Joss Ackland

Joss Ackland CBE
Ackland in The Object of Beauty (1991)
Born	Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland (1928-02-29)29 February 1928 North Kensington, London, England
Died	19 November 2023(2023-11-19) (aged 95) Clovelly, Devon, England
Education	Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1945–2014
Spouse	Rosemary Kirkcaldy ​ ​ (m. 1951; died 2002)​
Children	7

Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE (29 February 1928 – 19 November 2023) was an English actor who appeared in more than 130 film, radio and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Delves Broughton in White Mischief (1987).

Early life

Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland was born in a basement flat in "then insalubrious" North Kensington, London, on 29 February 1928, the son of Sydney Norman Ackland (died 1981), an Irish journalist who had been sent to England to live with an aunt by his parents for seducing their maid, but subsequently seduced his aunt's maid, Ruth Izod (died 1957), whom he married. The Acklands' basement flat was one of "a string of similar places" in which they lived, invariably with "one bedroom and the absolute bare essentials"; Ackland described his upbringing in the Ladbroke Grove area as being "very poor".

Ackland was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Ackland and Rosemary Kirkcaldy were married on 18 August 1951, when Ackland was 23 and she was 22. She was an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared on stage together in Pitlochry, Scotland. The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in its infancy. In 1954 they moved to Lilongwe in what was then Nyasaland, now Malawi, where Ackland managed a tea plantation for six months but, deciding it was too dangerous, they moved to Cape Town, South Africa. Though they both obtained steady acting jobs in South Africa, after two years they returned to England in 1957.

Career

After attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he made his professional debut on stage at just 17 years old, starring in the 1945 production of The Hasty Heart. Ackland joined the Old Vic, appearing alongside other notable actors including Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay. Ackland worked steadily in television and film in the 1960s and 70s.

He worked opposite Alec Guinness in the 1979 television serial Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, playing sporting journalist and intermittent British espionage operative Jerry Westerby, and his career advanced through the 1980s with important parts in such films as The Sicilian, Lethal Weapon 2, The Hunt for Red October and White Mischief. On television Ackland appeared as Jephro Rucastle with Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". Other appearances included Passion of Mind with Demi Moore and the two-part TV serial Hogfather based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld. He played C. S. Lewis in the television version of Shadowlands before it was adapted into a stage play starring Nigel Hawthorne and then a theatrical film with Anthony Hopkins in the same role. His voice (as well as that of Roy Dotrice) was heard reading quotations in several episodes of Jacob Bronowski's 1973 documentary series The Ascent of Man.

His voice was also a mainstay of many British television commercials including Yellow Pages, WK Kellogg Co and Homepride.

Ackland's stage roles included creating the role of Juan Perón in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita opposite Elaine Paige. He also starred in the London production of Stephen Sondheim's and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music with Jean Simmons and Hermione Gingold, performing on the RCA Victor original London cast album.

Ackland appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' 1988 film It Couldn't Happen Here, and in the video for their version of the song Always on My Mind, which was taken from the film. Several years later, he said in an interview with the Radio Times that he had appeared with the band purely because his grandchildren liked their music.

Ackland also co-starred as Emilio Estevez's mentor and friend Hans in the 1992 Disney The Mighty Ducks. He reprised the role four years later in 1996's D3: The Mighty Ducks.

In a 2001 interview with the BBC, Ackland said that he had appeared in some "awful" films due to being a workaholic. He said that he "regretted" appearing in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and the Pet Shop Boys music video. He also criticised former co-star Demi Moore as "not very bright or talented", though he worked with her again years later in Flawless (2008).

Also in 2007, Ackland appeared in the film How About You opposite Vanessa Redgrave, portraying a recovering alcoholic living in a residential home after being forced to retire and losing his wife to cancer.

In 2008, Ackland returned to the small screen as Sir Freddy Butler, a much married baronet, in the ITV1 show Midsomer Murders. The episode was entitled Vixens Run.

In September 2013, Jonathan Miller directed a Gala Performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear at the Old Vic in London, with Ackland in the role of Lear.

Personal life and death

Ackland and his wife Rosemary (née Kirkcaldy) were married for 51 years. They had seven children, thirty-two grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Despite his filming taking him to far-flung locations, he said Rosemary and he "were hardly ever apart". Daughter Kirsty married Anthony Shawn Baring, a descendant of the merchant banker Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet and a descendant of Robert Rundell Guinness, founder of the merchant bank Guinness Mahon.

In 1963, their house in Barnes caught fire. Rosemary, who was pregnant at the time, saved their five children but broke her back when jumping from the bedroom window. She was told she would miscarry and never walk again, but she later gave birth and after 18 months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, was able to walk again. Their eldest son, Paul, died of a heroin overdose in 1982, aged 29. In 2000, Rosemary was diagnosed with motor neurone disease; she died on 25 July 2002.

