John Clements CBE | |
|---|---|
 John Clements in 1954 | |
| Born | John Selby Clements (1910-04-25)25 April 1910 London, England |
| Died | 6 April 1988(1988-04-06) (aged 77) Brighton, Sussex, England |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Years active | 1935–1982 |
| Spouses |
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Sir John Selby Clements (25 April 1910 – 6 April 1988) was a British actor andproducer who worked in theatre, television and film.
Clements made his first professional appearance on the stage in 1930, then worked withNigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years inBen Greet's Shakespearean Company.[1]
In 1935 Clements founded theIntimate Theatre,[2] a combined repertory and try-out venue, atPalmers Green. He appeared in almost 200 plays and also presented a number of plays in the West End as actor-manager-producer.[1]
Clements married the actressKay Hammond and together they had a critical success with their West End revival ofNoël Coward's playPrivate Lives in 1945.[3] In 1952 they both appeared in Clements's own playThe Happy Marriage, an adaptation ofJean Bernard-Luc'sLe Complexe de Philemon [fr].[4] Clements starred as Edward Moulton Barrett in the musicalRobert and Elizabeth, a successful adaptation ofThe Barretts of Wimpole Street.[5]
In December 1951 Clements directedMan and Superman in theWest End, and played the role of John Tanner alongsideAllan Cuthbertson.[6]
Clements was theartistic director of theChichester Festival Theatre from 1966 to 1973.[7]
The actorJohn Standing is his stepson.[8]
As a film actor John Clements played bit parts of increasing size forAlexander Korda's London Films in the 1930s. He made quite an impression oppositeRobert Donat andMarlene Dietrich inKnight Without Armour as Poushkoff, a sensitive, conflicted young commissar who saves their lives during the Russian Revolution.[9] He came to further prominence when film directorVictor Saville chose him to star oppositeRalph Richardson inSouth Riding (1938).[10] The two actors were reunited in the very successfulThe Four Feathers (1939).[11]
After that Clements's film career was somewhat intermittent, although he made a series of British war films forEaling Studios and British Aviation Pictures, such asConvoy (1940),Ships with Wings (1942),Tomorrow We Live (1943) and asYugoslav guerrilla leader Milosh Petrovitch inUndercover (1943).[12] He had a cameo role (asAdvocate General) inGandhi (1982).[13]
Clements was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1956 and wasknighted in 1968.[1] He died in Brighton, East Sussex, in 1988.[7]
