| Jack Hawkins |
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Hawkins made his London stage debut aged 12, and was appearing on Broadway in '' Journey's End '' by the age of 18. Although he appeared in several films during the 1930s , it was only after service in The Second World War that he began to build a successful career in the cinema, often playing stern but sympathetic authority figures in films like '' Angels One Five '' ( 1952 ), '' The Long Arm '' ( 1956 ) and '' The Cruel Sea '' ( 1953 ), the film that made him a star. Ironically Hawkins was politically liberal and an emotional man, in sharp contrast to his conservative screen image. From the late 1950s he mostly appeared in character roles, often in epic films like '' The Bridge On The River Kwai '' ( 1957 ), '' Lawrence Of Arabia '' ( 1962 ) and '' Oh! What A Lovely War '' ( 1969 ). For ''Kwai'', he had to convince his good friend, Alec Guinness , to take the lead role, which would ultimately win Guinness an Oscar. Some of his more unusual roles included an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh in '' Land Of The Pharaohs '' ( 1955 ), Quintus Arrius, Ben Hur's adopted Roman father, in '' Ben-Hur '' ( 1959 ), and '' Zulu '' ( 1964 ), where he played against type as the fanatical Rev. Otto Witt. He was married to Jessica Tandy from 1932 to 1942 and later to Doreen Lawrence from 1946 until his death in 1973 . In 1966, Hawkins was diagnosed with Throat Cancer and his entire larynx was removed; thereafter his performances were dubbed, usually by actor Charles Gray . Hawkins died in 1973 following an operation to insert an artificial voicebox. He was 62. SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
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