John Roger Hammond (21 March 1936 – 8 November 2012) was an English actor who appeared in many films and television series.
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Early life
Hammond was born in Stockport, and his father was a chartered accountant and managing director of a cotton mill. He attended Stockport Grammar School for two years followed by Bryanston School in Dorset. He then went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he initially read English, then switched to archaeology and anthropology and he appeared extensively in their drama programme, alongside actors such as Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. Following that, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Career
In 1963, Hammond joined the Arts Theatre Company, and appeared in a number of productions there, including productions of the associated Unicorn Theatre.
In 1964, Hammond made his first television appearance, as Tidiman in an episode of The Villains, and his first film appearance the next year. Although he worked primarily as a television actor in his early years, from the 1990s his career was more focused on film, with 125 credits in a variety of roles, ranging from all sorts of genres, although mostly in costume dramas and period pieces. Hammond's credits include the Prince of Wales in The Duchess of Duke Street, Valence in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, and Cecil in A Good Woman. Hammond was also cast as a clergyman several times, including as the Archbishop in Ian McKellen's Richard III, the Bishop de Cambrai in The Princes in the Tower, and as the Chief Augur in the HBO television drama Rome.
In 1984 he appeared as agoraphobic bookmaker Albert Wendle in the Minder episode Get Daley!.
Hammond additionally contributed to some audio books on tape, appearing in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and The Tempest.
Death
Hammond died aged 76 of cancer, leaving, by his former wife, Helen (née Weir; married 1968, divorced 1975), a son, Daniel.
Partial stage credits
Camino Real ... Baron de Charlus
A Month in the Country ... Arkady Srgeitch Islaev
Deutsches Haus ... Griben
Love's Labours ... Charles
Three Sisters ... Andrey
Caesar and Cleopatra ... Pothinus
Arsenic and Old Lace ... Dr. Einstein
Luther ... Eck
I, John Brown ... Jack McGrew
Salad Days ... Timothy's Father / Butterfly Catcher
The Corn is Green ... The Squire
The Public Eye ... Charles Sidley
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance ... The Mayor
All in Good Time ... Leslie Piper
Lady Windermere's Fan ... Dumby
The Importance of Being Earnest ... Rev. Dr. Chasuble
The Madness of King George ... Baker
'Tis Pity She's a Whore ... Donado
The Seagull ... Shamraev
Donkeys' Years ... Tate
Poor Bitos ... Mirabeau
The Cherry Orchard ... Pishchik
Other projects, contributions
When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics) – Shakespeare's "Sonnet 119" ("What potions have I drunk of siren tears")
Fable 2 Chieftain of Knothole Island – Lionhead Studios
The Screwtape Letters (2009, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre) - Toadpipe