JACK HAWKINS

:''This article deals with the English actor Jack Hawkins. If you are searching for the AFL player, see Jack Hawkins (footballer)''
'John Edward "Jack" Hawkins' (September 14, 1910 – July 18, 1973) was an English film actor of the 1950s and 1960s.
Hawkins made his London stage debut aged 12, and was appearing on Broadway in ''Journey's End'' by the age of 18. Although he appeared in several films during the 1930s, it was only after service in World War II that he began to build a successful career in the cinema, often playing stern but sympathetic authority figures in films like ''Angels One Five'' (1952), ''The Long Arm'' (1956) and ''The Cruel Sea'' (1953), the film that made him a star. Ironically Hawkins was politically liberal and an emotional man, in sharp contrast to his conservative screen image.
From the late 1950s he mostly appeared in character roles, often in epic films like ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), ''Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962) (playing General Edmund Allenby) and ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' (1969). For ''Kwai'', he had to convince his good friend, Alec Guinness, to take the lead role, which would ultimately win Guinness an Oscar.
Some of his more unusual roles included an Egyptian Pharaoh in ''Land of the Pharaohs'' (1955), Ben Hur's adoptive Roman father Quintus Arrius in ''Ben-Hur'' (1959), and ''Zulu'' (1964), where he played against type as the fanatical Rev. Otto Witt.
He was married to Jessica Tandy from 1932 to 1942 and later to Doreen Lawrence from 1946 until his death in 1973.
In December 1965, Hawkins was diagnosed with throat cancer and his entire larynx was removed in January of the following year; thereafter his performances were dubbed, often (and to Hawkins's approval) by actor Charles Gray. The loss of his voice was all the more tragic as he had spoken in a very rich baritone and a cultured accent. However, his voice had clearly been failing since the late 1950s - unknown to the public, he had undergone cobalt treatment in 1959 for what was described as a secondary condition of the larynx. In private, he used a mechanical larynx to aid his speech.^[1]
Hawkins died in 1973 following an operation to insert an artificial voicebox. He was 62. His final appearance was in the television miniseries ''QB VII''. His autobiography, titled "Anything For a Quiet Life", was published after his death.

Contents

Selected filmography

References

External links

Selected filmography

★ ''Tales That Witness Madness'' (1973)

★ ''Theatre of Blood'' (1973)

★ ''Young Winston'' (1972)

★ ''Kidnapped'' (1971)

★ ''Nicholas and Alexandra'' (1971)

★ ''Jane Eyre'' (1970)

★ ''Waterloo'' (1970)

★ ''Monte Carlo or Bust'' (1969)

★ ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' (1969)

★ ''Lord Jim'' (1965)

★ ''Guns at Batasi'' (1964)

★ ''Zulu'' (1964)

★ ''Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962)

★ ''Ben-Hur'' (1959)

★ ''The League of Gentlemen'' (1959)

★ ''Gideon's Day'' (USA: Gideon of Scotland Yard) (1958)

★ ''The Two-Headed Spy'' (1958)

★ ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957)

★ ''The Man in the Sky'' (1957)

★ ''The Long Arm'' (1956)

★ ''The Prisoner'' (1955)

★ ''Land of the Pharaohs'' (1955)

★ ''Front Page Story'' (1954)

★ ''The Intruder'' (1954)

★ ''Angels One Five'' (1953)

★ ''The Cruel Sea'' (1953)

★ ''Malta Story'' (1953)

★ ''The Planter's Wife'' (1952)

★ ''Mandy'' (1952)

★ ''No Highway'' (1951)

★ ''The Black Rose'' (1950)

★ ''State Secret'' (1950)

★ ''The Elusive Pimpernel'' (1950)

★ ''The Small Back Room'' (1949)

★ ''Bonnie Prince Charlie'' (1948)

★ ''The Fallen Idol'' (1948)

★ ''The Next of Kin'' (1942)

★ ''Peg of Old Drury'' (1935)

★ ''The Good Companions'' (1933)

★ ''The Lodger'' (1932)

References

1. Anything for a Quiet Life, , Jack, Hawkins, Coronet, 1975, ISBN 0340198664

External links

★

★ British Cinema Greats Page