After putting a link about The Blue Lamp on another thread, I thought I'd pay tribute to one of britain's best character actors. Jack of course is famous for the role of George Dixon in both the film The Blue Lamp and, despite being killed off in the film, Dixon Of Dock Green, a series that lasted over 20-yrs. Though popular Dixon wasn't as tough as The Blue Lamp, because in the 50s tv cop shows in the UK woudn't have got away with being to realistic. That began to change with Z-Cars in the 60s with Brian Blessed and in the 70s with the very realistic The Sweeney with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman. Though funnilly enough Dixon, influenced by Z-Cars, did toughen up, then in the 70s Z-Cars lost it's hard hitting edge a bit, that both it and Dixon were almost identical.
Jack did many other character roles. In Against The Wind, he was a war-time British secret agent, who was actually a Nazi spy, who was killed while shaving by action heroine,Signoret, once she discovered he was a double agent. In the late 40s he did a series of films about The Huggett's with Katheleen Harrison as his wife, Petula Clark as a daugher and Jimmy Hanley a son-in-law. He played an aging international cricket player playing his last game in The Final Test, in film with Robert Morley and in cameo roles cricketers Len Hutton and Jim Laker.
His other films include The Captive Heart with Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, he played a detective in Emergency Call and was Alistair Sim's crooked boss in Scrooge
One of Jack's greatest films was as Virginia McKenna's dad in the classic war movie Carve Her Name With Pride
Jack Warner, the actor
Re: Jack Warner, the actor
Thanks. I wanted to see if you'd expand on any films of his that you'd recommend. What can you tell me about his HUGGETTS films?
He's such an 'everyman face', sort of plodding, slow, usually 'underestimated' when his role is one of authority. I've always loved watching 1962's JIGSAW to see the transition he goes thru from this tired, ready-to-retire deteective on one last murder case, being yoked with this upstart high-energy younger "know nothing" detective. And seeing them each stoke the coals in the other.
I too have always been glad that, after he was killed in BLUE LAMP, he got better for DIXON. Orson Welles chose the opposite path after getting killed in THIRD MAN. When he decided he really loved the Harry Lime character, he decided to dial back the hands of time and write 50-odd scripts for a radio show set in the years prior to his Vienna demise. I'm not sure that Orson ever really got better, though. (Why should he? Heck, Joseph Cotten gets Alida Valli in this film - more or less - and certainly a couple of years later in WALK SOFTLY. I'd probably yank the coffin cover tight over me, too! Joseph Cotten? Over ME?!! Just kill me... please...)
Jack, on the other hand, kept his features in that relatively constant older, rumpled version that he'd use so well. He, Kenneth More and Jack Hawkins always get my votes for Top 3 Character Actors, although Trevor Howard seems to be my #1 choice when I see his films afterwards. Warner's physical presence - that 'almost a wallflower' presence - makes him easy for me to forget. But when he steps to the foreground, I appreciate him all the more.
From his IMDB catalog, it appears he was satisfied with DIXON TV because he did only a few films after it started in 1955. But what films! JIGSAW (1962) is a great one. QUATERMASS with Brian Donlevy and some cactusy makeup was released in 1955 (I love that film - how many crashed rocket landings can you just drive the family stationwagon up to these days?!!)
Then THE LADYKILLERS, released in 1955, too. CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE three years later, and a couple of others I don't know (NOW & FOREVER and HOME & AWAY). A lot of actors never get their names put on even three classics, much less Warner's catalog.
He's such an 'everyman face', sort of plodding, slow, usually 'underestimated' when his role is one of authority. I've always loved watching 1962's JIGSAW to see the transition he goes thru from this tired, ready-to-retire deteective on one last murder case, being yoked with this upstart high-energy younger "know nothing" detective. And seeing them each stoke the coals in the other.
I too have always been glad that, after he was killed in BLUE LAMP, he got better for DIXON. Orson Welles chose the opposite path after getting killed in THIRD MAN. When he decided he really loved the Harry Lime character, he decided to dial back the hands of time and write 50-odd scripts for a radio show set in the years prior to his Vienna demise. I'm not sure that Orson ever really got better, though. (Why should he? Heck, Joseph Cotten gets Alida Valli in this film - more or less - and certainly a couple of years later in WALK SOFTLY. I'd probably yank the coffin cover tight over me, too! Joseph Cotten? Over ME?!! Just kill me... please...)
Jack, on the other hand, kept his features in that relatively constant older, rumpled version that he'd use so well. He, Kenneth More and Jack Hawkins always get my votes for Top 3 Character Actors, although Trevor Howard seems to be my #1 choice when I see his films afterwards. Warner's physical presence - that 'almost a wallflower' presence - makes him easy for me to forget. But when he steps to the foreground, I appreciate him all the more.
From his IMDB catalog, it appears he was satisfied with DIXON TV because he did only a few films after it started in 1955. But what films! JIGSAW (1962) is a great one. QUATERMASS with Brian Donlevy and some cactusy makeup was released in 1955 (I love that film - how many crashed rocket landings can you just drive the family stationwagon up to these days?!!)
Then THE LADYKILLERS, released in 1955, too. CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE three years later, and a couple of others I don't know (NOW & FOREVER and HOME & AWAY). A lot of actors never get their names put on even three classics, much less Warner's catalog.
Re: Jack Warner, the actor
Ollie
Found onTube. It's Abroad With The Huggett's and is on sale on DVD. It's more Pet Clark, but Jack and family also feature
Warner and Katheleen Harrison introduced their characters in the film Holiday Camp. The kids joined them in 3 more films, in one was Anthony Newley.
PS If I remember Edward Woodward was killed off in the first season of spy thriller Callan. However, such was the impact of the show, he was brought boack to life again, making a couple more seasons, plus an above average movie version with Eric Porter as his boss. Callan was you could say a younger version of The Equalizer's Robert McColl
Found onTube. It's Abroad With The Huggett's and is on sale on DVD. It's more Pet Clark, but Jack and family also feature
Warner and Katheleen Harrison introduced their characters in the film Holiday Camp. The kids joined them in 3 more films, in one was Anthony Newley.
PS If I remember Edward Woodward was killed off in the first season of spy thriller Callan. However, such was the impact of the show, he was brought boack to life again, making a couple more seasons, plus an above average movie version with Eric Porter as his boss. Callan was you could say a younger version of The Equalizer's Robert McColl
Re: Jack Warner, the actor
I'm going to sneakily locate these. My father- and mother-in-law live across the park from us, and if I can snag any of these classic Brit films they were fond of, it always makes for a most-excellent gift.
Re: Jack Warner, the actor
If I remember Edward Woodward was killed off in the first season of spy thriller Callan. However, such was the impact of the show, he was brought back to life again, making a couple more seasons, plus an above average movie version with Eric Porter as his boss. Callan was you could say a younger version of The Equalizer's Robert McColl. Here's a link