John Moffatt (actor)
John Moffatt | |
---|---|
Born | Albert John Moffatt 24 September 1922 Badby, Daventry, Northamptonshire, England |
Died | 10 September 2012 London, England | (aged 89)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1944–2009 |
Albert John Moffatt (24 September 1922 – 10 September 2012) was an English character actor and playwright, known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot on BBC Radio in twenty-five productions and for a wide range of stage roles in the West End from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Moffatt's parents wished him to follow a career in a bank, but Moffatt secretly studied acting and made his stage debut in 1944. After five years in provincial
Moffatt began broadcasting on radio in 1950 and on television in 1953. His most enduring role was that of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, in a long sequence of radio adaptations of her novels, beginning in 1987 and continuing at intervals until 2007. In 1992/3, Moffat played M. Comeliau, the Examining Magistrate, in ITV's Maigret starring Michael Gambon. He was, perhaps, less well known as a film actor but took part in twelve films between 1956 and 1987.
Life and career
Early years
Moffatt was born in Badby, Daventry, Northamptonshire, the son of Ernest Moffatt and his wife Letitia, née Hickman, servants to Queen Alexandra at Marlborough House and Sandringham.[1][2] He was educated at East Sheen County School in west London, after which he spent three years as a bank clerk in the City of London. In the evenings he attended drama classes given by John Burrell at Toynbee Hall. Moffatt kept the lessons secret from his parents, who considered the theatre too insecure a career.[3]
He made his first stage appearance in 1944 at the Liverpool Playhouse, playing the Raven, in a touring production for children of The Snow Queen.[2] He made his debut in regular theatre at the Perth Repertory in 1945, where his colleagues included Alec McCowen, with whom he established a lifelong friendship.[4] Over the next five years he learnt his craft playing more than 200 parts in repertory companies at Oxford and Windsor, and the Bristol Old Vic. At Oxford he and the young Tony Hancock played Ugly Sisters together. Moffatt retained a fondness for pantomime; he became a celebrated Dame, and was the author of five pantomimes.[5]
London
Moffatt made his first London appearance in 1950, as Loyale in Tartuffe at the Lyric, Hammersmith.[1] At the same theatre played the sinister waiter in Anouilh's Point of Departure, with Dirk Bogarde,[6] making his West End debut when the production transferred to the Duke of York's.[3] In 1951 he made his first appearance in revue, in Late Night Extra.[1]
He was spotted by Binkie Beaumont, head of the theatrical production company H M Tennent, who cast him in prestigious West End productions. Moffatt was able to play alongside two of his idols John Gielgud and Noël Coward:[4] with the former in The Winter's Tale in 1951 and in Much Ado About Nothing in 1952, and with the latter in The Apple Cart in 1953.[1]
With the
In 1963 Moffatt got his first starring role, as Lord Foppington in Virtue in Danger, a musical adaptation of
1970s and 80s
In 1972 Moffatt was narrator and one of the main performers in the revue Cowardy Custard at the Mermaid, a compilation of the words and music of Noël Coward, who was present at the premiere. Moffatt later played the playwright Garry Essendine in Coward's Present Laughter, another of his favourite roles.[2]
In The Bed Before Yesterday by
William Gaskill's production of The Way of the World (Chichester and the Haymarket, 1983–84), was overwhelmingly a triumph for Maggie Smith as Millamant (described by The Guardian as "one of the great high comedy achievements of the past three decades"),[8] but according to The Times, "the other great collector's performance is John Moffatt's Witwoud, a harmless old bitch got up like a coffee meringue, whose lines have never enjoyed more flawless touch and timing".[9]
