Trivia

Besides Patrick Macnee, he is the only actor to appear in both The Avengers (1961) and the subsequent film adaptation The Avengers (1998).

He was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2007 Queens New Years Honors List for his services to drama.

He once surprised an interviewer by claiming that the two biggest influences on his acting were Jean-Louis Barrault and Jerry Lewis.

He was awarded the 1991 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in King Lear.

He was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor of the 1997 season for his performance in "The Invention of Love", at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe and Lyttelton stages.

He appeared in two productions which depicted the Russian Revolution from the perspective of the Romanovs: Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and Rasputin (1996). He played Colonel Kobylinsky in the former and Ptoyr Stolypin in the latter.

Was cast by director Robert Altman to appear in the Old Vic's early 2006 production of the Arthur Miller play "Resurrection Blues" but dropped out before previews and was replaced by James Fox.

Although he was 65 when he played King Edward IV of England in Richard III (1995), his character was only 40 years old when he died on April 9, 1483.

Although he played Maggie Smith's son in Richard III (1995), he was more than four years her senior in real life.

Won Broadway's 1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for "Travesties." He was also nominated in 1968, as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," and in 1975, as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Sherlock Holmes".

Lived in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England at the time of his death.

In his autobiography, Patrick Stewart recounted how, when he played Cassius to Wood's Brutus in "Julius Caesar" in 1972, Wood was particularly ill-tempered and rude to him. On stage, according to Stewart, Wood continually tried to upstage him. Stewart complained to the play's director Trevor Nunn, who said, "I understand. But I have to tell you that what you and John are doing on stage is electric.The offstage and onstage tension had seeped into their performances, which, Stewart surmised might have been Wood's intention. But the tension became so bad that it finally prompted Stewart to grab Wood and push him against the dressing room wall. Wood shouted, "Don't hit me! I have cancer!" Stewart thought to himself that his dealing with this illness might explain Wood's behavior, and Stewart was remorseful. He apologized to Wood the next day, and Wood scoffed, "There's nothing wrong with me. I just said that." Stewart ended the story by stating that Wood continued to have great success on stage in plays by Shakespeare and Stoppard until his death in 2011--not from cancer and not from Stewart's hands.