John Bell (Australian actor)

For other people with the same name, see John Bell (disambiguation).

John Bell AO OBE FRSN
Born	John Anthony Bell (1940-11-01) 1 November 1940 Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation(s)	Actor, theatre director, theatre manager
Years active	1950s–present
Known for	Development of Australian theatre
Awards	Helpmann Award, JC Williamson Award, Australian Living Treasure

John Anthony Bell (born 1 November 1940) is an Australian actor, theatre director and theatre manager. He has been a major influence on the development of Australian theatre in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Early life

Bell was born 1 November 1940 in Newcastle, New South Wales, and at age 9 or 10 moved with his family to the town of Maitland, New South Wales where he was educated at the Marist Brothers.

Career

While at High School, he developed and performed one-man shows. He worked with Old Tote Theatre Company. He spent five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Great Britain. In the 1970s he taught at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). He directed the first production of The Legend of King O'Malley (a musical play based on the life of King O'Malley by Bob Ellis and Michael Boddy) in 1970. The production featured Robyn Nevin and Kate Fitzpatrick.

He was in major state theatre companies as actor and/or director. He was co-founder of the Nimrod Theatre Company in Sydney. He was producer/presenter for David Williamson's Travelling North, The Club, The Removalists and Peter Kenna's A Hard God. In 2009 Bell directed the opera Madama Butterfly for Oz Opera; this production toured throughout Australia.

In 2021, Bell delivered the Boyer Lecture on the themes of "Life Lessons from Shakespeare", "Order vs Chaos", "Shakespeare's Women", and "Imaginary Forces". The lectures demonstrate the relevance of Shakespeare's works to today's issues of need for good governance, the danger of political self interest, and the need for gender inequality.

Bell Shakespeare

In 1990, Bell founded the theatre company Bell Shakespeare and has produced, among others, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Richard III, Pericles, Henry IV, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, King Lear, and Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters.

His roles for the company include Shylock, Richard III, Macbeth, Malvolio, Coriolanus, Leontes, Prospero, King Lear and Ulysses.

In 2011, Bell published the book On Shakespeare, his thoughts and reminiscences of playing Shakespeare for more than 50 years.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	The Devil to Pay	John Grey	Short film
1963	Clement Meadmore	Narrator	Short film
1976	Break of Day	Arthur	Feature film
1977	A Calendar of Dreamings	Narrator	Short film
1982	Far East	Peter Reeves	Feature film
2014	The Correspondent		Feature film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Ballad for One Gun	Ned Kelly	TV movie
1963	The Long Sunset	Otho	TV movie
1971	The Comedy Game	Sean Crisp	Season 1, episode 2: "Nice Day at the Office"
1972	The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui	Arturo Ui	TV movie
1973	The Taming of the Shrew	Petruchio	TV play of Old Tote Theatre production
1974	Hamlet	Hamlet	TV play of STC production
1975	Explorers	William Wills	Miniseries, episode 4: "The Story of Burke and Wills"
1984	The Explorers	Wills	Episode 9: "South to North"
1986	Hunger	Romanian Consul	TV movie
1989	Mission: Impossible	Erik Vogel	Season 2, episode 8: "The Fuehrer's Children"
1990	A Country Practice	Peter Kerr	Season 10, episode 34: "All or Nothing: Part 2"
1999	The Games
2015	Deadline Gallipoli	Lord Kitchener	Miniseries, 2 episodes
2019	Lambs of God	Bishop Malone	3 episodes
2019	Diary of an Uber Driver

As director

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	A Hard God	Director	TV movie
1974	Hamlet	Director	TV movie
2014	Tosca	Stage Director	TV movie

Stage (partial)

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Dead Men Walking		University of Sydney
1960	Twelfth Night		University of Sydney
1960	The Fairy Queen		University of Sydney
1960	Him		Broadway Theatre, Sydney
1961	Wet Blankets		St Barnabas Church Hall with University of Sydney
1961	'Tis Pity She's a Whore		University of Sydney
1961	Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance: an Un-historical Parable		University of Sydney
1962	The Rivals		Genesian Theatre, Sydney
1962	Coriolanus		University of Sydney
1962	Wakefield Mystery Plays		Cell Block Theatre, Sydney
1962	John Bell: Ring Around the Moon		Genesian Theatre, Sydney
1963	The Cherry Orchard		UNSW Old Tote Theatre
1963	The Fire Raisers		UNSW Old Tote Theatre
1963	Hamlet	Hamlet	UNSW Old Tote Theatre
1963	The Private Ear		Phillip Theatre, Sydney
1963	The Private Ear and the Public Eye		Phillip Theatre, Sydney
1964	The Caucasian Chalk Circle		UNSW Old Tote Theatre
1964	Henry V	Henry V	Tent Theatre, Sydney, Tent Theatre, Adelaide for Adelaide Festival
1964	By Royal Command		St James' Hall, Sydney
1964	The Soldier's Tale		Elizabethan Theatre, Sydney
1971	An Evening of Victorian Music Hall		Paddington Town Hall, Sydney
1971	The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui		UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney, Canberra Theatre
1971	The Government Inspector		UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney
1972	The Taming of the Shrew		UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney, Canberra Theatre
1972	Uncle Vanya		UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney
1973	Hamlet		Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney, Pram Factory, Melbourne, Playhouse, Canberra
1974	The Seagull		Nimrod Theatre, Sydney
1989	Big River	Duke
1990	The Merchant of Venice	Shylock	Bell Shakespeare
2002	Richard III	Richard, Duke of Gloucester	QTC
	Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome: A Shakespeare Commentary
	Faustus	Mephistopheles
	Uncle Vanya	The Professor	STC, Washington & New York with Bell Shakespeare
2017	The Father		STC & MTC
2018–2019	Diplomacy		Ensemble Theatre, Sydney (also director)
2018	Enoch Arden
2018	Bright Star
2019	The Miser	The Miser	Bell Shakespeare
2019	John Bell: A Few of My Favourite Things	One man show	Edinburgh Festival
2021; 2022	Grand Horizons		STC
2022	Words and Music
2022	With Love, Amadeus		Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, Wagstaffe Hall, UKARIA Cultural Centre, Mt Barker
	One Man in His Time	One man show	Sydney and Melbourne with Bell Shakespeare
2022	John Bell: And Another Thing...	One man show	Ensemble Theatre, Sydney
	Haydn Speaks		with the Australian Haydn Ensemble
2022	A Christmas Carol		Ensemble Theatre, Sydney

