John Westbrook (actor)
John Aubrey Westbrook (1 November 1922 – 16 June 1989) was an English actor.[1]
Born in
He performed in a great many Shakespeare plays, which included the title part in Richard II at the Citizens', Glasgow in 1956,[7] Morocco and the Duke of Venice in The Merchant of Venice for BBC Television in 1955,[8] Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream for BBC Television in 1958 and Prospero in The Tempest for the Bristol Old Vic in 1960.[9] On radio he played Cassio in Othello, Fortinbras and later The Ghost in Hamlet, Banquo in Macbeth etc.[10]
Also for BBC Radio he was a remarkably fine Jesus in the last revival of Dorothy L. Sayers's The Man Born to Be King.[11] This production has been repeated over a long period, most recently at Christmas 2008 on BBC Radio 7. He also portrayed Jesus in festival theatre productions such as the York Mystery Plays, and much other work with a religious theme such as his Becket in Murder in the Cathedral.[12][13] Comparatively rare London appearances included The River Line at what was then the Strand Theatre in 1952.[14]
Television work included playing the historical roles of James II in the 1969 BBC miniseries The First Churchills, and Lord Blandford in the 1974 Thames miniseries Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill.[15][16]
He appeared in poetry recitals all over the UK, including his own solo programme The Ruling Passion.
He died 16 June 1989 aged 66 in Ridgewell, Halstead, Essex.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1951 | There Is Another Sun | Detective | |
1959 | Room at the Top | Jack Wales | |
1960 | Foxhole in Cairo | Roger | |
1962 | A Prize of Arms | Capt. Stafford | |
1964 | The Masque of the Red Death | The Red Death | Uncredited |
1964 | The Tomb of Ligeia | Christopher Gough | |
1974 | Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery | Bradshaw | |
1978 | The Lord of the Rings | Treebeard - Ent Leader / Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien | Voice |
1980 | North Sea Hijack | Dawnay |
References
- ^ "John Westbrook". Archived from the original on 25 April 2017.
- ^ "The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) - Roger Corman - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
- ^ "The Lord of the Rings (1978)". Archived from the original on 19 February 2017.
- ^ "An Oxford elegy ; Five variants of "Dives and Lazarus" ; Flos campi (Musical LP, 1978) [WorldCat.org]". catalog.bucknell.edu.
- ^ International, MusicWeb. "Sir Arthur BLISS Morning Heroes - CHANDOS CHSA 5159 SACD [JQ]: Classical Music Reviews - October 2015 MusicWeb-International". www.musicweb-international.com.
- ^ "Igor Stravinsky - Stravinsky Conducts Oedipus Rex". Discogs.
- ^ "Production of Richard II - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
- ^ "The Merchant of Venice (1955)". Archived from the original on 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Production of The Tempest or The Enchanted Island - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
- ^ "Macbeth · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk.
- ^ "The Man Born to Be King: 6: The Feast of Tabernacles - BBC Radio 4 FM - 23 February 1975 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ Campbell, Andy. "York Mystery Plays : Illumination - From Darkness into Light : Key roles and actors". www.yorkmysteryplays.org.
- ^ "Production of Murder in the Cathedral - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
- ^ "Production of The River Line - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
- ^ "The First Churchills Part 3 Plot Counter-plot (1969)". Archived from the original on 20 June 2017.
- ^ "Great Performances - TV Guide". TVGuide.com.