James Ellis (15 March 1931 – 8 March 2014) was a Northern Irish actor and theatre director from Belfast who had a career stretching over sixty years. Originally a stage actor and director in his native city, he moved to London in the early 1960s. After gaining recognition in Great Britain through the Z-Cars (1962–78) police series on BBC1, he appeared in many other television and film roles. He was also a translator.
Early life Jimmy Ellis was born in Belfast where he attended Methodist College. He later studied at Queen's University Belfast and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Career Ellis began to act with the Belfast-based Ulster Group Theatre in 1952. He first appeared in a revival of the Louis D'Alton playRobert Welch (ed), The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 131-32 They Got What They Wanted (1947). Ellis became established as the company's young male lead in such plays as April in Assagh, where he was cast as McFettridge (1954), Is the Priest at Home? as O'Grady (1954), and The Diary of Anne Frank as Peter van Daan (1957).
While continuing as an actor in the main company, he also undertook the management of the group's summer theatre in the port town of Larne, north of Belfast. Ellis' most important roles for the group included the lead figure of Christy Mahon in a production of J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in 1957.
In December 1958 Ellis had been appointed the Group Theatre's Director of Productions. However, he resigned this position in July 1959 to direct Sam Thompson's controversial play Over the Bridge (1960), which had been withdrawn from production in rehearsals after the Group's board deemed the play too inflammatory. It was subsequently staged by a group of actors and directors who had quit the Group Theatre in protest over the board's decision.James Ellis: Troubles Over the Bridge: A First Hand Account of the Over the Bridge Controversy and its Aftermath. Lagan Press. 2016.
Ellis soon left Northern Ireland for London, where his first break came when he was cast as Dandy Jordan in the BBC TV production of Stewart Love's The Randy Dandy, which aired on 14 September 1961. It was an "Angry" play deemed so controversial and sexually charged that the BBC gave a warning before the transmission that it was "unsuitable for people of a nervous disposition".
His success as Dandy made him a sought-after actor and led to subsequent roles with the BBC and ITV, including as Philip in the BBC production of Stewart Love's The Sugar Cube (transmitted 21 June 1961) and ultimately his role as Bert Lynch in Z-Cars (1962–78). In this police series, set in the fictional Newtown in Lancashire, his character rose from the rank of PC to Inspector over the series' run. Ellis appeared in 629 episodes of this series, an all-time record for any actor's appearances in a TV detective/police series. The impact of Z-Cars was such that he became a household name in this era. In addition he appeared in a January 1967 episode of the Z-Cars spin-off Softly, Softly ("Barlow Was There: Part 3: Mischief"), which reunited the now DC Lynch with his former Newtown colleagues, Barlow (Stratford Johns), Watt (Frank Windsor) and Blackitt (Robert Keegan).
From 1982, he portrayed Norman Martin, the violent and troubled father of Billy, in the "Billy" trilogy of plays by Graham Reid, all of which were broadcast as part of the Play for Today series. The first of the plays, Too Late to Talk to Billy, was followed by A Matter of Choice for Billy (1983) and A Coming to Terms for Billy (1984). A postscript to the trilogy, Lorna, was broadcast in 1987. In the mid-1980s Ellis was a member of the team of interviewers on "Afternoon Plus", produced by Thames Television.
He appeared in Till Death Us Do Part, Doctor Who, In Sickness and in Health, Ballykissangel, Playing the Field, One By One and the cult sitcom Nightingales, with Robert Lindsay and David Threlfall.
In Antonia Bird's Priest (1994), from a screenplay by Jimmy McGovern, he played Father Ellerton. Ellis also contributed cameos to popular series such as Boys from the Blackstuff by Alan Bleasdale, Only Fools and Horses, The Bill, Casualty, Boon, Common as Muck, Birds of a Feather, Lovejoy and Heartbeat.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2001 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel.
Ellis was also a writer of poems and prose and a translator. The BBC broadcast a selection of his adaptations from French in 2007. In July 2008, Queen's University Belfast awarded Ellis an honorary doctorate as part of its centenary celebrations.
