Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox | |
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![]() Knox in the 1940s | |
Born | Strathroy, Ontario, Canada | January 16, 1907
Died | April 25, 1995 Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England | (aged 88)
Occupation | Actor, Author |
Years active | 1931–1986 |
Spouse(s) | |
Children | 1 |
Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor on stage, screen, and occasionally television. He was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance as Woodrow Wilson in the film Wilson (1944).
Although his liberal views forced him to leave Hollywood because of McCarthyism, Knox had a long career. He starred in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979 BBC mini-series) as Control, Chief of the Circus and George Smiley's mentor. He was also an author, writing adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century as well as plays and detective novels.
Life and career[]
Knox was born in Strathroy, Ontario, where his father was the minister of the Presbyterian Church. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to perform on stage with the Boston Repertory Theatre. After the company folded following the stock market crash of 1929, Knox returned to London, Ontario, where, for the next two years, he worked as a reporter for The London Advertiser[1] before moving to London, England, where, during the 1930s, he appeared in several films. He starred opposite Jessica Tandy in the 1940 Broadway production of Jupiter Laughs and, in 1944, he was chosen by Darryl F. Zanuck to star in Wilson (1944), the biographical film about American President Woodrow Wilson, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. However, during the McCarthy Era, his liberal views and work with the Committee for the First Amendment hurt his career, but he was not blacklisted,[2] and he returned to Britain.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Alexander_Knox_in_Paula_%281952%29_trailer.jpg/220px-Alexander_Knox_in_Paula_%281952%29_trailer.jpg)
Knox had major roles in The Sea Wolf (1941), None Shall Escape (1944), Over 21 (1945), Sister Kenny (1946), Paula (1952), Europa '51 (1952), and The Vikings (1958), as well as supporting roles late in his career, such as in The Damned (1963), Modesty Blaise (1966), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Joshua Then and Now (1985; his last film role) and the miniseries Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
He depicted Governor Hudson Inverest in "The Latin Touch", the second episode of the first season of The Saint in 1962.
He wrote six adventure novels: Bride of Quietness (1933), Night of the White Bear (1971), The Enemy I Kill (1972), Raider's Moon, The Kidnapped Surgeon and Totem Dream. He also wrote plays and at least three detective novels under a pseudonym before 1945.[1]
Personal life[]
Knox was married to American actress Doris Nolan (1916–1998) from 1944 until his death in 1995. They starred together in the 1949 Broadway play The Closing Door, which Knox also wrote. They had a son Andrew Joseph Knox (born 1947; died by suicide in 1987) who became an actor and appeared in Doctor on the Go, and who was married to Imogen Hassall.[3]
Alexander Knox died in Berwick-upon-Tweed from bone cancer on April 25, 1995.[4]
Complete filmography[]
- The Ringer (1931) (uncredited)
- Rembrandt (1936) as Ludwick's Assistant (uncredited)
- The Tiger (1936 TV movie) as American Liaison Officer
- Everyman (1937 TV movie) as Everyman
- Polly (1937 TV movie) as Cawwawkee
- Deirdre (1938 TV movie) as Naisi
- The Gaunt Stranger (1938) as Dr. Lomond
- The Four Feathers (1939) (uncredited)
- Cheer Boys Cheer (1939) as Saunders
- The Sea Wolf (1941) as Humphrey Van Weyden
- This Above All (1942) as Rector
- Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942) as German Captain
- None Shall Escape (1944) as Wilhelm Grimm
- Wilson (1944) as Woodrow Wilson
- Over 21 (1945) as Max W. Wharton
- Sister Kenny (1946) as Dr. McDonnell
- The Judge Steps Out (1947) as Judge Thomas Bailey
- The Sign of the Ram (1949) as Mallory St. Aubyn
