Jack Hawkins Pics

Jack

Hawkins

14 September 1910

71

Virgo

18 July 1973

Male

Average

Salt and Pepper

Wood Green, Middlesex, London, England

British

White

Ben Hur

London, England

(post-operative complications)

Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE (14 September 1910 - 18 July 1973) was an English film actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.

Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE (14 September 1910 - 18 July 1973) was an English film actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family, Jack was educated at Trinity County School, Wood Green, where he joined his school choir at the age of eight; two years later he sang in the local operatic society`s Patience by Gilbert and Sullivan. Hawkins attended stage school in London, the Italia Conti Academy, which led to his London stage debut in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire on 26 December 1923, a production that also included the young Noël Coward. Hawkins made his New York stage debut on Broadway by 22 March 1929 as Second Lieutenant Hibbert in R. C. Sherriff`s Journey`s End, at the age of 18. From the late 1950s, he mostly appeared in character roles, often in epic films like The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia (playing General Edmund Allenby), Lord Jim and Oh! What a Lovely War. For The Bridge on the River Kwai, he had to persuade good friend Alec Guinness to take the lead role, which would ultimately win Guinness an Oscar. Some of Hawkins more unusual roles included an Egyptian Pharaoh in Land of the Pharaohs, Ben Hur`s adoptive Roman father Quintus Arrius in Ben-Hur, and Zulu, where he played against type as the fanatical coward, Reverend Otto Witt. In reality Hawkins was politically liberal, and an emotional man, in sharp contrast to his conservative screen image. One of his favourite films, The League of Gentlemen, was considered quite groundbreaking for its time in its references to sex. However, though initially sought for the role of a gay barrister in Victim, he turned it down fearing that it might conflict with his masculine image. The role was eventually played by Dirk Bogarde. Hawkins also produced the film adaptation of Peter Barnes`s The Ruling Class (1972), with Peter O`Toole and Alastair Sim. Hawkins was married twice: from 22 October 1932 until 1940 to the actress Jessica Tandy (1909–1994), with whom he had a daughter, Susan; and from 31 October 1947 until his death to Doreen Mary Atkinson (née Beadle), with whom he had a daughter, Caroline and two sons, Nick and Andrew. A three-pack-a-day smoker, Hawkins began experiencing voice problems in the late 1950s; unknown to the public he had undergone cobalt treatment in 1959 for what was then described as a secondary condition of the larynx, but which was probably cancer. In private, he used a mechanical larynx to aid his speech. In December 1965, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. His entire larynx was removed in January of the following year; thereafter his performances were dubbed, often (with Hawkins`s approval) by Robert Rietti or actor Charles Gray. Following an unsuccessful operation to fit him with an artificial voice box, he died at St Stephen`s Hospital, Fulham Road, London, on 18 July 1973. He was 62.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hawkins

Colonel John Edward Hawkins CBE

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