James Ellis (15 March 1931 – 8 March 2014) was a Northern Irish actor and theatre director from Belfast. He had a career that lasted more than sixty years. He began his career as a stage actor and director in his hometown of Belfast. In the early 1960s, he moved to London. He became well-known in Great Britain for his role in the BBC1 police series Z-Cars (1962–78). He appeared in many other television and film roles. He was also a translator.

Early life

Jimmy Ellis was born in Belfast. He went to Methodist College Belfast and later studied at Queen's University Belfast. He also received training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career

He began working with the Belfast-based Ulster Group Theatre in 1952. His first role was in a new performance of the play They Got What They Wanted by Louis D'Alton, which was written in 1947. Ellis became well-known as the company's young male lead in plays such as April in Assagh, where he played the character McFettridge in 1954; Is the Priest at Home?, where he played O'Grady in 1954; and The Diary of Anne Frank, where he portrayed Peter van Daan in 1957.

While continuing to act with the main company, Ellis also managed the group's summer theatre in the port town of Larne, located north of Belfast. His most important role with the group was as the lead character, Christy Mahon, in a production of J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in 1957.

In December 1958, Ellis was named Director of Productions for the Group Theatre. However, he left this position in July 1959 to direct Sam Thompson's play Over the Bridge (1960). The play was removed from production during rehearsals because the Group Theatre's board believed it was too controversial. Later, a group of actors and directors who had left the Group Theatre in protest staged the play.

Ellis moved to London, where he first gained attention by playing the character Dandy Jordan in the BBC TV production of Stewart Love's The Randy Dandy, which aired on September 14, 1961. The play was described as "Angry" and was considered so intense and emotionally charged that the BBC warned viewers it might be unsuitable for people who are easily upset.

His success as Dandy Jordan made him a popular actor, leading to roles with the BBC and ITV. These included playing Philip in the BBC production of Stewart Love's The Sugar Cube (transmitted June 21, 1961) and his long-running role as Bert Lynch in Z-Cars (1962–78). In this police series, set in the fictional town of Newtown in Lancashire, his character advanced from a police officer to an inspector over the series. Ellis appeared in 629 episodes of Z-Cars, a record for any actor in a TV detective or police series. The show made him widely known during that time. He also appeared in an episode of the Z-Cars spin-off Softly, Softly ("Barlow Was There: Part 3: Mischief") in 1967, where his character reunited with former coworkers.

From 1982, Ellis portrayed Norman Martin, a troubled father, in the "Billy" trilogy of plays by Graham Reid. These plays were broadcast as part of the Play for Today series and included Too Late to Talk to Billy (1982), A Matter of Choice for Billy (1983), A Coming to Terms for Billy (1984), and a later episode titled Lorna (1987). In the mid-1980s, he was part of the team of interviewers on Afternoon Plus, a program produced by Thames Television.

Ellis appeared in many TV shows, including Till Death Us Do Part, Doctor Who, In Sickness and in Health, Ballykissangel, Playing the Field, One By One, and the popular sitcom Nightingales, which also featured Robert Lindsay and David Threlfall. In Antonia Bird's film Priest (1994), based on a screenplay by Jimmy McGovern, he played Father Ellerton. He also had small roles in popular TV series such as Boys from the Blackstuff by Alan Bleasdale, Only Fools and Horses, The Bill, Casualty, Boon, Common as Muck, Birds of a Feather, Lovejoy, and Heartbeat.

In 2001, Ellis was the subject of This Is Your Life, a TV show where he was surprised by Michael Aspel. Ellis was also a writer of poems and prose and a translator. The BBC aired some of his French-to-English translations in 2007. In July 2008, Queen's University Belfast honored him with an honorary doctorate as part of its centenary celebrations.

Personal life

Ellis married actress Beth Ellis first. They had three children together: Amanda, Adam, and Hugo. They divorced in the late 1960s. In 1976, Ellis married Robina. They had another son named Toto. Adam was killed in London in August 1988. The person who killed Adam was sentenced to life in prison in 1989. Hugo followed his father’s career as an actor and director. He died by suicide in January 2011 at the age of 49.

Death

Ellis died of a stroke on 8 March 2014 in Lincoln, when he was 82 years old. He was buried in the Castlereagh Presbyterian Churchyard in Belfast.

Legacy

The James Ellis Bridge in East Belfast connects CS Lewis Square and Victoria Park. It was opened in March 2017 by Robina, the wife of James Ellis, three years after his death.