Jack Hawkins

Career

He was born at 45 Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, now in Haringey, London, the son of a builder. He was educated at Wood Green's Trinity County Grammar School, where, aged eight, he joined the school choir.

By the age of ten Hawkins had joined the local operatic society, and made his stage debut in Patience by Gilbert and Sullivan. His parents enrolled him in the Italia Conti Academy and whilst he was studying there he made his London stage debut, when aged eleven, playing the Elf King in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire on Boxing Day, December 1923, a production that also included the young Noël Coward. The following year aged 14 he played the page in a production of Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw. Five years later he was in a production of Beau Geste alongside Laurence Olivier.

He appeared on Broadway in Journey's End by the age of 18.

1930s

In the 1930s Hawkins' focus was on the stage. He worked in the companies of Sybil Thorndike, John Gielgud and Basil Dean. His performances included Port Said by Emlyn Williams (1931), Below the Surface by HL Stoker and LS Hunt (1932), Red Triangle by Val Gielgud (1932), Service by CI Anthony, for director Basil Dean (1933), One of Us by Frank Howard, As You Like It by William Shakespeare (1933) and Iron Flowers by Cecil Lewis (1933, with Jessica Tandy his wife).

He did start appearing in films, predominantly "quota quickies" of the time: Birds of Prey (1930), The Lodger (1932) (starring Ivor Novello), The Good Companions (1933), The Lost Chord (1933), I Lived with You (1933), The Jewel (1933), A Shot in the Dark (1933) and Autumn Crocus (1934).

In 1932 he was in a radio production of Hamlet with John Gielgud and Robert Donat and the following year he was in Danger.

He was also in Death at Broadcasting House (1934), Lorna Doone (1934) and Peg of Old Drury (1935).

Stage roles included Iron Mistress (1934) by Arthur Macrae; then an open air Shakespeare festival – As You Like It (1934) (with Anna Neagle), Twelfth Night (1934), Comedy of Errors (1934). Some of these productions were done on radio. The Maitlands by Ronald Mackenzie (1934) was for John Gielgud's company. He was Horatio to Gielgud's Hamlet (1934). He also appeared in Accidentally Yours by Clifford Grey (1935), The World Waits by Clifford Hummel (1935), Coincidence by Bryce Robertson (1935) and The Frog (1935).

Films in the late 1930s included Beauty and the Barge (1937), The Frog (1937) (which Hawkins played on stage), Who Goes Next? (1938), A Royal Divorce (1938), Murder Will Out (1939) and The Flying Squad (1940).

Theatre appearances included A Winter's Tale (1937), Autumn by Margaret Kennedy and Gregory Ratoff (1937, with Flora Robson for Basil Dean), The King's Breakfast by Rita Welman and Maurice Marks (1937–38), No More Music by Rosamund Lehman (1938), Can We Tell? by Robert Gore Brown (1938), Traitors Gate by Norma Stuart (1938) and Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith (1938–39).

Second World War

During the Second World War Hawkins served as an officer with the Royal Welch Fusiliers. He became a colonel in ENSA for India and Southeast Asia. During his military service he made The Next of Kin (1942) for Ealing Studios.

Post-war career

Hawkins left the army in July 1946. Two weeks later he appeared on stage in The Apple Cart at ten pounds a week. The following year he starred in Othello, to a mixed reception.

Hawkins's wife became pregnant and he became concerned about his future. He decided to accept a contract with Alexander Korda for three years at £50 a week. Hawkins had been recommended to Korda by the latter's production executive, Bill Bryden, who was married to Elizabeth Allen, who had worked with Hawkins.

The association began badly when Hawkins was cast in Korda's notorious flop Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) as Lord George Murray. However he followed it with a good role in the successful, highly acclaimed The Fallen Idol (1948) for Carol Reed. Also acclaimed was The Small Back Room (1949), for Powell and Pressburger; he impressed as the villain in State Secret (1950), for Sidney Gilliat with Douglas Fairbanks Jnr.

He was recruited by 20th Century Fox to support Tyrone Power and Orson Welles in an expensive epic, The Black Rose (1950). He made another with Powell and Pressburger for Korda, The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), playing the Prince of Wales.

