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Alexis Kanner

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Occupation
  
Name
  
Alexis Kanner

Role
  
Actor


Alexis Kanner wwwusualframecoukimagesculttvjpg

Full Name
  
Henri Alex Kanner

Born
  
2 May 1942 (
1942-05-02
)
Bagneres-de-Luchon, France

Other names
  
Henry Leroy, Henri Lucas

Died
  
December 13, 2003, London, United Kingdom

Movies
  
Kings and Desperate Men, Crossplot, Connecting Rooms, Goodbye Gemini, The Amorous Adventur

Similar People
  
Alvin Rakoff, Patrick McGoohan, Andrea Marcovicci, Maud Adams, Margaret Trudeau

SF Scene - The Prisoner Alexis Kanner Interview 1999


Alexis Kanner (2 May 1942 in Bagnères-de-Luchon, France – 13 December 2003 in London, England) was a French-born English actor, most notable for appearing in the ground-breaking TV series The Prisoner.

Contents

Alexis Kanner Alexis Kanner as Number 48 The Prisoner 1967

He was born in Nazi-occupied Bagnères-de-Luchon, France, to a Jewish family. In April 1944, shortly before his second birthday, he escaped with his family to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on the Portuguese ship Serpa Pinto.

Alexis Kanner Alexis Kanner Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Biography

Alexis Kanner Alexis Kanner 1942 2003 Find A Grave Memorial

Kanner attended the Montreal Children's Theatre under the tutelage of Dorothy Davis and Violet Walters.

Kanner made his first impression as an actor in the role of Alex, among a French Canadian cast, in the television drama series Beau Temps, Mauvais Temps (1955–1958).

He moved to England in the late 50s to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre to further his acting career. This led to the Royal Court and the Royal Shakespeare Company where he played in The Tempest in 1961 and the lead role in Hamlet under the direction of Peter Brook in 1965. His earliest UK television appearance appears to have been as Peter in the Sunday Night Theatre play Echo From Afar in 1959.

He appeared as Stephen in the film Reach for Glory (1962) about the brutal war games of evacuated teenage boys during the Second World War. This led to him first meeting the film's assistant director David Tomblin, who would a few years later be the producer of The Prisoner series.

He had a small role in the comedy film We Joined the Navy (1962) playing Gerrett. The only real notable thing about the film was the number of future British small screen comedy stalwarts who were acting in either similar small roles or uncredited cameos.

Other plays in which he performed were:

  • ITV Play of the Week: Birds in the Wilderness as Peter (1962) and The Facing Chair (1963) as Clem Goodwin
  • Television Playhouse: The Interview as The Young Man (1962) and Along Came A Spider as Brian (1963)
  • Drama '63: The Freewheelers as Jeremy (1963)
  • Armchair Theatre: Living Image (1963) as John Manders playing a son who wonders if he can love his father even though he violently disapproves of everything he stands for
  • He appeared on British television in an episode of The Saint, "The Ever Loving Spouse" (1964) as Alec Misner and in the first of three episodes in ATV's Love Story, A Future Holiday as Frank Watkins. His other appearances in that series were in the following year in Briefly Kiss The Loser as Big Silver Gardner and in 1967 as Colin Turner in Cinéma Vérité. He appeared as Detective Constable Matt Stone in 9 episodes of Softly, Softly (BBC, 1966), a spin-off series from Z-Cars. He claimed in interviews later that he left not wanting to be typecast. Only one complete Softly, Softly episode featuring Kanner survives in the BBC archives, 'A-Z' (broadcast 30 March 1966), and another partially.

    His film career continued with an appearance in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) as part of a Mohocks gang.

    In 1967 he went back to Montreal to star as the lead character Ernie Turner in the film The Ernie Game which was written and directed by Don Owen for the National Film Board of Canada.

    The Prisoner

    Kanner's performances in the 1967–1968 British television series The Prisoner brought lasting recognition for his acting. When he was first enrolled, Patrick McGoohan, the star and co-creator of the series, was planning the final four episodes. There was some opposition to the choice, but McGoohan was looking to cast the rebellious and maverick qualities that Kanner displayed. His first guest-star role was in the mock Wild West, episode "Living in Harmony", in which he portrayed the "Kid" (the alter-ego of Number Eight), a violent mute dressed in circus pants and a top hat, who is eventually shot in a duel by McGoohan's character, Number Six. McGoohan was impressed by his acting skills and perfectionism (to prepare the duel scene, both actors practised quick-draw assiduously). As a result, McGoohan wrote for Kanner the role of Number Forty-eight, who is made to stand trial as the representative of rebellious youth in "Fall Out", the final episode of the series. Additionally, Kanner gave an uncredited performance as the photographer in the comic-book episode "The Girl Who Was Death", in which he performed a number of stunts on a roller coaster.

    Later career

    In 1969 he starred as Graham Baird in the little-known short feature film Twenty Nine, a story of a promiscuous young husband's night out in swinging London. It was only 26 minutes long and co-starred Yootha Joyce. This was shown as the B film in Britain with the feature film If..... The band Tuesday's Children, who had a cameo role in a nightclub scene, released the song "She" that they played in it as a single soon afterwards.

    He starred in a number of feature films soon after, including Crossplot (1969) with Roger Moore, Connecting Rooms (1970) with Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave, and Goodbye Gemini (also 1970).

