John Merivale

For the poet, barrister, and scholar in Ancient Greek, see John Herman Merivale.

John Merivale
File:John Merivale and Vivien Leigh in 1961.jpg Merivale (left) and Vivien Leigh in 1961
Born	John Herman Merivale (1917-12-01)1 December 1917 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	6 February 1990(1990-02-06) (aged 72) London, England
Occupation	Actor
Spouses	Jan Sterling ​ ​ (m. 1941; div. 1948)​ Dinah Sheridan ​ ​ (m. 1986)​
Partner	Vivien Leigh (1960–1967)
Parents	Philip Merivale Viva Birkett

John Herman Merivale (1 December 1917 – 6 February 1990) was a Canadian-born British theatre actor, and occasional supporting player in British films.

Early life

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, John Merivale was the son of English actors Philip Merivale and Viva Birkett. His stepmother was the English actress Gladys Cooper. Merivale was educated in England, at Rugby and New College, Oxford.

Career

Merivale made his acting debut at age 15, playing the small role of a newsboy in James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933). His stage career started when he was 21, as an understudy in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where he first met Vivien Leigh. He later worked in the production of Romeo and Juliet by Leigh and her husband, Laurence Olivier.

Merivale's career was put on hold while he served as a pilot with both the British and Canadian air forces during World War II. He resumed his career in 1946, with a starring role in a successful U.S. production of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan.

In 1956 Merivale made his second film appearance, in The Battle of the River Plate. He went on to have supporting roles in films such as A Night to Remember (1958), Circus of Horrors (1960), House of Mystery (1961), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), (where he played the title character, who is killed thirteen minutes into the film), King Rat (1965), and Arabesque (1966).

Although Merivale had the leading role in the Italian horror film Caltiki - il mostro immortale (1959), he tended to concentrate on theatre work, in such productions as Venus Observed, Anne of the Thousand Days, The Reluctant Debutante and The Last of Mrs. Cheyney.

Personal life and death

He was married to the US actress Jan Sterling from 1941 until 1948, and lived with Vivien Leigh from 1960 until her death in 1967, becoming her dedicated caretaker in her final years. He began a relationship with actress Dinah Sheridan in 1968; they married in 1986.

Merivale died in 1990 from kidney failure.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1933	The Invisible Man	Newsboy	Uncredited
1956	The Battle of the River Plate	Cowburn - HMS Achilles	Uncredited
1958	A Night to Remember	Robbie Lucas
1958	Caltiki – The Immortal Monster	Prof. John Fielding
1960	Circus of Horrors	Edward Finsbury
1961	House of Mystery	Clive
1963	The List of Adrian Messenger	Adrian Messenger
1963	80,000 Suspects	Mr. Bradley	Uncredited
1965	King Rat	Foster
1966	Arabesque	Maj. Sylvester Pennington Sloane	(final film role)

External links

• John Merivale at IMDb
• John Merivale at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Merivale at Vivien-Leigh.com