John Gayford(1933-2021)
- Additional Crew
- Actor
- Sound Department
John Gayford was born into an army family and brought up in India. He
completed his education in England, studied Art at Oxford, served as an
officer in the R.A.F. and then went to the Webber-Douglas School of
Drama in London. He began his professional career playing the lead in a
semi-documentary supporting feature ("Norwegian Holiday") then went
into repertory theater, including seasons at Ashford, Aberdeen,
Morecomb and Perth, gaining experience in a variety of roles such as
the lead in "The Moon is Blue". He played the leading role in the
official Scottish entry to the Edinburgh Festival ("The Flours o'
Edinburgh"). Other stage experience came with a tour of "Seagulls Over
Sorrento" and one of the leads in "The Night Life of a Virile Potato"
which had a short London run after a successful tour of all the major
cities in the U.K. John also understudied in "Not in the Book" at
London's Criterion theater, during which time he appeared regularly in
all the main British TV series of the period ("The Saint", "The
Avengers", "Bootsie & Snudge", etc.) as well as plays for the BBC and
ITV. He was part of the star-studded company of "The Oresteia" at the
Old Vic after opening at the Playhouse, Oxford. He appeared in small
parts in several important films, like "Exodus", "Suddenly Last
Summer", "Kill Her Gently" and "Expresso Bongo", then guested in
leading roles at round-London theaters such as Leatherhead, Richmond
and Guildford in "The Grass is Greener", Noel Coward's "The Maquise",
"Tea and Sympathy" and "A Man for All Seasons". This was a period when
he appeared in many TV commercials. Then he went to Rome to join the
cast of "Cleopatra", followed by "The Agony & the Ecstacy" and "Von
Ryan's Express". After this he became involved in dubbing. He has
written and directed the dubbing of over 300 Italian movies into
English as well as adapted the dialog for many foreign movies shot in
English, working with many Hollywood and European stars including
Charlotte Rampling, Jane Birkin, Joe Mantegna, James Mason, Ben
Kingsly, etc., often directing them in recording sessions. He still
occasionally appears in small roles.
