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Stage and screen actor known for his roles in The Trials of Oscar Wilde, The Dam Busters and Tunes of Glory

The actor John Fraser, who has died aged 89, received his first review while still a teenager, playing a page to Herodias in Oscar Wilde’s Salome. Despite receiving harsh criticism, which noted that his performance had been “undermined by an accent from the worst Glasgow slums”, Fraser harboured few doubts as to his future profession. His response was to take elocution lessons.

Some 20 years later, after a bright career on stage, screen and television, he landed his best role, as Bosie in the film The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960). The Irish playwright had indirectly come to his rescue after the disappointment – shared by many actors at the time – of losing out to Peter O’Toole for the coveted role of Lawrence of Arabia.

Scottish actor John Fraser has died at the age of 89 after a battle with cancer, his family has said.

Richard E. Grant was among those to pay tribute to The Dam Busters and El Cid actor today, posting on twitter:

My friend John Fraser has died at 89. All of us, lucky enough to know him, have benefitted from his Life enhancing generosity, kindness and gift for finding humour in every situation. pic.twitter.com/DPBjWH6cYB

— Richard E. Grant (@RichardEGrant) November 11, 2020

Mark Gatiss also posted a tribute:

A very fine actor, a blistering Bosie, an outrageous memoirist and a beautiful, beautiful man. Rip John Fraser pic.twitter.com/8z4COAAQpY

— Mark Gatiss (@Markgatiss) November 7, 2020

Born in Glasgow in 1931, Fraser broke into film in the early 1950s, playing Flight Lieutenant John Hopgood in the 1955 British classic The Dam Busters, and appearing in the 1957 film adaptation of J. B. Priestley’s The Good Companions,...

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By Mark Mawston

Luc Roeg is the son of seminal director Nicolas Roeg. He appeared in his father’s last narrative film as a cinematographer, and first as a solo director, the much-lauded Walkabout, which received a newly-restored release through Second Sight recently. Nic Roeg began his career as a camera operator on such titles as Cubby Broccoli’s pre-Bond production The Trials of Oscar Wilde and the infamous Dr. Blood’s Coffin before becoming cinematographer on films such as Dr. Crippen and Nothing but the Best. He was one of the many hands behind the camera on the unofficial 1967 Bond entry Casino Royale. Roeg senior also worked with such luminaries as François Truffaut (on the Ray Bradbury adaptation Fahrenheit 451), Richard Lester (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Petulia) and John Schlesinger (Far from the Madding Crowd). However,...

It has become a cliché to quote the age-old maxim that you should never meet your heroes. I am also of the belief that you should never write about meeting them either. But I am going to make an exception for Nicolas Roeg, who passed away aged 90 on November 26, 2018. It’s commonly accepted, and certainly in the tributes that have flowed since his death, that Roeg was a genius of the cinema. In his lifetime he was not always held in such lofty regard, as his longtime friend and producing associate Jeremy Thomas was swift to point out when he chastised the U.K. film establishment for its neglect of one of its most visionary talents. “Roeg was one of the major figures but he wasn’t supported by the British Film Industry. There is something about our culture that we don’t revere our greatest filmmakers, especially if they...

Idiosyncratic film director Nicolas Roeg, whose odd but compelling films included Performance and The Man Who Fell To Earth, has died. He passed away on Friday night of undisclosed causes at age 90, according to his son.

Roeg’s work, which was often opaque and non-traditional, influenced a generation of filmmakers, but wasn’t widely accepted at first. Performance was almost not released, and later re-cut by Warner Bros., whose executives found it almost incomprehensible. It is now considered a classic, decades later.

Before directing, Roeg had built a solid reputation as a cinematographer, winning acclaim for his work on Far From The Madding Crowd and Fahrenheit 451, among others.

But it was his work on Performance that caused a stir. Co-directed with Donald Cammell, its non-linear narrative and dark tones recalled such auteurs as Jean-Luc Godard and Richard Lester. It became a signature piece, leading to such stylized and arty...

