Joss Ackland

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".

Initially educated at Dame Alice Owen's School, Ackland left aged fifteen to become an actor. Thus, 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. 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. 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

Television

Video games

• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) (voice) as Pieter Van Eckhardt

Audio books

• Rise of the Ogre (Audiobook) (2006) (Narrator)
• The Crowd, by Ray Bradbury
• A little place off the edgeware road by Graham Greene
• Midnight Express by Alfred Noyes
• Laura by Robert Aickman

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 Year Honours List.

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

• Ackland, Joss (17 June 2010). My Better Half and Me. Ebury Press.
• -- (1989). I Must Be In There Somewhere (autobiography). Hodder and Stoughton.

References

References

1. Hal Erickson. (2009). "Joss Ackland". The New York Times.
2. [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1989/film "Film in 1989" - Winners & Nominees] at [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts. awards.bafta.org]]
3. "Joss Ackland". British Film Institute.
4. My Better Half and Me, Joss Ackland and Rosemary Ackland, Random House, 2010, p. 1
5. People of Today 2017, Debrett's Ltd, 2017, p. 2127
6. [http://www.filmreference.com/film/82/Joss-Ackland.html ''Joss Ackland Biography (1928–)''.] FilmReference.com.
7. (6 September 1997). "'I remember the smell of black, dusty sacks of coal'; WHERE I GREW UP".
8. "Joss Ackland obituary".
9. Coveney, Michael. (2023-11-20). "Joss Ackland obituary". The Guardian.
10. V&A, Theatre and Performance Special Collections, Elsie Fogerty Archive, THM/324
11. Whitney, Hilary. (5 July 2023). "Time and place: Joss Ackland".
12. (19 August 2009). "Interview: Joss Ackland - Love and Joss". The Scotsman.
13. (22 December 1985). "Shadowlands". Radio Times.
14. (22 September 2014). "Evita review – breathtaking inventiveness and quicksilver fluency".
15. "A Little Night Music - 1975 Original London Cast".
16. "Watch It Couldn't Happen Here".
17. "The Mighty Ducks (1992) - Stephen Herek | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
18. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1476550.stm "Joss Ackland admits 'awful' films"]. ''BBC News''. 6 August 2001
19. "How about You (2007)". British Film Institute.
20. "Midsomer Murders - S9 - Episode 3: Vixen's Run - Part One".
21. "The Old Vic - King Lear".
22. "Travelling with the archetypal Englishman Joss Ackland has spent fifty years in showbusiness" by Alison Jones, ''[[The Birmingham Post]]'' (12 August, 2008) [CITY Edition]. Retrieved from {{ProQuest. 326412989
23. Bohdanowicz, Kate. (22 June 2010). "Motor neurone disease made Joss Ackland and his wife live life to the full".
24. Whitney, Interview by Hilary. "Time and place: Joss Ackland". [[The Times]].
25. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, pp. 1694-5, 2932
26. Burke's Irish Family Records, ed. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1976, p. 531
27. (25 July 2002). "Ackland pays tribute to 'plucky' wife". Irish Examiner.
28. Bohdanowicz, Kate. (22 June 2010). "Motor neurone disease made Joss Ackland and his wife live life to the full".
29. White, Roland. "Joss Ackland on love life with wife Rosemary". [[The Times]].
30. (14 August 2002). "Obituary: Rosemary Ackland". The Daily Telegraph.
31. Lloyd, Howard. (20 April 2020). "Legendary Devon actor says crisis can 'breathe strength' into UK".
32. (11 April 2020). "92-year-old Joss Ackland reads a letter to the world - #ReadALetter".
33. Rutter, Harry. (19 November 2023). "Midsomer Murders star Joss Ackland dies as family pay tribute to actor". [[Daily Mirror]].
34. (19 November 2023). "Joss Ackland Dies: 'White Mischief' And 'Lethal Weapon 2' Star Was 95". Deadline.
35. "Joss Ackland (visual voices guide)".
36. [https://www.nme.com/news/music/gorillaz-114-1340924 "Gorillaz ready for four 'special' releases"] at [[NME. www.nme.com]]
37. {{London Gazette. (30 December 2000)
38. "Olivier Winners 1982".
39. "Supporting Actor".
40. "Actor".