Joss Ackland obit

Joss Ackland, star of White Mischief, dies at age 95

British veteran actor also starred in the Hunt for Red October and the TV version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 

He was not on the list.

Joss Ackland has died at the age of 95, his family said in a statement.

The Midsomer Murders actor, who has appeared in more than 130 film and TV roles, died peacefully at home on Sunday surrounded by relatives, the statement given to the PA news agency said. He appeared in hundreds of films and television productions alongside his "rich and diverse" stage career, and was made a CBE for services to drama in 2001.

The family statement added: "With his distinctive voice and commanding presence, Ackland brought a unique intensity and gravitas to his roles. He will be remembered as one of Britain’s most talented and beloved actors."

The actor was also a "beloved father" and was married to wife Rosemary for 51 years before she died from motor neurone disease in 2002. Ackland had seven children, 34 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.

His glistening career includes an on-stage stint alongside stars like Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay. He also appeared with Alec Guinness in the 1979 television serial Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and films The Sicilian, Lethal Weapon 2 and The Hunt for Red October. He first appeared on film in John Boulting's and Roy Boulting's Oscar-winning thriller Seven Days to Noon in 1950 in an uncredited bit role. Joss made his credited debut in a supporting role in Vernon Sewell's Ghost Ship (1952).

Fans have flocked to X, formally Twitter, to share their tributes to the beloved actor, with one writing: "Sad news about Joss Ackland. His performance in Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Copper Beeches is one of my favourite turns in anything."

Another added: "RIP Joss Ackland. Wonderful scene stealer in everything, even Pet Shop Boys videos." While someone else said: "Really sad to hear that Joss Ackland has died. The first thing I ever saw him in was a film called First and Last, about a retiree who embarks on a walk from Land’s End to John O Groats. I thought it was just wonderful. Of course, he also had the best line in Lethal Weapon 2. RIP."

 

Filmography

Film

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1949    Landfall            O'Neill (uncredited)            [3]

1950    Seven Days to Noon              

1952    Ghost Ship     Ron, a seaman

1959    A Midsummer Night's Dream             

1962    In Search of the Castaways            Seaman on yacht (uncredited)     

1966            Rasputin: the Mad Monk   The Bishop 

1969            Crescendo      Carter 

1970    The House That Dripped Blood            Neville Rogers

1971    Villain            Edgar Lewis  

1971    Mr. Forbush and the Penguins            The Leader

1972    The Happiness Cage    Dr Frederick        

1973    Hitler: The Last Ten Days    Gen. Burgdorf          

1973    Penny Gold     Jones   

1973    England Made Me            Haller  

1973    The Three Musketeers            D'Artagnan's Father     

1974    The Black Windmill            Chief Supt. Wray      

1974            S*P*Y*S            Martinson       

1974    The Little Prince            The King    

1974    Great Expectations            Joe Gargery           

1975    One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing            B.J. Spence

1975    Royal Flash    Sapten 

1975            Operation Daybreak            Janák  

1977    The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It            President        

1978            Watership Down            Black Rabbit (voice)  

1978    Silver Bears   Henry Foreman          

1978    The Greek Tycoon            (uncredited)    

1978    Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?            Cantrell           

1979    A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square Prison Warden (uncredited)     

1979    Saint Jack     Yardley           

1980    Rough Cut       Insp. Vanderveld      

1980    The Apple   Hippie Leader/Mr Topps 

1985    A Zed & Two Noughts            Van Hoyten

1986    Lady Jane     Sir John Bridges    

1987    White Mischief            Sir Jock Delves Broughton       

1987    The Sicilian  Don Masino Croce 

1988    It Couldn't Happen Here            Priest/murderer         

1988    To Kill a Priest Colonel           

1989    Lethal Weapon 2            Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd   

1990            Dimenticare Palermo AKA The Palermo Connection            Mafia boss    

1990    The Hunt for Red October            Ambassador Andrei Lysenko          

1990    Tre colonne in cronaca            Gaetano Leporino      

1991    The Object of Beauty  Mr Mercer

1991    Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey            Chuck De Nomolos    

1992    The Sheltering Desert  Col. Johnston          

1992    Once Upon a Crime            Hercules Popodopoulos 

1992            Shadowchaser            Kinderman     

1992    The Bridge            Smithson         

1992    The Mighty Ducks            Hans   

1993            Nowhere to Run            Franklin Hale 

1993    The Princess and the Goblin            King Papa (voice)    

1994            OcchioPinocchio            Brando

1994    Miracle on 34th Street            Victor Landberg (uncredited)            (Store Competitor for Shopper's Express)

1994            Giorgino          Father Glaise  

1995    Mad Dogs and Englishmen            Insp. Sam Stringer    

1995    The Thief and the Cobbler            Brigand (voice) 

1995    A Kid in King Arthur's Court   King Arthur 

1996            Surviving Picasso            Henri Matisse           

1996    D3: The Mighty Ducks  Hans   

1997    Swept from the Sea            Mr Swaffer

1997    Firelight            Lord Clare

1998    My Giant            Monsignor Popescu (uncredited)     

2000    The Mumbo Jumbo            Mayor Smith   

2000    Passion of Mind            Dr Langer, the French Psychiatrist      

2002    No Good Deed            Mr Thomas Quarre           

2002    K-19: The Widowmaker            Marshal Zelentsov       

2003    I'll Be There   Evil Edmonds         

2004    A Different Loyalty            Randolph Cauffield     

2005    The Christmas Eve Snowfall            (Narrator)       

2005    Asylum            Jack Straffen           

2006    These Foolish Things            Albert  

2006            Moscow Zero Tolstoy

2007    How About You            Donald

2008            Flawless           MKA  

2013            Prisoners of the Sun            Prof. Mendella         

2014            Katherine of Alexandria            Rufus   

Television

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1957            Destination Downing Street            Immelmann       TV series