Selected filmography YearTitleRole Notes1958The Adventures of Robin HoodThin ManEpisode: "The Healing Hand"1959Armchair TheatreStephen QuinnEpisode: "A Shilling for the Evil Day"1961Randy DandyDandy JordanTV FilmITV Play of the WeekArchie PriorEpisode: "Over the Bridge"1962 – 1978Z-CarsPC Bert Lynch/ Det. Con. Bert Lynch/ Sgt. Lynch/ Inspector Lynch629 episodes1966Emergency Ward 10TurveyEpisode: "The Long Small Hours"The Scales of JusticeBill KentonEpisode: "The Haunted Man"Where the Bullets FlyFlight Lieutenant FotheringhamFilm1967Softly, Softly Sgt. LynchEpisode: "Barlow Was There" (Part 3: Mischief)1975Till Death Us Do PartPolice SergeantEpisode: "Drunk In Charge of a Bicycle"1980High Rise DonkeyPolicemanFilm1982Boys from the BlackstuffWinoEpisode: "Yosser's Story"The Chinese DetectiveFather GormanEpisode: "Pasts"1982 – 1984Play for TodayNorman Martin3 episodes1984Hammer House of Mystery and SuspenseFather DowdEpisode: "Mark of the Devil"Tripper's DayThe GrazerEpisode: "Special Offers"1984 – 1987One by OnePaddy Reilly32 episodes1985Big DealO' ConnorEpisode: "The Rabbit and the Hare"No SurrenderPaddy BurkeFilm1986The PracticeWalter Petitt4 episodes1987BoonJames McGillivrayEpisode: "Fiddler Under the Roof"LornaNorman MartinTV FilmThe MarksmanDoyle2 episodes (TV mini-series)1987 – 1996Screen TwoMr. McCoy/ Albert McVea/ Andrew Carson3 episodes1988All in Good FaithNormanEpisode: "Behold a Pale Rider"TroublesMurphy2 episodes (TV mini-series)1989All Creatures Great and SmallRoddy TraversEpisode: "In Whom We Trust"Doctor WhoPeter WalmsleySerial: "Battlefield" (3 episodes)Hard CasesMr. AinsleyEpisode #2.41990BoonThomas O'RoukeEpisode: "Rival Eyes"Little Sir NicholasPenfold3 episodes1990 – 1993NightingalesSarge13 episodes1991So You Think You've Got Troubles?Charlie Adamson6 episodesWoof!Mr. FitzherbertEpisode #3.51992In Sickness and in HealthMichael7 episodesPerfect Scoundrels Joe DeeganEpisode: "The Long Way Home"1993LovejoyNiall SheehanEpisode: "Never Judge a Book by Its Cover"1994Common as MuckWalterEpisode: "Supercrew at the Job Centre"The DetectivesCustoms OfficerEpisode: "Dutch Cops"PriestFather EllertonFilm1995Leapin' Leprachauns!PatrickFilmThe Near RoomPatFilmOliver's TravelsNedEpisode: "Land of My Fathers"1996Accused George SullivanEpisode: "George"Spellbreaker: Secret of the LeprachaunsPatrickFilm1997Mike and AngeloHarry AndrewsEpisode: "Jitterbugs"1998Birds of a FeatherFather CollinsEpisode: "Holy Ground"Noah's ArkGeorge WilliamsEpisode: "Deep Waters"Resurrection ManIvor CoppinghamFilm1998 – 1999BallykissangelUncle Minto4 episodes1998 – 2002Playing the FieldMr. Mullen26 episodes1999Big Bad WorldVincent Dempsey3 episodesDragonworld: The Legend ContinuesMcCoyTV Film2000SunburnCharles CloughEpisode #2.62001CasualtyBrian O'ConnorEpisode: "Girl Power"2002Only Fools and HorsesGeorge ParkerEpisode: "Strangers on the Shore"2003Conspiracy of SilenceJim O'BrienFilm2004The BillBrian WebberEpisode: "A Different Kind of Justice"CasualtyRegEpisode: "The Ties that Bind Us" (2 episodes)HeartbeatBagger/ Winston ParkerEpisode: "Double Trouble"2005Down to EarthLenny ScottEpisode: "Tall Tales"2012Eternal LawJoe BarlowEpisode #1.3
Personal life Ellis' first marriage was to actress Beth Ellis with whom he had three children, Amanda, Adam and Hugo. They divorced in the late 1960s. In 1976 Ellis married his second wife, Robina, by whom he had another son, Toto. Adam was murdered in London in August 1988. The murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989. Hugo, who followed his father into professional acting and directing, died by suicide in January 2011, aged 49.
Death Ellis died of a stroke on 8 March 2014 in Lincoln, aged 82. He is interred in Castlereagh Presbyterian Churchyard in Belfast."Jimmy Ellis Belfast Actor My Graveside Tribute" – YouTube, 4 December 2019
Legacy
The James Ellis Bridge in East Belfast, on a route between CS Lewis Square and Victoria Park, was opened in March 2017 by his widow Robina, three years after Ellis' death.
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