James Fox: Difference between revisions
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In 1964, Fox won a [[BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles]] for ''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]'' (1963), working alongside [[Dirk Bogarde]], [[Sarah Miles]], and [[Wendy Craig]].<ref name="bafta-1964">{{cite news |url= https://awards.bafta.org/award/1964/film/most-promising-newcomer-to-leading-film-roles |title= BAFTA Film - Most Promising Newcomer To Leading Film Roles in 1964 |work= awards.bafta.org |access-date= July 1, 2023}}</ref> | In 1964, Fox won a [[BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles]] for ''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]'' (1963), working alongside [[Dirk Bogarde]], [[Sarah Miles]], and [[Wendy Craig]].<ref name="bafta-1964">{{cite news |url= https://awards.bafta.org/award/1964/film/most-promising-newcomer-to-leading-film-roles |title= BAFTA Film - Most Promising Newcomer To Leading Film Roles in 1964 |work= awards.bafta.org |access-date= July 1, 2023}}</ref> | ||
On 16 June 1965, [[Ken Annakin]]'s period aviation film ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]]'' was released. In this British [[Period film|period]] [[comedy film]], Fox is featured among an international [[ensemble cast]] including [[Stuart Whitman]], | On 16 June 1965, [[Ken Annakin]]'s period aviation film ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]]'' was released. In this British [[Period film|period]] [[comedy film]], Fox is featured among an international [[ensemble cast]] including [[Stuart Whitman]], Sarah Miles, [[Robert Morley]], [[Terry-Thomas]], [[Red Skelton]], [[Benny Hill]], [[Jean-Pierre Cassel]], [[Gert Fröbe]] and [[Alberto Sordi]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0DEEDF173BE13ABC4F52DFB066838E679EDE |title=Movie Review: Those Magnificent Men In their Flying Machines (1965) |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=17 June 1965 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/1964/film/reviews/those-magnificent-men-in-their-flying-machines-or-how-i-flew-from-london-to-paris-in-25-hours-11-minutes-1200420712/ |title=Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines – Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes |date=1 January 1965 |website=Variety |access-date=16 December 2019}}</ref> Some of the other films he acted in during this time are ''[[King Rat (film)|King Rat]]'' (1965),<ref name="tv"/> ''[[The Chase (1966 film)|The Chase]]'' (1966),<ref name="tv"/> ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]'' (1967),<ref name="tv"/> ''[[Isadora (film)|Isadora]]'' (1968),<ref name="tv"/> and ''[[Performance (film)|Performance]]'' (1970).<ref name="acid"/> | ||
===Spiritual life and break from acting=== | ===Spiritual life and break from acting=== | ||
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He has since appeared in the 2000 film ''[[Sexy Beast (film)|Sexy Beast]]'',<ref name="tv"/> the [[The Lost World (2001 film)|2001 adaptation of ''The Lost World'']] as Prof. Leo Summerlee,<ref name="tv"/> ''[[Agatha Christie's Poirot]] – [[Death on the Nile]]'' (2004) as [[Colonel Race]],<ref name="tv"/> and ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)|Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' (2005),<ref name="tv"/> playing [[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|Mr. Salt]], [[List of characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory#Veruca Salt|Veruca Salt]]'s father. He appeared in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[audio drama]] ''[[Shada (Doctor Who)|Shada]]'',<ref name="tv"/> and in 2007, he guest-starred in the British television crime series ''[[Waking the Dead (TV series)|Waking the Dead]]''.<ref name="tv"/> He also appeared opposite his son [[Laurence Fox]] in "Allegory of Love", an episode in the third series of ''[[Lewis (TV series)|Lewis]]''.<ref name="tv"/> He was part of the cast of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (2009 film)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' (2009), as Sir Thomas, leading member of a [[Freemasonry|freemason]]-like secret society.<ref name="tv"/> | He has since appeared in the 2000 film ''[[Sexy Beast (film)|Sexy Beast]]'',<ref name="tv"/> the [[The Lost World (2001 film)|2001 adaptation of ''The Lost World'']] as Prof. Leo Summerlee,<ref name="tv"/> ''[[Agatha Christie's Poirot]] – [[Death on the Nile]]'' (2004) as [[Colonel Race]],<ref name="tv"/> and ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)|Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' (2005),<ref name="tv"/> playing [[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|Mr. Salt]], [[List of characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory#Veruca Salt|Veruca Salt]]'s father. He appeared in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[audio drama]] ''[[Shada (Doctor Who)|Shada]]'',<ref name="tv"/> and in 2007, he guest-starred in the British television crime series ''[[Waking the Dead (TV series)|Waking the Dead]]''.<ref name="tv"/> He also appeared opposite his son [[Laurence Fox]] in "Allegory of Love", an episode in the third series of ''[[Lewis (TV series)|Lewis]]''.<ref name="tv"/> He was part of the cast of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (2009 film)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' (2009), as Sir Thomas, leading member of a [[Freemasonry|freemason]]-like secret society.<ref name="tv"/> | ||