1963    The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling William Stevens            TV series

1964    Z-Cars            Mr Shields            Episode: S03E29 "Happy Families"

1966    David Copperfield            Mr. Peggotty            TV series

1966    Lord Raingo  Tom Hogarth            TV series

1966    Theatre 625      John Hinks            Episode: "On the March to the Sea"

1967    The Further Adventures of the Three Musketeers            d'Artagnan       TV series

1966–1968            The Troubleshooters           Mr Gibbon (1966), Sam Jardine (1966-1967), Considine (1968), Lewis (1968)  5 episodes

1966            Mystery and Imagination            Herr Scavenius, Mr. Smedhurst            2 episodes: S02E01 "Room 13", S03E03 A Place of One's Own

1967–1968            Z-Cars            Det. Insp. Todd            41 episodes

1969    The Avengers            Brig. Hansing            One episode: S06E17 The Morning After

1969    The Gold Robbers            Derek Hartford          

1969    Before the Party            Harold Bannon

1966, 1970            Play of the Month            Charley, Chebutykin            2 episodes: S01E08 "Death of a Salesman", S05E04 "The Three Sisters"

1971, 1972            Thirty-Minute Theatre            The Applicant, The Man     2 episodes: S07E06 "Getting In", S07E30 "King's Cross Lunch Hour"

1972    The Persuaders!            Felix Meadowes      

1972            Shirley's World            Inspector Vaughan      

1972    Six Faces   Harry Mellor  2 episodes

1973    The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes            Grubber          

1974    The Protectors            Arthur Gordon            1 episode

1976    Centre Play      Doctor            1 episode: "You Talk Too Much"

1976    The Crezz   Charles Bronte 

1978    Enemy at the Door            Major General Laidlaw            1 episode

1978    Return of the Saint            Gunther            1 episode: "The Nightmare Man"

1978    The Sweeney            Alan Ember  1 episode: "Feet of Clay"

1979    Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy      Jerry Westerby        

1980, 1988            Tales of the Unexpected            Jack Cutler, Colonel George Peregrine            2 episodes: S03E07 "The Stinker", S09E02 "The Colonel's Lady"

1980    A Question of Guilt     Samuel Kent    

1980    The Love Tapes            Narrator (uncredited)            TV movie

1980    The Gentle Touch            Ivor Stocker            1 episode

1981            Dangerous Davies – The Last Detective            Chief Insp. Yardbird            TV movie

1981    Thicker Than Water            Joseph Lockwood            TV series

1982    The Confessions of Felix Krull            Mr. Twentyman            TV series

1982    The Barretts of Wimpole Street            Edward Moulton-Barrett  TV movie

1984    Shroud for a Nightingale            Stephen Courtney-Briggs, surgeon            TV mini series

1984    The Tragedy of Coriolanus            Menenius         TV movie

1985            Shadowlands  C. S. Lewis   TV movie

1985    The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Jephro Rucastle            1 episode: S02E01 "The Copper Beeches"

1987    A Killing on the Exchange            Sir Max Sillman            TV movie

1987            Queenie          Sir Burton Rumsey            TV mini series

1987    When We Are Married            Henry Ormonroyd            TV movie

1988    The Man Who Lived at the Ritz            Hermann Göring            TV mini series

1988            Codename: Kyril            'C'            TV mini series

1989    A Quiet Conspiracy            Theo Carter  TV mini series

1989    The Justice Game            Sir James Crichton            2 episodes

1989    First and Last            Alan Holly    TV movie

1990    Jekyll & Hyde            Charles Lanyon TV movie

1990            Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming            Gen. Gerhard Hellstein            TV movie

1991    A Murder of Quality            Terence Fielding            TV movie

1991    A Woman Named Jackie            Aristotle Onassis            TV mini series

1991            Ashenden            Cumming         TV mini series

1991    They Do It with Mirrors Lewis Serrocold            TV movie

1992    Incident at Victoria Falls            King Edward            TV movie

1992    The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles            The Prussian            1 episode: S02E01 "Austria, March 1917"

1993, 1996            Screen Two     Sir Charles (Archie) Peverall, Captain            Episodes: S09E08 "Voices in the Garden", S14E02 "Deadly Voyage"

1994    Citizen Locke  Lord Ashley  TV movie

1994            Shakespeare: The Animated Tales            Julius Caesar (voice)            1 episode: "Julius Caesar"

1994    Jacob            Isaac            TV movie

1995    Citizen X            Bondarchuk     TV movie

1995    Daisies in December            Gerald Carmody            TV movie

1996    Hidden in Silence            German factory manager          

1996    To the Ends of Time            King Francis TV movie

1996            Testament: The Bible in Animation            Noah (voice), Samuel (voice)  2 episodes: S01E05 "Creation and the Flood", S01E09 "David and Saul"

1998    Heat of the Sun Max van der Vuurst            1 episode

2001    Othello            James Brabant            TV movie

2003    Henry VIII      Henry VII       TV movie

2005    Icon            General Nikolai Nikolayev            TV movie

2006            Midsomer Murders            Sir Freddy Butler            1 episode: S09E03 "Vixen's Run"

2006            Hogfather            Mustrum Ridcully            TV mini series

2006    Above and Beyond            Winston Churchill            TV mini series

2007            Kingdom         Mr Narbutowicz            1 episode

 

Video games

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

Audio books

Rise of the Ogre (Audiobook) (2006) (Narrator)