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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xhtml1-20000126/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>BFI Screenonline: Johns, Mervyn (1899-1992) Biography</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="description" content="Actor" /> <meta name="keywords" content=", " /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../../css/backward.css" type="text/css" /> <style type="text/css"> @import url(../../../css/bfi_global.css); </style> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">  </script> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff"><a href="#main_content" name="top" style="display: none;"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="Skip to main content" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></a> <center><div class="outline"> <table width="778" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td colspan="3"><form name="search" action="../../../search/quick.jsp" style="margin: 0px;"> <table bgcolor="#101010" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><img src="../../../images/nav/logo.gif" alt="BFI logo" /></td> <td> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"> <tr> <td><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../../index.html" title="screenonline home page">Home</a></p></td> <td><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../../film/index.html" title="Film genres and themes, plus industry and audiences, places and all films by decade">Film</a></p></td> <td><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../../tv/index.html" title="TV genres, themes and formats, industry, places, and all programmes by decade">Television</a></p></td> <td class="header-bg-people"><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../index.html" title="Hundreds of entries about personalities from British film and television">People</a></p></td> <td><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../../history/index.html" title="Britain's history as told in over a century of moving images">History</a></p></td> <td><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../../education/index.html" title="Resources for students, teachers and lifelong learners">Education</a></p></td> <td><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../../tours/index.html" title="Illustrated guides through subjects in British film and television">Tours</a></p></td> <td><p class="header-nav"><a href="../../../help/index.html" title="Answers to common questions, and information for schools and libraries">Help</a></p></td> <td width="40"> </td> <td><img src="../../../images/nav/searchicon.gif" alt="search" /></td> <td><p class="header-nav">Search</p></td> <td><input id="sh" type="text" name="quickSearchText" size="8" maxlength="60" class="quicksearch" /></td> <td><p class="header-nav"><input type="submit" value="Go" class="go-button" /></p></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td><img src="../../../images/nav/banner.gif" alt="Screenonline banner" /></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </form></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" align="right" class="upper-nav-cell"><div class="upper-nav-text"><a href="../../../feedback.html" class="upper-nav">Contact & Feedback</a> | <a class="upper-nav" href="../../../help/terms.html">Terms of Use</a><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="10" height="1" border="0" /></div> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">  <table width="778" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td class="peoplemastbg" valign="bottom"> <div class="mastheadpeople">Johns, Mervyn (1899-1992)</div> </td> </tr> </table> </td></tr> <tr><td width="30"> </td> <td valign="top"> <table width="740" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr> <tr><td width="435" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="435" height="20" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr> <td height="24"> <p class="smg">Actor</p> </td> </tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> <img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/1425513.jpg" alt="Main image of Johns, Mervyn (1899-1992)" id="mainimg"/> <p>With a distinguished stage career and several accomplished lead performances in films of the 1940s, Mervyn Johns is best remembered as one of <cite class="party">Ealing Studios</cite>' most prolific players and for a string of character parts into the 1950s and beyond, notably his put-upon clerk Bob Cratchit to <cite class="party">Alastair Sim</cite>'s miser in <cite>Scrooge</cite> (d. Brian Desmond Hurst, 1951).</p> <p>Born in Pembroke, Wales, he came to acting comparatively late, having trained as a medical student at London Hospital before serving with the Royal Flying Corps during WWI. Encouraged by his first wife, concert pianist Alys Steele, he went to RADA, graduating with a Gold Medal. After eight years in repertory at Bristol, he won acclaim for his stage performances in Shaw comedies, including <em>The Doctor's Dilemma</em> and <em>Pygmalion</em>. From the mid-1930s he took minor roles in films; one of his earliest credited appearances was in <cite class="party">Alfred Hitchcock</cite>'s <cite>Jamaica Inn</cite> (1939). </p> <p>Too old to serve in WWII, he became a stalwart of <cite class="party">Ealing Studios</cite>, thriving in the studio's semi-repertory company of character players and demonstrating his range in 12 features between 1940 and 1946. He was a German spy in <cite>The Next of Kin</cite> (d. Thorold Dickinson, 1942), a machine-gun toting church warden in <cite>Went the Day Well?</cite> (d. Alberto Cavalcanti, 1942), a spiv-turned-fireman in <cite>The Bells Go Down</cite> (d. Basil Dearden, 1943), a heroic ship's engineer in <cite>San Demetrio London</cite> (d. Charles Frend, 1943) and a stern Victorian patriarch in <cite>Pink String and Sealing Wax</cite> (d. Robert Hamer, 1946). He was a key player in some of <cite class="party">Ealing</cite>'s more fantastical projects: a cackling psychopath in the <cite class="party">Will Hay</cite> comedy <cite>My Learned Friend</cite> (d. Hay/Basil Dearden, 1943), a ghostly innkeeper (alongside his daughter, Glynis) in <cite>The Halfway House</cite> (d. Dearden, 1944) and the architect whose alarmingly prophetic dreams structured the horror compendium <cite>Dead of Night</cite> (d. Cavalcanti/Charles Crichton/Basil Dearden/Robert Hamer, 1945).</p> <p>His post-<cite class="party">Ealing</cite> roles were rarely so central, but an uncanny knack for inhabiting his characters meant his performances always lingered in the memory. In addition to a superlative Cratchit - equally intimidated by Scrooge reformed as by Scrooge the misanthrope - his Friar Lawrence in particular stood out among <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite>'s (d. Renato Castellani, 1954) starry international cast.</p> <p>Having made his television debut in a live production of <cite>Pride and Prejudice</cite> (BBC, tx 22/5/1938), he largely avoided the small screen until the mid-1950s, when he suddenly became ubiquitous. Memorable characterisations included Samuel Pepys in <cite class="party">'Ninety Sail'</cite> (<cite>Sunday Night Theatre</cite>, BBC, tx. 17/10/1954) and Mr Jarvis Lorry in <cite>A Tale of Two Cities</cite> (BBC, 1957); he took the lead in crime drama <cite>Leave It to Todhunter</cite> (BBC, 1958). In the 1960s he enjoyed guest roles in the likes of <cite>No Hiding Place</cite> (ITV, tx. 31/8/1964), <cite>Danger Man</cite> (ITV, tx. 8/12/1964), <cite>The Avengers</cite> (tx. 25/12/1965) and <cite>The Saint</cite> (tx. 13/4/1968); his performances typically offered variants on the now-established personae of meek, troubled underdog or other-worldly eccentric.