John Bown (1 July 1934 – 5 November 2017) was a British actor, film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Commander Neil Stafford in the final season of the television series Doomwatch.
Life and career John Bown was born on 1 July 1934 in Corfe Mullen, Dorset and educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wimborne Minster. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and some time after went into repertory in Salisbury and Birmingham. He played Jack Hunter in the British premiere of The Rose Tattoo, performed by the New Shakespeare Theatre Company under the direction of Sam Wanamaker in November 1958, and continued in the role when the company transferred the production to the New Theatre, London in 1959. His performance was described as "impressive" by one critic, with another saying "the love-scene between Miss Feller and Mr Bown, for all its wild abandon on her part and desperate abstentions on his, has a rare and tender radiance." Earlier the same year, he had appeared as Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with the same company. A critic wrote "One will not quickly forget ... that interminable second act showdown between the life-loving father (Leo McKern) and the wife-hating son (John Bown), each condemned to suffer in the way that hurts most." In 1960, his performance as Richard Rich in the premiere of A Man for All Seasons was described by a critic in The Stage as "notable".
In the 1960s, he directed and wrote the screenplay for the short (11-minute) film North West Confidential and the feature film Monique, which starred his wife Sibylla Kay in the title role; they had married in 1960. Afterwards, Bown was planning his next project titled Hey, You! but could not find the backing for it. He resumed acting.
From 1974 to 1975 he played Colonel Maurel in the play Grand Manoeuvres by A. E. Ellis at The Old Vic, London. Also in 1975, he appeared with the Oxford Playhouse Company in The Caretaker and Death of a Salesman, of which a critic wrote that Bown and Richard Durden "give passionate accounts of the sons. The blood pressure never drops." From 1976 to 1979 he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in 16 productions in seven major theatres. Among them was the play Half an hour please! which he wrote and acted in, with the production designed by Judi Dench. One reviewer described it as "a jewel of a piece [that] would lend itself superbly to television."
On television, he appeared in Dr. Who and the Daleks as Antodus (1965), in Doomwatch as Commander Neil Stafford (1972), and as the lead character Detective Inspector Tom Masefield in Margot Bennett's 1965 series The Big Spender. He also appeared in such television series as The Four Just Men, No Hiding Place, The Baron, The Champions and Blake's 7.
Bown had two children with his wife Sibylla. He died in Hampstead in 2017.
Selected stage performances Year Title Author Theatre Role Company 1955 Both Ends Meet Arthur Macrae Spa Theatre, Whitby 1956 The Spring Pattern Margaret Luce Playhouse, Salisbury 1956 The School for Wives Molière Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham Horace Alexandra Repertory Company 1957 The Touch of Fear Dorothy and Campbell Christie Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham Michael Stanham Alexandra Repertory Company 1957 Plaintiff in a Pretty Hat Hugh Williams and Margaret Williams Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham Lord Plynlimmon Alexandra Repertory Company 1958 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams New Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool Brick New Shakespeare Theatre Company 1958 The Deserters Norman Thaddeus Vane Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool Eddy 1958 Bus Stop William Inge New Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool Beauregard "Bo" Decker New Shakespeare Theatre Company 1958 The Rose Tattoo Tennessee Williams New Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool Jack Hunter New Shakespeare Theatre Company; British premiere 1959 The Rose Tattoo Tennessee Williams New Theatre, London Jack Hunter Donmar Productions Ltd, Gilda Dahlberg and Sam Wanamaker Productions Ltd, and New Shakespeare Theatre Club 1960 A Man for All Seasons Robert Bolt Gielgud Theatre, London Richard Rich Premiere 1961 The Bird of Time Peter Mayne Savoy Theatre, London Captain Alan Craig Allan Davis Company 1962 In the Jungle of Cities Bertolt Brecht Theatre Royal Stratford East George Garga 1966 The Birdwatcher Georges Feydeau, translated and adapted by Richard Cottrell Hampstead Theatre Club Duchotel Hampstead Theatre Club 1966 The Clandestine Marriage Colman and Garrick Chichester Festival Theatre Lovewell 1973 A Winter's Tale Shakespeare Ludlow Festival Leontes 1974 The Front Page Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney; Comedy Theatre, Melbourne; Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide Royal National Theatre 1975 Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller Greenwood Theatre, King's College London; Arts Theatre, London Biff Loman Oxford Playhouse Company 1975 The Caretaker Harold Pinter Warwick Arts Centre Aston Oxford Playhouse Company 1976 Macbeth Shakespeare The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon Lennox Royal Shakespeare Company 1977 Half an Hour, Please John Bown Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle upon Tyne Dresser Royal Shakespeare Company (Bown wrote and performed in this play as part of the Newcastle 'Fringe') 1977 Macbeth Shakespeare Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Lennox Royal Shakespeare Company 1977 The Alchemist Ben Jonson The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon Royal Shakespeare Company 1977 Macbeth Shakespeare RSC Warehouse, London; Young Vic, London Lennox Royal Shakespeare Company 1979 Every Good Boy Deserves Favour Tom Stoppard Oxford Playhouse Alexander Oxford Music Theatre 1987 This Savage Parade Anthony Shaffer King's Head Theatre, London Ophir
Filmography
Actor
Asmodée (1959) as Harry Fanning Tunes of Glory (1960) as One of the Other Officers Out of the Fog (1962) as Herb Bailey Master Spy (1963) as John Baxter Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) as Antodus The Big Spender by Margot Bennett (1965) as Detective Inspector Tom Masefield Quatermass and the Pit (1967) as TV Interviewer (uncredited) The Devil Rides Out (1968) as Receptionist (uncredited) Doomwatch (1972) as Commander Neil Stafford Vampire Circus (1972) as Schilt Fear in the Night (1972) as 1st Policeman Macbeth (1979) as Lennox Dark Corners (2006) as Old Man
Director and screenwriter
North West Confidential (1969) Monique (1970)
References
External links
John Bown at collections.shakespeare.org.uk John Bown at Theatricalia