Hawkins played the lead in The Adventurers (1951), shot in South Africa, then had a good role in another Hollywood-financed film shot in Britain, No Highway in the Sky (1951), with James Stewart. It was followed by a British thriller with Ralph Richardson, Home at Seven (1952).

In the spring of 1951 he went to Broadway and played Mercutio in a production of Romeo and Juliet with Olivia de Havilland.

Stardom

Hawkins became a star with the release of three successful films in which he played stern but sympathetic authority figures: Angels One Five (1951), as an RAF officer during the war; The Planter's Wife (1952), as a rubber planter combating communists in the Malayan Emergency (with Claudette Colbert); and Mandy (1952), the headmaster of a school for the deaf. All films ranked among the top ten most popular films at the British box office in 1952 and British exhibitors voted him the fourth most popular British star at the local box office.

Hawkins consolidated his new status with The Cruel Sea, playing a driven naval officer in the war. Sir Michael Balcon said, "Even before the script was written, we knew it had to be Jack Hawkins. If he hadn't been free to play the part, then there wouldn't have been a film." The Cruel Sea was the most successful film of the year and saw Hawkins voted the most popular star in Britain regardless of nationality.

According to one obituary he "exemplified for many cinemagoers the stiff upper lip tradition prevalent in post war British films. His craggy looks and authoritative bearing were used to good effect whatever branch of the services he represented."

Malta Story (1953) was another military story, with Hawkins as an RAF officer in the Siege of Malta during the war. It too was a hit, the ninth most popular film in Britain in 1953.

He had a guest role in Twice Upon a Time (1953) for Emeric Pressburger. He followed this with two mildly popular dramas – The Intruder (1953) and Front Page Story (1954).

The Seekers (1954) was partly shot in New Zealand and cast Hawkins in a rare romantic role. ""My film wives to date usually stay home and knit, or else have conveniently died before the film starts." he said. It was followed by The Prisoner (1955), an unconventional drama, playing the interrogator of a priest (Alec Guinness). None of these films were that successful but Hawkins was still voted the fifth biggest star at the British box office for 1954, and the most popular British one. "It's an enviable position, I know", said Hawkins. "But I have to be more careful now about the parts I choose, and it's hard not to offend people. Everyone thinks his own script is the best."

He turned down the role of Colonel Carne in The Glorious Gloucesters for Warwick Films and Captain Cook for a project for the Rank organisation; neither movie was made.

"I'm tired of playing decent fellows", he said in a 1954 interview, "with stiff upper lip and even stiffer morals. I'm going to kill them off before they kill me as an actor. And I want stories written for me, not rejects intended for other fellows... I just inherit them from other people. Often, I find they've left the name of the actor originally suggested for the role. Always the same old names . . . Errol Flynn, Gregory Peck . . . five or six others. Before the script reaches them, somebody remembers me — especially if it's one of those infernally nice characters."

International star

Hawkins got his wish when he received a Hollywood offer to play a pharaoh for Howard Hawks in Land of the Pharaohs (1955).

He returned home to make an Ealing comedy, Touch and Go (1955), which was not particularly popular. He was more comfortably cast as a police officer in The Long Arm (1956) and a test pilot in The Man in the Sky (1957). He was an insurance investigator in Sidney Gilliat's Fortune Is a Woman (1957).

Hawkins's career received a major boost when given the third lead in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), supporting William Holden and Alec Guinness. This was a massive hit and highly acclaimed.

He was awarded the CBE in 1958.

Hawkins played the lead role a film for John Ford, Gideon's Day (USA title: Gideon of Scotland Yard) (1958), playing a police officer. He had a good role as a double agent in a war film, The Two-Headed Spy (1958) then was given another third lead in a Hollywood blockbuster Ben-Hur (1959), playing the Roman admiral who befriends Charlton Heston. It was even more successful than Bridge on the River Kwai.

He appeared as one of The Four Just Men (1959) in the Sapphire Films TV series for ITV, one of the most ambitious British TV series ever made. He also played the lead in a version of "The Fallen Idol" for American TV.

In reality Hawkins was politically liberal, and an emotional man, in sharp contrast to his conservative screen image. One of his favourite films, the heist film The League of Gentlemen, was considered quite groundbreaking for its time in its references to sex. The film was popular at the British box office, and gave Hawkins his final lead role.

