John Abbott
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John Albert Chamberlain Kefford was an English character actor professionally known as John Abbott. His memorable roles include the invalid Frederick Fairlie in the 1948 film The Woman in White and the pacifist Ayelborne in the Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy". as well as a Shakespearean actor. In 1934, he began his career in show business when he made his professional stage debut in a revival of Dryden's Aureng-zebe with Sybil Thorndike. He then joined the Old Vic Company and appeared in Shakespearean roles, including Claudius in a production of Hamlet at Elsinore Castle in Denmark with Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and Alec Guinness. His first Broadway role was that of Count Mancini in He Who Gets Slapped in 1946. He also appeared on Broadway in Monserrat and The Waltz of the Toreadors. He made his film debut in Mademoiselle Docteur in 1937 and went on to act in scores of films in the next 30 years. Among his film credits are Mission to Moscow, Jane Eyre, A Thousand and One Nights, Humoresque, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. His television appearances in that time were even more numerous, beginning with pioneering broadcasts by the BBC before the Second World War. In the early days of the Second World War, Abbott worked at the British Embassy in Stockholm. When the time came to leave, he had to by way of the United States. While in the U.S., he was offered a part in Hollywood in 1941 and ended up living there for the rest of his life. On American television between the 1950s and 1970s, Abbott had roles on a wide variety of series such as Kraft Television Theatre, Studio 57, Gunsmoke, Matinee Theatre, Bonanza, Thriller, Star Trek, Mannix, Iron Horse, and Bewitched. Although he was blacklisted during the Red Scare of the 1950s, a producer who wanted to hire him eventually succeeded in getting the actor removed from the list.In his final years, Abbott taught acting to students free of charge. Abbott died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from natural causes on 24 May 1996 at the age of 90.
Known for
Credits
The Jungle Book (1967)
as Akela (voice)
Jane Eyre (1943)
as Mason
The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
as Mr. Pappas
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
as Aben
Gigi (1958)
as Manuel
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
as Fred
Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
as Phya Phrom
Quest (1984)
Actor
Gambit (1966)
as Emile
Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
as Mr. Orlandos
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
as Hostage (scenes deleted)
The Cross of Lorraine (1943)
as Baker (uncredited)
Slapstick of Another Kind (1982)
as Dr. Frankenstein
A Hazard of Hearts (1987)
as 2nd Gambler
This Above All (1942)
as Joe
The Merry Widow (1952)
as Marshovian Ambassador
The Steel Lady (1953)
as Mustafa el Melik
Madame Bovary (1949)
as Mayor Tuvache
Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
as Jodri
A Thousand and One Nights (1945)
as Ali
Thunder on the Hill (1951)
as Abel Harmer
Once Upon a Time (1944)
as Reporter (uncredited)
The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
as Poppy's Escort
The Commissioner (1998)
as Commissioner's Laywer
The Cat Creature (1973)
as Dr. Reinhart
The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946)
as Will Scarlet
They Got Me Covered (1943)
as Gregory Vanesou
Saratoga Trunk (1945)
as Roscoe Bean
Three Guns for Texas (1968)
as Banker Irwing
The Notorious Lone Wolf (1946)
as Lal Bara
Dangerous Blondes (1943)
as Roland X. Smith (uncredited)
Mission to Moscow (1943)
as Grinko (uncredited)
Humoresque (1947)
as Rozner
The Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)
as Jimmy Gordon
The Web (1947)
as Charles Murdock
The Saint in London (1939)
as Count Stephen Duni
The Black Bird (1975)
as Duquai
Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976)
as Heller
2000 Years Later (1969)
as Gregorius
Rogue's March (1953)
as Herbert Bielensen
Rubber Racketeers (1942)
as Dumbo
One More Tomorrow (1946)
as Joseph Baronova
Summer Storm (1944)
as Lunin
Crosswinds (1951)
as Sykes
Sideshow (1950)
as Pierre
Omar Khayyam (1957)
as Yusuf
The Vampire's Ghost (1945)
as Webb Fallon
Sombrero (1953)
as Don Daniel
Street of Shadows (1937)
Actor
The Woman in White (1948)
as Frederick Fairlie
The Conquest of the Air (1931)
as Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier
Get Hep to Love (1942)
as Professor Radowsky
Smorgasbord (1983)
as Surgeon
Deception (1946)
as Bertram Gribble
The Power of the Whistler (1945)
as Kaspar Andropolous
End of the Road (1944)
as Chris Martin
The Miracle on 34th Street (1955)
as Dr. Sawyer
Adventure Island (1947)
as Huish
Joan of Paris (1942)
as English Spy
U-Boat Prisoner (1944)
as Alfonse Lamont
London Blackout Murders (1943)
as Jack Rawlings
If Winter Comes (1947)
as Mr. Twyning
The Gorilla Man (1943)
as Dr. Ferris
Abroad with Two Yanks (1944)
as Salesman
Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937)
as Flower Seller
Thunder in the East (1952)
as Nitra Puta
Outside Chance (1978)
as Coroner
Time Out of Mind (1947)
as Max Leiberman
Cry of the Werewolf (1944)
as Peter Althius
Secrets of Scotland Yard (1944)
as Mortimer Cope
Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957)
as Dipso Dale Rutherford
Nightmare (1942)
as Carl aka Charles
Blunt Instrument (1981)
as Dr. Durrant
Navy Bound (1951)
as Pappa Cerrano
The Epic That Never Was (1969)
as Ms. Robson's Host (uncredited)
This Man Is News (1938)
as Hood with Foreign Accent
Under Secret Orders (1937)
as Armand
The Falcon in Hollywood (1944)
as Martin S. Dwyer
The Great Commandment (1939)
as Starving Beggar
Honeymoon Ahead (1945)
as Welles
Ten Days in Paris (1940)
as André