</p> <p>By the late 1970s such appearances had become less frequent, and his final role came in the <cite>Shoestring</cite> episode <cite class="party">'Knock for Knock'</cite> (BBC, tx. 7/10/1979). His last years were spent in retirement with his second wife, actress <cite class="party">Diana Churchill</cite>; his death at 93 in 1992 left behind a legacy of minutely-observed character work spanning five decades.</p> <p class="bricksrc">Richard Hewett</p> <img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="10" border="0" alt="" /> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"></td></tr> </table></td>  <td width="1" class="verticaldots"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td> <td width="312" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="312" height="20" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="3" height="1" border="0" /></td><td><p class="smg">More information</p></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"> <tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="../../../images/gt/GT_articles.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="" border="0" /></td> <td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="credits.html" class="thumbheadlink-people"><img src="../../../images/icon_document.gif" alt="" vspace="2" class="clipmenu-icon-right" border="0" />FILM & TV CREDITS</a></td> </tr> <tr><td><p>From the BFI's filmographic database</p></td> </tr> </table></td></tr>  <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="3" height="1" border="0" /></td><td><p class="smg">Related media</p></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="3" height="1" border="0" /></td><td><p class="smg">Selected credits</p></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/844553.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Bells Go Down, The (1943)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/759917/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Bells Go Down, The (1943)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Stirring film about the Fire Services in Blitz-torn London</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/1080670.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Captain Boycott (1947)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/453759/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Captain Boycott (1947)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lively drama about 19th-century Irish civil disobedience</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/1393212.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Captive Heart, The (1946)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/1110084/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Captive Heart, The (1946)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Ealing POW drama, made only a few months after the end of WWII</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/681352.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Dead of Night (1945)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/491909/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Dead of Night (1945)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Classic Ealing portmanteau film: five tales of the supernatural</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/1174685.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Diamond City (1949)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/1174593/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Diamond City (1949)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lively British 'Western' set in South Africa's diamond 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class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of My Learned Friend (1943)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/482392/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">My Learned Friend (1943)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Surprisingly dark Will Hay comedy about the law, blackmail and murder</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/736963.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Next of Kin, The (1942)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/524117/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Next of Kin, The (1942)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Brutally effective WWII propaganda film on the dangers of careless talk.</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/831295.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/486826/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Family and class conflict, murder and blackmail in Victorian Brighton</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/936929.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Rebel, The (1960)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/547351/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Rebel, The (1960)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Tony Hancock's big-screen debut stars him as a talentless but ambitious artist</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/850008.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of San Demetrio London (1943)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/457226/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">San Demetrio London (1943)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Inspiring tale of wartime heroism based on a true story</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/1233799.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Scrooge (1951)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../../../film/id/509290/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Scrooge (1951)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Alastair Sim's definitive portrayal of Charles Dickens' curmudgeon</p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/722830.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Went the Day Well? 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(1942)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Chilling classic imagining a brutal Nazi invasion of a small English village</p></td></tr></table></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="3" height="1" border="0" /></td><td><p class="smg">Related collections</p></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/1425017.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Who's Who at Ealing" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../1424885/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Who's Who at Ealing</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Meet the team at 'the studio with team spirit'</p></td></tr></table></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="3" height="1" border="0" /></td><td><p class="smg">Related people and organisations</p></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr><td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/909048.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="Thumbnail image of Johns, Glynis (1923-)" border="0" /></td><td class="rh-headcell-people"><a href="../468959/index.html" class="thumbheadlink-people">Johns, Glynis (1923-)</a></td></tr><tr><td><p>Actor</p></td></tr></table></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> </table> </td></tr> </table> </td> <td width="8"> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="778" height="20" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3"><table width="778" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr class="upperfoot"> <td width="465" align="right" class="upperfoot"></td> <td class="upperfoot"><div class="footer-txt">  <a href="../../../help/terms.html" class="copylink">2003-14 © BFI Screenonline </a> | <a href="../../../help/credits.html" class="copylink">credits</a></div></td> <td align="right" class="upperfoot"><img src="../../../images/nav/lowernav_right_mask.gif" alt="" border="0" /></td> </tr></table> </td></tr> </table> </div></center> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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