Joss Ackland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joss Ackland CBE (born February 29, 1928) is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films in his career.

He was born Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland in North Kensington, London, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He has appeared extensively on television, notably as C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands (1985).

Ackland appears in the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 film It Couldn't Happen Here, and in the video for their cover version of the song Always On My Mind, which was taken from the film. Several years later, he claimed in an interview with the Radio Times that he appeared with the band purely as the result of losing a bet.

1 Joss and Rosemary Ackland
2 Interviews
3 Partial filmography
4 External link

[edit] Joss and Rosemary Ackland

Ackland and his wife Rosemary were married for 51 years until her death from motor neurone disease in 2002. Together they had seven children and, as of May 2006, 32 grandchildren. Rosemary was also an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared onstage together in Pitlochry. They were married on August 18, 1951 when Ackland was 23 and she 22. The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in its infancy. They moved to Africa where Ackland had decided to try his luck as a tea planter, moving to Cape Town after six months when they decided it was too dangerous.

Though they both obtained steady acting jobs in the South African capital, after two years they fell foul of apartheid laws and returned to England in 1957. Ackland's fortunes improved then and he joined the Old Vic, appearing alongside such luminaries as Paul Scofield and Tom Courtenay. However, in 1963 their house in Barnes caught fire. Rosemary managed to save their brood of 5 children but broke her back jumping from the bedroom window to safety. She was told she'd lose the baby she was currently pregnant with and would never walk again. She managed to confound the doctors though and both gave birth and returned to walking, after 2 years in Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Ackland's career really took off with parts in The Sicilian, Lethal Weapon 2 and White Mischief and the couple began to enjoy prosperity. Despite his filming taking him to far-flung locations, Ackland said they never spent a night apart.

There was more misfortune in store for the couple, though, as their eldest son Paul died of a heroin overdose in 1982 aged 29. In 2000 Rosemary learned she had motor neurone disease. The last two years of her life saw the degenerative effects of this disease manifest themselves. However, she maintained her humorous disposition and continued writing a diary, just as she had done for decades. Rosemary died on July 25, 2002; in the years since her death Ackland has read and edited the diaries for forthcoming publication. He has also kept busy with work and features in Passion of Mind with Demi Moore and the 2-part TV miniseries Hogfather based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel of the same name.

[edit] Interviews

Ackland, in an 2001 interview with the BBC, admitting to being forced to make "awful films" due to being a workaholic, mentioning by name Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and a Pet Shop Boys music video, while lambasting former co-star Demi Moore as "not very bright or talented".[1]

