Rosamund John (19 October 1913 – 27 October 1998), born Nora Rosamund Jones, was an English film and stage actress.[1]

Rosamund John
Born
Nora Rosamund Jones

(1913-10-19)19 October 1913
Tottenham, England
Died27 October 1998(1998-10-27) (aged 85)
London, England
OccupationActress
Years active1934–1957
Spouses
(m. 1943; div. 1949)
(m. 1950; died 1987)

Early life

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Nora Jones was born and brought up in Tottenham in north London, the daughter of Frederick Henry Jones, a wine merchant's clerk, and his wife, Edith Elizabeth (née Elliott).[2] She was educated at Tottenham high school before studying for the theatre at the Embassy School of Acting.[2]

Career

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At the age of nineteen, John was introduced to actor–director Milton Rosmer, who cast her in several minor stage roles before casting her in his film The Secret of the Loch (1934).[2] Following several more years of stage work she was cast opposite Leslie Howard in The First of the Few (1942).[2][3] This led to her being cast in Howard's next film as a director, The Gentle Sex (1943).[4] Howard cast John in her next film The Lamp Still Burns (1943), which he produced, but he was killed during the film's production when his plane was shot down returning from Lisbon.[2][4] John became one of Britain's most popular screen stars, second only to Margaret Lockwood as Britain's favourite female star in 1944, and credited her career ascendance to Howard.[2] She next starred in the rural wartime comedy Tawny Pipit (1944), made by Two Cities Films, which, according to John, went on to be popular with American audiences as "it was everything the Americans thought of as being English."[5]

John co-starred in Anthony Asquith's wartime drama The Way to the Stars (1945), following which she appeared in the medical wartime thriller Green for Danger (1946). 1947 saw her star with James Mason in The Upturned Glass (1947), with Michael Redgrave in the Boulting Brothers' political drama Fame is the Spur (1947) and with Patricia Roc in the drama When the Bough Breaks (1947).[3]

Personal life

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John was twice married, first to film editor Russell Lloyd, from 1943 to 1949, with whom she had a son named John, and then to politician John Silkin from 1950 to 1987, with whom she had her second son, Rory.[2][6]

She died at a nursing home in Clapham, London in 1998, aged 85.[2][7]

Filmography

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Year Title Notes
1934 The Secret of the Loch
1939 Lucky to Me
1942 The First of the Few Titled Spitfire in the USA
1943 The Gentle Sex
The Lamp Still Burns
1944 Tawny Pipit
1945 The Way to the Stars
1946 Green for Danger
1947 The Upturned Glass
Fame Is the Spur
When the Bough Breaks
1949 No Place for Jennifer
1950 She Shall Have Murder
1952 Never Look Back
1953 Street Corner
1957 Operation Murder

Sources

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  • Halliwell, Leslie and John Walker. Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies. Harper Resource, 2001. ISBN 0-06-093507-3.

References

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  1. ^ "Rosamund John". BFI. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "John, Rosamund [real name Nora Rosamund Jones] (1913–1998)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71127. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition. Oxford University Press. p. 399; ISBN 9781526111968
  4. ^ a b McFarlane, Brian (1997). An Autobiography of British Cinema. London: Methuen. p. 329; ISBN 0-413-70520-X
  5. ^ McFarlane, Brian (1997). An Autobiography of British Cinema. London: Methuen. p. 330; ISBN 0-413-70520-X
  6. ^ "Rosamund John (Silkin): Transcript". The History Project. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  7. ^ Tom Vallance (2 November 1998). "Obituary: Rosamund John – Arts and Entertainment". The Independent. London. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
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