Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland (29 February 1928 – 19 November 2023) was an English actor who appeared in more than 130 film, radio and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Delves Broughton in White Mischief (1987)."Film in 1989" - Winners & Nominees at awards.bafta.org
Early life Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland was born in a basement flat in "then insalubrious" North Kensington, London, on 29 February 1928, the son of Sydney Norman Ackland (died 1981), an Irish journalist who had been sent to England to live with an aunt by his parents for seducing their maid, but subsequently seduced his aunt's maid, Ruth Izod (died 1957), whom he married.My Better Half and Me, Joss Ackland and Rosemary Ackland, Random House, 2010, p. 1People of Today 2017, Debrett's Ltd, 2017, p. 2127Joss Ackland Biography (1928–). FilmReference.com. The Acklands' basement flat was one of "a string of similar places" in which they lived, invariably with "one bedroom and the absolute bare essentials"; Ackland described his upbringing in the Ladbroke Grove area as being "very poor".
Initially educated at Dame Alice Owen's School, Ackland left aged fifteen to become an actor. Thus, Ackland was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.V&A, Theatre and Performance Special Collections, Elsie Fogerty Archive, THM/324
Ackland and Rosemary Kirkcaldy were married on 18 August 1951, when Ackland was 23 and she was 22. She was an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared on stage together in Pitlochry, Scotland. The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in its infancy. In 1954 they moved to Lilongwe in what was then Nyasaland, now Malawi, where Ackland managed a tea plantation for six months but, deciding it was too dangerous, they moved to Cape Town, South Africa. Though they both obtained steady acting jobs in South Africa, after two years they returned to England in 1957.
Career After attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he made his professional debut on stage at just 17 years old, starring in the 1945 production of The Hasty Heart. Ackland joined the Old Vic, appearing alongside other notable actors including Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay. Ackland worked steadily in television and film in the 1960s and 70s.
He worked opposite Alec Guinness in the 1979 television serial Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, playing sporting journalist and intermittent British espionage operative Jerry Westerby, and his career advanced through the 1980s with important parts in such films as The Sicilian, Lethal Weapon 2, The Hunt for Red October and White Mischief. On television Ackland appeared as Jephro Rucastle with Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". Other appearances included Passion of Mind with Demi Moore and the two-part TV serial Hogfather based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld. He played C. S. Lewis in the television version of Shadowlands before it was adapted into a stage play starring Nigel Hawthorne and then a theatrical film with Anthony Hopkins in the same role. His voice (as well as that of Roy Dotrice) was heard reading quotations in several episodes of Jacob Bronowski's 1973 documentary series The Ascent of Man.
His voice was also a mainstay of many British television commercials including Yellow Pages, WK Kellogg Co and Homepride.
Ackland's stage roles included creating the role of Juan Perón in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita opposite Elaine Paige. He also starred in the London production of Stephen Sondheim's and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music with Jean Simmons and Hermione Gingold, performing on the RCA Victor original London cast album.
Ackland appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' 1988 film It Couldn't Happen Here, and in the video for their version of the song Always on My Mind, which was taken from the film. Several years later, he said in an interview with the Radio Times that he had appeared with the band purely because his grandchildren liked their music.
Ackland also co-starred as Emilio Estevez's mentor and friend Hans in the 1992 Disney The Mighty Ducks. He reprised the role four years later in 1996's D3: The Mighty Ducks.
In a 2001 interview with the BBC, Ackland said that he had appeared in some "awful" films due to being a workaholic. He said that he "regretted" appearing in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and the Pet Shop Boys music video. He also criticised former co-star Demi Moore as "not very bright or talented","Joss Ackland admits 'awful' films". BBC News. 6 August 2001 though he worked with her again years later in Flawless (2008).
Also in 2007, Ackland appeared in the film How About You opposite Vanessa Redgrave, portraying a recovering alcoholic living in a residential home after being forced to retire and losing his wife to cancer.
In 2008, Ackland returned to the small screen as Sir Freddy Butler, a much married baronet, in the ITV1 show Midsomer Murders. The episode was entitled Vixens Run.
In September 2013, Jonathan Miller directed a Gala Performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear at the Old Vic in London, with Ackland in the role of Lear.