However, though initially sought for the role of a gay barrister in Victim, he turned it down fearing that it might conflict with his masculine image. The role was eventually played by Dirk Bogarde. There was some talk he would play Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty but Trevor Howard ended up playing the role.

Decline as star

A three-packet-a-day chain smoker, Hawkins began experiencing voice problems in the late 1950s; unknown to the public he had undergone cobalt treatment in 1959 for what was then described as a secondary condition of the larynx, but which was probably cancer.

Hawkins became worried about his voice and was concerned he would lose it. This caused him to take any work going. "I had to be realistic and take as much money as I could get while the going was good", he said.

This may explain why he took the part of General Cornwallis in a European epic, Lafayette (1961). He was third lead to Shirley MacLaine and Laurence Harvey in Two Loves (1961), and supported Rosalind Russell in Five Finger Exercise (1962).

"There are not all that number of mature leading men around", he said in a 1961 interview. "There seems to be a generation missing. I think people quit going into the acting profession. A lot of them drifted out during the war. And then when the war was over it was difficult for them to get back into the theatre."

He was in another big hit in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), as General Allenby. Rampage (1963) was less distinguished but Zulu (1964) gave him a good role as a cowardly priest; it was however clearly a support part and Hawkins' days as a star seemed to be over.

He had support parts in The Third Secret (1964), Guns at Batasi (1964) and Lord Jim (1965). Masquerade (1965) gave him a lead opposite Cliff Robertson. He made some appearances on US TV: "To Bury Caesar" with Pamela Brown in 1963 and "Back to Back" for The Bob Hope Theatre. He also appeared in Judith (1966), and The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966).

Illness

In December 1965, Hawkins was diagnosed with throat cancer. His entire larynx was removed in January 1966. In March of that year appeared at a royal screening of Born Free attended by the Queen and received a standing ovation.

Thereafter his performances were dubbed, often (with Hawkins's approval) by Robert Rietti or Charles Gray. Hawkins continued to smoke after losing his voice. In private, he used a mechanical larynx to aid his speech.

In 1967 it was reported that he would direct Peter O'Toole in St Patrick's Battalion in Mexico but the film was not made.

Instead he resumed his acting career, with his voice dubbed and dialogue kept to a minimum: Shalako (1968) and Great Catherine (1968). In Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), playing Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, he had no lines at all. He had an operation to restore his voice in 1968. It did not work; Hawkins could talk but it was a in a croaking voice.

"The fact that producers are still offering me work is a source of much gratitude to me", he said in 1969. "I flatter myself that when they cast me in a part it's me Jack Hawkins they want and not the person who was once Jack Hawkins... if you know what I mean. And I'm perfectly honest with anyone who hires me. I tell them exactly what they're letting themselves in for."

Some rare comedies followed: Monte Carlo or Bust (1969), Twinky (1970), The Adventures of Gerard (1970). There was more typical fare: Waterloo (1970), Jane Eyre (1970), The Beloved (1971), When Eight Bells Toll (1971), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and Kidnapped (1971).

The Last Lion (1972), shot in South Africa, offered him a rare lead. It was followed by Young Winston (1972), Escape to the Sun (1972), Theatre of Blood (1973) and Tales That Witness Madness (1973).

Hawkins also produced the film adaptation of Peter Barnes's The Ruling Class (1972), with Peter O'Toole and Alastair Sim.

Personal life

Hawkins married actress Jessica Tandy in 1932, and the couple divorced in 1940. Together they had one daughter, Susan Hawkins (b. 1934). In 1947, Hawkins married Doreen Lawrence (1919–2013), and they remained married until his death in 1973. Together they had three children, Caroline (b. 1955), Andrew, and Nicholas Hawkins.

Death

In May 1973 Hawkins undertook an experimental operation on his throat to insert an artificial voicebox. He started haemorrhaging and was admitted to St Stephen's Hospital, Fulham Road, London in June, forcing him to drop out of The Tamarind Seed (1974), in which Hawkins was to have played a Russian general. He died on 18 July 1973, of a secondary haemorrhage. He was 62.

His final appearance was in the television miniseries QB VII. His autobiography, Anything For a Quiet Life, was published after his death. He was cremated and his ashes interred at Golders Green Crematorium in north London.

British box office ranking

During the 1950s, British exhibitors consistently voted Hawkins one of the most popular local stars in the country in the annual poll conducted by the Motion Picture Herald: