Lyndon Brook(1926-2004)

A distinguished stage and screen actor, Lyndon Brook was the son of the silent British film star Clive Brook, and the actress, Mildred Evelyn. His elder sister, Faith Brook, is one of Britain's best known stage and TV actresses. Brook was best-known to cinema-goers of the 1950s and 60s for his quiet sympathetic roles in films such as The Purple Plain (1954) and Reach for the Sky (1956) and he was also a successful writer of dramas and light comedies. Born in Los Angeles, where his father worked for much of his career, he was educated in England at Stowe and Cambridge. At Cambridge, he founded his own drama group, in which he both acted and directed. He began appearing on the London stage in the 1940s before gaining wider recognition in the cinema during the 1950s. One of his most memorable roles was as "Johnny Sanderson" in Reach for the Sky (1956), the biographical drama based on the life of RAF hero Douglas Bader. Brook also narrated the film which went on to become one of the cinema's most successful World War Two dramas. In 1951, he met his future wife, the actress Elizabeth Kentish, whilst they were appearing on the London stage, in a play with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. His later notable film appearances included Song Without End (1960), in which he played "Wagner" to Dirk Bogarde's "Liszt", Pope Joan (1972), with Liv Ullmann, The Hireling (1973) and Defense of the Realm (1985). He made numerous television appearances but one of his most memorable roles was as "King George VI" in Churchill and the Generals (1979). Brook's most successful play was "Mixed Doubles" (1969), which has been performed all over the world.