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Joss Ackland CBE (born February 29, 1928) is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films in his career.

He was born Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland in North Kensington, London, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He has appeared extensively on television, notably as C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands (1985).

Ackland appears in the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 film It Couldn't Happen Here, and in the video for their cover version of the song Always On My Mind, which was taken from the film. Several years later, he claimed in an interview with the Radio Times that he appeared with the band purely as the result of losing a bet.

Ackland and his wife Rosemary were married for 51 years until her death from motor neurone disease in 2002. Together they had seven children and, as of May 2006, 32 grandchildren. Rosemary was also an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared onstage together in Pitlochry. They were married on August 18, 1951 when Ackland was 23 and she 22. The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in its infancy. They moved to Africa where Ackland had decided to try his luck as a tea planter, moving to Cape Town after six months when they decided it was too dangerous.

Though they both obtained steady acting jobs in the South African capital, after two years they fell foul of apartheid laws and returned to England in 1957. Ackland's fortunes improved then and he joined the Old Vic, appearing alongside such luminaries as Paul Scofield and Tom Courtenay. However, in 1963 their house in Barnes caught fire. Rosemary managed to save their brood of 5 children but broke her back jumping from the bedroom window to safety. She was told she'd lose the baby she was currently pregnant with and would never walk again. She managed to confound the doctors though and both gave birth and returned to walking, after 2 years in Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Ackland's career really took off with parts in The Sicilian, Lethal Weapon 2 and White Mischief and the couple began to enjoy prosperity. Despite his filming taking him to far-flung locations, Ackland said they never spent a night apart.

There was more misfortune in store for the couple, though, as their eldest son Paul died of a heroin overdose in 1982 aged 29. In 2000 Rosemary learned she had motor neurone disease. The last two years of her life saw the degenerative effects of this disease manifest themselves. However, she maintained her humorous disposition and continued writing a diary, just as she had done for decades. Rosemary died on July 25, 2002; in the years since her death Ackland has read and edited the diaries for forthcoming publication. He has also kept busy with work and features in Passion of Mind with Demi Moore and the 2-part TV miniseries Hogfather based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel of the same name.

Ackland, in an 2001 interview with the BBC, admitting to being forced to make "awful films" due to being a workaholic, mentioning by name Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and a Pet Shop Boys music video, while lambasting former co-star Demi Moore as "not very bright or talented".[1]

