Lean's Oliver Twist has died

[stuart.uk]

Comedy Producer and child actor John Howard Davies has died at 72. In the UK he's perhaps better known as a producer with classic sit-coms like Fawlty Towers with John Cleese and Prunella Scales and The Good Life with Richard Briers and Felicity Kendall to his credit. He was also behind Monty Python's Flying Circus

However, globally it's his movies as a child actor he'll be better known, playing the main roles in Oliver Twist and Tom Brown's School Days, not to mention his cameo as Robert Donat's son in The Magic Box.

[knitwit45]

[mongoII]

The late John Howard Davies

[stuart.uk]

As well as Oliver Twist, Tom Brown's School Days and The Magic Box, his only other movie his Rocking Horse Winner. His only other on screen roles was as a 19-yr-old guesting in 2 episodes of Conrad Phillips William Tell in 1958

[moira finnie]

John Howard Davies was brilliant in The Rocking Horse Winner and heartbreaking as Oliver Twist. I was not aware of Davies adult credits, and really appreciate your highlighting them, Stuart. The Daily Mail had a particularly comprehensive obit recalling Mr. Davies full life and many credits:

John Howard Davies Obituary in The Daily Mail

[RedRiver]

My goodness! I had no idea this gentleman was involved in such very clever TV comedy. I know him only as an adorable urchin. That's my favorite David Lean film. A lot of people prefer GREAT EXPECTATIONS. It's been called one of the great movies. But "Oliver" gets to me more. The visuals are dark and creepy. The classic characters, perhaps not as complex as other Dickensian folk, are theatrical, and serve the story efficiently.

Were I to call any Lean film one of the all time greats, it would be this one. Thank you, Stuart, for a very enlightening post. "More, please!"

[stuart.uk]

Thanks for the kind comments. Here's John narrating a classic scene from Fawlty Towers and a bit from The Good Life