John Ruddock Explained

John Ruddock
Birth Name:John Reynolds Ruddock
Birth Date:20 May 1897
Birth Place:Lima, Peru
Death Date:24 September 1981 (aged 84)
Death Place:Guildford, Surrey, England
Occupation:Actor
Yearsactive:1930s-1977
Spouse:Avril Voules (1942-1965) Elizabeth Rudder (1966-1981) (his death)
Children:2

John Ruddock (20 May 1897 – 24 September 1981) was a Peruvian-born British film and television actor.[1]

Biography

John Ruddock was born on 20 May 1897 in Lima, Peru as John Reynolds Ruddock. He was the first of seven children of his British father and American mother.[2] After the family returned to Britain, he was sent to school at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate from 1910 to 1914.

He worked briefly for an insurance company in Liverpool before volunteering to fight in the First World War. He was commissioned into the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and saw action on the Somme and at Passchendaele. He was wounded several times and on one occasion was buried for fifteen hours as a result of an artillery bombardment. In the 1920s he attended the Royal College of Music and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He was in repertory in the 1930s and with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre company at Stratford. During the Second World War he worked for the Entertainments National Service Association.

Further stage performances for the RSC after the war included John of Gaunt in Richard II[3] and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.[4]

In the 1940s and 1950s he had some notable character roles in MGM period films. He also performed numerous roles for the BBC both on radio and television. These included appearances in A Christmas Carol,[5] Dixon of Dock Green,[6] The Avengers[7] and finally in 1977 in the post-apocalyptic fiction series Survivors.[8]

In his latter years he was a drama coach at the Guildford School of Acting. He died in 1981 in Guildford.

Selected filmography

References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20090113202710/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/20919 BFI.org
  2. Book: "Stars of Screen and Stage" Andrew Brown (Archivist) Old Lawrentian News 2011/12 Page 25 . pdf Download . 1 November 2012 . 30 Dec 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141229221332/http://www.olsociety.co.uk/resources/olnews2012.pdf . 29 December 2014 . dead .
  3. Book: The London Stage 1940-1949: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel - J.P.Wearing Page 329 . 22 Aug 2014 . 9780810893061 . 30 Dec 2014. Wearing . J. P. . Rowman & Littlefield .
  4. Book: Stratford-upon Avon Scene magazine Page 150 . 1946 . 30 Dec 2014.
  5. Web site: Schedule - BBC Programme Index.
  6. Web site: John Ruddock. .
  7. Web site: "The Avengers" Mr. Teddy Bear (TV Episode 1962) - IMDb. .
  8. Web site: "Survivors" Bridgehead (TV Episode 1977) - IMDb. .