John Neville | |
|---|---|
 Neville asPrince Hamlet in a 1959 TV production ofHamlet | |
| Born | John Reginald Neville (1925-05-02)2 May 1925 |
| Died | 19 November 2011(2011-11-19) (aged 86) |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom Canada |
| Education | Chiswick County School for Boys |
| Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, Director |
| Years active | 1949–2006 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6 |
John Reginald Neville,CMOBE (2 May 1925 – 19 November 2011)[1] was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned more than sixty years. He was renowned for his roles on both stage and screen in genres ranging from classical theatre tofantasy andscience fiction.
Neville was one of the young leading lights of theBritish theatre in the early 1950s, with he and contemporary and friendRichard Burton honing their crafts atThe Old Vic, where over the course of five years they worked their way through theShakespearean canon. Based on their performance styles and physicality, it was commented at the time that Burton was seen as the successor toLaurence Olivier, whereas Neville was seen as the natural successor toJohn Gielgud. Neville was a great champion of young talent throughout his career, as was evident when a 23 year oldJudi Dench made her professional debut asOphelia opposite hisHamlet in 1957.[2]
Alongside the classical repertoire, Neville also worked on contemporary productions. He originated the titular role of Alfie inBill Naughton's 1963 playAlfie. It was in that same year that he, along withFrank Dunlop andPeter Ustinov, became artistic directors of theNottingham Playhouse, with Neville later assuming sole charge.[3] It was under his leadership that he played the leading part inCoriolanus, directed byTyrone Guthrie, playing opposite a youngIan McKellen in the role ofTullus Aufidius. After leaving Nottingham in 1972, Neville emigrated toCanada, where he enjoyed further theatrical success inStratford, Ontario at theStratford Festival Theatre.
Neville enjoyed a resurgence of international attention in the 1980s as a result of his starring role inTerry Gilliam's cult classicThe Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and latterly in the sci-fi seriesThe X-Files, playing the sinister role of The Well-Manicured Man.
John Neville was born on 2 May 1925 in 197 Church Road, in the north London suburb ofWillesden, London, the son of Mabel Lillian (née Fry) and Reginald Daniel Neville, who worked as a mechanic for the local council, Neville also had a younger sister called Joan.[4] He was educated at Willesden andChiswick County School for Boys.[5] It was here at the age of eleven, that he directed his first play, 'The Lamentable Comedy of Pyramus and Thisby' from Shakespeare'sA Midsummer Night's Dream, with the play being performed at the end of term.[6]
Outside of school, Neville was being taken to the Old Vic andStratford upon Avon by Frank Aubrey Dawson, the churchwarden at, St Michael and All AngelsStonebridge Park, the local parish church where Neville sang in the choir. Towards the end of July 1937 the pair went on a holiday for two weeks to Stratford upon Avon. For three years in a row, he was taken along with Dawson’s 5 nieces, one of which included future historianLorna Arnold, who recalled that “in time he became one of our extended family”.[7] WithThe Blitz raining down on London, Neville and his family moved toBeaconsfield for six months, with his school being evacuated to nearbyHigh Wycombe, it was here that Neville played, his first significant part as, Brutus inJulius Caesar.
Returning for his final terms at school near Wembley, Neville left before he was just 17. With him taking a small time job as a stores clerk in a nearby garage inNeasden. Persuaded to join the St. Michael's youth club from his church, Neville was asked to establish a youth drama group, something he later recalled when interviewed byRichard Ouzounian later in life. It proved tricky to get the local children to get as passionately involved with his drama club as he was, so had to barter with the boxing and table tennis clubs for members. The National Federation of Boys' Clubs was affiliated to theBritish Drama League, with Neville beginning to attend courses. A female director from theLondon County Council directed his club in Act I of Hamlet. With St. Michael's winning the first drama festival in Willeden. Audiences were impressed by his voice and the potential it held.[8]
Thanks to Dawson's introduction to the classics, Neville had, by now, seen all of Shakespeare's plays and it was at those trips to the theatre that Neville’s passion for acting, and Shakespeare in particular, began to develop. As a result of the interest in his recent performance, he decided that he wished to become an actor. However, with little money, his parents were unable to pay for such a venture. The local Willesden Borough Council suitably impressed informed Neville that they would provide him with a scholarship grant on the proviso that he got in, as would Middlesex County Council who would provide a grant for his living expenses. In 1943, after a successful audition, Neville gained his place at the prestigious drama school, theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art.[9]
Shortly afterwards, aged nearly 18, Neville was called up and drafted to serve as a signalman in theRoyal Navy duringWorld War II, where he stayed for 3 years, serving on HMS Scotia,HMS Relentless,HMS Malaya and theRFA Arndale travelling between Australia, the Philippines and Hong Kong. It was only upon being demobbed and being able to claim his Ex-Serviceman’s Grant and still being able to live at home in London that he was able to begin studying at RADA inGower Street and train as an actor in 1946. It was whilst studying at the school, that any remnants of his East End accent were replaced by theReceived Pronunciation, which was the fashion at that time within the profession. Fellow students at the time includedBarbara Jefford,Robert Shaw,Paul Daneman andPeter Sallis.
