Actor and stage director John Neville died 19 November 2011, in his adopted home of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Born in London, England, on 2 May 1925, he was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1965, and the C.M. (Member of the Order of Canada) in 2006 for his services for his Canadian Theater and Drama. Best known for playing the title role in Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in 1988, it revived his acting career. He then went on to play Isaac Newton in the first half of the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter “Descent,” and then had a recurring role as “The Well-Manicured Man” in The X-Files.
After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His first film role came in the 1950 tv movie Mrs. Dot, and he spent most of the 1950s on the stage in London’s West End (he was a key member of the Old Vic Company, including playing leading roles in Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, and Othello) and on British and then American television.
In 1963, he became the artistic director of the new Nottingham Playhouse. He emigrated to Canada in 1972 (and later became a Canadian citizen). In Canada, he held artistic director positions at a series of theater companies, culminating with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in the 1980s.
His genre roles include appearances in: Control Factor (2003), Odyssey 5 (2002), seven episodes of Silver Surfer (1998), Urban Legend (1998), Shadow Zone: My Teacher Ate My Homework (1997), Johnny 2.0 (1997), The Fifth Element (1997), The Song Spinner (1995), Viper (1994), three episodes of Stark (1993), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1993), A Study in Terror (1965), and Unearthly Stranger (1964).
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Caroline, six children and six grandchildren.