Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen | |
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Bannen in 1966
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Born | Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK |
29 June 1928
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Knockies Straight, near Loch Ness, Scotland, UK |
Cause of death | car crash |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1951–99 |
Spouse(s) | Marilyn Salisbury (1976–99; his death) |
Ian Bannen (29 June 1928 – 3 November 1999) was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.
Bannen was known for starring as the character Christopher Lowe in From Beyond the Grave (1974), Jim Prideaux in the BBC production of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and Jackie O'Shea in Waking Ned Devine (1998).
Contents
Early life
Bannen was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, the son of Clare (née Galloway) and John James Bannen, a lawyer.[1] Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire. His first acting role came in a 1947 Dublin stage production of Armlet of Jade. He became a successful figure on the London stage, making a name for himself in the plays of both Shakespeare and Eugene O'Neill. He was an original member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared on Broadway as well.
Career
His film debut occurred in the early 1950s with a small role in Pool of London (1951), and he quickly rose to prominence, primarily in a wide range of supporting roles. He had a very significant role as Stoker Samuel Bannister in Yangtse Incident. During the early stages of his career he worked with the Boulting Brothers on Private's Progress and Carlton-Browne of the F.O.. His performance as Crow in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, making him the first Scottish actor to receive this honour; he also received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year - Actor. That same year, he starred alongside Sean Connery in the WW2 prison drama, The Hill.
Bannen turned down lead roles in Hawaii Five-O, Van der Valk and The Love Boat. His notable television appearances include parts in Doctor Finlay, Thriller, and as a schoolteacher and ex-spy in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Director John Schlesinger cast him as a replacement for Alan Bates in the part of well-off homosexual doctor Daniel Hirsh in his controversial film Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), after Bates was deemed unavailable to shoot. According to screenwriter Penelope Gilliatt, Bannen never felt comfortable with the part. The anxiety adversely affected his performance during the early filming. Schlesinger replaced Bannen with Peter Finch, who received an Oscar nomination for the role.
Acclaim
Ian Bannen received in 1965 an Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" for his performance in 'The Flight of the Phoenix' as one of the survivors of a plane crash, Ratbags Crow. He received too a BAFTA Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" for his performance as suspected child molester Kenneth Baxter in The Offence (1972). He also won acclaim for his roles as Brother Benedict in Lamb (1986), Grandfather George in John Boorman's Hope and Glory (1987) (for which he received a second "Best Supporting Actor" BAFTA nomination), the elder Robert de Brus in Braveheart (1995) and as the touchingly crafty villager in Waking Ned Devine (1998).
In 1996, he was honoured with the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award.[2]
Death
Bannen was killed, aged 71, in a car accident by Loch Ness in November 1999. He and his wife, Marilyn Salisbury, who had been driving, were discovered in an overturned vehicle at Knockies Straight between Inverness and Fort Augustus.[3] His wife, a veterinarian for the Ministry of Agriculture, suffered only minor injuries. The couple had been married since 1976; they had no children. [4]
Legacy
Coatbridge College, Lanarkshire presents the Ian Bannen Memorial Award to the best actor or actress in their classes every year.[5]
Bannen was posthumously given the 2000 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award.
Partial filmography
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- Private's Progress (1956)
- The Long Arm (1956)
- The Birthday Present (1957)
- Yangtse Incident (1957)
- Miracle in Soho (1957)
- Behind the Mask (1958)
- Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959)
- Suspect (1960)
- A French Mistress (1960)
- de (1961)
- Station Six-Sahara (1962)
- Psyche 59 (1964)
- Mister Moses (1965)
- The Hill (1965)
- Rotten to the Core (1965)
- Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
- Penelope (1966)
- The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967)
- Lock Up Your Daughters (1969)
- Too Late the Hero (1970)
- Jane Eyre (1970)
- Fright (1971)
- The Deserter (1971)
- Doomwatch (1972)
- The Offence (1972)
- The Mackintosh Man (1973)
- Il Viaggio (1974)
- The Driver's Seat (1974)
- The Gathering Storm (1974)
- Bite the Bullet (1975)
- Sweeney! (1977)
- Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
- The Inglorious Bastards (1977)
- it (1979)
- The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
- Night Crossing (1981)
- Eye of the Needle (1981)
- Gandhi (1982)
- The Prodigal (1983)
- Gorky Park (1983)
- Defence of the Realm (1985)
- Lamb (1985)
- Hope and Glory (1987)
- The Courier (1988)
- La Partita (1988)
- The Lady and the Highwayman (1989)
- George's Island (film) (1989)
- Ghost Dad (1990)
- Circles in a Forest (1990)
- The Treaty (1991)
- Speaking of the Devil (1991)
- Damage (1992)
- The Sound and the Silence (1992)
- A Pin for the Butterfly (1994)
- Braveheart (1995)
- Waking Ned Devine (1998)
- To Walk with Lions (1999)
- Best (2000)
- The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (2000)[6]
References
- ↑ Film Reference biography
- ↑ The Independent obituary
- ↑ Shaun Milne: "Ian Wanted To Come Home When He Died"
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Coatbridge College news
- ↑ IMDB.com
External links
- Use dmy dates from April 2014
- Use British English from April 2014
- Articles with hCards
- Pages using div col with unknown parameters
- Interlanguage link template link number
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- 1928 births
- 1999 deaths
- People educated at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow
- Scottish male television actors
- People educated at Ratcliffe College
- People from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire
- Road accident deaths in Scotland
- Royal Shakespeare Company members
- Scottish male film actors
- Scottish male stage actors
- Scottish Roman Catholics
- 20th-century Scottish male actors