Sir John Clements CBE |
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John Clements in 1954
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Born |
London, England, UK |
25 April 1910
Died | 6 April 1988 Brighton, Sussex, England, UK |
(aged 77)
Years active | 1935–1982 |
Spouse(s) |
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Sir John Selby Clements, CBE (25 April 1910 – 6 April 1988) was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.
Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made his first stage appearance in 1930. Clements founded the Intimate Theatre at Palmers Green in 1935, which is a combined repertory and try-out theatre. He appeared in almost 200 plays, and presented a number of plays in the West End as actor-manager-producer. He also started his film work in 1933. Clements was the artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre from 1966 to 1973. In December 1951 he directed the play 'Man and Superman' at the Wimbledon Theatre, Surrey and played the role of John Tanner alongside Allan Cuthbertson. He married the actress Kay Hammond and together they became a critical success on stage with their West End revival of Noël Coward's play Private Lives in 1945. In 1952 they both appeared in Clements' own play The Happy Marriage, an adaptation of Jean Bernard-Luc's Le Complexe de Philemon . Clements starred as Edward Moutlon Barrett in the musical Robert and Elizabeth, a successful adaptation of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. His stepson is the actor John Standing.