John Corvin — Actor & Artist
John was one of the founding members of Peter Hall’s Royal Shakespeare Company
I first met John Corvin over forty years ago and was immediately overwhelmed — as many were — by his enthusiasm. It wasn’t long before I joined him on many an adventure, whether helping him with his one-man shows, acting alongside him on the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, or getting involved as an extra on the odd film set or two. He was always fun, always helpful, always serious about his work, and extremely generous with his time, advice, and red wine.
John was born in London, and by the time of the Second World War he lied about his age (he was only 15) and joined the army, only to be dragged out screaming by his protesting mother. A year later he ran away and joined the Merchant Navy, and for the next four years sailed the U-boat invested waters of the North Atlantic, where, armed with only the collected works of Shakespeare, staged at least one play every trip, with one performance of Julius Caeser using-up every bottle of tomato ketchup on board.
It was during his years in the Merchant Navy that John also discovered he could draw, a talent the Canadian photographer, Yousuf Karsh (who was sailing from Halifax to the UK to take that famous photograph of Churchill), encouraged him to develop and broaden.
