John Harvey (actor)
Encyclopedia
John Harvey was an English actor
. He appeared in 52 film
s, two television film
s and made 70 television
guest appearance
s between 1948 and 1979.
Born in London
, England
, he began his acting
career on the stage
in the 1930s as one of the Harry Hanson's Court Players at the Peterborough Repertory. While there, he met the actress Diana King
.
Harvey and King were married, remaining together for more than forty years, until his death.
During World War II
, he was commissioned in the Royal Air Force
. Post-war, he performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
in London, for some six years, during the entire West End
runs of Rodgers and Hammerstein
's South Pacific
and The King and I
.
Harvey's film debut was in the role as Eddie in the British
crime
drama
A Gunman Has Escaped (1948), in which he was the leading
star
. Harvey then moved to character roles
and five films later played Inspector Loomis in Hitchcock
's Stage Fright
(1950) starring Jane Wyman
and Richard Todd
. His next role was as Bland in the drama Chance of a Lifetime
(1950).
Harvey's television debut was as Angelo Verona in the BBC
film On the Spot (1948). He played Buster Cox in the United Artists
film noir
crime/thriller The Man with My Face
(1951) starring Barry Nelson
.
Among his guest appearances on series television was his role as Sir William Duffy in Dr. Finlay's Casebook
(1962) and he also played Professor Brett in the Doctor Who
serial The War Machines (1966), both for the BBC
John Harvey died at age 70 in Oxfordshire
.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He appeared in 52 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, two television film
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
s and made 70 television
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
guest appearance
Guest appearance
In show business , a guest appearance is a participation of an outsider performer , usually called guest artist , in an event , i.e., the participation of a performer which does not belong to the regular crew In performance...
s between 1948 and 1979.
Born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he began his acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
career on the stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in the 1930s as one of the Harry Hanson's Court Players at the Peterborough Repertory. While there, he met the actress Diana King
Diana King (actress)
Diana King was an English television actress who had a career on British television from 1939 to 1986. She was sometimes credited as Diane King, and was born in Buckinghamshire....
.
Harvey and King were married, remaining together for more than forty years, until his death.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was commissioned in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Post-war, he performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in London, for some six years, during the entire West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
runs of Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
and The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
.
Harvey's film debut was in the role as Eddie in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
crime
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
A Gunman Has Escaped (1948), in which he was the leading
Leading actor
A leading actor, leading actress, star, or simply lead, plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play. The word lead may also refer to the largest role in the piece and leading actor may refer to a person who typically plays such parts or an actor with a respected body of work...
star
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
. Harvey then moved to character roles
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
and five films later played Inspector Loomis in Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Stage Fright
Stage Fright (film)
Stage Fright is a 1950 British crime film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding and Richard Todd...
(1950) starring Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
and Richard Todd
Richard Todd
Richard Todd OBE was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier.-Early life:Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for...
. His next role was as Bland in the drama Chance of a Lifetime
Chance of a Lifetime (film)
Chance of a Lifetime is a 1950 British film starring, produced, part-written and directed by Bernard Miles. It was nominated for the 1951 BAFTA for Best British Film, to which it was beaten by The Blue Lamp.-Plot:...
(1950).
Harvey's television debut was as Angelo Verona in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
film On the Spot (1948). He played Buster Cox in the United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
crime/thriller The Man with My Face
The Man with My Face (film)
The Man with My Face is a 1951 American United Artists film noir crime/thriller motion picture starring Barry Nelson, Carole Mathews, Lynn Ainley, John Harvey, Jim Boles, and Jack Warden. The film marks Jack Warden's movie debut....
(1951) starring Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
.
Among his guest appearances on series television was his role as Sir William Duffy in Dr. Finlay's Casebook
Dr. Finlay's Casebook (TV & radio)
Dr. Finlay's Casebook is a television series that was broadcast on the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's novella entitled Country Doctor, the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae during the late 1920s...
(1962) and he also played Professor Brett in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial The War Machines (1966), both for the BBC
John Harvey died at age 70 in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
Selected filmography
- Private AngeloPrivate Angelo (film)Private Angelo is a 1949 British comedy war film directed by Michael Anderson and Peter Ustinov. It starred Ustinov, Godfrey Tearle, Maria Denis and Marjorie Rhodes. It depicts the misadventures of a soldier in the Italian Army during the Second World War...
(1949) - Chance of a LifetimeChance of a Lifetime (film)Chance of a Lifetime is a 1950 British film starring, produced, part-written and directed by Bernard Miles. It was nominated for the 1951 BAFTA for Best British Film, to which it was beaten by The Blue Lamp.-Plot:...