Personal life and death Ackland and his wife Rosemary (née Kirkcaldy) were married for 51 years. They had seven children,"Travelling with the archetypal Englishman Joss Ackland has spent fifty years in showbusiness" by Alison Jones, The Birmingham Post (12 August, 2008) [CITY Edition]. Retrieved from thirty-two grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Despite his filming taking him to far-flung locations, he said Rosemary and he "were hardly ever apart". Daughter Kirsty married Anthony Shawn Baring, a descendant of the merchant banker Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet and a descendant of Robert Rundell Guinness, founder of the merchant bank Guinness Mahon.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, pp. 1694-5, 2932Burke's Irish Family Records, ed. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1976, p. 531
In 1963, their house in Barnes caught fire. Rosemary, who was pregnant at the time, saved their five children but broke her back when jumping from the bedroom window. She was told she would miscarry and never walk again, but she later gave birth and after 18 months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, was able to walk again. Their eldest son, Paul, died of a heroin overdose in 1982, aged 29. In 2000, Rosemary was diagnosed with motor neurone disease; she died on 25 July 2002.
In 2020, Ackland participated in the "Letters Live" project, and was recorded from his home in Clovelly, Devon. His letter reflected on the COVID-19 crisis and his hopes for how the country could draw "strength from adversity".
Ackland died at home in Clovelly, on 19 November 2023, aged 95.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1949 Landfall O'Neill (uncredited) 1950 Seven Days to Noon 1952 Ghost Ship Ron, a seaman 1959 A Midsummer Night's Dream 1962 In Search of the Castaways Seaman on yacht Uncredited 1966 Rasputin: the Mad Monk The Bishop 1969 Crescendo Carter 1970 The House That Dripped Blood Neville Rogers 1971 Villain Edgar Lewis Mr. Forbush and the Penguins The Leader 1972 The Happiness Cage Dr Frederick 1973 Hitler: The Last Ten Days Gen. Burgdorf Penny Gold Jones England Made Me Haller The Three Musketeers D'Artagnan's Father 1974 The Black Windmill Chief Supt. Wray S*P*Y*S Martinson The Little Prince The King Great Expectations Joe Gargery 1975 One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing B.J. Spence Royal Flash Sapten Operation Daybreak Janák 1977 The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It President 1978 Watership Down Black Rabbit (voice) Silver Bears Henry Foreman The Greek Tycoon Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? Cantrell 1979 A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square Prison Warden Uncredited Saint Jack Yardley 1980 Rough Cut Insp. Vanderveld The Apple Hippie Leader/Mr Topps 1985 A Zed & Two Noughts Van Hoyten 1986 Lady Jane Sir John Bridges 1987 White Mischief Sir Jock Delves Broughton The Sicilian Don Masino Croce It Couldn't Happen Here Priest/Murderer 1988 To Kill a Priest Colonel 1989 Lethal Weapon 2 Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd 1990 The Palermo Connection Mafia boss The Hunt for Red October Ambassador Andrei Lysenko Tre colonne in cronaca Gaetano Leporino 1991 The Object of Beauty Mr Mercer Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey Chuck De Nomolos 1992 The Sheltering Desert Col. Johnston Once Upon a Crime Hercules Popodopoulos Shadowchaser Kinderman The Bridge Smithson The Mighty Ducks Hans 1993 Nowhere to Run Franklin Hale The Princess and the Goblin King Papa (voice) 1994 OcchioPinocchio Brando Miracle on 34th Street Victor Landberg Uncredited Giorgino Father Glaise 1995 Mad Dogs and Englishmen Insp. Sam Stringer The Thief and the Cobbler Brigand (voice) A Kid in King Arthur's Court King Arthur 1996 Surviving Picasso Henri Matisse D3: The Mighty Ducks Hans 1997 Swept from the Sea Mr SwafferFirelightLord Clare 1998 My Giant Monsignor Popescu Uncredited 2000 The Mumbo Jumbo Mayor Smith Passion of Mind Dr Langer, the French Psychiatrist 2002 No Good Deed Mr Thomas Quarre K-19: The Widowmaker Marshal Zelentsov 2003 I'll Be There Evil Edmonds 2004 A Different Loyalty Randolph Cauffield 2005 The Christmas Eve Snowfall (Narrator) Asylum Jack Straffen 2006 These Foolish Things Albert Moscow Zero Tolstoy 2007 How About You Donald 2008 Flawless MKA 2013 Prisoners of the Sun Prof. Mendella 2014 Decline of an Empire Rufus
Television Year Title Role Notes 1957 Destination Downing Street Immelmann TV series 1963 The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling William Stevens 1964,