Caroline John

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Caroline Frances John (born September 19, 1940 in York , North Yorkshire , † June 5, 2012 in London ) was a British actress .

Life

Family and theater

John, born Caroline Frances John in York, was one of eight children. Her father was an actor and was instrumental in founding the Belgrade Theater in Coventry . John's mother had been a dancer . John initially wanted to be a dancer too, but then decided to act. She completed her acting training at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London . She received her first theater engagement at the Royal Court Theater . She then played at various repertoire theaters in Ipswich , Oxford and Sheffield .

She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company . In the 1960s she was, under the direction of Sir Laurence Olivier , for four seasons (1964–1967) a member of the Royal National Theater . At the National Theater she was cast in a production of the Shakespearean tragedy Othello , directed by John Dexter, as substitute for Maggie Smith in the role of Desdemona (April 1964, Old Vic Theater). In 1965 she played at the Old Vic Theater in London, alongside Ian McKellen as Claudio, the hero in the Shakespearean comedy Much Ado About Nothing ; Directed by Franco Zeffirelli . She also played the role of Herov in a television recording of the production in 1967. Directed by Olivier, she and Frank Finley played the role of Mary Boyle in the play Juno and the Peacock by Sean O'Casey in a 1966 production of the National Theater (April 1966, Alexandra Theater, Birmingham ; April 1966, Old Vic Theater , London). In 1967 she was Ophelia in a production of the National Theater in the first professional production of the play Rosenkranz and Güldenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard (April 1967, Old Vic Theater, London).

Later in her career, she had theater engagements at the Stephen Joseph Theater in Scarborough . She has performed regularly at the Orange Tree Theater in Richmond-on-Thames since the 1990s . She played there in the pieces The Return of the Prodigal by St. John Emile Clavering Hankin (1869–1909) (1992/1993 season), The Artifice by Susanna Centlivre (* 1667–1670; † 1723) (1992 / 1993), A Penny for a Song by John Whiting (1992/1993 season), His Majesty by Harley Granville-Barker (1877–1946) (1992, as Queen), Silas Marner (1988; stage version and director: Geoffrey Beevers ), Happy Birthday, Dear Alice by Bernard Farrell (* 1939) (2002; in the title role as Alice), Dona Rosita stays single or The Language of Flowers by Federico García Lorca (2004, in the title role as Dona Rosita). She played other stage roles in Baumeister Solness (as Aline Solness; 1999, English Touring Theater, with Timothy West as Halvard Solness) and in Death of a Salesman (as Linda Loman; 2001, Compass Theater Company).

In 2004 John played the role of tarragon in Waiting for Godot in a theater workshop at the Ulysses Theater in Zagreb ; her partners were Vanessa Redgrave , Lynn Redgrave and Amanda Plummer . In 2006 she premiered the one-person play Nightingale by Lynn Redgrave at the New End Theater in London ; Redgrave had written this piece for Caroline John, in gratitude for a lifelong friendship.

Doctor Who

Special recognition reached John the role of assistant Liz Shaw in the British science fiction - television series Doctor Who . Caroline John played this role, alongside Jon Pertwee , in a total of four episodes in Season 7 in 1970. Liz Shaw was a scientist working for UNIT, a military organization that defends the earth against aliens , as a scientific advisor was made compulsory. John embodied a new type of Doctor Who assistant. She was a woman of sense, cool intelligence, and maturity. Smith and Doctor Who always acted on an equal footing.

John made her Doctor Who debut in the episode Spearhead from Space (1970), fighting the Autons, who look like murderous mannequins . Her last appearance on the series was in the episode Inferno ; In it she played as Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw in a parallel world, an alter ego of her original role, an unusually tough, brutal and militaristic version of her real role. Her role was in the episode Doctor Who and the Silurians witness to the reappearance of the Silurians (a race of reptilian humanoids ). After the new producer of the series, Barry Letts , wanted to replace the role of Liz Shaw by the type of a more traditional assistant, the role of Liz Shaw was written out of the scripts; However, John had already made the decision to quit the series himself as she was pregnant with her first child at the time.

