James Fox facts for kids

Quick facts for kids James Fox
Fox in 2014
Born	William Fox (1939-05-19) 19 May 1939 (age 86) London, England
Years active	1950–1970, 1981–present
Spouse(s)	Mary Elizabeth Piper ​ ​ (m. 1973; her death 2020)​
Children	5, including Jack and Laurence
Parent(s)	Robin Fox (father)
Relatives	Edward Fox (brother) Robert Fox (brother)
Family	Fox

James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor known for his work in film and television. Fox career begain the 1960s through roles in films such as The Servant and Performance. He is also known for his roles in A Passage to India in 1984 and The Remains of the Day in 1993.

In the 1970s, Fox took a break from acting to focus on personal and spiritual matters returning to acting in the early 1980. Over time, he has built a reputation for playing a variety of roles, including upper-class figures and more serious characters. His family have strong links to acting including his brother Edward Fox and his son Laurence Fox.

Early life

Fox was born on 19 May 1939 in London, the second son of theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. His elder brother is actor Edward Fox and his younger brother is film producer Robert Fox. His maternal grandfather was playwright Frederick Lonsdale. Like several members of the Fox family, he attended Harrow School. After leaving Harrow, Fox took a short service commission in the Coldstream Guards.

Career

Early career

Fox first appeared on film in The Miniver Story in 1950. His early screen appearances, both in film and television, were made under his birth name, William Fox.

He was working in a bank when Tony Richardson offered him a minor role in the film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962). Fox's father attempted to forbid this, claiming that his son had no talent for acting and that it would disrupt his life for him to give up his job in the bank; nevertheless, Fox took the part.

In 1964, he won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his role in The Servant (1963).

On 16 June 1965, Ken Annakin's Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines was released. In this British period comedy film, Fox is featured among an international ensemble cast including Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Robert Morley, Terry-Thomas, Red Skelton, Benny Hill, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi. The film, revolving around the craze of early aviation around 1910, is about a pompous newspaper magnate (Morley) who is convinced by his daughter (Miles) and her fiancé (Fox), a young army officer, to organize an air race from London to Paris. A large sum of money is offered to the winner, attracting a variety of characters to participate. The film received positive reviews, being described as funny, colourful and clever, and as capturing the early enthusiasm for aviation. It was treated as a major production, one of only three full-length 70 mm Todd-AO Fox releases in 1965 with an intermission and musical interlude part of the original screenings. The film was initially an exclusive roadshow presentation shown in deluxe Cinerama venues, where customers needed reserved seats purchased ahead of time. The film grossed $31,111,111 theatrically and on home video $29,950,000. Audience reaction, both in first release and even today, is nearly universal in assessing the film as one of the "classic" aviation films.

Some of the other films he acted in during this time are King Rat (1965), The Chase (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Isadora (1968), and Performance (1970).

Spiritual life and break from acting

After finishing work on Performance (released 1970, but shot in 1968), Fox suspended his acting career. The film, which starred Fox and Mick Jagger, was deemed so outrageous (at the time) that critics at a preview screening walked out, with one film executive's wife reportedly throwing up in the cinema.

In a 2008 interview, he said: "It was just part of my journey...I think my journey was to spend a while away from acting. And I never lost contact with it – watching movies, reading about it ... so I didn't feel I missed it."

He became an evangelical Christian, working with the Navigators and devoting himself to the ministry. .....

Return to acting

After an absence from acting of several years, in 1981 Fox appeared on television in the Play for Today "Country" by Trevor Griffiths, a comedy drama set against the 1945 UK parliamentary elections. On film he starred in Stephen Poliakoff's Runners (1983), A Passage to India (1984), and Comrades (1986). He played Anthony Blunt in the BBC play by Alan Bennett, A Question of Attribution (1992). He also portrayed the character of Lord Holmes in Patriot Games (1992), as well as Colonel Ferguson in Farewell to the King (1989) and the Nazi-sympathising aristocrat Lord Darlington in The Remains of the Day (1993).

..... Leo Summerlee, Agatha Christie's Poirot – Death on the Nile (2004) as Colonel Race, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), playing Mr. Salt, Veruca Salt's father. He appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Shada, and in 2007, he guest-starred in the British television crime series Waking the Dead. He also appeared opposite his son Laurence Fox in "Allegory of Love", an episode in the third series of Lewis. He was part of the cast of Sherlock Holmes (2009), as Sir Thomas, leading member of a freemason-like secret society.

In 2010, he filmed Cleanskin, a terrorist thriller directed by Hadi Hajaig, and in 2011 he played King George V in the Madonna written and directed film W.E.

In 2013, he played a lead role alongside Natalie Dormer, in the movie A Long Way From Home.

Personal life

Fox married Mary Elizabeth Piper in September 1973, with whom he has five children: four sons, Robin, Thomas, Laurence, Jack, and a daughter, Lydia. Piper died at their home on 19 April 2020.

Through his daughter Lydia, his son-in-law is actor Richard Ayoade. His former daughter-in-law is actress Billie Piper, who was married to his son Laurence from 2007 to 2016.

Filmography

Film

Television

See also

In Spanish: James Fox para niños