[edit] Partial filmography

Destination Downing Street (1957) (TV) as Immelmann
In Search of the Castaways (1962) (uncredited) as Seaman on yacht
The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (1963) (TV) as Editor of English Language Newspaper in India
David Copperfield (1966) (TV Series) as Mr. Peggotty
Rasputin: the Mad Monk (1966) as The Bishop
Lord Raingo (1966) (TV) as Tom Hogarth
On the March to the Sea (1966) (TV)
Room 13 (1966) (TV) as Herr Scavenius
The Further Adventures of the Three Musketeers (1967) (TV Series) as d'Artagnan
The Troubleshooters (1966) (TV) (1966-1968) as Mr. Gibbon (1966), Sam Jardine (1966-1967), Considine (1968), Lewis (1968)
Mystery and Imagination (1966) (TV) (1966, 1968) as Herr Scavenius
A Place of One's Own (1968) (TV)
Z Cars (1967) (TV) (1967-1968) as Det. Insp. Todd
The Avengers (1969) (TV Series) as Brig. Hansing
The Gold Robbers (1969) (TV) as Derek Hartford
Before the Party (1969) (TV) as Harold Bannon
The House That Dripped Blood (1970) as Neville Rogers
Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (1972) as The Leader
Thirty-Minute Theatre (1971) (TV) (1971, 1972)
The Persuaders! (1972) (TV) as Felix Meadowes
Shirley's World (1972) (TV) as Inspector Vaughan
The Happiness Cage (1972) as Dr. Frederick
Six Faces (1972) (TV Series) as Harry Mellor
Six Faces: True Life (1972) (TV)
Six Faces: Gallery of Faces (1972) (TV)
Penny Gold (1973)
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1973) (TV) as Grubber
Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) (TV) as Gen. Burgdorf
England Made Me (1973) as Haller
The Three Musketeers (1973) as D'Artagnan's Father
The Protectors (1974) (TV) as Arthur Gordon
The Black Windmill (1974) as Chief Supt. Wray
S*P*Y*S (1974) ... Martinson
The Little Prince (1974) as The King
Great Expectations (1974) (TV) as Joe Gargery
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) as B.J. Spence
Royal Flash (1975) as Sapten
Operation Daybreak (1975) as Janák
You Talk Too Much (1976) (TV)
The Crezz (1977) (TV Series) as Charles Bronte
The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977) as President
Watership Down (1978) (voice) as Black Rabbit
Enemy at the Door (1978) (TV) as Major General Laidlaw
The Greek Tycoon (1978) (uncredited)
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978) as Cantrell
Return of the Saint (1978) (TV) as Gunther
The Sweeney (1978) (TV) as Alan Ember
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979) (uncredited) as Prison Warden
Saint Jack (1979) as Yardley
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (TV) (1979) as Jerry Westerby
Tales of the Unexpected (1980) (TV) (1980, 1988) as Malcolm Harper (1980), Colonel George Peregrine (1988)
A Question of Guilt (1980) (TV Series) as Samuel Kent
The Love Tapes (1980) (TV) (uncredited) as Narrator
Rough Cut (1980) as Insp. Vanderveld
The Gentle Touch (TV) as Ivor Stocker
The Apple (1980) as Hippie Leader/Mr. Topps
Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective (1981) as Chief Insp. Yardbird
Thicker Than Water (1981) (TV) as Joseph Lockwood
The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1982) (TV) as Edward Moulton-Barrett
Shroud for a Nightingale (1984) (TV) as Stephen Courtney-Briggs, surgeon
The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984) (TV) as Menenius
Shadowlands (1985) (TV) as C.S. Lewis
A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) as Van Hoyten
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : The Copper Beeches (1985) (TV Series) as Jephro Rucastle
Lady Jane (1986) as Sir John Bridges
When We Are Married (1987) (TV) as Henry Ormonroyd
White Mischief (1987) as Sir Jock Delves Broughton
A Killing on the Exchange (1987) (TV) as Sir Max Sillman
Queenie (1987) (TV) as Sir Burton Rumsey
The Sicilian (1987) as Don Masino Croce
It Couldn't Happen Here (1988) as Priest/murderer
The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (1988) (TV) as Goering
Codename: Kyril (1988) (TV) as 'C'
To Kill a Priest (1988) as Colonel
First and Last (1989) (TV) as Alan Holly
A Quiet Conspiracy (1989) (TV) as Theo Carter
The Justice Game (1989) (TV) as Sir James Crichton
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) as Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd
Jekyll & Hyde (1990) (TV) as Dr. Charles Lanyon
The Hunt for Red October (1990) as Ambassador Andrei Lysenko
The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990) (TV) as Gen. Gerhard Hellstein
Incident at Victoria Falls (1991) (TV) as King Edward
A Murder of Quality (1991) (TV) as Terence Fielding
The Object of Beauty (1991) as Mr. Mercer
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) as Chuck De Nomolos
A Woman Named Jackie (1991) (TV) as Aristotle Onassis
Ashenden (1991) (TV) as Cumming
They Do It with Mirrors (1991) (TV) as Lewis Serrocold
The Sheltering Desert (1992) as Col. Johnston
Once Upon a Crime (1992) as Hercules Popodopoulos
Shadowchaser (1992) as Kinderman
The Mighty Ducks (1992) as Hans
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) (TV) as The Prussian
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (1992) (TV) (voice) as Julius Caesar
Nowhere to Run (1993) as Franklin Hale
Voices in the Garden (1993) (TV) as Sir Charles (Archie) Peverall
The Princess and the Goblin (1993) (voice) as King Papa
OcchioPinocchio (1994) as Brando
Citizen Locke (1994) (TV) as Lord Ashley
Giorgino (1994) as Father Glaise
Citizen X (1995) (TV) as Bondarchuk
Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1995) as Insp. Sam Stringer
The Thief and the Cobbler (1995) (voice) as Brigands
A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995) as King Arthur
Daisies in December (1995) (TV) as Gerald Carmody
Testament: The Bible in Animation (1996) (TV) (voice) as Noah
Hidden in Silence (1996) (TV) as German factory manager
Deadly Voyage (1996) (TV) as Captain
To the Ends of Time (1996) (TV) as King Francis
Surviving Picasso (1996) as Henri Matisse
D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) as Hans
Swept from the Sea (1997) as Mr. Swaffer
Heat of the Sun (1998) (TV) as Max van der Vuurst
My Giant (1998) (uncredited) as. Monsignor Popescu
The Mumbo Jumbo (2000) as Mayor Smith
Passion of Mind (2000) as Dr. Langer, the French Psychiatrist
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2001) (TV) as James Brabant
The House on Turk Street (2002) as Mr. Thomas Quarre
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) as Marshal Zelentsov
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) (voice) as Pieter Van Eckhardt
Henry VIII (2003) (TV) as Henry VII
A Different Loyalty (2004) as Randolph Cauffield
Midsomer Murders (2006) (TVs) as Sir Freddy Butler
These Foolish Things (2006) as Albert
Moscow Zero (2006) as Tolstoy
Above and Beyond (2006) (TV) as Winston Churchill
Hogfather (2006) (TV) as Mustrum Ridcully