John Phillips

A tall, imposing character actor with a voice to match, 'John Phillips' (qv) brought an authoritative manner and dignified military bearing to his many roles on stage and screen. A decorated veteran of the 1944 Normandy Campaign, Phillips frequently appeared on television as uniformed senior officers and police chief constables, from _Frontier (1968)_ (qv) to _Z Cars (1962)_ (qv). His piercing eyes and forthright manner made him equally suited to portraying magistrates, academics and clergymen.After a long innings with the Birmingham Repertory prior to 1945, he appeared post-war in Bristol and at the Old Vic in London, playing anything from 'Henrik Ibsen' (qv) to Shakespeare. He was critically acclaimed for his roles as Henry VIII and Timon of Athens, Prospero and Tamburlaine the Great (in 'Christopher Marlowe' (qv)'s play)). Acting on screen from the early 1950's, he was insidious as lawyer Tulkinghorn in _Bleak House (1959)_ (qv), and lent gravitas to his Norfolk in _Richard III (1955)_ (qv) and Grand Duke Nicholas in _Fall of Eagles (1974)_ (qv). He was not beyond parodying his screen personae, being droll and stereotypically stiff-upper-lip, as Colonel Harcourt Badger Owen in the uproarious _Ripping Yarns (1976)_ (qv) episode 'Escape from Stalag Luft 112 B'. Phillips retired from the stage in the 1980's and made his celluloid curtain call in the eccentric, off-beat comedy _Leon the Pig Farmer (1992)_ (qv).::I.S.Mowis