While Freddie Jones gave a memorable television performance as Claudius in The Caesars in 1968, also significant in his emergence as an actor was his portrayal of the troubled Ludovic in Donald McWhinnie’s landmark production of Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour trilogy on BBC2 the previous year. He was much admired by Clint Eastwood, who cast him in several films, providing Freddie with a host of anecdotes that he told with his customary brio.
Graham Benson
Freddie Jones gave an extraordinary performance as a most ordinary man in the underrated Juggernaut, Richard Lester’s disaster movie of 1974. It’s impossible to detail without spoilers, and the film should be seen: as Jones turns his timeworn retiree from public life into a master craftsman of the devious, the ensemble cast of unsuspecting leading characters fades into the background. It’s right to say that Jones could play sinister as well as humble, but see this performance for both at the same time.
David Lusted
The one time I saw Freddie Jones in the flesh was a one-man show, staged at The Other Place, Stratford, in 1991, on the life and work of the rustic poet John Clare, who was incarcerated in an asylum and died there. Freddie was on stage, alone, for the best part of two hours, and was spellbinding – a triumph.
Dave Wiltshire
