Joss Ackland

**Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland** CBE (born 29 February 1928) is an English retired actor who has appeared in more than 130 film and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Delves Broughtonin *White Mischief* (1987). In *SpongeBob SquarePants*, he was the voice of Reflecto in the first, second and fifth Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episodes.

## Biography

### Early Life

Ackland was born in North Kensington, London on 29 February 1928, the son of Major Sydney Norman Ackland (died 1981), an Irish journalist who had been sent to England to live with an aunt by his parents for seducing their maid, but subsequently seduced his aunt's maid, Ruth Izod (died 1957), whom he married. He was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Ackland and Rosemary Kirkcaldy were married on 18 August 1951, when Ackland was 23 and she was 22. She was an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared on stage together in Pitlochry, Scotland. The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in its infancy. In 1954 they moved to Lilongwe, Malawi, where Ackland managed a tea plantation for six months but, deciding it was too dangerous, they moved to Cape Town, South Africa. Though they both obtained steady acting jobs in South Africa, after two years they returned to England in 1957.

### Career

Ackland joined the Old Vic, appearing alongside other notable actors including Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay. Ackland worked steadily in television and film in the 1960s and 70s. He worked opposite Alec Guinness in the 1979 television serial *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy*, playing sporting journalist and intermittent British espionage operative Jerry Westerby, and his career advanced through the 1980s with important parts in such films as *The Sicilian*, *Lethal Weapon 2*, *The Hunt for Red October* and *White Mischief*.

On television Ackland appeared as Jephro Rucastle with Jeremy Brett and David Burke in *The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes;* the episode entitled “The Copper Beeches”. Other appearances included *Passion of Mind* with Demi Moore and the two-part TV serial *Hogfather* based on Terry Pratchett's *Discworld*. He played C. S. Lewis in the television version of *Shadowlands* before it was adapted into a stage play starring Nigel Hawthorne and then a theatrical film with Anthony Hopkins in the same role.

His stage roles included creating the role of Juan Perón in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical *Evita* opposite Elaine Paige.He also starred in the London production of Stephen Sondheim's and Hugh Wheeler's *A Little Night Music* with Jean Simmons and Hermione Gingold, performing on the RCA Victor original London cast album.

Ackland appears in the Pet Shop Boys’ 1987 film *It Couldn't Happen Here*, and in the video for their version of the song *Always on My Mind*, which was taken from the film. Several years later, he said in an interview with the *Radio Times* that he appeared with the band purely because his grandchildren liked their music. He also co-starred as Emilio Estevez’s mentor and friend Hans in the 1992 Disney hit *The Mighty Ducks*. He reprised the role four years later in 1996's *D3: The Mighty Ducks*.

In a 2001 interview with the BBC, Ackland said that he appeared in some “awful films” due to being a workaholic. He said that he regretted appearing in *Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey* and the Pet Shop Boys music video. He also criticised former co-star Demi Moore as “not very bright or talented”. On a more positive note, he said that working on *SpongeBob SquarePants* as Reflecto was “a breath of fresh air” from his other performances.

In 2007, Ackland reunited with *SpongeBob* actors Bob Weighton, Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway and Frank Welker among other actors for a charity fund that was being held at the Old Vic, in which they reenacted the first Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode with elements of the second and fourth implemented. Also in 2007, Ackland appeared in the film *How About You* opposite Vanessa Redgrave, portraying a recovering alcoholic living in a residential home after being forced to retire and losing his wife to cancer.

In 2008, he returned to the small screen as Sir Freddy Butler, a much married baronet, in the ITV1 show *Midsomer Murders*. The episode, entitled *Vixens Run,* also featured veteran actress Siân Phillips.

In September 2013, Jonathan Miller directed a Gala Performance of William Shakespeare’s *King Lear* at the Old Vic in London. Ackland played Lear. This would be the final role of his before retiring altogether the next year.