. Profumo's affair with Keeler ended in December 1961, but not before she became pregnant and had an illegal abortion. Keeler, now 64, later claimed to have had liaisons with George Peppard, Peter Lawford, Warren Beatty and Ringo Starr. In 1989, Ian McKellen played Mr. Profumo in a well-received movie about the affair, "Scandal."

Mr. Profumo never said another word in public about the scandal. With his political career in ruins, he quietly volunteered as a dishwasher at a center for the poor and homeless in London. He became a prominent fundraiser for the charity Toynbee Hall and eventually its president. In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II named him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his charity work.

"No one judges Jack Profumo more harshly than he does himself," British Bishop Jim Thompson said in 1993. "He says he has never known a day since it happened when he has not felt shame."

Frail and in a wheelchair, Mr. Profumo made one of his final public appearances in November at the funeral of former British prime minister Edward Heath.

Mr. Profumo's marriage survived the scandal and, by all accounts, remained strong until his wife died in 1998.

Survivors include a son, David Profumo, and three grandchildren.