In late Spring of 1947, and still a student, Neville made his West End stage debut with the Old Vic company, as a walk on in 'Richard II' withAlec Guinness as the King at theNew Theatre, due to the Old Vic Theatre being severely bomb damaged.
One of Neville’s’ first jobs upon leaving drama school was in theRegent's Park Open Air Theatre, where he had been engaged for a summer season by Robert Atkins, lord of Regent's Park. The season included The Ambassador inKing John, the first lord inAs You Like It and Lysander inThe Merchant of Venice.
In 1948, Neville's agent found him work at theLowestoft Playhouse working in weekly rep where he stayed for three months. However, it was in January 1949 that he soon moved to the prestigiousBirmingham Repertory Company, then located in Station Street, under the pioneering leadership ofSir Barry Jackson. During his time in the city, Neville lived in the leafy town ofSutton Coldfield. Amongst the company of actors wereDouglas Campbell,Eric Porter,Donald Pleasence and Caroline Hooper. A holiday to France with Hooper soon developed into a relationship, with Neville proposing to Caroline at the end of September and getting married before Christmas atSt Mary's Church, Moseley withEric Porter as best man. The couple left in 1950, returning to London and buying a home in theWood Green area.
Neville was then offered the chance byDenis Carey to work at theBristol Old Vic in their repertory company, where he won acclaim for playing Marlow inShe Stoops to Conquer, the Duke inMeasure for Measure, the title role inHenry V, Slim inOf Mice and Men, and PC Tom Blenkinsop in the actor's first stage musical,Christmas in King Street. He left the Bristol Old Vic in 1952.
Fortuitously, soon after Neville arrived in 1953, theOld Vic, under the directorship of Michael Benthall, decided to stage all of Shakespeare's plays in five years. In his first official season, Neville was cast as King Henry V and then not long after, as Fortinbras opposite Richard Burton who was playing Hamlet for the first time. This was soon followed up with Bertram inAll's Well That Ends Well and then the Dauphin inKing John.
By 1954, having now played Macduff oppositePaul Rogers'sMacbeth and Berowne inLove's Labour's Lost, Neville took the lead role of King Richard II in an acclaimed production ofRichard II where, on the first night, he received a record of 23 curtain calls, withVirginia McKenna as his Queen Anne. By now, Neville had established himself as amatinee idol and aWest End star of the 1950s, later hailed as "one of the most potent classical actors of the Richard Burton–Peter O'Toole generation".[10]
In a pre-Beatles age, Neville, according toThe Times had, "AlongsideRichard Burton, achieved a kind of romantic superstardom in Shakespeare unfamiliar since the prewar times of Olivier and (in America)John Barrymore)".[11] In 1956, he and Burton famously alternated the parts of Othello and Iago inOthello.[12] Further parts that season included Troilus (and later Thersites) inTroilus and Cressida directed byTyrone Guthrie and as Romeo inRomeo and Juliet, directed byRobert Helpmann, with his Juliet being played byClaire Bloom. He later reprised the role of Romeo on American television for the anthology seriesProducers' Showcase).
In the final season of the five year plan at the Old Vic, Neville played the part of Hamlet, withJudi Dench as his Ophelia, in what was her first professional performance after leaving drama school. This was followed up by Angelo inMeasure for Measure and Sir Andrew Aguecheek inTwelfth Night. The productions ofHamlet andTwelfth Night toured Paris, Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, the United States and Canada. The visit to Canada would be Neville's first introduction to the country he would later call home years later.
