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John Tordoff (born 1938) is a retired English actor and artist, and a founding member of The Actors Company.

Theatre

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At the age of eighteen, Tordoff won the Viscountess Northcliffe Scholarship to RADA, graduating in 1957.[1][2] This was followed by seasons in repertory at Oldham, Colchester and Harrogate. In 1963, he joined the company at the newly built Nottingham Playhouse[3] under John Neville, appearing there for two seasons. There followed seasons at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. In 1970, he appeared at the Mermaid Theatre, London as the Dauphin, Charles VII in Saint Joan.[4] After a season at the Chichester Festival Theatre under John Clements, in 1972, he became a founding member of The Actors Company along with Ian McKellen and Edward Petherbridge,[5][6][7][8] appearing in many of their productions including the 1973 show, Ruling the Roost and the 1974 tour of The Way of the World as Witwoud.[9][10][11]

In 1974, he returned to the Mermaid Theatre in George Bernard Shaw's play Misalliance, for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award for the best supporting performance on the London stage in that year.[12] Further stage appearances were in Betzi at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the 1980 season at the Old Vic with Peter O'Toole as Macbeth[13] and The School for Scandal with Donald Sinden at the Duke of York's and subsequent European tour. In 1983, he created a one-man show out of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.[14]

As a theatre director, he has taken two shows to the Edinburgh Festival - Reynard the Fox in 1985 (also shown at the Young Vic)[15][16] and One Fine Day in 1986.[17]

Film

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Tordoff made many appearances in films, including:

Television

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Tordoff's first major TV work was the recurring role of Beckett in the 1969 BBC mini series The First Churchills.[25] He appeared as Hippolyte in the 1975 BBC production of Madame Bovary.[25] Also in 1975 he appeared in The Sweeney episode Supersnout in which he played Joey Stickley, a dirty and weaselly informant who conspires to ruin the reputation of Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Quirk of the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad.[26]

Tordoff appeared in two episodes of the BBC Television Shakespeare series, the 1978 release Julius Caesar as Cinna the Poet and the 1979 release The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fifth as Frances Feeble.[27] He appeared as Ronald Crawshaw in the three part episode Two Thousand Witnesses of ITV's Crown Court.[25][28]

Tordoff had a recurring role as policeman Brian Tofkin in the John Sullivan comedy Citizen Smith.[29] He appeared in the 1982 episode of Minder Rembrandt Doesn't Live Here Anymore as Max.[30] He returned to the show as a shop assistant in the 1989 episode Fiddler on the Hoof.[31] He has appeared in Coronation Street in three different roles, firstly as Arnold in episode 807 on 16 September 1968, photographer Norman Hill for episodes 1836 and 1837 in August 1978 and as Keith Hesketh in three appearances (episodes 4673 to 4675) in 1999.

Other appearances include Doctor Who as Alec Leeson in the 6 part serial Colony in Space,[32] Catweazle,[33] Rumpole of the Bailey (episode Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade), Sherlock Holmes American TV movie Hands of a murderer,[34] The Gaffer (episode There Goes the Bride), Sharpe's Siege[35] and Merlin.[36]

Tordoff also wrote the TV drama Charlie Was a Rich Man, which was produced by Granada Television in 1980.[37]

Later life

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While Tordoff was acting he took training in art at London's City Lit and Morley Colleges.[38]

Since retiring from acting Tordoff has concentrated on gardening[39][40] and painting. In the 1990s he created a prizewinning garden at Navarino Road, Hackney, where he was then living.[41][1] It won the 1996 BBC Gardeners World competition for the best small garden in Britain.[42] This garden continues to be open to the public under its present owners, through the National Garden Scheme.

In 2004, he moved with his partner Maurice Reeve, to Umbria, Italy; creating a second, far larger garden. In 2010, he and Maurice sold the Hackney house and moved to Cambridge, where he created a courtyard garden, which won the third prize in the Gardeners World Magazine competition for 2018.[43]

In 2005, Tordoff exhibited a solo exhibition at the Barbican Estate, working in mixed media collages.[44] He was elected a member of the Cambridge Drawing Society and exhibits regularly with the Cambridge gallery Byard Art. In 2016 his work was chosen to be shown at Art Fair East.[45]

Tordoff founded LGBT Mature in 2018, a group to help support older members of the LGBT community in Cambridge.[46]

In 2023, Tordoff was shortlisted for the Art - Experienced Amateur category in the King Lear Prizes.[47]

