
A tall, imposing character actor with a voice to match, John Phillips brought an authoritative manner and dignified military bearing to his many roles on stage and screen. A decorated veteran of the 1944 Normandy Campaign, Phillips frequently appeared on television as uniformed senior officers and police chief constables, from Frontier (1968) to Z Cars (1962). His piercing eyes and forthright manner made him equally suited to portraying magistrates, academics and clergymen. After a long innings with the Birmingham Repertory prior to 1945, he appeared post-war in Bristol and at the Old Vic in London, playing anything from Henrik Ibsen to Shakespeare. He was critically acclaimed for his roles as Henry VIII and Timon of Athens, Prospero and Tamburlaine the Great (in Christopher Marlowe's play)). Acting on screen from the early 1950's, he was insidious as lawyer Tulkinghorn in Bleak House (1959), and lent gravitas to his Norfolk in Richard III (1955) and Grand Duke Nicholas in Fall of Eagles (1974). He was not beyond parodying his screen personae, being droll and stereotypically stiff-upper-lip, as Colonel Harcourt Badger Owen in the uproarious Ripping Yarns (1976) episode 'Escape from Stalag Luft 112 B'. Phillips retired from the stage in the 1980's and made his celluloid curtain call in the eccentric, off-beat comedy Leon the Pig Farmer (1992).

as Wintour

as Examining Judge

as Magistrate

as Colonel Harcourt Badger Owen

as Francis Urcombe

as Francis Urcombe

as Koestler (archive footage)

as Rev. Howard Whithead

as Councillor Percival

as Eddie Storm (segment 2 "Terror Over Hollywood")

as Stanley Preston

as Major General Atkins

as John Anthony

as Insp. Morgan

as Bishop of Winchester

as Rear Admiral

as Bracewell - U.S. Delegate

as Col. Fowler

as Tom Stone

as Trifonov

as Trifonov

as Hooper Moulsworth

as Chief Superintendent Gault

as Professor Stephens

as General Leighton

as Boat Owner Spokesman (uncredited)

as Prosecutor at Esterhazy Trial

as The Mayor

as Doctor

as Willis Croft

as Deputy Morgan

as Engineer Officer

as Lt. Col. Turbojet