    He is wrongly credited with appearing in Invasion:UFO in 1972, a compilation film made up of the episodes from the TV series UFO made in 1970. He had appeared in an episode called The Cat With 10 Lives but no footage of this was used in the "feature film".

    He moved back to Canada and his next film was Mahoney's Last Stand (released in the US as Mahoney's Estate, 1972) with Sam Waterston and Maud Adams, which he also co-wrote and co-directed. The original motion picture soundtrack of the same name was recorded by Ronnie Lane (who was a friend of Kanner) and Ron Wood, then of The Faces. Other famous names who worked on the album included Pete Townshend and Kenney Jones.

    He worked again with Patrick McGoohan on the Canadian hostage drama film Kings and Desperate Men, in which he starred as well as writing, producing and directing. He apparently spent two years editing the film which, although filmed in December 1977, did not premiere until the 1981 Montreal World Film Festival. During the late 80s Kanner sued the producers of the film Die Hard claiming that they stole the idea for that movie from this film (he lost).

    His final known acting role was in Nightfall (released in 1988), a science-fiction film based on the Isaac Asimov story of the same name.

    He settled back in London in 1996 and was working on a new film project called J R Profitt that never came to fruition.

    Death

    He died of a heart attack at his London home on 13 December 2003. He had requested that his body be flown to and buried in Israel.

    Filmography

    Actor
    1988
    Nightfall as
    Sor
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men as
    Lucas Miller
    1974
    Invasion: UFO
    1972
    Mahoney's Estate as
    Leroy Mahoney
    1970
    UFO (TV Series) as
    Lt. Jim Regan
    - The Cat with Ten Lives (1970) - Lt. Jim Regan
    1970
    Goodbye Gemini as
    Clive / Gambler
    1970
    Connecting Rooms as
    Mickey Hollister
    1969
    Twenty-Nine (Short) as
    Graham Baird
    1969
    Crossplot as
    Tarquin
    1968
    ITV Playhouse (TV Series) as
    Colin Jenkins
    - Public and Confidential (1968) - Colin Jenkins
    1967
    The Prisoner (TV Series) as
    Number Forty Eight / Photographer / Chief's voice / ...
    - Fall Out (1968) - Number Forty Eight
    - The Girl Who Was Death (1968) - Photographer / Chief's voice (uncredited)
    - Living in Harmony (1967) - The Kid
    1967
    The Ernie Game as
    Ernie Turner
    1964
    Love Story (TV Series) as
    Colin Turner / Big Silver Gardner / Frank Watkins
    - Cinéma Vérité (1967) - Colin Turner
    - Briefly Kiss the Loser (1965) - Big Silver Gardner
    - A Future Holiday (1964) - Frank Watkins
    1967
    Conflict (TV Series) as
    The Bad Angel
    - Doctor Faustus (1967) - The Bad Angel
    1966
    Softly Softly (TV Series) as
    Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - Blind Man's Bluff (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - A-Z (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - Tickle on Wheels (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - Don't Push Too Hard (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - Screws and Drivers (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - Talk to Me (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - It Doesn't Grow on Trees (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - The Local Touch (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    - Off Beat (1966) - Det. Con. Matt Stone
    1965
    The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders as
    Fourth Mohock
    1962
    ITV Play of the Week (TV Series) as
    Clem Goodwin / Peter
    - The Facing Chair (1963) - Clem Goodwin
    - Birds in the Wilderness (1962) - Peter
    1963
    Armchair Theatre (TV Series) as
    John Manders
    - The Living Image (1963) - John Manders
    1963
    Drama 61-67 (TV Series) as
    Jeremy
    - Drama '63: The Freewheelers (1963) - Jeremy
    1962
    ITV Television Playhouse (TV Series) as
    Brian / The Young Man
    - Along Came a Spider (1963) - Brian
    - The Interview (1962) - The Young Man
    1963
    The Saint (TV Series) as
    Alec Misner
    - The Ever-Loving Spouse (1963) - Alec Misner
    1962
    We Joined the Navy as
    Garrett
    1962
    Probation Officer (TV Series) as
    Micky
    - Episode #4.13 (1962) - Micky
    1962
    Reach for Glory as
    Steven
    1961
    Deadline Midnight (TV Series) as
    Arthur Watts
    - Why George Brown Hanged (1961) - Arthur Watts
    1959
    BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (TV Series) as
    Peter
    - Echo from Afar (1959) - Peter
    1955
    Beau temps, mauvais temps (TV Series) as
    Alex
    Director
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men
    1972
    Mahoney's Estate (uncredited)
    Writer
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men (screenplay)
    1972
    Mahoney's Estate (written by)
    Editor
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men
    1972
    Mahoney's Estate (as Henry Leroy)
    Producer
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men (producer)
    1972
    Mahoney's Estate (producer)
    Cinematographer
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men (director of photography - as Henry Lucas)
    Camera Department
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men (camera operator - as Henry Lucas)
    Sound Department
    1981
    Kings and Desperate Men (sound editor - as Henry Lucas)
    Self
    2001
    In Search of the Prisoner (TV Movie documentary) as
    Self
    1984
    Six Into One: The Prisoner File (TV Movie) as
    Self
    Archive Footage
    2007
    Don't Knock Yourself Out (Documentary) as
    Self
    1990
    The Prisoner Video Companion (Video documentary)

    References

    Alexis Kanner Wikipedia


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