In 2010, he filmed ''[[Cleanskin (film)|Cleanskin]]'', a terrorist thriller directed by Hadi Hajaig | In 2010, he filmed ''[[Cleanskin (film)|Cleanskin]]'', a terrorist thriller directed by Hadi Hajaig.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/16492 |title= Bean, Rampling Join Terrorist Thriller "Cleanskin" |work= Dark Horizons |date= 2 March 2010}}</ref> In 2011 he played [[George V|King George V]] in the film ''[[W.E.]]'', written and directed by [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]].<ref name="w/e">{{cite web|url= http://we-movie.com/m/cast.html |title=W./E film Cast |publisher=We-movie.com |date=18 March 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140911075557/http://we-movie.com/m/cast.html |archive-date=11 September 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | ||
In 2013, he played a lead role alongside [[Natalie Dormer]] | In 2013, he played a lead role alongside [[Natalie Dormer]] in the movie ''A Long Way from Home''.<ref name="acid"/> | ||
==Personal life== | ==Personal life== | ||
Revision as of 22:15, 14 June 2025
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "other uses". Script error: No such module "Distinguish". Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Main otherScript error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor known for his work in film and television. Fox's career began in the 1960s through roles in films such as The Servant and Performance. He is also known for his roles in A Passage to India in 1984 and The Remains of the Day in 1993.
In the 1970s, Fox took a break from acting to focus on personal and spiritual matters, returning to acting in the early 1980s. Over time, he built a reputation for playing a variety of roles, including upper-class figures and more serious characters. He is a member of the Fox family of actors.
Early life
Fox was born on 19 May 1939 in London, the second son of theatrical agent Robin Fox[1] and actress Angela Worthington. His elder brother is actor Edward Fox and his younger brother is film producer Robert Fox. His maternal grandfather was playwright Frederick Lonsdale.[2] Fox applied successfully to study acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.[3]
Career
Early career
Fox first appeared on film as eleven-year-old Toby Miniver in The Miniver Story in 1950.[4] His early screen appearances, both in film and television, were made under his birth name, William Fox.
He appeared in the film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962).[5] Fox's father purportedly attempted to forbid this, fearing his son would lose his job in the bank; nevertheless, Fox took the part.[6]
In 1964, Fox won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for The Servant (1963), working alongside Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, and Wendy Craig.[7]
On 16 June 1965, Ken Annakin's period aviation film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines was released. In this British period comedy film, Fox is featured among an international ensemble cast including Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Robert Morley, Terry-Thomas, Red Skelton, Benny Hill, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi.[8][9] Some of the other films he acted in during this time are King Rat (1965),[5] The Chase (1966),[5] Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967),[5] Isadora (1968),[5] and Performance (1970).[4]
Spiritual life and break from acting
After finishing work on Performance (released 1970, but shot in 1968),[5] Fox suspended his acting career. The film, which starred Fox and Mick Jagger, was deemed so outrageous (at the time) that critics at a preview screening walked out, with one film executive's wife reportedly throwing up in the cinema.[4]
In a 2008 interview, he said: "It was just part of my journey...I think my journey was to spend a while away from acting. And I never lost contact with it – watching movies, reading about it ... so I didn't feel I missed it."[10]
He became an evangelical Christian, working with the Navigators and devoting himself to the ministry.[11] During this time, the only film in which Fox appeared was No Longer Alone (1976), the story of Joan Winmill Brown,[12] a suicidal woman who was led to faith in Jesus Christ by Ruth Bell Graham.[12]
Return to acting
After an absence from acting of several years, in 1981 Fox appeared on television in the Play for Today "Country" by Trevor Griffiths, a comedy drama set against the 1945 UK parliamentary elections. On film he starred in Stephen Poliakoff's Runners (1983),[5] A Passage to India (1984),[5] and Comrades (1986).[5] He played Anthony Blunt in the BBC play by Alan Bennett, A Question of Attribution (1992).[5] He also portrayed the character of Lord Holmes in Patriot Games (1992), as well as Colonel Ferguson in Farewell to the King (1989) and the Nazi-sympathising aristocrat Lord Darlington in The Remains of the Day (1993).
