John Forrest obit

John Forrest obituary

 

He was not on the list.

My friend the actor John Forrest, who has died aged 80, combined a distinguished film career with work as a stage magician. He had his first success as a child actor, in David Lean's classic movie Great Expectations (1946), as the "pale young gentleman" – the young Herbert Pocket.

Known later for his many supporting roles playing very "British" characters such as Grassy Green in Very Important Person (1961), he was in fact born in the US, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His English mother, an artist, had married an American lawyer, and when the marriage broke up after a few years, she brought John and his sister to England where they lived in the village of Cookham, Berkshire. Their neighbours were the painter Stanley Spencer and his equally eccentric brother, Horace, who taught John magic.

Following his early film success, John acted alongside such distinguished actors as David Niven, in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Richard Attenborough, in The Guinea Pig (1948), and Jean Simmons, in Adam & Evelyne (1949).

In 1949, Laurence Olivier directed A Streetcar Named Desire for the West End stage, and cast John as the Young Collector, opposite his wife Vivien Leigh. She and Olivier encouraged John in his career. John then appeared in the long-running play The Remarkable Mr Pennypacker (1955). It was a hit at the New theatre in London and then toured around Britain.

His films included Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951, in which he played the sadistic Flashman), The Franchise Affair (1951) and Gift Horse (1952); and he appeared on TV in Thunder in the West (1957), Good Wives (1958), Emergency Ward 10 (1959), Armchair Theatre (1959), Doctor Finlay's Casebook (1964) and A Requiem for Modigliani (1970)

His reputation as a magician was growing, and John decided to move to France, where his act featuring clocks and timepieces was successful in cabaret at venues in Paris and Monte Carlo. He used the name "John Klox" and was in demand in the US, too, for seasons at Palm Springs, Hollywood and Los Angeles. John also worked as an entertainer at children's parties.

Actor

The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)

The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones

4.4

Captain Blifil

1976

 

Omnibus (1967)

Omnibus

7.2

TV Series

Beadle

1970

1 episode

 

Margaret Ashcroft, Glynn Edwards, Anna Palk, John Stride, and John Wentworth in The Main Chance (1969)

The Main Chance

7.6

TV Series

Twite

1970

1 episode

 

Ray Barrett, Geoffrey Keen, and Philip Latham in Mogul (1965)

Mogul

7.2

TV Series

Jack Haslam

1970

1 episode

 

Great Expectations (1967)

Great Expectations

7.9

TV Series

Startop

1967

2 episodes

 

Martin Landau, Walter Fitzgerald, Nora Swinburne, and Torin Thatcher in Decision at Midnight (1965)

Decision at Midnight

6.7

Stephen

1965

 

Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962)

Dr. Finlay's Casebook

7.7

TV Series

Forbes Thompson

1964

1 episode

 

ITV Television Playhouse (1955)

ITV Television Playhouse

7.8

TV Series

Dick Carrington

Prince Yussupov

Green-Police Sergeant ...

1956–1961

5 episodes

 

Kay Callard and John Turner in Knight Errant Limited (1959)

Knight Errant Limited

7.6

TV Series

David Lansbury

1961

1 episode

 

Nearly a Nasty Accident (1961)

Nearly a Nasty Accident

6.6

Flight Lt. Bunthorpe

1961

 

A Coming-Out Party (1961)

A Coming-Out Party

6.7

'Grassy' Green

1961

 

Richard Greene in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)

The Adventures of Robin Hood

7.6

TV Series

Edgar

1960

1 episode

 

ITV Play of the Week (1955)

ITV Play of the Week

6.8

TV Series

Freddie Mottram

Prince Ernest

1957–1960

2 episodes

 

Saturday Playhouse (1958)

Saturday Playhouse

TV Series

Grimmett

1960

1 episode

 

The Little Ship

TV Series

Robin Goffe

1960

6 episodes

 

Dial 999 (1958)

Dial 999

7.1

TV Series

Trevor

1959

1 episode

 

Armchair Theatre (1956)

Armchair Theatre

7.6

TV Series

Jeremy

1959

1 episode

 

Emergency-Ward 10 (1957)

Emergency-Ward 10

6.2

TV Series

Charles Wood

1959

6 episodes

 

Good Wives

TV Series

Fred Vaughn

1958

2 episodes

 

Thunder in the West

TV Series

Jonathan Carey

1957

6 episodes

 

As Others See Us

TV Series

1956

1 episode

 

Black 13 (1953)

Black 13

5.7

Wally

1953

 

The Straw Man (1953)

The Straw Man

6.2

Johnny Gordon

1953

 

Shadow of the Vine

TV Movie

Julian Heath

1953

 

Richard Attenborough, Trevor Howard, and Sonny Tufts in Glory at Sea (1952)

Glory at Sea

6.3

Sub-Lieutenant Appleby RNVR

1952

 

Milestones

TV Movie

Lord Monkhurst

1951

 

Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951)

Tom Brown's Schooldays

7.1

Flashman

1951

 

The Franchise Affair (1951)

The Franchise Affair

7.2

Leslis Wynn

1951

 

Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, and Helen Cherry in Adam and Evalyn (1949)

Adam and Evalyn

6.2

Tony

1949

 

Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948)

Bonnie Prince Charlie

5.2

Neil (uncredited)

1948

 

The Outsider (1948)

The Outsider

6.8

Fitch

1948

 

Vice Versa (1948)

Vice Versa

6.3

Pupil (uncredited)

1948

 

Jean Simmons, Finlay Currie, Valerie Hobson, Martita Hunt, John Mills, and Tony Wager in Great Expectations (1946)

Great Expectations

7.8

The Pale Young Gentleman

1946