Director and noted cinematographer Nicolas Roeg, whose offbeat films included “Performance,” “Don’t Look Now,” “The Witches” and “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” has died. He was 90.

His son Nicolas Roeg Jr. told the BBC his father died Friday night.

A daring and influential craftsman, Roeg’s idiosyncratic films influenced filmmakers including Danny Boyle and Steven Soderbergh.

He worked his way up from the bottom of the business and by the 1960s was much in demand as a cinematographer, responsible for the lensing of films including “Petulia,” “Far From the Madding Crowd” and “Fahrenheit 451.”

The controversial, oddly compelling Mick Jagger-starring “Performance,” which Roeg co-directed with Donald Cammell, was almost not released and then was recut by Warner Bros.; execs at the studio found it incomprehensible as a gangster thriller. It was eventually recut, released in 1970 to modest business and decades later received widespread acclaim as a classic of British cinema.

Dramatizations of the life of playwright Oscar Wilde usually dwell on his sentence to prison with hard labor for homosexuality. The films “Oscar Wilde” and “The Trials of Oscar Wilde,” both of which came out in 1960, put the emphasis on his downfall, as did the biopic “Wilde” from 1997 and numerous theatrical productions, such as “Gross Indecency.”

Rupert Everett played Wilde in a revival of David Hare’s play “The Judas Kiss” in 2012 in London, and now he returns to the role in “The Happy Prince,” which he also wrote and directed. Everett shows little sense of how to structure his material, or how to shoot it, or even sometimes how to act it, but he does have one key element that sees him through: keen insight into Wilde’s world and character. And this insight gets him pretty far here.

“The Happy Prince” begins with title cards explaining who Wilde...

Actor who played many major Shakespearean roles on the stage

Few actors played as many major Shakespearean roles as did Paul Rogers, a largely forgotten and seriously underrated performer, who has died aged 96. It was as though he was barnacled in those parts, undertaken at the Old Vic in the 1950s, by the time he played his most famous role, the vicious paterfamilias Max in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the Aldwych theatre in 1965 (and filmed in 1973).

Staunch, stolid and thuggish, with eyes that drilled through any opposition, Rogers's Max was a grumpy old block of granite, hewn on an epic scale, despite the flat cap and plimsolls – horribly real. Peter Hall's production for the Royal Shakespeare Company was monumental; everything was grey, chill and cheerless in John Bury's design, set off firstly by a piquant bowl of green apples and then by the savage acting.

The Homecoming...

By Lee Pfeiffer

You don't have to be gay to admire John Schlesinger's 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday, but it probably helps in terms of appreciating just how ground-breaking the movie was in its day. As a straight guy of high school age when the film was released, I do remember it causing a sensation, although it would literally take me decades before I finally caught up with it. Gay friends always spoke reverently of the movie and expressed how the most refreshing aspect of the story was how "normally" a loving relationship between two adult men was portrayed. In viewing the film as a recent Criterion Blu-ray release, I feel I can finally appreciate that point of view. Gay men have long been portrayed in movies, of course, but for the most part they have been depicted as objects of ridicule or as sexual deviants. There were the odd...

You might say it’s a good month to be a fan of British cult filmmaker Nicolas Roeg. Just last week the Criterion Collection released the director’s 1985 oddball picture, “Insignificance,” and this week, his landmark science-fiction film “The Man Who Fell to Earth” starring David Bowie is being given a limited U.S. theatrical re-release to mark its 35th anniversary. Roeg began his career as a member of the British film establishment, acting as a camera operator on Fred Zinneman’s “The Sundowners” (1960) and Ken Hughes’ “The Trials of Oscar Wilde” (1960), shooting as second unit photographer on sequences of “Lawrence…...

