John Abbott

John was a commercial artist when he substituted for a sick friend in an amateur production which was seen by the actress Sybil Thorndike who recognised his potential. After repertory work at Watford and Crewe he was invited to join London's Old Vic in 1936 by Tyrone Guthrie and appeared in 'Love's Labours Lost' and'Twelfth Night'.

In 1937 He was in the production of 'Hamlet' that was performed at Elsinore with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

He made his film debut in 1937 in 'Conquest of the Air' and in a early BBC television production of 'The Harmfulness of Tobacco' At the outbreak of war he was attached to the British Embassy in Stockholm where he was in coding and decoding.

In 1941 he was in California and about to return to England when he was offered a role in 'Shanghai Gesture' which was the prelude to a long film career that included 'Mrs Miniver', 'JaneEyre', 'Madame Bovary', 'Gigi' and 'Gambit'.

Appears in two Oscar Best Picture winners: Mrs. Miniver (1942) and Gigi (1958).

In 1944, Abbott was cast in the lead role of Elwood P. Dowd on Broadway in Mary Chase's "Harvey", but argued that the writer was wrong to have the play's imaginary six-foot rabbit visible on stage. He left the production due to "artistic differences". Author Chase later deferred to his judgment and the show became a hit -- without Abbott.

Was blacklisted during the Red Scare of the 1950s. It seems that already blacklisted author Dalton Trumbo had used Abbott's name at one point as an alias. Eventually, a producer, wanting to hire Abbott, was able to have his name removed from the list.