John Wells Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
John Wells
Acting
Biography
Wells started in cabaret at Oxford and began his television career as a writer on That Was The Week That Was, the 1960s weekly satire show that launched the careers of David Frost and Millicent Martin, among others, and also appeared in the television programme Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, as well as in The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Besides making cameo appearances in films such as Casino Royale (1967) and Rentadick (1972), television dramas like Casanova (1987), an episode of Lovejoy (1991) and comedy shows like Yes Minister, he also wrote television scripts and screenplays, such as Princess Caraboo (1994). In 1971, with John Fortune, he published the comedy classic A Melon for Ecstasy, about a man who consummates his love affair with a tree. Wells played the headmaster of Thursgood's Preparatory School in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). Wells was one of the original contributors to the satirical magazine Private Eye and contributed to Mrs Wilson's Diary, the long-running spoof journal of the wife of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. From 1979 he repeated that success with Dear Bill, a series of letters (co-written with Richard Ingrams) supposedly sent by Denis Thatcher, husband of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to Bill Deedes. Wells developed the feature into a stage farce, Anyone for Denis?, first performed in 1981, in which he played Denis Thatcher. Co-starring Angela Thorne as Mrs. Thatcher, the play was a major West End hit, toured the UK and was adapted for television.He co-wrote Alice in Wonderland, a musical adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s novel with Carl Davis, which debuted at The Lyric Theatre in the West End, London.[3] Wells also played Denis Thatcher in the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only (1981). In 1991, he and Thorne again played the Thatchers in Dunrulin, a one-off TV sitcom-like satirical look at the couple in retirement.[4] He also voiced Arnold the Elephant, Edward the Monkey and Bert in the children's TV series Charlie Chalk. In 1988, Leonard Bernstein started working on a new version of his much-revised operetta Candide. The author of the original book, Hugh Wheeler, had died, and John Wells was asked to help revise the text.[5] The first production of this "final version", by Scottish Opera, was followed by a "final revised version" in 1989, performances of which have been released on CD and DVD. An insert in the DVD ("Bernstein and Voltaire"), written by Wells, explained what Bernstein had wanted in this final revised version. Wells authored Rude Words in 1991, a history of the London Library, for the institution's 150th anniversary. In 1997, Wells appeared in the BBC situation comedy Chalk as ineffectual headmaster Richard Nixon.[6] His fellow cast members do not recall him being ill on set, but he was too unwell to participate in the second series.[7] Wells' last book, House of Lords, was a best-seller and published a year before his death in 1998. The book is a historical and humorous study of the British peerage system.
Filmography Movies
Acting
For Your Eyes Only
A British spy ship has sunk and on board was a hi-tech encryption device. James Bond is sent to find the device that holds British launching instructions before the enemy Soviets get to it first.
Anyone for Denis
Anyone for Denis? is a British video-taped television version of the stage play of the same name broadcast by the ITV network on 28 December 1982. The original play, first performed at the Whitehall Theatre in 1981, was written by satirist John Wells.
Revolution
New York trapper Tom Dobb becomes an unwilling participant in the American Revolution after his son Ned is drafted into the Army by the villainous Sergeant Major Peasy. Tom attempts to find his son, and eventually becomes convinced that he must take a stand and fight for the freedom of the Colonies, alongside the aristocratic rebel Daisy McConnahay. As Tom undergoes his change of heart, the events of the war unfold in large-scale grandeur.
Dutch Girls
In this sophomoric comedy, a lusty adolescent British hockey team heads for Holland where they find something far more interesting than tulips and windmills: gorgeous, lusty women. They are so busy pursuing romance that they forget all about their upcoming match.
Let's Sleep On it
A BAFTA award nominated feature telling the story of the making of a sales film about beds.
The Bobo
Unsuccessful singing bullfighter Juan arrives in Barcelona to try his luck in a big town. He finally persuades a devious local impresario to book him, but only on the condition that Juan first manages to spend an evening with Olimpia, a "shrewd merciless beauty" who seems effortlessly to collect apartments and Maserati sports cars while leaving a trail of broken hearts behind her. Juan approaches the challenge by pretending to her he is an emissary for a rich count. Written by Jeremy Perkins
Rentadick
Armitage runs a chemical company that is on the verge of producing a gas that causes temporary disability. Clearly the military want it but it is also sought by a group of Japanese. Both Armitage and Madam Greenfly hire different people in the same detective agency to guard the gas and steal it respectively... confusion, double crosses and hilarity ensue...
30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia!
A 29-year old aspiring composer—still single and without any romantic prospects—vows to both marry and write a hit musical before he turns 30. Director Joseph McGrath's 1968 British comedy stars Dudley Moore, Suzy Kendall, Eddie Foy Jr. and Patricia Routledge.
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese, Lewis and Walker planned the next show to be a more spectacular event. Cleese focused on broadening the comedic talent to be presented at the show. In addition to the Amnesty show stalwarts drawn from the Oxbridge/Monty Python/Beyond The Fringe orbit, he invited newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson’s colleagues from the BBC TV show Not the Nine O'Clock News including Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys Jones; comedian Victoria Wood and regional comic Jasper Carrott. Lewis secured a return appearance by Billy Connolly and a debut appearance by "alternative" comedian Alexei Sayle who Lewis had recently discovered and was managing. Building on the success of Pete Townshend's 1979 appearance Lewis recruited other rock musicians to perform at the 1981 show including Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Donovan and Bob Geldof.
Consuming Passions
Adapted from a play written by two Monty Python vets, this toothy satire launches with a tragic accident at Chumley's chocolate factory when hapless manager Ian Littleton accidentally knocks several employees into a huge chocolate vat. The tragic mishap at the chocolate factory results in candy lovers getting an unexpected 'extra' in their sweets.
Production
The Cobblers of Umbridge
A parody of the long running radio show "The Archers", an everyday story of country-folk based in the fictional village of Umbridge.
30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia!
A 29-year old aspiring composer—still single and without any romantic prospects—vows to both marry and write a hit musical before he turns 30. Director Joseph McGrath's 1968 British comedy stars Dudley Moore, Suzy Kendall, Eddie Foy Jr. and Patricia Routledge.
Anyone for Denis
Anyone for Denis? is a British video-taped television version of the stage play of the same name broadcast by the ITV network on 28 December 1982. The original play, first performed at the Whitehall Theatre in 1981, was written by satirist John Wells.
Princess Caraboo
Bristol, England, early 19th century. A beautiful young stranger who speaks a weird language is tried for the crime of begging. But when a man claims that he can translate her dialect, it is understood that the woman is a princess from a far away land. She is then welcomed by a family of haughty aristocrats that only wants to heighten their prestige. However, the local reporter is not at all convinced she is what she claims to be and investigates. Is Caraboo really a princess?
Rentadick
Armitage runs a chemical company that is on the verge of producing a gas that causes temporary disability. Clearly the military want it but it is also sought by a group of Japanese. Both Armitage and Madam Greenfly hire different people in the same detective agency to guard the gas and steal it respectively... confusion, double crosses and hilarity ensue...