My friend the actor John Forrest, who has died aged 80, combined a distinguished film career with work as a stage magician. He had his first success as a child actor, in David Lean's classic movie Great Expectations (1946), as the "pale young gentleman" – the young Herbert Pocket.
Known later for his many supporting roles playing very "British" characters such as Grassy Green in Very Important Person (1961), he was in fact born in the Us, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His English mother, an artist, had married an American lawyer, and when the marriage broke up after a few years, she brought John and his sister to England where they lived in the village of Cookham, Berkshire. Their neighbours were the painter Stanley Spencer and his equally eccentric brother, Horace, who taught John magic.
Following his early film success, John acted alongside such distinguished actors as David Niven, in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Richard Attenborough,...
Known later for his many supporting roles playing very "British" characters such as Grassy Green in Very Important Person (1961), he was in fact born in the Us, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His English mother, an artist, had married an American lawyer, and when the marriage broke up after a few years, she brought John and his sister to England where they lived in the village of Cookham, Berkshire. Their neighbours were the painter Stanley Spencer and his equally eccentric brother, Horace, who taught John magic.
Following his early film success, John acted alongside such distinguished actors as David Niven, in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Richard Attenborough,...
- 5/6/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
A child star as Oliver Twist, he became a key figure in epoch-making TV comedy
'Please, sir – I want some more." Rationing was still in force when, under the eye of David Lean's camera, a thin, pale eight-year-old boy named John Howard Davies raised his gruel bowl and dared to request a second serving. That image of Davies in Oliver Twist (1948) spoke to the mood of the moment – suggesting the sort of deprivation that postwar Britain was attempting to legislate out of existence. One scene called for Davies, who has died of cancer aged 72, and his fellow child actors to look on enviously as the bigwigs of the workhouse devoured a great pile of pastries, hams and chicken. The astonished expressions are genuine. None of these boys had ever seen food like it.
The film's production company, Cineguild, had launched a national campaign to secure a talented unknown for the title role.
'Please, sir – I want some more." Rationing was still in force when, under the eye of David Lean's camera, a thin, pale eight-year-old boy named John Howard Davies raised his gruel bowl and dared to request a second serving. That image of Davies in Oliver Twist (1948) spoke to the mood of the moment – suggesting the sort of deprivation that postwar Britain was attempting to legislate out of existence. One scene called for Davies, who has died of cancer aged 72, and his fellow child actors to look on enviously as the bigwigs of the workhouse devoured a great pile of pastries, hams and chicken. The astonished expressions are genuine. None of these boys had ever seen food like it.
The film's production company, Cineguild, had launched a national campaign to secure a talented unknown for the title role.
- 8/25/2011
- by Matthew Sweet
- The Guardian - Film News
Director/producer John Howard Davies has died at the age of 72.
He passed away at his home in Blewbury, England on Monday after a long battle with cancer.
Davies first appeared onscreen as orphan Oliver Twist in David Lean's 1948 adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel and he also starred in the Rocking Horse Winner, Tom Brown's Schooldays and The Magic Box.
He stepped behind the camera professionally in the late 1960s and became a director/producer of classic British TV shows like The Good Life, The Goodies, Only Fools and Horses, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Mr. Bean.
Davies was the Head of BBC Comedy from 1977 to 1982.
He passed away at his home in Blewbury, England on Monday after a long battle with cancer.
Davies first appeared onscreen as orphan Oliver Twist in David Lean's 1948 adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel and he also starred in the Rocking Horse Winner, Tom Brown's Schooldays and The Magic Box.
He stepped behind the camera professionally in the late 1960s and became a director/producer of classic British TV shows like The Good Life, The Goodies, Only Fools and Horses, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Mr. Bean.
Davies was the Head of BBC Comedy from 1977 to 1982.
- 8/23/2011
- WENN
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