John played her role as Liz Shaw, albeit as a phantom, in the anniversary episode The Five Doctors (1983); she repeated her role again in the special episode Dimensions of Time (1993), a crossover of the series Doctor Who and EastEnders , which was produced for the charity of the BBC , Children in Need .

From 1994 to 1996 she appeared again as Liz Shaw in four PROBE films. The script for the films was written by Mark Gatiss ; the films were produced by BBV.

John also voiced her role as Liz Shaw in two of the Doctor Who series audiobooks released by Big Finish : Dust Breeding (2001) and The Blue Tooth (2007, with John as the narrator Liz Shaw). Then John spoke her role as Liz Shaw in other radio play productions (staged audio books, told by one of the Companions des Doctors) that appeared on Big Finish in the Companion Chronicles series: Shadow of the Past (April 2010), The Sentinels of the New Dawn (April 2011), Binary (March 2012) and The Last Post . John made the last recordings for the audio book The Last Post in late January 2012 , according to production company Big Finish .

Television and film

John also took on other continuous series roles, episode roles and guest roles in numerous British television series , including Z Cars (1972), Crown Court (1973), Casualty (1988), Harry Enfield's Television Program (1990, as housekeeper for the Tory and Labor Politicians Freddie and Jack), coroner Dr. Samantha Ryan (1996, as Mrs. Claire), Police Doctor Dangerfield (1996), Inspector Barnaby (2000, as florist in the episode Three Dead Old Ladies ) and Doctors (2008). In the series Agatha Christie's Poirot she was seen in the episode A door falls in the lock 1989 together with Geoffrey Beevers (as Mrs. and Mr. Tolliver).

In the cinema , John played almost exclusively supporting roles, such as Mrs. Mackenzie in the drama Auf Messers Schneide (1984). In 2003 she made a cameo (without dialogue) in the British comedy film Actually ... Love as Sam's Grandmother.

Private

John married actor and director Geoffrey Beevers in 1970 , whom she met while at the National Theater. The marriage had three children, a daughter and two sons. John died on June 5, 2012 at the age of 71. On June 20, 2012, she was buried in South West London. Her family did not announce her death until after her funeral.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1955: Holidays with Papa (Raising a Riot)
  • 1963: The King's Breakfast
  • 1967: Much Ado About Nothing (TV version)
  • 1970: Doctor Who (TV series, 4 episodes)
  • 1971: The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1972: Z Cars (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1973: Crown Court (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1982: The Hound of the Baskervilles (The Hound of the Baskervilles) (miniseries)
  • 1983: The Five Doctors
  • 1984: The Razor's Edge (The Razor's Edge)
  • 1985: The Bill (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1988: Casualty (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1989: Agatha Christie's Poirot (episode: Problem at Sea )
  • 1990: Harry Enfield's Television Program (TV series)
  • 1993: Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time
  • 1994: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1995: EastEnders (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1996: Forensic specialist Dr. Samantha Ryan (Silent Witness) (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1996: Police Doctor Dangerfield (Dangerfield) (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 2000: Inspector Barnaby (episode: Blue Herrings )
  • 2003: Actually ... love (Love Actually)
  • 2008: Doctors (TV series)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Doctor Who actress Caroline John dies obituary in: The Daily Telegraph, June 21, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Caroline John obituary Obituary in: The Guardian of June 21, 2012
  3. ↑ a b c d Doctor Who actress Caroline John dies aged 71 Obituary; BBC News dated June 22, 2012
  4. ↑ Directory of the theater roles of Caroline John (see web links)
  5. ↑ MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1965) cast sheet
  6. ^ Much Ado About Nothing (1967) Production details and cast
  7. ↑ Juno And The Paycock production details and cast sheet
  8. ^ Nightingale premiere review in: The Guardian, January 23, 2006
  9. ↑ a b c d Doctor Who: Caroline John died ( Memento from January 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Death report and obituary at SFR; last accessed on June 25, 2012
  10. ↑ Kyle Anderson: RIP Third Doctor Companion Caroline John. . June 21, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  11. ^ Caroline John 1940-2012 obituary Big Finish Productions June 21, 2012; last accessed on June 25, 2012
personal data
SURNAME John, Caroline
ALTERNATIVE NAMES John, Caroline Frances (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actress
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH York , North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH 5th June 2012
Place of death London , England, UK