The British character actor, writer and director Lionel Jeffries has died, following a long illness. He was 83.His film debut was in Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright in 1950, and he was an immediately recognisable face in countless British films for the next two decades. He turned in sterling character work in the likes of The Colditz Story (1955) and The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), and popped up for Hammer in The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958).But he was best known for his comedy roles in the likes of Doctor at Large, Blue Murder at St Trinians (both 1957), and the classic Peter Sellers vehicles Two Way Stretch (1960) and The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963). His premature baldness often lead to his playing far above his real age. He played Dick Van Dyke's father, the eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), despite being six months younger than his onscreen offspring.

The noted British character actor Lionel Jeffries has died in a nursing home at age 83 following a long illness. Jeffries made a career of playing eccentric characters who were often older than his actual years. In his most memorable part, as Grandpa Potts in the 1968 screen version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Potts played Dick Van Dyke's father, even though both actors were essentially the same age. Jeffries also wrote and directed the acclaimed 1970British film version of The Railway Children. Jeffries, who was also a popular stage actor, also appeared in films such as The Trials of Oscar Wilde, Call Me Bwana, Those Fantastic Flying Fools, Camelot and First Men in the Moon.

Prolific actor and director who made the much-loved film The Railway Children

As an actor Lionel Jeffries, who has died aged 83, was a master of comic unease. This was perhaps fuelled by the personal unease he felt in a sex-and-violence era which overtook the gentler sensibilities he sometimes brought to his acting. But he was able to bring these sensibilities fully to bear in his scriptwriting and film directing, particularly in his much-loved adaptation of the classic children's novel The Railway Children. With the latter, he left an indelible mark on the British film industry and generations of teary-eyed viewers.

The son of two devoted workers for the Salvation Army, Jeffries disliked personal publicity and was a zealot when preparing a role (he ran two miles every morning before appearing in the musical Hello Dolly! after an absence from the London stage of 26 years). He deplored permissivism, and was not...

British actor/director Lionel Jeffries has died at the age of 83.

Jeffries, famed for directing kids' classic The Railway Children and for his role as Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, passed away at a nursing home in Poole, England this week (begs15Feb10).

Jeffries served in World War II and was awarded the Burma Star for his bravery before training as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He started his stage career in the theatre before moving into films, mainly portraying comedic characters.

His movie career peaked in the 1960s, with leading roles in a range of films including Camelot, Two-Way Stretch, and The Trials of Oscar Wilde.

In the 1970s, he turned his attention to writing and directing, and helmed several acclaimed children's movies including The Amazing Mr Blunden and The Railway Children.

No further details of Jeffries' death were available as WENN went to press.

London, Feb 19 (Dpa) British actor, screenwriter and film director Lionel Jeffries, best known for his clebrated film version of the ‘Railway Children’ and his role in the movie ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, has died at the age of 83, the BBC reported Friday.

Jeffries appeared in over 70 films, including ‘The Colditz Story’, ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’, ‘The Trials of Oscar Wilde’ and ‘Camelot’.

He directed the colour version of the 1970.

The British actor and director, Lionel Jeffries, has passed away at the age of 83. Jeffries was known for directing the classic children's movie, "The Railway Children."

Jeffries' other film credits include his role as Grandpa Potts in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and as King Pellinore in "Camelot." He also took on roles in films such as "Two-Way Stretch," "The Trials of Oscar Wilde," "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "The Wrong Arm of the Law."

According to his rep from the Liz Hobbs Group, the famed director passed away at his nursing home in Poole, England on Friday following a long illness. Funeral arrangements for Jeffries have not yet been announced.

The British actor and director, Lionel Jeffries, has passed away at the age of 83. Jeffries was known for directing the classic children's movie, "The Railway Children."

Jeffries' other film credits include his role as Grandpa Potts in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and as King Pellinore in "Camelot." He also took on roles in films such as "Two-Way Stretch," "The Trials of Oscar Wilde," "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "The Wrong Arm of the Law."

According to his rep from the Liz Hobbs Group, the famed director passed away at his nursing home in Poole, England on Friday following a long illness. Funeral arrangements for Jeffries have not yet been announced.