He has since appeared in the 2000 film Sexy Beast,[5] the 2001 adaptation of The Lost World as Prof. Leo Summerlee,[5] Agatha Christie's Poirot – Death on the Nile (2004) as Colonel Race,[5] and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005),[5] playing Mr. Salt, Veruca Salt's father. He appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Shada,[5] and in 2007, he guest-starred in the British television crime series Waking the Dead.[5] He also appeared opposite his son Laurence Fox in "Allegory of Love", an episode in the third series of Lewis.[5] He was part of the cast of Sherlock Holmes (2009), as Sir Thomas, leading member of a freemason-like secret society.[5]
In 2010, he filmed Cleanskin, a terrorist thriller directed by Hadi Hajaig.[13] In 2011 he played King George V in the film W.E., written and directed by Madonna.[14]
In 2013, he played a lead role alongside Natalie Dormer in the movie A Long Way from Home.[4]
Personal life
Fox married Mary Elizabeth Piper in September 1973, with whom he has five children, including Laurence and Jack. Piper died at their home on 19 April 2020.[2][15]
Through his daughter Lydia, his son-in-law is actor Richard Ayoade.[16] His former daughter-in-law is actress Billie Piper, who was married to his son Laurence from 2007 to 2016.[17][18]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | The Miniver Story | Toby Miniver | |
| The Magnet | Johnny Brent | ||
| 1962 | The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner | Gunthorpe | |
| 1963 | Tamahine | Oliver | |
| The Servant | Tony | ||
| 1965 | King Rat | Flight Lieutenant Peter Marlowe | |
| Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines | Richard Mays | ||
| 1966 | The Chase | Jason 'Jake' Rogers | |
| 1967 | Thoroughly Modern Millie | Jimmy Smith | |
| Arabella | Giorgio | ||
| 1968 | Duffy | Stephane Calvert | |
| Isadora | Gordon Craig | ||
| 1970 | Performance | Chas Devlin | |
| 1983 | Runners | Tom Lindsay | |
| 1984 | Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes | Lord Charles Esker | |
| A Passage to India | Cyril Fielding | ||
| 1986 | Absolute Beginners | Henley of Mayfair, Dressmaker to the Queen | |
| The Whistle Blower | Lord | ||
| Comrades | Governor William Norfolk | ||
| 1987 | High Season | Patrick | |
| 1989 | Farewell to the King | Colonel Ferguson | |
| The Mighty Quinn | Thomas Elgin | ||
| 1990 | The Russia House | Ned | |
| 1991 | Afraid of the Dark | Frank | |
| 1992 | Patriot Games | Lord William Holmes | |
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | Lord Darlington | |
| 1997 | Anna Karenina | Aleksei Aleksandrovich Karenin | |
| Never Ever | Arthur Trevane | ||
| 1998 | Shadow Run | Landon-Higgins | |
| Jinnah | Mountbatten | ||
| 1999 | Mickey Blue Eyes | Philip Cromwell | |
| 2000 | Up at the Villa | Sir Edgar Swift | |
| Sexy Beast | Harry | ||
| The Golden Bowl | Colonel Bob Assingham | ||
| 2001 | Lover's Prayer | Old Vladimir | Voice |
| The Mystic Masseur | Mr. Stewart | ||
| 2004 | The Prince and Me | King Haraald | |
| 2005 | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Mr. Salt | |
| 2007 | Mister Lonely | The Pope | |
| 2009 | Sherlock Holmes | Sir Thomas Rotheram | |
| 2010 | Wide Blue Yonder | George | |
| 2011 | W.E. | King George V | |
| 2012 | Cleanskin | Scott Catesby | |
| 2013 | A Long Way From Home [4] | Joseph | |
| The Double | The Colonel | ||
| Effie Gray | Sir Charles Eastlake | ||
| 2018 | Surviving Christmas with the Relatives | Uncle John |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Armchair Theatre | Jay Minton | Episode: Light from a Star |
| 1981 | Play for Today | Philip Carlion | Episode: Country |
| 1982 | Nancy Astor | Waldorf Astor | TV Mini-series |
| 1983 | Anna Pavlova | Victor Dandré | |
| The Road to 1984 | George Orwell | TV movie[19] | |
| 1989 | She's Been Away | Hugh Ambrose | TV movie |
| 1990 | Never Come Back | Foster | TV Mini-series |
| 1992 | A Question of Attribution | Sir Anthony Blunt | TV movie |
| 1993 | Heart of Darkness | Gosse | TV movie |
