James Marcus (born Brian Terence James, 23 June 1942 – 4 May 2020) was a British actor.

Life and career

Marcus was born as Brian Terence James in

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

on 23 June 1942. He is best known for his performance as Georgie, one of the droogs in

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

's controversial film '' A Clockwork Orange'' (1971). Before becoming an apprentice printer, he spent the majority of his teenage life performing gigs. After studying acting courses at the 15 Drama School in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he had several roles in plays based on the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. His first appearance on TV was the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

show ''Hello, Good Evening and Welcome'' (1968). He also landed a role in the 1969 war comedy ''

The Virgin Soldiers ''The Virgin Soldiers'' is a 1966 comic novel by Leslie Thomas, inspired by his own experiences of National Service in the British Army. It was Thomas' debut novel; he had previously published an autobiography. ''The Virgin Soldiers'' sold mill ...

''. In 1970, Kubrick got in touch with the young actor for an audition for his upcoming project, an adaptation of

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...

's novel '' A Clockwork Orange''. Apart from his fight scenes, Kubrick was also impressed by James's dark demeanour and this won him the role. During filming, Kubrick described James as "very professional". His other television appearances include '' UFO'', '' Softly, Softly: Task Force'', '' The Sweeney'', ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'', ''

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'' and '' The Professionals''. He also appeared in the

Robin Askwith Robin Mark Askwith (born 12 October 1950) is an English actor and singer who has appeared in a number of film, television and stage productions. Making his film debut as Keating in the film '' if....'' (1968), a role he would reprise in '' Brit ...

vehicle '' Let's Get Laid'' (1977) with John Clive, another ''Clockwork Orange'' actor. He also appeared in '' The Naked Civil Servant'' (1975) with

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

, and '' McVicar'' (1980) with

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

. One of his other memorable roles is that of station officer Sidney Tate in the pilot and series 1–3 of the popular LWT fire fighting drama '' London's Burning''. He also directed the nihilistic '' Tank Malling'' (1989), which featured

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage, and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is known ...

. In August 2024, acting union Equity announced that Marcus had died. It transpired that Marcus had died four years prior, on 4 May 2020, at the age of 77.

List of credits

Television

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcus, James 1942 births 2020 deaths English male film actors English male television actors