James Fox
Fox in 2014
Born	William Fox (1939-05-19) 19 May 1939 (age 84) London, England
Years active	1950–1970, 1981–present
Spouse	Mary Elizabeth Piper ​ ​ (m. 1973; died 2020)​
Children	5, including Jack and Laurence
Parent	Robin Fox (father)
Relatives	Edward Fox (brother) Robert Fox (brother)
Family	Fox

James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor. He won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for The Servant (1963). Other credits include The Miniver Story (1950), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), King Rat (1965), The Chase (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Isadora (1968), Performance (1970), before quitting acting for several years to be an evangelical Christian.

On his return to acting in the 1980s, he starred in Runners (1983), A Passage to India (1984), Comrades (1986), A Question of Attribution (1992), Patriot Games (1992), Farewell to the King (1993), Heart of Darkness (1993), The Remains of the Day (1993), Gulliver's Travels (1996), Anna Karenina (1997), and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999).

From 2000 onwards he appeared in Sexy Beast (2000), 2001 adaptation of The Lost World (2001), Agatha Christie's Poirot – Death on the Nile (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Waking the Dead (2007), Lewis (2009), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Cleanskin (2010), The Double (2013), W.E. (2010), Utopia (2013), The Great Train Robbery (2013), Death in Paradise (2015), and Surviving Christmas with the Relatives (2018).

Early life

Fox was born on 19 May 1939 in London, the second son of theatrical agent Robin Fox^[1] and actress Angela Worthington. His elder brother is actor Edward Fox and his younger brother is film producer Robert Fox. His maternal grandfather was playwright Frederick Lonsdale.^[2]

Career

Early career

Fox first appeared on film as eleven-year-old Toby Miniver in The Miniver Story in 1950.^[3] His early screen appearances, both in film and television, were made under his birth name, William Fox.

He appeared in the film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962).^[4] Fox's father purportedly attempted to forbid this, fearing his son would lose his job in the bank; nevertheless, Fox took the part.^[5]

In 1964, Fox won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for The Servant (1963), working alongside Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, and Wendy Craig.^[6]

On 16 June 1965, Ken Annakin's period aviation film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines was released. In this British period comedy film, Fox is featured among an international ensemble cast including Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Robert Morley, Terry-Thomas, Red Skelton, Benny Hill, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi.^[7][8] Some of the other films he acted in during this time are King Rat (1965),^[4] The Chase (1966),^[4] Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967),^[4] Isadora (1968),^[4] and Performance (1970).^[3]

Spiritual life and break from acting

After finishing work on Performance (released 1970, but shot in 1968),^[4] Fox suspended his acting career. The film, which starred Fox and Mick Jagger, was deemed so outrageous (at the time) that critics at a preview screening walked out, with one film executive's wife reportedly throwing up in the cinema.^[3]

In a 2008 interview, he said: "It was just part of my journey...I think my journey was to spend a while away from acting. And I never lost contact with it – watching movies, reading about it ... so I didn't feel I missed it."^[9]

He became an evangelical Christian, working with the Navigators and devoting himself to the ministry.^[10] During this time, the only film in which Fox appeared was No Longer Alone (1976), the story of Joan Winmill Brown,^[11] a suicidal woman who was led to faith in Jesus Christ by Ruth Bell Graham.^[11]

Return to acting

After an absence from acting of several years, in 1981 Fox appeared on television in the Play for Today "Country" by Trevor Griffiths, a comedy drama set against the 1945 UK parliamentary elections. On film he starred in Stephen Poliakoff's Runners (1983),^[4] A Passage to India (1984),^[4] and Comrades (1986).^[4] He played Anthony Blunt in the BBC play by Alan Bennett, A Question of Attribution (1992).^[4] He also portrayed the character of Lord Holmes in Patriot Games (1992), as well as Colonel Ferguson in Farewell to the King (1989) and the Nazi-sympathising aristocrat Lord Darlington in The Remains of the Day (1993).

He has since appeared in the 2000 film Sexy Beast,^[4] the 2001 adaptation of The Lost World as Prof. Leo Summerlee,^[4] Agatha Christie's Poirot – Death on the Nile (2004) as Colonel Race,^[4] and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005),^[4] playing Mr. Salt, Veruca Salt's father. He appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Shada,^[4] and in 2007, he guest-starred in the British television crime series Waking the Dead.^[4] He also appeared opposite his son Laurence Fox in "Allegory of Love", an episode in the third series of Lewis.^[4] He was part of the cast of Sherlock Holmes (2009), as Sir Thomas, leading member of a freemason-like secret society.^[4]

In 2010, he filmed Cleanskin, a terrorist thriller directed by Hadi Hajaig,^[12] and in 2011 he played King George V in the Madonna written and directed film W.E.^[13]

In 2013, he played a lead role alongside Natalie Dormer, in the movie A Long Way From Home.^[3]

Personal life

Fox married Mary Elizabeth Piper in September 1973, with whom he has five children: four sons, Robin, Thomas, Laurence, Jack, and a daughter, Lydia. Piper died at their home on 19 April 2020.^[2][14]

Through his daughter Lydia, his son-in-law is actor Richard Ayoade.^[15] His former daughter-in-law is actress Billie Piper, who was married to his son Laurence from 2007 to 2016.^[16][17]

Filmography

Film

Television