| 1994 | The Dwelling Place | Lord Fischel | TV Mini-series, 3 episodes[20] |
| Doomsday Gun | Sir James Whittington | TV movie | |
| The Old Curiosity Shop | The Single Gentleman | TV Mini-series | |
| 1995 | The Choir | The Dean, Hugh Cavendish | TV Mini-series, 5 episodes |
| 1996 | Gulliver's Travels | Dr. Bates | TV Mini-series |
| 2001 | Armadillo | Sir Simon Sherrifmuir | |
| The Lost World | Prof. Leo Summerlee | TV movie | |
| 2002 | The Falklands Play | Lord Carrington KCMG MC PC (Foreign Secretary) | |
| 2003 | Cambridge Spies | Lord Halifax | TV Mini-series |
| 2003 | Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale | Jonas Collin | TV movie |
| 2004 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Colonel RaceTemplate:Broken anchor | Episode: Death on the Nile |
| 2005 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Colonel Arthur Bantry | Episode: The Body in the Library |
| Colditz | Lt. Colonel Jimmy Fordham | TV Mini-series | |
| Absolute Power | Gerald Thurnham | Episode: Identity Crisis | |
| 2006 | Suez: A Very British Crisis | Anthony Eden | TV documentary |
| 2007 | Waking the Dead | Dr Bruno Rivelli | Episode: Mask of Sanity |
| 2008 | New Tricks | Ian Figgis | Episode: Spare Parts |
| 2009 | Lewis | Professor Norman Dearing | Episode: Allegory of Love |
| Margaret | Charles Powell | TV movie | |
| Red Riding 1980 | Philip Evans | TV movie | |
| 2010 | Midsomer Murders | Sir Michael Fielding | Episode: Master Class |
| 2011 | Law & Order: UK | Dr. Edward Austen | Episode: The Wrong Man |
| 2012 | Merlin | King Rodor | Episode: Another's Sorrow |
| 2013 | Utopia | The Assistant | 6 episodes |
| The Great Train Robbery | Henry Brooke | TV movie | |
| Downton Abbey | Lord Aysgarth | Episode: The London Season | |
| 2014 | Template:Ill | Ludlow | |
| 1864 | Lord Palmerston | Miniseries | |
| 2015 | Death in Paradise | Martin Goodman | 2 episodes |
| London Spy | James | Episode: Blue |
References
External links
- Template:First word/ Template:PAGENAMEBASE at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Template:First word Template:PAGENAMEBASE at the Internet Broadway DatabaseTemplate:EditAtWikidataTemplate:WikidataCheck
- Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata
- Template:Screenonline name
- James Fox at the British Film InstituteTemplate:Better source needed
- The Guardian – "'Acting ... ? It paid for a bicycle, I seem to remember'"
- James Fox Cast Photograph with Sophie Marceau and Petr Shelokhonov filming Anna Karenina in Russia: [1]
Template:Morice family tree Template:Robin Fox family tree Template:Hanbury Neilson family tree Template:Bafta Award for Most Promising Newcomer Template:Authority control
- ↑ Robert Morley, Robert Morley: a reluctant autobiography (1967), p. 214
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- ↑ James M. Welsh, John C. Tibbetts, The Cinema of Tony Richardson: Essays and Interviews (1999), p. 119: "It was Richardson who gave James Fox his first part as the public school runner who wins the race, despite the fact that his friend, agent Robin Fox, was bitterly against it: "We only had one quarrel, when he forbade me to offer his son 'Willie' James Fox a small role in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, saying that his son had no talent and that for him to quit his job in a bank would be to disrupt his life."
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- ↑ Catherine Cookson's The Dwelling Place at radiotimes.com
- Pages with script errors
- IBDB name template using Wikidata
- 1939 births
- Living people
- 20th-century English male actors
- 20th-century evangelicals
- 21st-century English male actors
- 21st-century evangelicals
- Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
- BAFTA Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles winners
- Converts to evangelical Christianity
- English evangelicals
- English male film actors
- English male television actors
- Male actors from London
- People educated at Harrow School
- Robin Fox family