During his time at the Old Vic, the young Neville was known for his classical good looks and mellifluous voice, and regularly described asJohn Gielgud's natural successor; this was a comparison Neville later revealed he hated to Gielgud's biographerJonathan Croall.[13]
In 1959, for a while, Neville took over the leading role of Nestor Le Fripé fromKeith Michell in the original West End production of the musicalIrma La Douce, withElizabeth Seal as Irma. He later played the title role inMacbeth at theNottingham Playhouse, directed byPeter Dews. He returned to the London stage for a brief period in 1963, playing the title role inAlfie byBill Naughton, but by then his theatrical commitment lay outside London.[14]
In 1961, with Neville's weekly pay declining from £200 to £50, he joined theNottingham Playhouse, becoming joint artistic director withFrank Dunlop andPeter Ustinov when the current Playhouse opened in 1963.[14] It became one of Britain's leading regional repertory theatres.[10] Though Dunlop and Ustinov soon left, Neville remained at the theatre until 1967, when he resigned over funding disputes with the local authority and theArts Council.[14][12][15]
DirectorRichard Eyre once recalled that:[16]
Peter Brook opened my eyes to the possibilities of the theatre as an art, but John Neville made me see the attractions of a life in the theatre. When I did my first production (at thePhoenix theatre, Leicester) he was there (with Judi Dench). The next day he offered me a job directing a schools' production at Nottingham Playhouse. It was there that I saw him play Richard II, and it still remains one of the best Shakespearean performances I've ever seen – beautifully orchestrated, exquisitely spoken, wholly authoritative.
Neville starred as theDuke of Marlborough in theBBC2 serialThe First Churchills (1969), a major television role which also maintained his international profile when the show was broadcast as the very firstMasterpiece Theatre series in the United States in 1971.[17][18][19] He received good reviews in the musical adaptation ofLolita, calledLolita, My Love, which closed in Boston.
With his family, Neville left Britain for Canada in 1972, becoming a citizen there.[20] He devoted his later career to the Canadian theatre. He took up the post of artistic director at theCitadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta (1973–78), and later took similar positions with theNeptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1978–83) and other Canadian theatre companies, including as artistic director of theStratford Festival of Canada from 1985 to 1989, while continuing his acting career.[15] On top of his artistic decisions, Neville helped eliminate the Neptune's deficit with canny promotions, such as giving free tickets to the local taxi drivers and their families, correctly anticipating that recipients would enthusiastically discuss the theatre with passengers and tourists.[21]
DirectorTerry Gilliam cast Neville as the lead inThe Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). In the film, Neville plays the character at three different stages of his life; in his 30s, his 50s and his 70s. From 1995 to 1998, Neville had a prominent recurring role inThe X-Files television series asThe Well Manicured Man, and in 1998, he reprised the role in the feature filmThe X-Files. Although he made numerous other television appearances and occasional film roles, the main focus of Neville's career was always on the theatre.
In his later years, Neville had numerous cameo appearances in films, including primate of the Anglican Church in Australia inThe Man Who Sued God and an admiral in the Earth Space Navy inThe Fifth Element. He had a small role as Terrence inDavid Cronenberg'sSpider (2002). Around the same time, he appeared withVanessa Redgrave in the film adaptation ofCrime and Punishment (also 2002).
In 2003, Neville performed a stage reading ofJohn Milton'sSamson Agonistes, withClaire Bloom at Bryn Mawr College at the behest of poetKarl Kirchwey.[22] He appeared in an episode of the soap operaTrain 48 (2005) as the grandfather of Zach Eisler, who was played by his grandsonJoe Dinicol.
Neville was appointed a Member of theOrder of Canada in 2006.[23]
The Nevilles' first child, Sarah, was born in October 1950 and their son Stephen in February 1952. In December 1952 they adopted an 8 month old child called Matthew. It was whilst playingOthello in 1956 that his daughter Emma was born, withRichard Burton announcing the news to the audience at the curtain call. Ten days later the adoption agency called informing them that there was another child up for adoption, Rachel.[24] The Nevilles' youngest child was Thomas.
Eyre later recalled in an obituary that "John was tall, aquiline, a natural aristocrat with feline grace who disguised well the roaring boy underneath.…John was infectiously anarchic – wild, larky and raffish as well as supremely skillful as an actor and inspiring as the leader of a company. He took me under his wing and, for a time, I was his drinking and theatre-going companion. I was with him when I saw theBerliner Ensemble inCoriolanus,Arturo Ui andThe Days of the Commune. I was overwhelmed by the productions, even more so when John took me backstage at the Old Vic to meetHelene Weigel (Brecht's widow) andEkkehard Schall (Coriolanus). I felt I was in the company of gods. John was part of my luck and I've missed him for years."[25]
Neville's grandson is the actorJoe Dinicol.
