JOSS ACKLAND
(29 February 1928 - 19 November 2023)
The English actor Joss Ackland, who has died aged 95, was a remarkable performer on stage, in films and on television, having enjoyed a long career of over 60 years. He appeared in major productions in all three parts of the entertainment business, proving that he was exceptionally versatile in drama, comedy and musicals. And as well as all that he became a tea planter in Nyasaland, now Malawi, South Africa, where he met his future wife Rosemary Kirkcaldy. They stayed for six months until life became too dangerous, moved to Cape Town for theatre work and then returned to the UK in 1957.
As an actor Ackland will be remembered for his many stage appearances in both the West End and provincial theatres. He was in the musical Evita, playing Juan Peron opposite Elaine Paige’s Eva, and for the London premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music with Jean Simmons. However, he probably wouldn’t want be remembered for Marvin Hamlisch’s musical Jean Seberg.
Ackland starred in the TV film Shadowlands with Claire Bloom, William Nicholson’s play about C.S. Lewis, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, Great Expectations (as Joe Gargery), Spymaster: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming, Henry VIII as Henry VII, and a modern version of Othello by Andrew Davies. He was in TV series of The Troubleshoooters, 41 episodes of Z Cars, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Alec Guinness, The Confessions of Felix Krull, Shroud for a Nightingale and many others.
On film he did Michael Cimino’s The Sicilian with Christopher Lambert, Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 2 with Mel Gibson, John McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October with Sean Connery, Michael Radford’s White Mischief (as Henry ‘Jock’ Delves Broughton) with Greta Scacchi and Charles Dance, and James Ivory’s Surviving Picasso, with Anthony Hopkins. He was not averse to appearing in lightweight efforts such as Disney’s One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, with Peter Ustinov, or The Mighty Ducks and its sequel, about a youth hockey team. Among his last films were These Foolish Things (2006) with Lauren Bacall and Anjelica Huston, How About You (2007) with Hayley Atwell and Vanessa Redgrave, and the historical drama Katherine of Alexandria (2014) with Nicole Madjarov and Peter O’Toole.
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland was born in Kensington, London, the son of Major Sydney Ackland, an Irish journalist and his wife Ruth. Young Joss trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and then made his stage debut at the age of 17 in The Hasty Heart. He worked in rep companies and in 1958 joined The Old Vic where he played in Shakespeare with the likes of Alec McCowen, Maggie Smith, Barbara Jefford and John Moffatt. He was a notable Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Later on, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Mermaid where, among other roles, he played Long John Silver in Treasure Island.
Other productions he dominated included the musical Jorrocks, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (as Mitch) and Shaw’s Heartbreak House. His stage cv also includes plays by Brecht, Chekhov, John Osborne, John Mortimer and Friedrich Durrenmatt’s The Visit with Lauren Bacall at Chichester in 1995. His last stage performances were as King George V in The King’s Speech in 2012 and King Lear, in a gala performance directed by Jonathan Miller at The Old Vic in 2013.
Joss Ackland and his wife Rosemary had seven children including Paul who died from a heroin overdose aged 29, but he is survived by his son Toby and daughters Melanie, Kirsty, Samantha, Penelope and Antonia. In 1963 Rosemary was caught in their house fire from which she escaped by jumping from a bedroom window, breaking her back. It was a long time before she could walk again and in 2000 she developed motor neurone disease and died in 2002.
Ackland was the author of two memoirs, I Must Be In There Somewhere in 1989 and My Better Half and Me in 2009 where he wrote about his wife’s struggle with walking. He was appointed CBE in 2001.
MICHAEL DARVELL