24 Facts About Mervyn Johns

David Mervyn Johns was a Welsh stage, film and television actor who became a fixture of British films during the Second World War.

Mervyn Johns made his theatrical debut while on tour of the British dominions in 1923.

Mervyn Johns made his screen debut with Lady in Danger in 1934 and appeared in several supporting roles in the 1930s before becoming a leading man in the 1940s and 50s.

Mervyn Johns settled into supporting roles in later years with guest appearances on televised plays and anthology series.

Mervyn Johns appeared in two films alongside his daughter Glynis Mervyn Johns.

David Mervyn Johns was born on 18 February 1899 in Pembroke, Wales.

Mervyn Johns attended Llandovery College, an independent boarding school in South Wales, following the graduation of his brother Howard Johns, later rector of Pusey and Weston-on-the-Green.

Mervyn Johns encouraged him to pursue a career in drama and so he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Mervyn Johns served as a combat patrol pilot in the Royal Flying Corps and later in the Royal Air Force during the First World War.

Mervyn Johns made his stage debut while he and his first wife, Alyce Steele-Wareham, were touring the British dominions of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in 1923.

Mervyn Johns had various roles in West End productions throughout the 1920s following his graduation from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1924 when he made his West End debut with London's Grand Guignol, a Comedy Theatre production directed by Lewis Casson.

From 1931 to 1932, Mervyn Johns starred in two productions at the Little Theatre in Bristol: When Knights Were Bold by Charles Marlowe and A Cup of Kindness by Ben Travers; at the same theatre from 16 to 21 October 1932, he played Mr Blanquet in John Drinkwater's comedy Bird In Hand.

Mervyn Johns made his screen debut in 1934 as the reporter in Ben Travers' comedy thriller Lady in Danger, going on to play Hemp in David MacDonald's 1937 crime film The Last Curtain, Sir Wilfred Lucas in the 1938 TV Movie adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and Percival Clicker in Oswald Mitchell's 1938 comedy film Almost a Gentleman.

Mr Mervyn Johns lets us see the pleasure he is taking in the fellow's brutish gusto.

Mr Mervyn Johns, by lifting a corner of the brute's mind to show us his own, is right with Garrick.

Two years later, Mervyn Johns was cast in Ivor Novello's play Comedienne, at the Aldwych Theatre in London.

Mervyn Johns avoided conscription due to his age, and thus began his career in various roles, though most often as the quirky yet dignified "frightened men" described by Adam Benedick.

Mervyn Johns's supporting roles in this era included playing Ernest Bennett in Ralph Thomas' romantic comedy film Helter Skelter, and Bob Cratchit in Brian Desmond Hurst's 1951 Christmas fantasy drama film adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, with Alastair Sim as the cantankerous title character and miser.

In 1956, Johns was given the lead role of J Philimore Sparkes in six episodes of the television series New Ramps For Old, in which he was cast alongside Harry H Corbett and Colin Tapley, who played Kegworthy and Detective Inspector Welsh respectively.

Mervyn Johns is remembered for standout roles as Arthur Charles Parfitt and Edward Lumsden in five episodes of the courtroom drama television series Crown Court alongside his grandson, actor Gareth Forwood, from 1973 to 1975.

In 1987, Mervyn Johns appeared as a contributor in the documentary The Cavalry of the Clouds, produced by British regional commercial television station HTV West.

Mervyn Johns was known for his "mostly mild-mannered, lugubrious, amusing, sometimes moving 'little men'" in over 100 films and television series.

Mervyn Johns is recurrently hailed as one of Ealing Studios' most prolific actors.

Mervyn Johns died on 6 September 1992 in Northwood, London at the age of 93.