According to publicists at Canada'sStratford Shakespeare Festival, Neville died "peacefully surrounded by family" on 19 November 2011, aged 86.[26] He hadAlzheimer's disease in his later years.[15] He was survived by his wife Caroline (née Hooper) and their six children.[27]
| Year | Play title | Role | Theatre | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 Jun | As You Like It | First Lord | Regent's Park Open Air Theatre | Professional Stage Debut |
| 1948 Jul | King John | Châtillon | ||
| 1948 Jul | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Lysander | ||
| 1948 Aug | Justice | Hector Frome | - | RADA tour in Norway |
| 1948 Nov | Truant in Park Lane | The Earl of Lyndon | Lowestoft Playhouse | First Season with the Lowestoft Repertory Company |
| 1948 Nov | London Wall | Hec Hammond | ||
| 1948 Nov | Jane Eyre | St John Rivers | ||
| 1948 Dec | Present Laughter | Roland Maule | ||
| 1948 Dec | Power Without Glory | Eddie Lord | ||
| 1948 Dec | The Magic Cupboard | Bill Summertop | ||
| 1948 Dec | Christmas Shot Revue | Various Parts | ||
| 1949 Jan | Eden End | Geoffrey Farrant | ||
| 1949 Jan | Is Life Worth Living | Eddie Twohig | ||
| 1949 Jan | The Eagle Has Two Heads | Stanislas |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Oscar Wilde | Lord Alfred Douglas | |
| 1961 | Mr. Topaze | Roger de Bersac | |
| 1962 | Billy Budd | Julian Radcliffe, Second Lieutenant | |
| 1963 | Unearthly Stranger | Dr. Mark Davidson | |
| 1965 | A Study in Terror | Sherlock Holmes | |
| 1970 | The Adventures of Gerard | Wellington | |
| 1988 | The Adventures of Baron Munchausen | Baron Munchausen | |
| 1994 | Baby's Day Out | Mr. Andrews | |
| 1994 | The Road to Wellville | Endymion Hart-Jones | |
| 1994 | Little Women | Mr. Laurence | |
| 1995 | Dangerous Minds | Waiter | |
| 1996 | Sabotage | Prof. Follenfant | |
| 1996 | Swann | Cruzzi | |
| 1996 | High School High | Thaddeus Clark | |
| 1997 | The Fifth Element | General Staedert | |
| 1997 | Regeneration | Dr. Yealland | |
| 1997 | Dinner at Fred's | Uncle Henrick | |
| 1997 | My Teacher Ate My Homework | Shopkeeper | |
| 1998 | Goodbye Lover | Bradley | |
| 1998 | The X-Files | The Well-Manicured Man | |
| 1998 | Urban Legend | Dean Adams | |
| 1999 | Water Damage | Jock Beale | |
| 1999 | Sunshine | Gustave Sors | |
| 1999 | The Duke | the Duke | |
| 2001 | Harvard Man | Dr. Reese | |
| 2002 | Time of the Wolf | Preacher | |
| 2002 | Spider | Terrence | |
| 2002 | Crime and Punishment | Marmeladov, Sonia's alcoholic father | |
| 2002 | Between Strangers | Orson Stewart | |
| 2003 | Moving Malcolm | Malcolm Woodward | |
| 2003 | Hollywood North | Henry Neville | |
| 2003 | The Statement | Old Man | |
| 2004 | White Knuckles | Narrator (voice) | |
| 2005 | Separate Lies | Lord Rawston | |
| 2006 | The Tragic Story of Nling | Donkey | Short film |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Shaggy Dog | Wilkie | TV series |
| 1971 | Boswell's Life of Johnson | David Garrick | TV movie |
| 1971 | The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | Dr Thorndyke | TV series |
| 1979 | Reil | General Wolseley | TV movie |
| 1993 | Journey to the Center of the Earth | Dr. Cecil Chambers | TV movie |
| 1993 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Sir Isaac Newton | TV series, Season six, episode 26: "Descent" |
| 1993 | Dieppe | Gen. Sir Alan Brooke | TV movie |
| 1993 | Stark | De Quincy | TV mini-series |
| 1995 | The Song Spinner | Frilo, the Magnificent | TV movie |
| 1995-1998 | The X-Files | The Well-Manicured Man | TV series, 8 episodes |
| 1996 | Adventures of Smoke Bellew AKAChercheurs d'or | Dwight Sanderson | TV mini-series |
| 1997 | Time to Say Goodbye? | Michigan Judge | TV movie |
| 1997 | Johnny 2.0 | Bosch | TV movie |
| 1998–2000 | Emily of New Moon | Uncle Malcolm | TV series |
| 2000 | Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace | Bishop George Bell | TV movie |
| 2000 | Custody of the Heart | Judge H. Chadwick | TV movie |
| 2002 | The Stork Derby | Mr. Cunningham | TV movie |
| 2002 | Trudeau | British High Commissioner | TV movie |
| 2002 | Escape from the Newsroom | George's Father | TV movie |
| 2003 | Control Factor | Director | TV movie |
| 2003 | Rolie Polie Olie | Klanky Klaus | TV series, 1 episode |