- Tokyo Joe (1949) as Mark Landis
- I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951) as Tom Salter
- Two of a Kind (1951) as Vincent Mailer
- Saturday's Hero (1951) as Professor Megroth
- The Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951) as Dr. Curtis Lanyon
- Man in the Saddle (1951) as Will Isham
- Paula (1952) as Dr. Clifford Frazer
- Europa '51 (1952) as George Girard
- The Sleeping Tiger (1954) as Dr. Cilve Esmond
- The Divided Heart (1954) as The Chief Justice
- The Night My Number Came Up (1955) as Owen Robertson
- Alias John Preston (1955) as Dr. Peter Walton
- Reach for the Sky (1956) as Mr. Joyce
- High Tide at Noon (1957) as Stephen MacKenzie
- Hidden Fear (1957) as Hartman
- Davy (1958) as Sir Giles
- Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958) as Chandler Brisson
- The Vikings (1958) as Father Godwin
- Intent to Kill (1958) as Dr. McNeil
- Passionate Summer (1958) as Leonard Pawley
- The Two-Headed Spy (1958) as Gestapo Leader Müller
- Operation Amsterdam (1959) as Walter Keyser
- The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) as Petrie
- Oscar Wilde (1960) as Sir Edward Clarke
- Crack in the Mirror (1960) as President
- The Share Out (1962) as Col. Calderwood
- The Longest Day (1962) as Maj. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith
- The Damned (1963) as Bernard
- In the Cool of the Day (1963) as Frederick Bonner
- Man in the Middle (1964) as Col. Burton
- Woman of Straw (1964) as Detective Inspector
- Crack in the World (1965) as Sir Charles Eggerston
- Mister Moses (1965) as Rev. Anderson
- The Psychopath (1966) as Frank Saville
- Modesty Blaise (1966) as Minister
- Khartoum (1966) as Sir Evelyn Baring
- Accident (1967) as University Provost
- The 25th Hour (1967) as D.A.
- Bikini Paradise (1967) as Commissioner Lighton
- You Only Live Twice (1967) as American President (uncredited)
- How I Won the War (1967) as American General
- Villa Rides (1968) as President Madero
- Shalako (1968) as Henry Clarke
- Fräulein Doktor (1969) as Gen. Peronne
- Run a Crooked Mile (1969 TV movie) as Sir Howard Nettleton
- Skullduggery (1970) as Buffington
- When We Dead Awaken (1970 TV movie) as Rubek
- Puppet on a Chain (1971) as Colonel De Graaf
- Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) as The American Ambassador
- Truman at Potsdam (1976 TV movie) as Henry L. Stimson
- Holocaust 2000 (1977) as Meyer
- Churchill and the Generals (1979 TV movie) as Henry Stimson - Secretary of War
- Suez 1956 (1979 TV movie) as John Foster Dulles
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979 TV mini-series) as Control - Chief of Circus
- Cry of the Innocent (1980 TV movie) as Thornton Donegin
- Gorky Park (1983) as General
- Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues (1984 TV movie) as Mr. Gilman
- The Last Place on Earth (1985 TV movie) as Sir Clements Markham
- Joshua Then and Now (1985) as Senator Hornby
References[]
Notes
- ^ Jump up to: a b Clara Thomas, Canadian Novelists 1920-1945, Toronto: Longmans, Green & Company, 1946, p. 75. Thomas notes, "he refuses to divulge" his pen name.
- ^ Slide, Anthony (1999). Actors on red alert : career interviews with five actors and actresses affected by the blacklist. Lanham, Md. [u.a.]: Scarecrow Press. pp. 117–127. ISBN 978-0810836495.
- ^ Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries, Paul Donnelley, Omnibus Press, 2000, pp. 315-6
- ^ William Grimes (29 April 1995). "Alexander Knox, 88, Actor Who Played Woodrow Wilson". The New York Times.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Knox. |
- 1907 births
- 1995 deaths
- Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
- Canadian male stage actors
- Canadian male film actors
- Canadian male novelists
- Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States
- Canadian expatriate male actors in the United Kingdom
- Canadian expatriates in England
- Hollywood blacklist
- People from Strathroy-Caradoc
- Deaths from bone cancer
- Deaths from cancer in England
- University of Western Ontario alumni
- 20th-century Canadian male actors
- 20th-century Canadian novelists
- 20th-century Canadian male writers