Richard Johnson (actor)

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Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson (born July 30, 1927 in Upminster , London , † June 6, 2015 in Chelsea , London) was a British theater and film actor as well as theater and film producer .

Life

Richard Johnson was born in 1927 to Frances Louisa Olive (née Tweed) and Keith Holcombe Johnson in Upminster, now part of the London Borough of Havering . He attended Parkfield School and then went to school in Felsted. After training as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , he made his professional theater debut in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Manchester Opera House in July 1944 . He then gained further stage experience with John Gielgud's acting company in London . After serving in the Royal Navy from 1945 to 1948, he played successfully in the West End of London .

In 1951 he made his screen debut in a minor supporting role in The King's Admiral alongside Gregory Peck . He played Mr. Wickham in a 1952 British television adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice . In the same year he was seen in his first major film role in From the perpetrator is missing every trace . But it wasn't until the horror film Until the Blood Freezes (1963) that his screen career got going. In 1966 he starred alongside Laurence Olivier and Charlton Heston in the adventure film Khartoum . Because of his good looks, he was often cast as a playboy , for example in Hot Cats (1967) alongside Elke Sommer . In the historical film I Come from the End of the World (1967) he was seen as a young officer alongside Anthony Quinn and Rita Hayworth .

From the 1970s he played historical figures such as Rembrandt in a film adaptation of the same name from 1971 and Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra (1974). At the same time he stayed loyal to the theater over the years and played in numerous Shakespeare productions, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company in both London and Stratford-upon-Avon . He also embodied Mark Antony on stage in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra . He was also used several times in television series, such as in Hart but cordially , Magnum , Mord is her hobby and Inspector Barnaby . At United British Artists, a production company founded in 1982 by Diana Rigg , Albert Finney , Glenda Jackson and others, Johnson served as chairman until 1990. He produced and played, among others, the films Oceanic Emotions (1985) and The great longing of Judith Hearne (1987). After the end of his career as a producer, he focused again on acting.

In addition to his work as an actor in film and on stage, he was also heard in radio play productions. He was last heard in the BBC Radio 4 production Bleak Expectations (2007-12).

Johnson was a staunch environmentalist. He was one of the co-founders of the It's a green World hotel association , in which hotels committed to environmental issues came together. He owned a hotel in Savernake Forest in Wiltshire .

Richard Johnson's daughter Sorel and his son Jevis are from his first marriage (1957–1962) to actress Sheila Ann Sweet. From 1965 to 1966 he was married to Kim Novak , with whom he had made the film The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders in 1964. In 1976, his son Nicholas was born from an illegitimate relationship with the actress Françoise Pascal, for whom Johnson received custody after the separation in 1980. From his third marriage (1982-1989) with the Swedish model Marie-Louise Nordlund another daughter named Jennifer was born. Since 2004 he was married to the fashion designer Lynne Gurney.

Johnson died on June 5, 2015 at the age of 87 after a brief illness at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, London.

Filmography (selection)

Theater appearances (selection)

Awards

In 1993, Richard Johnson received the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor for his leading role in the British multi-part television series Anglo Saxon Attitudes .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Actor Richard Johnson dies, aged 87 . In: bbc.com. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  2. ↑ Actor Richard Johnson dies at 87 in: The Guardian , June 7, 2015, accessed June 7, 2015
  3. ↑ a b Richard Johnson . In: Philip Barnes: A Companion to Post-War British Theater . Croom Helm, 1986, ISBN 0-7099-3200-6 , pp. 129-130.
  4. ↑ a b c Richard Johnson obituary in: The Guardian, June 7, 2015, accessed June 8, 2015
  5. ↑ Peter Robertson: Françoise Pascal: I Was the Sitcom Star Men Adored - Until Drugs Destroyed Me . In: Daily Express , October 22, 2011 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British theater and film actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Upminster , London , England , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 2015
Place of death Chelsea , London , England , United Kingdom