In Ronald Harwood's Interpreters (1985) Moffatt played a Foreign Office official striving to keep the peace between Maggie Smith's Nadia and Edward Fox's Viktor.[10] His last West End play was Married Love (1988), Peter Luke's play about Marie Stopes; Moffatt received good notices for his performance as Bernard Shaw, but the play, and Joan Plowright's direction received harsh criticism, and the piece ran for less than a month.[11]
Radio and television
Moffatt first broadcast on
In 1980 he appeared in
Moffatt made his television debut in 1953, as Grebeauval in The Public Prosecutor,
In 1982 Moffat appeared as West London gangster Freddie Baker, in the Minder episode "Looking for Micky."[14][15]
He appeared in one episode of the televised adaptations of Agatha Christie's other celebrated detective series,
Films
Moffatt's film debut was in
Later years
After retiring from stage acting in 1988, Moffatt regularly appeared with Judi Dench and her husband, Michael Williams in a verse compilation Fond and Familiar. After Williams died in 2001, Dench and Moffatt performed the show with Geoffrey Palmer.[4] The critic of The Independent wrote, "Limericks, epitaphs and autograph-book exhortations jostled with old war-horse recitations and some inspired lunacy. I especially liked … the solemn singing, in canon form, of the rule 'If you haven't been the lover of the landlady's daughter, then you cannot have another piece of pie'."[16]
After a long illness, Moffatt died at his home two weeks short of his 90th birthday. He was unmarried, and was survived by a sister, Marjorie.[4][5][17] Radio Four Extra planned to mark Moffatt's 90th birthday with a series of radio plays he had recorded throughout his career, upon his death the plays were broadcast earlier than scheduled beginning with Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie in which Moffatt played Hercule Poirot and Julia McKenzie played Ariadne Oliver.[citation needed]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1956 | Loser Takes All | Barman | Uncredited |
1958 | The Silent Enemy | Diving Volunteer | |
1963 | Tom Jones | Square | |
1970 | Julius Caesar | Popilius Lena | |
1972 | Lady Caroline Lamb | Murray | |
1974 | Murder on the Orient Express | Chief Attendant | |
1974 | Galileo |
Philosopher | |
1975 | Romance with a Double Bass | Majordomo | Short |
1979 | S.O.S. Titanic | Benjamin Guggenheim | TV film |
1982 | Britannia Hospital | Greville Figg: Administration | |
1985 | Honour, Profit and Pleasure | Steele | TV film |
1987 | Prick Up Your Ears | Wigmaker |
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Gaye, p. 982
- ^ a b c d e f g "John Moffatt", The Times, 21 September 2012
- ^ a b c d e "John Moffatt", The Daily Telegraph, 17 September 2012 Archived copy at WebCite (27 August 2011).
- ^ a b c d Coveney, Michael. "Obituary, John Moffatt", The Guardian, 17 September 2012
- ^ a b Connor, Martin. "Obituary – John Moffatt", The Stage, 20 September 2012, p. 45
- ^ "Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith", The Times, 2 November 1950, p. 6
- ^ Cushman, Robert. "Honest Trickery", The Observer, 20 May 1979, p. 14
- ^ De Jongh, Nicholas. "The Way of the World", The Guardian, 2 August 1984, p. 10
- ^ Masters, Anthony. "The Way of the World", The Times, 14 November 1984, p. 9
- ^ Billington, Michael. "Heartache for Nadia", The Guardian, 21 November 1985, p. 10
- ^ Wardle, Irving. "Sadly shallow portrait", The Times, 13 May 1988, p. 20; and "Weekend arts and entertainment guide", The Guardian, 4 June 1988, p. 35
- ^ "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". Hercule Poirot on BBC Radio. 28 August 2001. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ^ a b c "John Moffatt", British Film Institute, accessed 13 March 2013
- ^ "Minder' S03E04 Looking for Micky". YouTube.
- ^ "#3.4 Looking for Micky".
- The Independent on Sunday29 December 1996
- ^ Michael Coveney (16 September 2012). "John Moffatt obituary: Classical actor who graced the stage with decorum and stillness". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
References
- Gaye, Freda, ed. (1967). Who's Who in the Theatre (fourteenth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. OCLC 5997224.
External links
- John Moffatt at IMDb