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Leading light of the British stage once seen as Gielgud's successor

John Neville, who has died aged 86, was a leading light of the Old Vic, the charismatic artistic director of the Nottingham Playhouse in the early 1960s and, after emigrating to Canada in 1972, a renowned leader of that country's theatre, notably at Stratford, Ontario. Tall, handsome and authoritative on the stage, and best known today, perhaps, for his sinister role as the Well-Manicured Man in The X-Files on television – was he on the side of good or evil? – he was often thought of as the natural successor to John Gielgud.

He found huge matinee-idol success early on, in the Gielgud roles of Hamlet and Richard II, though his patrician veneer and noble bearing could be easily discarded, as he showed to devastating effect in 1963, when he played Bill Naughton's Alfie at the Mermaid theatre, the role that became Michael Caine...

Julie Christie in Joseph Losey‘s The Go-Between Julie Christie, one of the greatest performers of the last half century and an ardent political activist for liberal causes, has her day on Monday, Aug. 2, as part of Turner Classic Movies‘ "Summer Under the Stars" series. Along with better-known Christie vehicles such as Doctor Zhivago (1965), Darling (1965, right), and Shampoo (1975), TCM will be showing lesser-known, little-seen fare such as Ken Annakin‘s 1963 comedy The Fast Lady, Christie’s second feature-film appearance, and Peter Wood‘s psychological drama In Search of Gregory (1969). Not all of the movies are good and Christie, no matter how great an actress, wasn’t always wisely cast. In both Doctor Zhivago and Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), for instance, she feels much too modern in period clothes. Curiously, she’s flawless in Joseph Losey‘s masterful period drama The Go-Between (1971), one of the seminal releases of the ’70s.

He got his big break playing Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and now, 34 years later, John Hurt is at it again

There's something disturbing about John Hurt. That familiar Mount Rushmore face seems to have ironed itself out. It was once compared to a komodo dragon – even his lines seemed to have lines – but today he looks peachy as a schoolboy. You've been on the Botox, haven't you? He roars with how-dare-you laughter. "Nah! Hahahaha! No. Don't say that. That would be awful. Not in a million years would I do that." He's got a point: take away the cracks and creases, and his job prospects would diminish no end. His face is one of the most distinctive in the movies. Almost as distinctive as his voice, dripping with honey and acid, often at the same time. Look, he admits, there might well be a reason for his...