Glyn Jones (writer, 1931)

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Glyn Idris Jones (born April 27, 1931 in Durban , South Africa , † April 2, 2014 in Vamos , Crete , Greece ) was a South African actor , director , screenwriter and writer .

Early years

Glyn Idris Jones was born on April 27, 1931 in Durban, South Africa. His parents were of Welsh and Italian descent. His theater career spanned almost six decades and included many engagements in England , Europe and the USA .

After studying at university and drama school, he toured South Africa with the National Theater Company before leaving for London. He hitchhiked through Africa and worked his way on a passenger ship as a steward. After arriving in England in 1953, he took a job with the Sunday Times and later with Kemsley Newspapers. At the same time he wrote plays in his spare time. He had his first engagements during a summer season at the old Tivoli Theater in New Brighton . He played extras on television and during another summer season on the Isle of Wight . When he was out of work, he worked in pubs, e.g. B. in Joe Lyons' Cadby Hall, for a small publishing house and as a building cleaner.

actor

As an actor he appeared in London in Reunion in Vienna at the Piccadilly Theater. This was followed by The Great Society , Something Burning , Treasure Island in the Mermaid Theater, Streamers in the Roundhouse , A Coat of Varnish and Captain Brassbound's Conversion in the Haymarket , Measure for Measure in the Open Space and Tsafendas in the Almost Free. He has also played leading roles in provincial theaters, touring theater and in houses across Europe. He often worked in film, radio and television. In his last television appearance, he played the pedophile killer Sidney Cooke in The Lost Boys on the BBC.

While working as an actor, he wrote plays, 16 were produced. The first track, oh brother! , was performed in Ipswich , England. Later followed u. a. in London Early One Morning at the Arts Theater and Champagne Charlie at the Mayfair Theater. The latter was based on the life of the great music hall star George Leybourne . The piece also went on tour and was performed one last time at Wilton's Music Hall in 2013 . Furthermore, were Women Around Worthing and Tell me you love me (aka How do you like your Wagner?) Played in Perth.

His play The 88 was staged in 1979 at the Old Vic in London. The theme was the mutiny of an Irish regiment in India in 1920. Though it was written about ten years earlier, the murder of Lord Mountbatten by the IRA two weeks before it premiered was doomed. During the press conference of the play, two critics spoke about it and one commented, “How dare you bring this play so soon after the murder of esteemed Lord Louis (i.e., Lord Mountbatten). I'll tear it to pieces, ”which he and some others then did. Glyn Jones was devastated by this unjustified criticism, which had nothing to do with the piece and despite positive audience reactions, and wrote no more pieces for ten years. Felix Barker wrote of The 88 in the Evening News: “It doesn't often happen that the theater shakes hands with the latest news. But that is exactly what happened last night ... "

In 2013, Jones appeared for the last time in an Indigo View commercial for Crete Crete: See for yourself in the role of a hilarious and rebellious film producer. This short film won an award.

Dr. Who

In 1964 Jones was called by David Whitaker , the story editor of " Doctor Who ", to hire him as a screenwriter for an episode of the series. By the time Jones' script for The Space Museum was being prepared for production, Whitaker had already been replaced by Dennis Spooner , who changed the script. Glyn Jones opposed Spooner's cuts because a lot of funny lines were cut out. Spooner said that these did not fit - as he saw it - a "high-concept" science fiction story like Dr. Who. Hence, this was Jones's only contribution as a screenwriter to Doctor Who . However, he played the character of the crane in The Sontaran Experiment in 1975 . It was one of the few times that a Doctor Who screenwriter was in front of the camera.

Director

He has directed at RADA in London and in Buxton, Chesterfield, Worthing, Derby. He taught and directed for two years at James Madison University in Virginia in the USA and at Furman University in South Carolina. In America, he played Dodge in Sam Shepard's "Buried Child", Argon in Moliere's The Conceited Ill and Eddie Carbone in "A View From a Bridge". He also played "The Fantasticks" and Neil Simons "Fools" in the Dinner Theater at James Madison University . He played and directed at the Wayside Theater near Washington ; this time Elliot in "Private Lives" and Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum . He directed "Tribute" and "The Innovents" and was invited by Furman University to play, teach and teach Shakespearean plays with Dysart at Equus .

writer

Glyn Jones wrote the screenplay for the Columbia film A King's Story in 1965 - a documentary about the life of the Duke of Windsor and his abdication as King Edward VIII. This film was nominated for an Oscar .

Jones was also the script editor and scriptwriter in charge of the very successful English children's series Here Come the Double Deckers (1970-71) by 20th Century Fox . He also wrote screenplays for the Children's Film Foundation , which won two awards there. Jones contributed six scripts for their series Six Wilde and a Crumb / The Magnificent Six and 1/2 (1968-69) and nine scripts for "Here Come the Double Deckers". Jones also wrote an episode of "The Gold Robbers" (1969).

In England he wrote books and songs for two musicals with the composer Kenny Clayton: "Cupid" and "Black Maria". His funny two-person piece “Early One Morning” became the musical “Fugue in Two Flats” with music by Paul Knight. Andy Davidson wrote the music for his musical version of Peter Pan . After moving to Crete, Jones wrote books and texts for other musicals. He wrote the libretto for a musical about the life of a Spanish courtesan of the Belle Époque , La Belle Otero , music by Christopher Littlewood . In his last years until shortly before his death he wrote two opera libretti, for which he was looking for a composer, and two new plays, the comedy "Marry Go Round", which is set in Athens, and "The Muses Darling", a play about the last days by Christopher Marlowe .

In 1997 Jones settled in Vamos, Crete, but continued to work as an actor, director and writer. He wrote his autobiography "No Official Umbrella", the novels "Angel" and "The Journeys We Make", a collection of horror stories, "The Museum Mysteries & Other Short Stories" and five books in a crime series with the quirky private detective Thornton King and his partner Miss Holly Day: "Dead On Time", "Just In Case", "Dead On Target", "The Cinelli Vases" and "Celluloid and Tinsel". When Glyn Jones died, the last volume in the series had not yet been published. Also published were: “Doctor Who and the Space Museum” (WH Allen / Virgin), as an audiobook (BBC), “The Double Deckers” (Pan) and a volume of children's poems “Hildegarde H And Her Friends” (Abydos Publishing).

In America his plays "Red in the Morning", "Generations" and "Third Drawer from the Top" were performed. His play "Thriller of the Year / Dangerous Weekend" premiered in 1967 at Golders Green Hippodrome and is played continuously in Germany. Until shortly before his death he worked with Beate Staufenbiel on the German translation of two further pieces: "Rosemary" and "Hear the Hyena Laugh / Das Lachen der Hyäne". The latter premiered posthumously in January 2015 in the Mobile Theater Bielefeld . Three plays have been published by Samuel French and seven by DCG Media Group.

Autobiography

His autobiography “No Official Umbrella” was described by Ruth Pardoe on Amazon.com as “... very entertaining - from his South African childhood in the 30s, his energetic and experimental life in the provincial theaters of England to the big stages of London. It's filled with young, then unknown actors who are now famous - all on their way to the top. Nice anecdotes and good stories abound ... An extensive collection of the British stage. "

Web links

• Glyn Jones Official Website
• Glyn Jones in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Glyn Jones Interview at Best British TV