James Villiers | |
|---|---|
 Villiers inThe Avengers:Small Game for Big Hunters (1966) | |
| Born | James Michael Hyde Villiers (1933-09-29)29 September 1933 London, England |
| Died | 18 January 1998(1998-01-18) (aged 64) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1958–1998 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Villiers family |
James Michael Hyde Villiers (29 September 1933 – 18 January 1998)[1] was an English actor. He was described byThe Independent as "one of the country's most distinctivecharacter actors, with ripe articulation and a flair for displaying supercilious arrogance that put him in theVincent Price class of screen villains".[1]
Villiers was a great-grandson of the4th Earl of Clarendon.
Villiers was born on 29 September 1933 inLondon, the son of Eric Hyde Villiers and Joan Ankaret Talbot. He was brought up in Shropshire and at Ormeley Lodge,Richmond-upon-Thames, later the home ofJames Goldsmith. At his prep school he was considered its best actor and continued his education atWellington College, Berkshire. Stage-struck, after leaving school he applied unsuccessfully to Colchester Repertory to be taken on in any capacity and then trained at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1953.[1][2]
Villiers (pronouncedVillers) was from an upper-class background, the grandson of SirFrancis Hyde Villiers and great grandson ofGeorge Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon; his mother was descended fromEarl Talbot. His aristocratic ancestry was often reflected in casting, he performed roles such as KingCharles II in theBBC seriesThe First Churchills (1969), the Earl of Warwick inSaint Joan (1974), and on stage as Lord Thurlow inThe Madness of George III.[1]
Through his father, Villiers was a relative ofThomas Hyde Villiers,Charles Pelham Villiers,Henry Montagu Villiers and the formerSecretary of State for Northern IrelandTheresa Villiers. Through his mother, he was distantly related toCharles Chetwynd-Talbot, 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury.
Villiers made his film début in 1958 and appeared in many British productions, includingJoseph Losey'sThe Damned (also known asThese Are the Damned), shot in 1961 but not released until 1963;Seth Holt'sThe Nanny (1965),Joseph Andrews (1977),For Your Eyes Only (1981),The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982),Mountains of the Moon (1990) andThe Tichborne Claimant (1998), along with numerous other projects. He often specialised in portraying cold, somewhat effete villains.[3]
Villiers portrayed the role of Colonel Hensman in the television adaptation ofBrendon Chase and was heard onBBC Radio 4 as the voice ofRoderick Spode inThe Code of the Woosters and several other adaptations of the Jeeves stories ofP. G. Wodehouse, which starredMichael Hordern andRichard Briers.[4] In a 1965 episode of the TV seriesThe Human Jungle, "Solo Performance", as theatre director Paul Stockhill. In the 1978 television adaption ofThe Famous Five, Villiers featured strongly in the two-part pilot in which he played the antagonist, a rogue bureaucrat known only as Johnson.
In 1966, atMaidstone, Kent, Villiers married Patricia Donovan.[1][5] They adopted a son, Alan Michael Hyde Villiers (born Alan Donovan), and the marriage lasted until 1984, when it was dissolved.[1] In 1994, atWorthing, Villiers married secondly Lucinda Jex;[5] they were still together at the time of his death.[1]
Nicholas Whittaker, author ofPlatform Souls andBlue Period, worked in the Belsize Tavern in 1979 and 1980 and claimed to recall Villiers' visits to the pub in the company of local actorRonald Fraser. After closing time, the pair would often be found in the beer and curry restaurant opposite.Rupert Everett also claims to have encountered Villiers in an Indian restaurant, some time in 1985, "leglessly drunk, booming orders and insults to the poor long-suffering waiter in a strange breathy vibrato that was pitched for the upper circle".[6] Elsewhere, Villiers is described as a "big drinker" who entered into drinking competitions with his friendPeter O'Toole.[7]
Villiers died on 18 January 1998 inArundel,Sussex, of cancer.[1]
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