Neil North
Encyclopedia
Neil North was a British actor
, best known for his role in the 1948 film adaptation
of Terence Rattigan
's play The Winslow Boy
. North appeared in four other films released between 1948 and 1951, but did not make acting a full-time career. After a hiatus of over 40 years however, he did return to the screen with three further credits towards the end of his life, including a role in the 1999 remake
of The Winslow Boy.
, British India, the youngest son of an officer in the Indian army. After a peripatetic childhood spent at various schools in India and England, North became a pupil at The King's School
in Canterbury
, Kent
. He developed an interest in drama, and in 1947 was cast in the role of the Boy King, Richard II, in a production of Laurie Lee
's play Peasant's Priest which was staged as part of that year's Canterbury Festival
. His performance impressed director Bernard Miles
, and when Miles learned that film director Anthony Asquith
was searching for a public school
boy with acting experience for the title role in a screen version of The Winslow Boy, he put North's name forward.
North landed the role of Ronnie Winslow in The Winslow Boy
, a drama based on a cause célèbre
of 1908 when George Archer-Shee
, a 13 year-old schoolboy, was expelled from Osborne Naval College after being accused of stealing and cashing a postal order
for five shillings which had been sent to a fellow pupil. The film was a high-profile production starring some of the most respected names in British film and theatre, including Robert Donat
, Cedric Hardwicke
and Margaret Leighton. The film proved to be a box-office success and North's performance was widely admired, notably in a famous scene with Donat in which the latter (cast as a barrister
) harries and bullies the boy in order to satisfy himself of the boy's innocence before agreeing to accept the brief.
North went on to appear in minor roles in the films Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill (1948), Britannia Mews
(1949), Traveller's Joy
(1949) and Tom Brown's Schooldays
(1951).
, but failed to report on the specified date. Knowing that the British authorities would be on his trail, he fled initially to the Republic of Ireland
and thence to Italy
, where he spent several years. By 1955 he had settled in the United States, establishing a successful antiques business in New York City
with his partner, Charles Gibson. He made sporadic ventures into acting at this time, notably in a 1956 Kraft Television Theatre
adaptation of A Night to Remember.
Following the break-up of his relationship and the dissolution of the antiques business, North moved to Florida
where he spent some years as a speedboat racer, before relocating again in 1980 to Cuernavaca
, Mexico
. It is not clear exactly when North finally decided to return to England, but he was back by the mid 1990s. He learned that director David Mamet
was planning a remake of The Winslow Boy
and contacted an agent, who arranged a reading with Mamet. Mamet was favourably impressed and cast North in the role of First Lord of the Admiralty – Mamet later said that at the time of casting he had no idea that North had starred in the 1948 film, and that it came as an unexpected bonus to discover his association with the story.
North played a minor role as one of the four tutors in the hugely successful 2000 film Billy Elliot
. His last screen appearance was as an extra in Robert De Niro
's 2006 film The Good Shepherd
.
North died in London on 7 March 2007, aged 74.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, best known for his role in the 1948 film adaptation
The Winslow Boy (1948 film)
The Winslow Boy is a 1948 film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy. It was made by De Grunwald Productions and distributed by the British Lion Film Corporation. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald with Teddy Baird as associate producer. The...
of Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's play The Winslow Boy
The Winslow Boy
thumb|1st edition cover The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.-Performance History:...
. North appeared in four other films released between 1948 and 1951, but did not make acting a full-time career. After a hiatus of over 40 years however, he did return to the screen with three further credits towards the end of his life, including a role in the 1999 remake
The Winslow Boy (1999 film)
The Winslow Boy is a 1999 period drama film directed by David Mamet. Starring Nigel Hawthorne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Northam and Gemma Jones. Set in London before World War I, it depicts a family defending the honor of its young son at all cost. The screenplay was adapted by Mamet based on ...
of The Winslow Boy.
Early life
North was born in QuettaQuetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
, British India, the youngest son of an officer in the Indian army. After a peripatetic childhood spent at various schools in India and England, North became a pupil at The King's School
The King's School, Canterbury
The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the historic English cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group....
in Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He developed an interest in drama, and in 1947 was cast in the role of the Boy King, Richard II, in a production of Laurie Lee
Laurie Lee
Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, and went to Marling School, Gloucestershire. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie , As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and...
's play Peasant's Priest which was staged as part of that year's Canterbury Festival
Canterbury Festival
The Canterbury Festival is Kent's international festival of the arts. It takes place in Canterbury and surrounding towns and villages each October and includes performances of a variety of types of music, ranging from Opera and Oratorio to art, comedy and theatre...
. His performance impressed director Bernard Miles
Bernard Miles
Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....
, and when Miles learned that film director Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations...
was searching for a public school
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
boy with acting experience for the title role in a screen version of The Winslow Boy, he put North's name forward.
North landed the role of Ronnie Winslow in The Winslow Boy
The Winslow Boy (1948 film)
The Winslow Boy is a 1948 film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy. It was made by De Grunwald Productions and distributed by the British Lion Film Corporation. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald with Teddy Baird as associate producer. The...
, a drama based on a cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
of 1908 when George Archer-Shee
George Archer-Shee
George Archer-Shee became a British cause célèbre in 1910 when the issue of whether he stole a five shilling postal order ended up being decided in the High Court....
, a 13 year-old schoolboy, was expelled from Osborne Naval College after being accused of stealing and cashing a postal order
Postal Order
In the United Kingdom , a Postal Order is used for sending money through the mail. In the United States, this is known as a Postal money order...
for five shillings which had been sent to a fellow pupil. The film was a high-profile production starring some of the most respected names in British film and theatre, including Robert Donat
Robert Donat
Robert Donat was an English film and stage actor. He is best-known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and Goodbye, Mr...
, Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
and Margaret Leighton. The film proved to be a box-office success and North's performance was widely admired, notably in a famous scene with Donat in which the latter (cast as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
) harries and bullies the boy in order to satisfy himself of the boy's innocence before agreeing to accept the brief.
North went on to appear in minor roles in the films Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill (1948), Britannia Mews
Britannia Mews
Britannia Mews is a 1949 British drama film directed by Jean Negulesco and starring Dana Andrews, Maureen O'Hara, Sybil Thorndike, Fay Compton and A.E. Matthews. In Victorian London, a young woman marries a poor drunken artist and struggles to make ends meet...
(1949), Traveller's Joy
Traveller's Joy
Traveller's Joy is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Googie Withers, John McCallum and Maurice Denham. It was the last film released by the original Gainsborough Pictures.-Plot:...
(1949) and Tom Brown's Schooldays
Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951 film)
Tom Brown's Schooldays is a 1951 British drama film directed by Gordon Parry and starring John Howard Davies, Robert Newton and James Hayter. It is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Hughes. The screenplay was written by Noel Langley....
(1951).
Later life
At some point in or around 1951, North was called up for compulsory National ServiceConscription in the United Kingdom
Conscription in the United Kingdom has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1919, the second was from 1939 to 1960, with the last conscripted soldiers leaving the service in 1963...
, but failed to report on the specified date. Knowing that the British authorities would be on his trail, he fled initially to the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and thence to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where he spent several years. By 1955 he had settled in the United States, establishing a successful antiques business in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his partner, Charles Gibson. He made sporadic ventures into acting at this time, notably in a 1956 Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...
adaptation of A Night to Remember.
Following the break-up of his relationship and the dissolution of the antiques business, North moved to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
where he spent some years as a speedboat racer, before relocating again in 1980 to Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It is not clear exactly when North finally decided to return to England, but he was back by the mid 1990s. He learned that director David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
was planning a remake of The Winslow Boy
The Winslow Boy (1999 film)
The Winslow Boy is a 1999 period drama film directed by David Mamet. Starring Nigel Hawthorne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Northam and Gemma Jones. Set in London before World War I, it depicts a family defending the honor of its young son at all cost. The screenplay was adapted by Mamet based on ...
and contacted an agent, who arranged a reading with Mamet. Mamet was favourably impressed and cast North in the role of First Lord of the Admiralty – Mamet later said that at the time of casting he had no idea that North had starred in the 1948 film, and that it came as an unexpected bonus to discover his association with the story.
North played a minor role as one of the four tutors in the hugely successful 2000 film Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot is a 2000 British drama film written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. Set in the fictional town of "Everington" in the real County Durham, UK, it stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older...
. His last screen appearance was as an extra in Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's 2006 film The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd (film)
The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...
.
North died in London on 7 March 2007, aged 74.
Filmography
- 1948 : The Winslow BoyThe Winslow Boy (1948 film)The Winslow Boy is a 1948 film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy. It was made by De Grunwald Productions and distributed by the British Lion Film Corporation. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald with Teddy Baird as associate producer. The...
- dir. Anthony AsquithAnthony AsquithAnthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations... - 1948 : Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill - dir. Lawrence HuntingtonLawrence HuntingtonLawrence Huntington was a British film director, screenwriter and producer.Huntington was born in London on 9 March 1900, he directed more than thirty films following his debut feature After Many Years in 1930, later going on to work in television before his death in 1968.-Partial filmography:*...
- 1949 : Britannia MewsBritannia MewsBritannia Mews is a 1949 British drama film directed by Jean Negulesco and starring Dana Andrews, Maureen O'Hara, Sybil Thorndike, Fay Compton and A.E. Matthews. In Victorian London, a young woman marries a poor drunken artist and struggles to make ends meet...
- dir. Jean NegulescoJean NegulescoJean Negulesco was a Romanian-born American film director and screenwriter.... - 1949 : Traveller's JoyTraveller's JoyTraveller's Joy is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Googie Withers, John McCallum and Maurice Denham. It was the last film released by the original Gainsborough Pictures.-Plot:...
- dir. Ralph ThomasRalph ThomasRalph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films.... - 1951 : Tom Brown's SchooldaysTom Brown's Schooldays (1951 film)Tom Brown's Schooldays is a 1951 British drama film directed by Gordon Parry and starring John Howard Davies, Robert Newton and James Hayter. It is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Hughes. The screenplay was written by Noel Langley....
- dir. Gordon ParryGordon Parry (film director)Gordon Parry was a British film director and producer. Born in Aintree on 24 July 1908, he directed his first film Third Time Lucky in 1948. He died in 1981.-Selected filmography:* Third Time Lucky * Fast and Loose... - 1999 : The Winslow BoyThe Winslow Boy (1999 film)The Winslow Boy is a 1999 period drama film directed by David Mamet. Starring Nigel Hawthorne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Northam and Gemma Jones. Set in London before World War I, it depicts a family defending the honor of its young son at all cost. The screenplay was adapted by Mamet based on ...
- dir. David MametDavid MametDavid Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar... - 2000 : Billy ElliotBilly ElliotBilly Elliot is a 2000 British drama film written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. Set in the fictional town of "Everington" in the real County Durham, UK, it stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older...
- dir. Stephen DaldryStephen DaldryStephen David Daldry, CBE is an English theatre and film director and producer, as well as a three-time Academy Award nominated and Tony Award winning director.-Early years:... - 2006 : The Good ShepherdThe Good Shepherd (film)The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...
- dir. Robert De NiroRobert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...