As director / crew

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	Coriolanus	Designer	University of Sydney
1963	Lunch Hour	Stage Manager	Palace Theatre, Sydney with Old Tote Theatre Company
1964	The American Dream	Stage Manager	Palace Theatre, Sydney with Old Tote Theatre Company
1970	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Director	UNSW Old Tote Theatre with NIDA
1970–1971	The Legend of King O'Malley	Director	Australian national tour with NIDA
1970	Biggles	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney with Old Tote Theatre Company
1971	Macbeth	Director / Designer	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney
1971	Flash Jim Vaux	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney with Old Tote Theatre Company
1971	The Removalists	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney
1972	Measure for Measure	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney
1972	The Good Woman of Setzuan	Director	UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney
1972	The Removalists	Director	Phillip Street Theatre, Sydney with Harry M. Miller
1972	How Could You Believe Me When I Said I'd Be Your Valet When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?	Director	UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney, Canberra Theatre
1973	The Tooth of Crime	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney
1973	President Wilson in Paris	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney
1973	Hamlet	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney, Pram Factory, Melbourne, Playhouse, Canberra
1973	Kabul	Director	UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney
1973–1974	A Hard God	Director	Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney, St Martins Theatre, Melbourne, Playhouse, Canberra
1974	The Bacchoi	Director	Nimrod Theatre, Sydney
1974	Don Giovanni	Director	Sydney Opera House with The Australian Opera
1974	How Does Your Garden Grow?	Director	Nimrod Theatre, Sydney

Personal life

Bell attended the University of Sydney with Clive James and Germaine Greer. He is a contemporary and friend of Bruce Beresford (film director, with whom he shared a house and for whom he did some film acting), Ken Horler, Mungo McCallum, Bob Ellis, Richard Wherrett, John Gaden, Laurie Oakes (journalist), and Les Murray (poet). His brother is the artist Michael Bell. Bell is married to actress Anna Volska and has two daughters, Grass Roots actress Lucy Bell and playwright Hilary Bell.

Honours and awards

In the 1978 New Year Honours he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1987, he was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). In the 2009 Australia Day Honours, he was named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

In 2001 a painting of Bell by artist Nicholas Harding won the Archibald Prize.

In 2003 the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, presented Bell with the Cultural Leader of the Year Award.

In 2016 he was awarded Australian Humanist of the Year (AHOY).

In 2019 Bell was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

His achievements in theatre have been acknowledged by the Universities of Newcastle (1994), Sydney (1996) and New South Wales, all of whom have awarded him honorary Doctor of Letters degrees.

Awards

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1982	Far East	AFI Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated
1989	John Bell	Mo Awards	Male Supporting Musical Theatre Performer of the Year	Won
2002	Richard III	Helpmann Awards	Best Male Actor in a Play	Won
2009	John Bell	Producers and Directors Guild Awards	Lifetime Achievement	Awarded
2009	John Bell	Helpmann Awards	JC Williamson Award	Awarded
2010	John Bell	Sydney Theatre Awards	Lifetime Achievement	Awarded
2011	Uncle Vanya	Helpmann Awards	Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play	Nominated
2013	Henry IV	Helpmann Awards	Best Male Actor in a Play	Nominated
2015	As You Like It	Helpmann Awards	Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play	Won
2018	The Father	Helpmann Awards	Best Male Actor in a Play	Nominated
2021	John Bell & Anna Volska	Equity Ensemble Awards	Australian Equity Lifetime Achievement Award	Awarded

Further reading

• Bell, John (2002). John Bell: The Time of My Life. Sydney: Currency Press. ISBN 1-86508-640-1.
• Meyrick, Julian (2002). See How It Runs: Nimrod and the New Wave. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-86819-651-7.
• Parsons, Philip (1995). Victoria Chance (ed.). Companion to Theatre in Australia. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-86819-357-7.

External links

• John Bell at IMDb
• "In defense of Shakespeare—a conversation with veteran Australian actor and director John Bell" by David Walsh, World Socialist Web Site (13 December 2011).