John Gayford(1933-2021)

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.