In 2020, Ackland participated in the "Letters Live" project, and was recorded from his home in Clovelly, Devon. His letter reflected on the COVID-19 crisis and his hopes for how the country could draw "strength from adversity".

Ackland died at home in Clovelly, on 19 November 2023, aged 95.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	Landfall	O'Neill (uncredited)
1950	Seven Days to Noon
1952	Ghost Ship	Ron, a seaman
1959	A Midsummer Night's Dream
1962	In Search of the Castaways	Seaman on yacht (uncredited)
1966	Rasputin: the Mad Monk	The Bishop
1969	Crescendo	Carter
1970	The House That Dripped Blood	Neville Rogers
1971	Villain	Edgar Lewis
	Mr. Forbush and the Penguins	The Leader
1972	The Happiness Cage	Dr Frederick
1973	Hitler: The Last Ten Days	Gen. Burgdorf
	Penny Gold	Jones
	England Made Me	Haller
	The Three Musketeers	D'Artagnan's Father
1974	The Black Windmill	Chief Supt. Wray
	S*P*Y*S	Martinson
	The Little Prince	The King
	Great Expectations	Joe Gargery
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing	B.J. Spence
	Royal Flash	Sapten
	Operation Daybreak	Janák
1977	The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It	President
1978	Watership Down	Black Rabbit (voice)
	Silver Bears	Henry Foreman
	The Greek Tycoon	(uncredited)
	Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?	Cantrell
1979	A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square	Prison Warden (uncredited)
	Saint Jack	Yardley
1980	Rough Cut	Insp. Vanderveld
	The Apple	Hippie Leader/Mr Topps
1985	A Zed & Two Noughts	Van Hoyten
1986	Lady Jane	Sir John Bridges
1987	White Mischief	Sir Jock Delves Broughton
	The Sicilian	Don Masino Croce
	It Couldn't Happen Here	Priest/Murderer
1988	To Kill a Priest	Colonel
1989	Lethal Weapon 2	Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd
1990	Dimenticare Palermo AKA The Palermo Connection	Mafia boss
	The Hunt for Red October	Ambassador Andrei Lysenko
	Tre colonne in cronaca	Gaetano Leporino
1991	The Object of Beauty	Mr Mercer
	Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey	Chuck De Nomolos
1992	The Sheltering Desert	Col. Johnston
	Once Upon a Crime	Hercules Popodopoulos
	Shadowchaser	Kinderman
	The Bridge	Smithson
	The Mighty Ducks	Hans
1993	Nowhere to Run	Franklin Hale
	The Princess and the Goblin	King Papa (voice)
1994	OcchioPinocchio	Brando
	Miracle on 34th Street	Victor Landberg (uncredited)	(Store Competitor for Shopper's Express)
	Giorgino	Father Glaise
1995	Mad Dogs and Englishmen	Insp. Sam Stringer
	The Thief and the Cobbler	Brigand (voice)
	A Kid in King Arthur's Court	King Arthur
1996	Surviving Picasso	Henri Matisse
	D3: The Mighty Ducks	Hans
1997	Swept from the Sea	Mr Swaffer
	Firelight	Lord Clare
1998	My Giant	Monsignor Popescu (uncredited)
2000	The Mumbo Jumbo	Mayor Smith
	Passion of Mind	Dr Langer, the French Psychiatrist
2002	No Good Deed	Mr Thomas Quarre
	K-19: The Widowmaker	Marshal Zelentsov
2003	I'll Be There	Evil Edmonds
2004	A Different Loyalty	Randolph Cauffield
2005	The Christmas Eve Snowfall	(Narrator)
	Asylum	Jack Straffen
2006	These Foolish Things	Albert
	Moscow Zero	Tolstoy
2007	How About You	Donald
2008	Flawless	MKA
2013	Prisoners of the Sun	Professor Mendella
2014	Katherine of Alexandria	Rufus		Final film role} Television Year Title Role Notes 1957 Destination Downing Street Immelmann TV series 1963 The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling William Stevens 1964 Z-Cars Mr Shields Episode: S03E29 "Happy Families" 1966 David Copperfield Mr. Peggotty TV series Lord Raingo Tom Hogarth Theatre 625 John Hinks Episode: "On the March to the Sea" 1966–1968 The Troubleshooters Mr Gibbon (1966), Sam Jardine (1966-1967), Considine (1968), Lewis (1968) 5 episodes 1966 Mystery and Imagination Herr Scavenius, Mr. Smedhurst 2 episodes: S02E01 "Room 13", S03E03 A Place of One's Own 1967 The Further Adventures of the Three Musketeers d'Artagnan TV series 1967–1968 Z-Cars Det. Insp. Todd 41 episodes 1969 The Avengers Brig. Hansing Episode: "The Morning After" The Gold Robbers Derek Hartford Before the Party Harold Bannon Canterbury Tales The Host in the Wife of Bath's tale series on BBC Two 1966, 1970 Play of the Month Charley, Chebutykin 2 episodes: S01E08 "Death of a Salesman", S05E04 "The Three Sisters" 1971, 1972 Thirty-Minute Theatre The Applicant, The Man 2 episodes: S07E06 "Getting In", S07E30 "King's Cross Lunch Hour" 1971 Shirley's World Inspector Vaughan Episode: "The Reunion" 1972 The Persuaders! Felix Meadowes Episode: "Read and Destroy" Six Faces Harry Mellor 2 episodes 1973 The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Grubber Episode: "The Mystery of the Amber Beads" 1974 The Protectors Arthur Gordon Episode: "Trial" 1976 Centre Play Doctor Episode: "You Talk Too Much" The Crezz Charles Bronte 12 episodes 1978 Enemy at the Door Major General Laidlaw Episode: "Treason" Return of the Saint Gunther Episode: "The Nightmare Man" The Sweeney Alan Ember Episode: "Feet of Clay" 1979 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Jerry Westerby Episode: "Smiley Sets a Trap" 1980, 1988 Tales of the Unexpected Jack Cutler, Colonel George Peregrine 2 episodes: S03E07 "The Stinker", S09E02 "The Colonel's Lady" 1980 A Question of Guilt Samuel Kent The Love Tapes Narrator (uncredited) TV movie The Gentle Touch Ivor Stocker Episode: "Menaces" 1981 Dangerous Davies – The Last Detective Chief Insp. Yardbird TV movie Thicker Than Water Joseph Lockwood TV series 1982 The Confessions of Felix Krull Mr. Twentyman The Barretts of Wimpole Street Edward Moulton-Barrett TV movie 1984 Shroud for a Nightingale Stephen Courtney-Briggs, surgeon Mini-series The Tragedy of Coriolanus Menenius TV movie 1985 Shadowlands C. S. Lewis The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Jephro Rucastle Episode: "The Copper Beeches" 1987 A Killing on the Exchange Sir Max Sillman TV movie Queenie Sir Burton Rumsey Mini-series When We Are Married Henry Ormonroyd TV movie 1988 The Man Who Lived at the Ritz Hermann Göring Mini-series Codename: Kyril 'C' 1989 A Quiet Conspiracy Theo Carter The Justice Game Sir James Crichton 2 episodes First and Last Alan Holly TV movie 1990 Jekyll & Hyde Charles Lanyon Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming Gen. Gerhard Hellstein 1991 A Murder of Quality Terence Fielding A Woman Named Jackie Aristotle Onassis Mini-series Ashenden Cumming They Do It with Mirrors Lewis Serrocold TV movie 1992 Incident at Victoria Falls King Edward The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles The Prussian Episode: "Austria, March 1917" 1993, 1996 Screen Two Sir Charles (Archie) Peverall, Captain Episodes: S09E08 "Voices in the Garden", S14E02 "Deadly Voyage" 1994 Citizen Locke Lord Ashley TV movie Shakespeare: The Animated Tales Julius Caesar (voice) 1 episode: "Julius Caesar" Jacob Isaac TV movie 1995 Citizen X Bondarchuk Daisies in December Gerald Carmody 1996 Hidden in Silence German factory manager To the Ends of Time King Francis TV movie Testament: The Bible in Animation Noah (voice), Samuel (voice) 2 episodes: S01E05 "Creation and the Flood", S01E09 "David and Saul" 1998 Heat of the Sun Max van der Vuurst 1 episode 2001 Othello James Brabant TV movie 2003 Henry VIII Henry VII 2005 Icon General Nikolai Nikolayev 2006 Midsomer Murders Sir Freddy Butler Episode: "Vixen's Run" Hogfather Mustrum Ridcully Mini-series Above and Beyond Winston Churchill 2007 Kingdom Mr Narbutowicz 1 episode Video games Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) (voice) as Pieter Van Eckhardt Audio books Rise of the Ogre (Audiobook) (2006) (Narrator) Honours He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Civil Division for Services to Drama in the 2001 New Years Honours List. Awards and nominations Year Awards Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1982 Laurence Olivier Awards Actor of the Year in a Revival Henry IV, Part 1 and 2 Nominated 1989 British Academy Film Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role White Mischief Nominated 1990 British Academy Television Awards Best Actor First and Last Nominated Bibliography Ackland, Joss (17 June 2010). My Better Half and Me. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-193347-0 -- (1989). I Must Be In There Somewhere (autobiography). Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-49396-0 References External links Joss Ackland at IMDb Joss Ackland at the Internet Broadway Database Joss Ackland discography at Discogs