1. Jack Hawkins was born at 45 Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, in Middlesex, the son of a builder.
44 Facts About Jack Hawkins
1. 2.
Jack Hawkins's parents enrolled him in the Italia Conti Academy, and whilst he was studying there he made his London stage debut, when aged thirteen, playing the Elf King in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire on Boxing Day, December 1923, a production that included the young Noel Coward.
3.
Jack Hawkins appeared on Broadway in Journey's End by the age of 18.
4.
Jack Hawkins worked in the companies of Sybil Thorndike, John Gielgud and Basil Dean.
5.
Jack Hawkins's performances included Port Said by Emlyn Williams, Below the Surface by HL Stoker and LS Hunt, Red Triangle by Val Gielgud, Service by CI Anthony, for director Basil Dean, One of Us by Frank Howard, As You Like It by William Shakespeare and Iron Flowers by Cecil Lewis.
6.
Jack Hawkins was in Death at Broadcasting House, Lorna Doone, and Peg of Old Drury.
7.
Jack Hawkins appeared in Accidentally Yours by Clifford Grey, The World Waits by Clifford Hummel, Coincidence by Bryce Robertson and The Frog.
8.
Jack Hawkins served with ENSA in India and Southeast Asia.
9.
Jack Hawkins relinquished his commission as a lieutenant on 11 October 1946, and was granted the honorary rank of colonel.
10.
Jack Hawkins's wife became pregnant and he became concerned about his future.
11.
Jack Hawkins had been recommended to Korda by the latter's production executive, Bill Bryden, who was married to Elizabeth Allen, who had worked with Jack Hawkins.
12.
The association began badly when Jack Hawkins was cast in Korda's notorious flop Bonnie Prince Charlie, as Lord George Murray.
13.
Jack Hawkins appeared in The Small Back Room, for Powell and Pressburger; he starred as the villain alongside Douglas Fairbanks Jr in the Sidney Gilliat directed State Secret.
14.
Jack Hawkins was recruited by 20th Century Fox to support Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, by playing the Prince of Wales in the expensive epic The Black Rose.
15.
Jack Hawkins made another with Powell and Pressburger for Korda, The Elusive Pimpernel.
16.
Jack Hawkins played the lead in The Adventurers, shot in South Africa, then had a good role in another Hollywood-financed film shot in Britain, No Highway in the Sky, with James Stewart.
17.
Jack Hawkins became a star with the release of three successful films in which he played stern but sympathetic authority figures: Angels One Five, as an RAF officer during the war; The Planter's Wife, as a rubber planter combating communists in the Malayan Emergency ; and Mandy, the headmaster of a school for the deaf.
18.
Jack Hawkins starred in The Cruel Sea, playing a driven naval officer in World War II.
19.
Jack Hawkins's craggy looks and authoritative bearing were used to good effect whatever branch of the services he represented.
20.
Jack Hawkins had a guest role in Twice Upon a Time for Emeric Pressburger.
21.
None of these films was commercially successful but Jack Hawkins was still voted the fifth biggest star at the British box office for 1954, and the most popular British one.
22.
Jack Hawkins turned down the role of Colonel Carne in The Glorious Gloucesters for Warwick Films and Captain Cook for a project for the Rank organisation;.
23.
Jack Hawkins got his wish when he received a Hollywood offer to play a pharaoh for Howard Hawks in Land of the Pharaohs.
24.
Jack Hawkins returned home to make an Ealing comedy, Touch and Go, which was not particularly popular.
25.
Jack Hawkins was more comfortably cast as a police officer in The Long Arm, and a test pilot in The Man in the Sky.
26.
Jack Hawkins was an insurance investigator in Sidney Gilliat's Fortune Is a Woman.
27.
Jack Hawkins's career received a major boost when supporting William Holden and Alec Guinness, in the highly acclaimed The Bridge on the River Kwai.
28.
Jack Hawkins was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1958.
29.
Jack Hawkins played the lead role in a film for John Ford, playing a police officer in Gideon's Day.
30.
Jack Hawkins had a good role as a double agent in a war film, The Two-Headed Spy then was given another third lead in a Hollywood blockbuster Ben-Hur, playing the Roman admiral who befriends Charlton Heston.
31.
Jack Hawkins appeared as one of The Four Just Men in the Sapphire Films TV series for ITV.
32.
Jack Hawkins played the lead in an American TV version of The Fallen Idol.
33.
Jack Hawkins became worried about his voice and was concerned he would lose it.
34.
Jack Hawkins played General Cornwallis in a European epic, La Fayette.
35.
Jack Hawkins was in another big hit in Lawrence of Arabia, as General Allenby.
36.
Jack Hawkins had supporting parts in The Third Secret, Guns at Batasi, and Lord Jim.
37.
Jack Hawkins made some appearances on US TV: "To Bury Caesar" with Pamela Brown in 1963 and "Back to Back" for The Bob Hope Theatre.
38.
Jack Hawkins appeared in Judith, and The Poppy Is Also a Flower.
39.
Jack Hawkins had an operation to restore his voice in 1968.
40.
Jack Hawkins produced the film adaptation of Peter Barnes's The Ruling Class, with Peter O'Toole and Alastair Sim.
41.
Jack Hawkins married actress Jessica Tandy in 1932, and the couple divorced in 1940.
42.
In May 1973, Jack Hawkins had an experimental operation on his throat to insert an artificial voice box.
43.
Jack Hawkins died on 18 July 1973, of a secondary haemorrhage.
44.
Jack Hawkins was cremated and his ashes interred at Golders Green Crematorium in north London.