John Edward Hawkins (14 September 1910 – 18 July 1973) was an English actor, who worked on stage and in film from the 1930s until the 1970s. He was known for his portrayal of military men, said to "endow the countless figures of authority he played with a formidable screen presence." One of the most popular British film stars of the 1950s, he was nominated for four BAFTA Awards for Best British Actor.
Hawkins was born at 45 Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, in Middlesex (now London Borough of Haringey), the son of a builder. He was educated at Wood Green's Trinity County Grammar School, where, aged eight, he joined the school choir.
By the age of ten Hawkins had joined the local operatic society, and made his stage debut in Patience by Gilbert and Sullivan. His parents enrolled him in the Italia Conti Academy, and whilst he was studying there he made his London stage debut, when aged thirteen, playing the Elf King in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire on Boxing Day, December 1923, a production that also included the young Noël Coward. The following year, aged 14, he played the page in a production of Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw. Five years later he was in a production of Beau Geste alongside Laurence Olivier.
He appeared on Broadway in Journey's End at the age of 18.
In the 1930s Hawkins's focus was on the stage. He worked in the companies of Sybil Thorndike, John Gielgud and Basil Dean. His performances included Port Said by Emlyn Williams (1931), Below the Surface by HL Stoker and LS Hunt (1932), Red Triangle by Val Gielgud (1932), Service by CI Anthony, for director Basil Dean (1933), One of Us by Frank Howard, As You Like It by William Shakespeare (1933), and Iron Flowers by Cecil Lewis (1933, with Jessica Tandy his wife).
He started appearing in films, including Birds of Prey (1930), The Lodger (1932) (starring Ivor Novello), The Good Companions (1933), The Lost Chord (1933), I Lived with You (1933), The Jewel (1933), A Shot in the Dark (1933), and Autumn Crocus (1934).
In 1932 he was in a radio production of Hamlet with John Gielgud and Robert Donat and the following year he was in Danger. He was also in Death at Broadcasting House (1934), Lorna Doone (1934), and Peg of Old Drury (1935).
Stage roles included While Parents Sleep (1932) by Anthony Kimmins, Iron Mistress (1934) by Arthur Macrae; then an open air Shakespeare festival – As You Like It (1934) (with Anna Neagle), Twelfth Night (1934), and The Comedy of Errors (1934). Some of these productions were broadcast on radio. The Maitlands by Ronald Mackenzie (1934) was for John Gielgud's company. He was Horatio to Gielgud's Hamlet (1934). He also appeared in Accidentally Yours by Clifford Grey (1935), The World Waits by Clifford Hummel (1935), Coincidence by Bryce Robertson (1935) and The Frog (1935).
Films in the late 1930s included Beauty and the Barge (1937), The Frog (1937), (which Hawkins played on stage), Who Goes Next? (1938), A Royal Divorce (1938), Murder Will Out (1939), and The Flying Squad (1940).
Theatre appearances included A Winter's Tale (1937), Autumn by Margaret Kennedy and Gregory Ratoff (1937, with Flora Robson for Basil Dean), The King's Breakfast by Rita Welman and Maurice Marks (1937–38), No More Music by Rosamund Lehman (1938), Can We Tell? by Robert Gore Brown (1938), Traitors Gate by Norma Stuart (1938), and Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith (1938–39).
Having attended an Officer Cadet Training Unit, he was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers, British Army, as a second lieutenant on 8 March 1941. On 22 January 1944, he transferred to the Expeditionary Force Institutes in the rank of lieutenant. He served with ENSA in India and Southeast Asia. He relinquished his commission as a lieutenant (substantive) on 11 October 1946, and was granted the honorary rank of colonel.
During his military service, he was employed by Ealing Studios to make The Next of Kin (1942).
Hawkins left the army in July 1946. Two weeks later he appeared on stage in The Apple Cart at £10 per week. The following year he starred in Othello, to a mixed reception.
Hawkins's wife became pregnant and he became concerned about his future. He decided to accept a contract with Sir Alexander Korda for three years at £50 per week. Hawkins had been recommended to Korda by the latter's production executive, Bill Bryden, who was married to Elizabeth Allen, who had worked with Hawkins.
The association began badly when Hawkins was cast in Korda's notorious flop Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), as Lord George Murray. However, he followed it with a good role in the successful, highly acclaimed The Fallen Idol (1948), for Carol Reed. He appeared in The Small Back Room (1949), for Powell and Pressburger; he starred as the villain alongside Douglas Fairbanks Jr in the Sidney Gilliat directed State Secret (1950).
He was recruited by 20th Century Fox to support Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, by playing the Tristram Griffen character in the expensive epic The Black Rose (1950). He made another with Powell and Pressburger for Korda, The Elusive Pimpernel (1950).
Hawkins played the lead in The Adventurers (1951), shot in South Africa, then had a good role in another Hollywood-financed film shot in Britain, No Highway in the Sky (1951), with James Stewart. It was followed by a British thriller with Ralph Richardson, Home at Seven (1952).
In the spring of 1951 he went to Broadway and played Mercutio in a production of Romeo and Juliet with Olivia de Havilland.