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John Wells
Acting

John Wells
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1936-11-17,Ashford, Kent, UK
Gender
Male
Biography
Wells started in cabaret at Oxford and began his television career as a writer on That Was The Week That Was, the 1960s weekly satire show that launched the careers of David Frost and Millicent Martin, among others, and also appeared in the television programme Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, as well as in The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Besides making cameo appearances in films such as Casino Royale (1967) and Rentadick (1972), television dramas like Casanova (1987), an episode of Lovejoy (1991) and comedy shows like Yes Minister, he also wrote television scripts and screenplays, such as Princess Caraboo (1994). In 1971, with John Fortune, he published the comedy classic A Melon for Ecstasy, about a man who consummates his love affair with a tree. Wells played the headmaster of Thursgood's Preparatory School in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Wells was one of the original contributors to the satirical magazine Private Eye and contributed to Mrs Wilson's Diary, the long-running spoof journal of the wife of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. From 1979 he repeated that success with Dear Bill, a series of letters (co-written with Richard Ingrams) supposedly sent by Denis Thatcher, husband of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to Bill Deedes. Wells developed the feature into a stage farce, Anyone for Denis?, first performed in 1981, in which he played Denis Thatcher. Co-starring Angela Thorne as Mrs. Thatcher, the play was a major West End hit, toured the UK and was adapted for television.He co-wrote Alice in Wonderland, a musical adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s novel with Carl Davis, which debuted at The Lyric Theatre in the West End, London.[3] Wells also played Denis Thatcher in the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only (1981). In 1991, he and Thorne again played the Thatchers in Dunrulin, a one-off TV sitcom-like satirical look at the couple in retirement.[4] He also voiced Arnold the Elephant, Edward the Monkey and Bert in the children's TV series Charlie Chalk. In 1988, Leonard Bernstein started working on a new version of his much-revised operetta Candide. The author of the original book, Hugh Wheeler, had died, and John Wells was asked to help revise the text.[5] The first production of this "final version", by Scottish Opera, was followed by a "final revised version" in 1989, performances of which have been released on CD and DVD. An insert in the DVD ("Bernstein and Voltaire"), written by Wells, explained what Bernstein had wanted in this final revised version. Wells authored Rude Words in 1991, a history of the London Library, for the institution's 150th anniversary. In 1997, Wells appeared in the BBC situation comedy Chalk as ineffectual headmaster Richard Nixon.[6] His fellow cast members do not recall him being ill on set, but he was too unwell to participate in the second series.[7] Wells' last book, House of Lords, was a best-seller and published a year before his death in 1998. The book is a historical and humorous study of the British peerage system.

Filmography

For Your Eyes Only

6.536

For Your Eyes Only
1981-06-24

Anyone for Denis

0

Anyone for Denis
1982-12-28

5.4

Revolution
1985-12-25

3.833

Dutch Girls
1985-10-18

Let's Sleep On it

0

Let's Sleep On it
1976-01-01

6

The Bobo
1967-03-31

4.1

Rentadick
1972-12-31

30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia!

4.2

30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia!
1968-03-04

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball

6

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
1982-03-01

Consuming Passions

8

Consuming Passions
1988-04-06

The Flying Alberts (Brucey Lacey edit)

0

The Flying Alberts (Brucey Lacey edit)
1965-01-01

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

6.4

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
1984-03-30

5.25

Casino Royale
1967-04-13

Every Home Should Have One

4.947

Every Home Should Have One
1970-03-05

The Light Princess

7

The Light Princess
1978-12-24

0

Stones
1976-10-27

Love's Labour's Lost

7

Love's Labour's Lost
1985-01-05

Princess Caraboo

5.4

Princess Caraboo
1994-09-16

The Mystery of the Disappearing Schoolgirls

0

The Mystery of the Disappearing Schoolgirls
1980-12-28

Cinderella: The Shoe Must Go On

4

Cinderella: The Shoe Must Go On
1986-12-25

7.2

Q...
1969-03-24

5.6

Charlie Chalk
1988-10-20

6.5

Chalk
1997-02-20

Rumpole of the Bailey

7.1

Rumpole of the Bailey
1975-12-17

Absolutely Fabulous

7.512

Absolutely Fabulous
1992-11-12

5.2

The Irish R.M.
1983-01-06

7.3

Lovejoy
1986-01-10

Yes, Prime Minister

8.375

Yes, Prime Minister
1986-01-09

The BBC Television Shakespeare

6

The BBC Television Shakespeare
1978-12-03

0

Rude Health
1987-03-16

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

7.561

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
1979-09-10

100 Years of Warner Bros.

7.7

100 Years of Warner Bros.
2023-05-25

The End Of The Pier Show

0

The End Of The Pier Show
1974-11-17

Have I Got News for You

7.063

Have I Got News for You
1990-09-28

4.5

Wogan
1982-05-04

Anyone for Denis?

0

Anyone for Denis?
1982-12-28

Filthy Rich & Catflap

6.6

Filthy Rich & Catflap
1987-01-07

7.906

Bottom
1991-09-17