(1950) - Cairo RoadCairo Road (film)Cairo Road is a 1950 British crime film directed by David MacDonald and starring Laurence Harvey, Eric Portman, Maria Mauban, Harold Lang and John Gregson. A team of Egyptian anti-narcotic agents try to prevent shipments of drugs crossing the southern Egyptian border...
(1950) - The Black WidowThe Black Widow (1951 film)The Black Widow is a 1951 British thriller, directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Christine Norden and Robert Ayres. The film was a B-movie production by Hammer Film Productions and was based on a radio serial entitled Return from Darkness.-Plot:...
(1951) - Lady Godiva Rides AgainLady Godiva Rides AgainLady Godiva Rides Again is a 1951 British comedy film starring Diana Dors, about a small-town English girl who wins a beauty contest and heads for greater fame. It features Joan Collins in her movie debut as an uncredited beauty contestant...
(1951) - Four DaysFour Days (film)Four Days is a 1951 British drama film directed by John Guillermin. It was based on a play by Monckton Hoffe.-Cast:* Hugh McDermott as Francis Templar* Kathleen Byron as Lucienne Templar* Peter Reynolds as Johnny Keylin* Gordon McLeod as Mr. Keylin...
(1951) - The Long HaulThe Long Haul (1957 film)The Long Haul is a 1957 British drama film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Victor Mature, Gene Anderson, Patrick Allen and Diana Dors. An American ex-servicemen settles in Britain with his English wife and becomes a lorry driver in Liverpool where he begins a relationship with the girlfriend of...
(1957) - The 39 StepsThe 39 Steps (1959 film)The 39 Steps is a 1959 British thriller film directed by Ralph Thomas, starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg. It is a remake of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan....
(1959) - Horrors of the Black MuseumHorrors of the Black MuseumHorrors of the Black Museum is a British horror film starring Michael Gough and directed by Arthur Crabtree.It was the first film in what film critic David Pirie dubbed Anglo-Amalgamated's "Sadian trilogy" , with an emphasis on sadism, cruelty and violence , in contrast to the supernatural...
(1959) - The Ugly DucklingThe Ugly Duckling (film)The Ugly Duckling is a 1959 British comedy film, directed by Lance Comfort for Hammer Film Productions and starring Bernard Bresslaw, Jon Pertwee and Reginald Beckwith. The film is a comic adaptation of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
(1959) - The Stranglers of BombayThe Stranglers of BombayThe Stranglers of Bombay is a 1959 adventure/horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Films dealing with the British East India Company's investigation of the Cult of Thuggee stranglers in the 1830s...
(1960) - Two-Way StretchTwo-Way StretchTwo-Way Stretch, sometimes titled Nothing Barred, is a 1960 British comedy film, about a group of prisoners who plan to break out of jail, commit a robbery, and then break back into jail again, thus giving them the perfect alibi – that they were behind bars when the robbery occurred...
(1960) - Hell Is a CityHell Is a CityHell Is a City is a 1960 film based on the novel by Maurice Procter. It was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions filmed in Manchester it was also written and directed by Val Guest...
(1960) - Tunes of GloryTunes of GloryTunes of Glory is a 1960 British film directed by Ronald Neame, based on the novel and screenplay by James Kennaway. The film is a "dark psychological drama" centring on events in a Scottish Highland regimental barracks in the period following World War II...
(1960) - Double BunkDouble BunkDouble Bunk is a 1961 British black-and-white comedy set on a houseboat, that stars Ian Carmichael and Sid James.The musical score was composed by Stanley Black and the title song, sung by Sid James and Liz Fraser, was by Stanley Black, Jack Fishman and Michael Pratt.-Plot:When newlyweds Jack and...
(1961) - The Kiss of the VampireThe Kiss of the VampireThe Kiss of the Vampire also known as Kiss of Evil, is a 1963 British vampire film made by the film studio Hammer Film Productions...
(1963) - The PsychopathThe PsychopathThe Psychopath is a 1966 film directed by Freddie Francis and written by Robert Bloch. It stars Patrick Wymark and Margaret Johnston.It deals with a police inspector who investigates a string of murders where the victims have dolls attached to their bodies. The trail soon leads to one Mrs...
(1966) - The Satanic Rites of DraculaThe Satanic Rites of DraculaThe Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1974 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson. It is the eighth film in the Hammer Dracula series, and the seventh and final to feature Christopher Lee as Dracula. The film also the third film to reunite Peter Cushing as Van Helsing with Christopher Lee together...
(1974) - Legend of the WerewolfLegend of the WerewolfLegend of the Werewolf is a 1975 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis. It stars Peter Cushing.-Plot summary:A boy that has been raised by wolves is displayed as a circus freak. Then he grows up, becomes a zookeeper and falls in love with a prostitute...
(1975)