Kenneth Griffith: Difference between revisions
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'''Kenneth Ewen Griffith''' ([[October 12]], [[1921]] - [[June 25]], [[2006]]) was an British actor and documentary film-maker. |
'''Kenneth Ewen Griffith''' ([[October 12]], [[1921]] - [[June 25]], [[2006]]) was an British actor and documentary film-maker. |
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Born in [[1921]] in [[Tenby]], [[Pembrokeshire]], [[Wales]], he served in the [[RAF]] during [[World War II]] |
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==Acting Career== |
==Acting Career== |
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Griffith gained stage experience with the [[Old Vic]] and in repertory. He made his debut appearance in more than 80 films in [[1941]], largely in character actor parts. |
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He can be spotted in many British films between the 1940s and 1980s, notably as the wireless operator Jack Phillips on board the ''Titanic'' in ''[[A Night to Remember]]'', and especially the comedies of [[John and Roy Boulting|the Boulting brothers]], including ''[[Private's Progress]]'' (1956) and ''[[I'm All Right Jack]]'' (1959). He also portrayed Whitey, the homosexual medic in ''[[The Wild Geese]]'' (1978), though in real life Griffith was heterosexual. |
He can be spotted in many British films between the 1940s and 1980s, notably as the wireless operator Jack Phillips on board the ''Titanic'' in ''[[A Night to Remember]]'', and especially the comedies of [[John and Roy Boulting|the Boulting brothers]], including ''[[Private's Progress]]'' (1956) and ''[[I'm All Right Jack]]'' (1959). He also portrayed Whitey, the homosexual medic in ''[[The Wild Geese]]'' (1978), though in real life Griffith was heterosexual. |
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==Documentary maker== |
==Documentary maker== |
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| ⚫ | In midage, Griffith became a supporter of the [[IRA]]. In [[1973]] Griffith made a documentary film about the life and death of Irish military/political leader, [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] entitled '''Hang out your Brightest Colours''' (which is a line taken from a letter from [[George Bernard Shaw]] to one of Collins' sisters after his death) for [[Associated Television Network|ATV]]. |
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| ⚫ | In midage, Griffith became a supporter of the [[IRA]]. In 1973 Griffith made a documentary film about the life and death of Irish military/political leader, [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] entitled '''Hang out your Brightest Colours''' (which is a line taken from a letter from [[George Bernard Shaw]] to one of Collins' sisters after his death) for [[Associated Television Network|ATV]]. |
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He also contributed to a documentary interviewing then-surviving (now all deceased) IRA guerrillas from the 1920s: Maire Comerford, Joseph Sweeney, Sean Kavanagh, John O'Sullivan, Brigid Thornton, Sean Harling, Martin Walton, David Nelligan (or Neligan) and [[Tom Barry]], titled '''Curious Journey'''. |
He also contributed to a documentary interviewing then-surviving (now all deceased) IRA guerrillas from the 1920s: Maire Comerford, Joseph Sweeney, Sean Kavanagh, John O'Sullivan, Brigid Thornton, Sean Harling, Martin Walton, David Nelligan (or Neligan) and [[Tom Barry]], titled '''Curious Journey'''. |
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Griffith made some documentaries which are said to have shown an anti-[[imperialism|imperialist]] stance. He was a supporter of the [[Boers]] in [[South Africa]]. |
Griffith made some documentaries which are said to have shown an anti-[[imperialism|imperialist]] stance. He was a supporter of the [[Boers]] in [[South Africa]]. |
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He made a [[BBC2]] TV documentary on the teenage runner [[Zola Budd]] which purported to reveal injustices done to her by left-wing demonstrators and organisations during a tour of England in the late 1980s. |
He made a [[BBC2]] TV documentary on the teenage runner [[Zola Budd]] which purported to reveal injustices done to her by left-wing demonstrators and organisations during a tour of England in the late 1980s. |
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==Personal life== |
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Thrice-married [[Protestant]] Griffith named his home in [[Islington]], [[London]], "Michael Collins House". He "proudly" displayed on his wall a death threat from the [[UVF]] (Northern Irish loyalists) "flanked on one side by a friendlier letter from [[Gerry Adams]]". He also had a bust of Collins on display in the living room. |
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He was ill in |
He was ill in his final years, suffering from [[Parkinson's disease]]. Griffith died in June 2006. |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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Revision as of 08:23, 26 June 2006
Kenneth Ewen Griffith (October 12, 1921 - June 25, 2006) was an British actor and documentary film-maker.
Born in 1921 in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, he served in the RAF during World War II
Acting Career
Griffith gained stage experience with the Old Vic and in repertory. He made his debut appearance in more than 80 films in 1941, largely in character actor parts.
He can be spotted in many British films between the 1940s and 1980s, notably as the wireless operator Jack Phillips on board the Titanic in A Night to Remember, and especially the comedies of the Boulting brothers, including Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). He also portrayed Whitey, the homosexual medic in The Wild Geese (1978), though in real life Griffith was heterosexual.
His work on sixties TV programme The Prisoner is much appreciated by its fans, because of his appearances in the episodes The Girl Who was Death and Fall Out. He has appeared in episodes of Minder. More recent cinemagoers may have seen him as a "mad old man" in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), as Reverend Jones in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995), and as the "Minister" in Very Annie Mary (2001).
Documentary maker
In midage, Griffith became a supporter of the IRA. In 1973 Griffith made a documentary film about the life and death of Irish military/political leader, Michael Collins entitled Hang out your Brightest Colours (which is a line taken from a letter from George Bernard Shaw to one of Collins' sisters after his death) for ATV.
He also contributed to a documentary interviewing then-surviving (now all deceased) IRA guerrillas from the 1920s: Maire Comerford, Joseph Sweeney, Sean Kavanagh, John O'Sullivan, Brigid Thornton, Sean Harling, Martin Walton, David Nelligan (or Neligan) and Tom Barry, titled Curious Journey.
Griffith's very sympathetic portrayal caused some concern given the state of tension in Northern Ireland and ATV boss Sir Lew Grade decided to withdraw the film, which was not released publicly until 1994. Although the info was removed from IMDb, the story on Griffith and his Irish republican sympathies was published in the 15 November, 1997 edition of the Irish Post (est. 1970) as Beating the censor, written by Martin Doyle.
Although a thrice-married Protestant and a veteran of World War Two, Griffith named his home in Islington, London, "Michael Collins House"; he "proudly" displayed on his wall a death threat from the UVF (Northern Irish loyalists) "flanked on one side by a friendlier letter from Gerry Adams". He also had a bust of Collins on display in the living room.
Griffith made some documentaries which are said to have shown an anti-imperialist stance. He was a supporter of the Boers in South Africa.
He made a BBC2 TV documentary on the teenage runner Zola Budd which purported to reveal injustices done to her by left-wing demonstrators and organisations during a tour of England in the late 1980s.
Personal life
Thrice-married Protestant Griffith named his home in Islington, London, "Michael Collins House". He "proudly" displayed on his wall a death threat from the UVF (Northern Irish loyalists) "flanked on one side by a friendlier letter from Gerry Adams". He also had a bust of Collins on display in the living room.
He was ill in his final years, suffering from Parkinson's disease. Griffith died in June 2006.