Joss Ackland

Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland was born in a basement flat in "then insalubrious" North Kensington, London, on 29 February 1928,^[3] the son of Major Sydney Norman Ackland (died 1981), an Irish journalist who had been sent to England to live with an aunt by his parents for seducing their maid, but subsequently seduced his aunt's maid, Ruth Izod (died 1957), whom he married.^[4][5][6] The Acklands' basement flat was one of "a string of similar places" in which they lived, invariably with "one bedroom and the absolute bare essentials"; Ackland described his upbringing in the Ladbroke Grove area as being "very poor".^[7][8]

Ackland was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.^[9]

Ackland and Rosemary Kirkcaldy were married on 18 August 1951, when Ackland was 23 and she was 22.^[10] She was an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared on stage together in Pitlochry, Scotland.^[11] The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in its infancy.^[10] In 1954 they moved to Lilongwe in what was then Nysaland, now Malawi, where Ackland managed a tea plantation for six months^[12] but, deciding it was too dangerous, they moved to Cape Town, South Africa.^[10] Though they both obtained steady acting jobs in South Africa, after two years they returned to England in 1957.^[10][13]

After attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he made his professional debut on stage at just 17 years old, starring in the 1945 production of The Hasty Heart. Ackland joined the Old Vic, appearing alongside other notable actors including Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay. Ackland worked steadily in television and film in the 1960s and 70s.

He worked opposite Alec Guinness in the 1979 television serial Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, playing sporting journalist and intermittent British espionage operative Jerry Westerby, and his career advanced through the 1980s with important parts in such films as The Sicilian, Lethal Weapon 2, The Hunt for Red October and White Mischief.^[3]On television Ackland appeared as Jephro Rucastle with Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". Other appearances included Passion of Mind with Demi Moore and the two-part TV serial Hogfather based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld.^[3] He played C. S. Lewis in the television version of Shadowlands before it was adapted into a stage play starring Nigel Hawthorne and then a theatrical film with Anthony Hopkins in the same role.^[14] His voice (as well as that of Roy Dotrice) was heard reading quotations in several episodes of Jacob Bronowski's 1973 documentary series The Ascent of Man.

His rich, warm voice was also a mainstay of many British television commercials including Yellow Pages, WK Kellogg Co and Homepride.^{[citation needed]}

Ackland's stage roles included creating the role of Juan Perón in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita opposite Elaine Paige.^[15] He also starred in the London production of Stephen Sondheim's and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music with Jean Simmons and Hermione Gingold, performing on the RCA Victor original London cast album.^[16]

Ackland appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' 1988 film It Couldn't Happen Here, and in the video for their version of the song Always on My Mind, which was taken from the film.^[17] Several years later, he said in an interview with the Radio Times that he had appeared with the band purely because his grandchildren liked their music.^{[citation needed]}

Ackland also co-starred as Emilio Estevez's mentor and friend Hans in the 1992 Disney hit The Mighty Ducks.^[18] He reprised the role four years later in 1996's D3: The Mighty Ducks.^[3]

In a 2001 interview with the BBC, Ackland said that he had appeared in some "awful films" due to being a workaholic. He said that he "regretted" appearing in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and the Pet Shop Boys music video. He also criticised former co-star Demi Moore as "not very bright or talented,"^[13] though he worked with her again years later in Flawless (2008).

Also in 2007, Ackland appeared in the film How About You opposite Vanessa Redgrave, portraying a recovering alcoholic living in a residential home after being forced to retire and losing his wife to cancer.^[19]

In 2008, Ackland returned to the small screen as Sir Freddy Butler, a much married baronet, in the ITV1 show Midsomer Murders. The episode, entitled Vixens Run, also featured veteran actress Siân Phillips.^[20]

In September 2013, Jonathan Miller directed a Gala Performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear at the Old Vic in London, with Ackland in the role of Lear.^[21]

Ackland and his wife Rosemary (née Kirkcaldy) were married for 51 years. They had seven children,^[22] thirty-two grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.^[23] Despite his filming taking him to far-flung locations, he said Rosemary and he "were hardly ever apart".^[24] Daughter Kirsty married Anthony Shawn Baring, a descendant of the merchant banker Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet and a descendant of Robert Rundell Guinness, founder of the merchant bank Guinness Mahon.^[25][26]

In 1963, their house in Barnes caught fire. Rosemary saved their five children but broke her back when jumping from the bedroom window.^[27] She was told she would miscarry and never walk again, but she later gave birth and after 18 months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, was able to walk again.^[28][10] Their eldest son, Paul, died of a heroin overdose in 1982, aged 29.^[29] In 2000, Rosemary was diagnosed with motor neurone disease; she died on 25 July 2002.^[12]

In 2020, Ackland participated in the "Letters Live" project, and was recorded from his home in Clovelly, Devon.^[30] His letter reflected on the COVID-19 crisis and his hopes for how the country could draw "strength from adversity".^[31]

Ackland died at home in Clovelly, on 19 November 2023, aged 95.^[32][33]

Film

Television

Video games

• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) (voice) as Pieter Van Eckhardt^[35]

Audio books

• Rise of the Ogre (Audiobook) (2006) (Narrator)^[36]

He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Civil Division for Services to Drama in the 2001 New Years Honours List.^[37]

• Ackland, Joss (17 June 2010). My Better Half and Me. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-193347-0
• -- (1989). I Must Be In There Somewhere (autobiography). Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-49396-0

Wikiquote has quotations related to Joss Ackland.

• Joss Ackland at IMDb
• Joss Ackland at the Internet Broadway Database
• Joss Ackland discography at Discogs