References

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  1. ^ a b Anna Pavord (16 July 1999). "Gardening: A kingdom for a stage". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-13. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Student & graduate profiles". RADA. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  3. ^ "19:25 Treasure Island". BBC. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Saint Joan". this is theatre.com. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  5. ^ "My Haven–with eight favorite objects". Robin Ellis.net. 22 May 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  6. ^ Mark Barrett (2005). Ian McKellen: An Unauthorised Biography. Virgin. ISBN 9781852272517.
  7. ^ John Ford (29 May 2014). Tis Pity She's a Whore. A&C Black. ISBN 9780140430592.
  8. ^ Gibson, Joy Leslie (1986). Ian McKellen. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 77. ISBN 0297789619.
  9. ^ Simon, John (1974). "Theatre Chronicle". The Hudson Review. 27 (2): 259–266. doi:10.2307/3850006. JSTOR 3850006.
  10. ^ Mel Gussow (15 February 1974). "Way of the World' Played With Spirit". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  11. ^ Theatre review. '73. W.H. Allen. 1973. p. 176. ISBN 0491012314.
  12. ^ Anne Morley-Priestman (27 June 1974). Equity call for unity, if not unanimity. The Stage.
  13. ^ "Double Toil and Trouble, September 7, 1980 Robert Cushman, Macbeth, The Old Vic, The Observer". Cushman Collected. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  14. ^ Play Review: Gate Theatre, Heart of Darkness. The Stage. 10 November 1983.
  15. ^ Paul Chand (17 October 1985). "Young Vic - Reynard the Fox". The Stage.
  16. ^ "Theatre". The Times. 28 October 1985. p. 18.
  17. ^ John Cairney (2001). Solo Performers. An International Registry, 1770-2000. McFarland. p. 165-166. ISBN 9780786410224.
  18. ^ Roy Kinnard (1992). Divine images : a history of Jesus on the screen. Carol Pub. Group. p. 186. ISBN 0806512849.
  19. ^ F. Maurice Speed (1964). Film Review '63. Macdonald & Co. p. 164.
  20. ^ F. Maurice Speed (1988). Film review. 1988-9 : including video releases. Columbus. p. 56. ISBN 0862879396.
  21. ^ F. Maurice Speed (1980). Film review 1980-81. W.H. Allen. p. 144. ISBN 0491027117.
  22. ^ Gifford, Denis (April 2016). British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set - The Fiction Film/Non Fiction Film 1895-1994 Volume 1. Routledge. ISBN 9781579581718. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  23. ^ "Great Balls of Fire - Full Cast & Crew". TV Guide. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  24. ^ "Robin Hood. Prince of Thieves". Sight and Sound. No. 8. BFI. 1991. p. 52.
  25. ^ a b c d "John Tordoff". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  26. ^ Pat Gilbert (2010). Shut It! The Inside Story of The Sweeney. Aurum. ISBN 9781845136604.
  27. ^ Willis, Susan (1991). The BBC Shakespeare Plays: Making the Televised Canon. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780807843178.
  28. ^ "Crown Court". TV Times. 22 December 1979. p. 63.
  29. ^ "Citizen Smith". BBC. 8 December 1992.
  30. ^ "Episode 27 Rembrandt Doesn't Live Here Anymore". Minder.org. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  31. ^ "Episode 70 Fiddler on the Hoof". Minder.org. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  32. ^ Doctor Who - Scanned Scripts. BBC. 1963.
  33. ^ "TV Zone". Starburst. No. 52. 1982. p. 43.
  34. ^ Alan Barnes (2006). Sherlock Holmes on screen : the complete film and TV history. Reynolds & Hearn. p. 68. ISBN 1905287240.
  35. ^ Rachel Murrell (1996). Sharpe's story : the official inside story of the award winning ITV drama. Carlton. p. 107. ISBN 0747525161.
  36. ^ Edward Khmara, David Stephens (1998). Merlin : the shooting script. Newmarket Press. p. 243. ISBN 1557043663.
  37. ^ "Charlie Was a Rich Man (1981)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  38. ^ Mill Road Art: John Tordoff – Mill Road Winter Fair
  39. ^ Barbara Segal (7 September 2017). Secret Gardens of East Anglia. Frances Lincoln. ISBN 9780711238596.
  40. ^ "Britain's Best Back Gardens- Episode 5". BBC. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  41. ^ "Topiary Winner John Tordoff". The Times. 30 August 2003.
  42. ^ "Gardner World 17 August 1997". BBC. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  43. ^ Adrian Peel (2 November 2018). "Cambridge garden nominated for BBC magazine award". Cambridge Independent. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  44. ^ "John Tordoff". Cambridge Drawing Society Newsletter. Vol. 3. Cambridge Drawing Society. June–July 2021.
  45. ^ Tara Cox (23 November 2016). "Cambridge-based painter John Tordoff chosen to exhibit at major regional art fair next month". Cambridgeshire Live.
  46. ^ "Christmas can be 'desperately lonely' for LGBTQ+ people but there are Cambs events to help". Cambridge Live. 17 December 2019.
  47. ^ "Shortlisted Entries Art". King Lear Prizes. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
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