• Name: Joss Ackland
  • Date of Birth: February 29, 1928
  • Place of Birth: Not available
Mini-bio: Another illustrious graduate of London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Joss Ackland made his first professional stage appearance at 17 in the 1945 production The Hasty Heart. For the next decade... read more, Ackland learned his craft in a variety of regional theatre troupes, taking time out for an unheralded film debut in 1949's Seven Days to Noon. He quit acting in 1955 to manage a Central African tea plantation, finding creative outlets as a playwright and radio disc jockey. Upon his return to the British theatre in 1957, Ackland joined the Old Vic. From 1962 through 1964, he was associate director of the Mermaid Theatre. He subsequently established himself on the West End musical stage, playing such showcase roles as Captain Hook in Peter Pan and Juan Peron in Evita. Launching his film career proper in 1965, Ackland has flourished in characterizations calling for outsized gestures and orotund vocal calisthenics. Among his better-known screen roles are Greta Scacchi's decadent, untrustworthy aristocrat husband in White Mischief (1988), and homicidal South African diplomat Arjen Rudd in Lethal Weapon 2 (1990). On TV, Ackland was seen as C.S. Lewis in the 1985 BBC production of Shadowlands, and as Isaac in the 1994 made-for-cable Biblical drama Jacob. He has also provided voiceovers for the animated features A Midsummer's Night's Dream (1961) and Watership Down (1978). When asked his hobbies in a 1981 interview, Joss Ackland listed his seven children. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Replace this image with an actor photoJoss Ackland mini-bio: Joss Ackland C.B.E. has been an actor for sixty two years. In the theatre he has played Captain Shotover in "Heartbreak House”, Weller Martin in “The Gin Game”, Clarence Darrow in “Never the Sinner”, Frederic Egermann in “A Little Night Music”, Ill in “The Visit”, Captain Hook and Mr. Darling in “Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr. Darling in Peter Pan – the Musical”, Captain Brassbound in “Captain Brassbound’s Conversion”, John Jorrocks in "Jorrocks”, Gaev in “The Cherry Orchard”, Juan Peron in “Evita”, Galileo in “Galileo”, Long John Silver in “Treasure Island”, Eustace Perrin State in “The Madras House”, Petruchio in “The Taming of the Shrew”, Sir in “The Dresser”, John Tarleton in “Misalliance”, Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, etc. etc. Movie roles include, Jock Delves Broughton in White Mischief, Evil Edmonds in I’ll Be There, Arjen Rudd in Lethal Weapon, Don Masino in The Sicilian, The Man of Power in The Palermo Connection, The King in The Little Prince, Quarre in The House on Turk Street, The Russian Ambassador in The Hunt for Red October, Matisse in Surviving Picasso, etc. etc. He will next be seen as MKA in Flawless, with Demi Moore. Television Movies and Mini-series include C.S Lewis in “Shadowlands”, Alan Holly in “First and Last”, Gerald Carmody in “Daisies in December”, Bondachuk in “Citizen X”, Archie in “Voices in the Garden”, Barrett in “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”, Isaac in “The Bible”, Aristotle Onassis in “A Woman named Jackie”, Cummings in “Ashenden,” Sir Burton in “Queenie,” Martin van de Vurst in “Heat of the Sun,” Terence Fielding in “A Murder of Quality,” Jerry Westerby in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” Hermann Goering in “The Man who lived at the Ritz”, etc. etc. At Christmas he will appear as Wizard Rudcully in Terry Pratchett’s “The Hogfather.” In 1961, after three years with the Old Vic Company, he became artistic director at the Mermaid Theatre. He has played opposite Jean Simmons (three times), Claire Bloom (four times), Ingrid Bergman, Glynis Johns, Greta Scacchi, Lauren Bacall, Anouk Aimee, Barbara Cook, Dorothy Tutin, etc. etc., and once when he was gay – Denholm Elliot. However, after playing opposite her in Mary Rose, his longest running mate was Rosemary Kirkcaldy, who died in 2002, after they had been married for fifty one years. Together they produced seven children, thirty two grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

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  • Which actor utted the words "you make your point as delicately as ever, Mr. Pelt" in "The Hunt for Red Ocotber"?  Answer »
  • This actor appears in "Citizen X" and also in the Pet Shop Boys' video "Always on my mind". Who is he?  Answer »
  • In 1989's 'Lethal Weapon 2', Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is facing off against Arjen Rudd (Joss Ackland) on a boat, who flashes his wallet and says, "Diplomatic immunity." To this, Glover responds:   Answer »

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