Jack Shepherd (actor)

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For the actor born 1988, see Jack P. Shepherd.

Jack Shepherd
Born (1940-10-29) 29 October 1940 (age 83)
Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
NationalityEnglish
Alma materRoyal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation(s)Actor, writer
Years active1965–present
Spouses
  • Judy Harland (divorced)
Ann Scott
​
(m. 1975)​
Children5, including Catherine

Jack Shepherd (born 29 October 1940) is an English actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his television roles, most notably the title role in Trevor Griffiths' series about a young Labour MP Bill Brand (1976), and the detective drama Wycliffe (1993–1998). His film appearances include All Neat in Black Stockings (1969), Wonderland (1999) and The Golden Compass (2007). He won the 1983 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play for the original production of Glengarry Glen Ross.

Biography

Early life

Shepherd attended

Central School of Speech and Drama and then as a student founder of the Drama Centre London.[citation needed] He was a talented musician also, playing in a jazz ensemble with fellow drama student, Jon Lord, later of Deep Purple and Whitesnake. Lord said of him in a 1982 interview, "In my early days I had a band with a line up of piano, bass, drums, vibes, alto sax and clarinet so we were able to do some quite weird things. The alto sax player was Jack Shepherd who later turned to acting. For me he was one of the best alto players and he introduced me to Charles Mingus and that school."[1]

Shepherd married Judy Harland; they had two children together before divorcing. In 1975, he married Ann Scott, a television and film producer, with whom he had three further children, including Catherine Shepherd.[citation needed]

Career

Shepherd worked at the Royal Court Theatre from 1965 to 1969, making his first appearance on the London stage as an Officer of Dragoons in Serjeant Musgrave's Dance. In July 1967 he played Arnold Middleton in David Storey's The Restoration of Arnold Middleton, which transferred to the Criterion Theatre, a performance for which he received the Plays and Players London Critics' Award as most promising actor of the year. In 1969 he starred in the satirical comedy series World in Ferment.[2]

During the 1970s, Shepherd appeared in many television dramas, including several appearances in the series

Count Dracula (1977), with Louis Jourdan in the title role.[citation needed
]

Shepherd also spent the decade running a drama studio in Kentish Town, north London along with fellow actor Richard Wilson, and during that time became interested in scriptwriting. He devised several plays for the theatre including The Sleep of Reason, Real Time, Clapperclaw and Half Moon.[citation needed]

In 1972, Shepherd was a founding member, along with

The King's Head Theatre, and in January 1973 took the title role in Dracula at the Bush Theatre, also collaborating in the writing.[citation needed
]

His television work in the 1970s included All Good Men, Through the Night and Occupations, all by Trevor Griffiths.[citation needed]

From 1977 to 1985 he was a member of

Society of West End Theatre award (later known as the Laurence Olivier Awards) as Actor of the Year in a New Play.[citation needed
]

Shepherd's first written work for the stage was

Time Out Awards for Best Directing and Best Writing.[citation needed
]

Shepherd's work in television during the 1980s and 1990s included Blind Justice, a miniseries by Peter Flannery, and culminated in his acclaimed role as the eponymous Detective Superintendent

Over Here.[3][4]

As a theatre director, Shepherd has staged several productions at the

Antonio in Richard Olivier's production of The Merchant of Venice.[citation needed
]

Shepherd's epic drama about the

Chartist movement, Holding Fire! was commissioned by the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre as part of its Renaissance and Revolution season, and was first staged there by Mark Rosenblatt in August 2007.[5]

He played the part of the Father in Rupert Goold's production of

The Nativity, broadcast on BBC One in December 2010.[citation needed
]

He played Ralph Palmer (from a 1980s case) in the 2011 episode "Solidarity” of TV series Waking the Dead. In 2013 he played Harry in "Home" by David Storey at the Arcola Theatre and Joe in the BBC TV seriesThe Politician's Husband. In 2014 Serebryakov in "Uncle Vanya at the St James Theatre. Also in 2014/15 he toured in three ghost stories, Whistle and I'll Come to You, and The Signalman for Middleground Theatre Company, and in 2015/6 with the same company he toured in a stage adaptation of the film The Verdict. 2017/2018 he played Art Hockstadder in Gore Vidal's play The Best Man, first on tour and then at the Playhouse Theatre London.[citation needed]

Shepherd's interest in community theatre led to adaptations of Dorian Gray and of Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree for the Players Collective in Lewes. His version of the latter was performed by the Hardy Players in Dorchester in December 2016.[citation needed]

He has written and directed a new play, The Cutting Edge, which was due to run in 2020.[citation needed]

Plays

Plays by Jack Shepherd include:

  • The Incredible Journey of Sir Francis Younghusband (Royal Court Upstairs)
  • The Sleep of Reason (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh) 1973
  • Clapperclaw (BBC Two) 1981
  • Real Time (directed and devised with the Joint Stock Theatre Company) 1982
  • Revelations (Bridge Lane, London) 1983s.
  • In Lambeth (Partisan Theatre and Donmar Warehouse) 1989. Published by Methuen.
  • Comic Cuts (Derby Playhouse, Salisbury Theatre and Lyric Studio, Hammersmith) 1995
  • Chasing the Moment (Southwark Playhouse) 1994 and (BAC1 London) 1995 dir. Janos Bruck, (revived Arcola, Dalston) 2007 dir. Mehmet Ergen. Published by First Write
  • Half Moon (Southwark Playhouse) 1998
  • Through a Cloud (Birmingham Rep and Drum, Plymouth) 2004), revived Arcola) 2005. Published by Nick Hern Books.
  • Man Falling Down: A Mask Play (devised and co-written with Oliver Cotton, Shakespeare's Globe) 2005
  • Holding Fire! (Shakespeare's Globe) 2007. Published by Nick Hern Books
  • The Cutting Edge 2020[citation needed]

Co-wrote with Keith Dewhurst Impossible Plays, an account of his years in Bill Bryden's Cottesloe Company at the National Theatre. Published by Methuen.[citation needed]

His two recently completed plays are Against the Tide, about William Morris, and The Valley of the Shadow, about World War I.[citation needed]

Theatre

Year Title Role Theatre Company Director Notes
1971
Confessions of a Justified Sinner
 Gil-Martin
Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
 Richard Eyre Edinburgh International Festival

Filmography

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Beecher, Mike (August 1982). "Jon Lord (EMM Aug 1982)". Electronics & Music Maker (Aug 1982): 26–30.
  2. The Stage and Television Today
     (4603): 12.
  3. ^ "Over Here (TV Movie 1996) – IMDb". IMDb. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Over Here – BBC1 Comedy Drama". British Comedy Guide. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Holding Fire! – Times Online". Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2007.

External links

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