• Destination Downing Street (1957) (TV) as Immelmann
• In Search of the Castaways (1962) (uncredited) as Seaman on yacht
• The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (1963) (TV) as Editor of English Language Newspaper in India
• David Copperfield (1966) (TV Series) as Mr. Peggotty
• Rasputin: the Mad Monk (1966) as The Bishop
• Lord Raingo (1966) (TV) as Tom Hogarth
• On the March to the Sea (1966) (TV)
• Room 13 (1966) (TV) as Herr Scavenius
• The Further Adventures of the Three Musketeers (1967) (TV Series) as d'Artagnan
• The Troubleshooters (1966) (TV) (1966-1968) as Mr. Gibbon (1966), Sam Jardine (1966-1967), Considine (1968), Lewis (1968)
• Mystery and Imagination (1966) (TV) (1966, 1968) as Herr Scavenius
• A Place of One's Own (1968) (TV)
• Z Cars (1967) (TV) (1967-1968) as Det. Insp. Todd
• The Avengers (1969) (TV Series) as Brig. Hansing
• The Gold Robbers (1969) (TV) as Derek Hartford
• Before the Party (1969) (TV) as Harold Bannon
• The House That Dripped Blood (1970) as Neville Rogers
• Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (1972) as The Leader
• Thirty-Minute Theatre (1971) (TV) (1971, 1972)
• The Persuaders! (1972) (TV) as Felix Meadowes
• Shirley's World (1972) (TV) as Inspector Vaughan
• The Happiness Cage (1972) as Dr. Frederick
• Six Faces (1972) (TV Series) as Harry Mellor
• Six Faces: True Life (1972) (TV)
• Six Faces: Gallery of Faces (1972) (TV)
• Penny Gold (1973)
• The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1973) (TV) as Grubber
• Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) (TV) as Gen. Burgdorf
• England Made Me (1973) as Haller
• The Three Musketeers (1973) as D'Artagnan's Father
• The Protectors (1974) (TV) as Arthur Gordon
• The Black Windmill (1974) as Chief Supt. Wray
• S*P*Y*S (1974) ... Martinson
• The Little Prince (1974) as The King
• Great Expectations (1974) (TV) as Joe Gargery
• One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) as B.J. Spence
• Royal Flash (1975) as Sapten
• Operation Daybreak (1975) as Janák
• You Talk Too Much (1976) (TV)
• The Crezz (1977) (TV Series) as Charles Bronte
• The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977) as President
• Watership Down (1978) (voice) as Black Rabbit
• Enemy at the Door (1978) (TV) as Major General Laidlaw
• The Greek Tycoon (1978) (uncredited)
• Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978) as Cantrell
• Return of the Saint (1978) (TV) as Gunther
• The Sweeney (1978) (TV) as Alan Ember
• A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979) (uncredited) as Prison Warden
• Saint Jack (1979) as Yardley
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (TV) (1979) as Jerry Westerby
• Tales of the Unexpected (1980) (TV) (1980, 1988) as Malcolm Harper (1980), Colonel George Peregrine (1988)
• A Question of Guilt (1980) (TV Series) as Samuel Kent
• The Love Tapes (1980) (TV) (uncredited) as Narrator
• Rough Cut (1980) as Insp. Vanderveld
• The Gentle Touch (TV) as Ivor Stocker
• The Apple (1980) as Hippie Leader/Mr. Topps
• Dangerous Davies - The Last Detective (1981) as Chief Insp. Yardbird
• Thicker Than Water (1981) (TV) as Joseph Lockwood
• The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1982) (TV) as Edward Moulton-Barrett
• Shroud for a Nightingale (1984) (TV) as Stephen Courtney-Briggs, surgeon
• The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984) (TV) as Menenius
• Shadowlands (1985) (TV) as C.S. Lewis
• A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) as Van Hoyten
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : The Copper Beeches (1985) (TV Series) as Jephro Rucastle
• Lady Jane (1986) as Sir John Bridges
• When We Are Married (1987) (TV) as Henry Ormonroyd
• White Mischief (1987) as Sir Jock Delves Broughton
• A Killing on the Exchange (1987) (TV) as Sir Max Sillman
• Queenie (1987) (TV) as Sir Burton Rumsey
• The Sicilian (1987) as Don Masino Croce
• It Couldn't Happen Here (1988) as Priest/murderer
• The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (1988) (TV) as Goering
• Codename: Kyril (1988) (TV) as 'C'
• To Kill a Priest (1988) as Colonel
• First and Last (1989) (TV) as Alan Holly
• A Quiet Conspiracy (1989) (TV) as Theo Carter
• The Justice Game (1989) (TV) as Sir James Crichton
• Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) as Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd
• Jekyll & Hyde (1990) (TV) as Dr. Charles Lanyon
• The Hunt for Red October (1990) as Ambassador Andrei Lysenko
• The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990) (TV) as Gen. Gerhard Hellstein
• Incident at Victoria Falls (1991) (TV) as King Edward
• A Murder of Quality (1991) (TV) as Terence Fielding
• The Object of Beauty (1991) as Mr. Mercer
• Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) as Chuck De Nomolos
• A Woman Named Jackie (1991) (TV) as Aristotle Onassis
• Ashenden (1991) (TV) as Cumming
• They Do It with Mirrors (1991) (TV) as Lewis Serrocold
• The Sheltering Desert (1992) as Col. Johnston
• Once Upon a Crime (1992) as Hercules Popodopoulos
• Shadowchaser (1992) as Kinderman
• The Mighty Ducks (1992) as Hans
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) (TV) as The Prussian
• Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (1992) (TV) (voice) as Julius Caesar
• Nowhere to Run (1993) as Franklin Hale
• Voices in the Garden (1993) (TV) as Sir Charles (Archie) Peverall
• The Princess and the Goblin (1993) (voice) as King Papa
• OcchioPinocchio (1994) as Brando
• Citizen Locke (1994) (TV) as Lord Ashley
• Giorgino (1994) as Father Glaise
• Citizen X (1995) (TV) as Bondarchuk
• Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1995) as Insp. Sam Stringer
• The Thief and the Cobbler (1995) (voice) as Brigands
• A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995) as King Arthur
• Daisies in December (1995) (TV) as Gerald Carmody
• Testament: The Bible in Animation (1996) (TV) (voice) as Noah
• Hidden in Silence (1996) (TV) as German factory manager
• Deadly Voyage (1996) (TV) as Captain
• To the Ends of Time (1996) (TV) as King Francis
• Surviving Picasso (1996) as Henri Matisse
• D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) as Hans
• Swept from the Sea (1997) as Mr. Swaffer
• Heat of the Sun (1998) (TV) as Max van der Vuurst
• My Giant (1998) (uncredited) as. Monsignor Popescu
• The Mumbo Jumbo (2000) as Mayor Smith
• Passion of Mind (2000) as Dr. Langer, the French Psychiatrist
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2001) (TV) as James Brabant
• The House on Turk Street (2002) as Mr. Thomas Quarre
• K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) as Marshal Zelentsov
• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) (voice) as Pieter Van Eckhardt
• Henry VIII (2003) (TV) as Henry VII
• A Different Loyalty (2004) as Randolph Cauffield
• Midsomer Murders (2006) (TVs) as Sir Freddy Butler
• These Foolish Things (2006) as Albert
• Moscow Zero (2006) as Tolstoy
• Above and Beyond (2006) (TV) as Winston Churchill
• Hogfather (2006) (TV) as Mustrum Ridcully

• Joss Ackland at the Internet Movie Database