Sir John Selby Clements (25 April 1910 – 6 April 1988) was a British actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.

Biography

Theatre career

Clements made his first professional appearance on the stage in 1930, then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. In 1935 Clements founded the Intimate Theatre, a combined repertory and try-out venue, at Palmers Green. He appeared in almost 200 plays and also presented a number of plays in the West End as actor-manager-producer. Clements married the actress Kay Hammond and together they had a critical success with their West End revival of

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

's play '' Private Lives'' in 1945. In 1952 they both appeared in Clements's own play '' The Happy Marriage'', an adaptation of Jean Bernard-Luc's '. Clements starred as Edward Moulton Barrett in the musical '' Robert and Elizabeth'', a successful adaptation of '' The Barretts of Wimpole Street''. In December 1951 Clements directed '' Man and Superman'' in the West End, and played the role of John Tanner alongside Allan Cuthbertson. Clements was the artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre from 1966 to 1973. The actor John Standing is his stepson.

Film career

As a film actor John Clements played bit parts of increasing size for

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; ; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)

's London Films in the 1930s. He made quite an impression opposite Robert Donat and Marlene Dietrich in '' Knight Without Armour'' as Poushkoff, a sensitive, conflicted young commissar who saves their lives during the Russian Revolution. He came to further prominence when film director Victor Saville chose him to star opposite Ralph Richardson in '' South Riding'' (1938). The two actors were reunited in the very successful '' The Four Feathers'' (1939). After that Clements's film career was somewhat intermittent, although he made a series of British war films for Ealing Studios and British Aviation Pictures, such as '' Convoy'' (1940), '' Ships with Wings'' (1942), '' Tomorrow We Live'' (1943) and as Yugoslav guerrilla leader Milosh Petrovitch in '' Undercover'' (1943). He had a cameo role (as Advocate General) in ''

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

'' (1982).

Honours and death

Clements was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in 1956 and was knighted in 1968. He died in Brighton, East Sussex, in 1988.

Filmography

* '' The Divine Spark'' (1935) as Florino * '' Once in a New Moon'' (1935) as Edward Teale * '' Ticket of Leave'' (1936) as Lucky Fisher * '' Things to Come'' (1936) as The Airman (uncredited) * ''

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

'' (1936) as Govaert Flinck * '' Knight Without Armour'' (1937) as Poushkoff * '' I, Claudius'' (1937) as Valente * '' South Riding'' (1938) as Joe Astell * '' Housemaster'' (1938) as Undetermined Minor Role (uncredited) * '' Star of the Circus'' (1938) as Paul Houston * '' The Four Feathers'' (1939) as Harry Faversham * '' Convoy'' (1940) as Lieutenant Cranford * '' This England'' (1941) as John Rookeby * '' Ships with Wings'' (1941) as Lieutenant Dick Stacey * '' Tomorrow We Live'' (1943) as Jean Baptiste * '' Undercover'' (1943) as Milosh Petrovitch * '' They Came to a City'' (1944) as Joe Dinmore * '' Call of the Blood'' (1949) as Julius Ikon * '' Train of Events'' (1949) as Raymond Hillary (segment "The Composer") * '' The Silent Enemy'' (1958) as The Admiral * '' The Mind Benders'' (1963) as Major Hall * '' Oh! What a Lovely War'' (1969) as General Helmut von Moltke * ''

'' (1982) as Advocate General * '' Top Secret!'' (1984) as East German Dignitary (uncredited) (final film role)

Selected theatre credits

* '' The Venetian'' (1931) * '' Edward, My Son'' (1949) * '' And This Was Odd'' (1951) * '' The Happy Marriage'' (1952) * '' The Little Glass Clock'' (1954)

References

External links

*
John Clements archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection
University of Bristol {{DEFAULTSORT:Clements, John Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English male film actors English male stage actors English theatre managers and producers Knights Bachelor Actors awarded knighthoods Actors from the London Borough of Barnet People educated at St Paul's School, London 1910 births 1988 deaths 20th-century English male actors Standing family 20th-century English businesspeople People from Hendon