Richard Johnson (actor)

Infobox actor


imagesize = 150px
name = Richard Johnson
birthdate = Birth date and age|1927|7|30
birthplace = Upminster, England

Richard Johnson (born July 30 1927) is an English actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and has also had a distinguished stage career.

Biography

Johnson was born in Upminster, England, the son of Frances Louisa Olive (née Tweed) and Keith Holcombe Johnson. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/37/Richard-Johnson.html Richard Johnson Biography (1927-) ] ] Johnson's most famous wife was Kim Novak, his second wife, with whom he appeared in the 1965 film, "The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders"; they had no children. By his first marriage, to Sheila Sweet, he has two children, games designer Jervis Johnson (b. 1969) and actress Sorel Johnson. He has third child, Jennifer, by his third wife, Mary Louise Norlund, fourth child Nicholas by Francoise Pascal. He is currently married to Lynne Gurney. Richard and Lynne have been together since 1989 and married on the beach in Goa 2004. Richard is the founder of [http://www.itsagreengreenworld.com IT'S A GREEN GREEN WORLD]

Career

Johnson trained at RADA and made his first professional appearances on stage with John Gielgud's company. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Navy, and made his film debut in 1951. His biggest successes as a film actor came with "The Haunting" (1963), as Bulldog Drummond in 1966's "Deadlier Than the Male", opposite Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier in "Khartoum" (1966) and 1969's "Danger Route". Johnson was director Terence Young's choice for the role of James Bond but he turned the producers down as he didn't favour a lengthy contract. ["Cinema Retro" magazine issue #10] He also appeared in several Italian films, including Lucio Fulci's cult classic, "Zombi 2" and Sergio Martino's "L'Isola degli uomini pesce" (aka "Island of Mutations"). At the same time, he was a stage actor, appearing in the title role in Tony Richardson's production of "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" in 1958. in the 1960's, he starred in an episode of the TV anthology "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", playing a con artist who fleeces Fay Bainter and is given his just deserts courtesy of Geraldine Fitzgerald.

In 1957, he played Iachimo, opposite Peggy Ashcroft's Imogen, in Peter Hall's "Cymbeline". During the 1970s he starred with the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Mark Antony in "Antony and Cleopatra" for ITV and the title role in "Cymbeline" (1982), for the BBC. He has continued to appear on film and television, twice in Midsomer Murders and often in historical dramas, as well as acting on stage in the West End and lecturing on Shakespeare. In 2005 he appeared as Stanley Baldwin in "Wallis and Edward", and in 2007, aged 80, he appeared in the BBC radio comedy series "Bleak Expectations". A second series of the show was recorded in 2008.

References

External links

*imdb name|0426062
* [http://spaces.msn.com/jellybeanness/blog/cns!E76217BC5DFDCDEC!258.entry Blog entry with links about the Gielgud production of "And Then There Were None", in which Richard Johnson played Justice Wargrave]