 |
John Stephen Hill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 16, 1953 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Other names | Steve Hill |
| Alma mater | London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, playwright |
| Years active | 1977–1982, 2015 |
| Website | https://sites.google.com/site/whenim64bystevehill/ |
John Stephen Hill (born 16 January 1953), who worked as Stephen Hill, is a Canadian actor and playwright. He returned to the theatre after three decades, as a playwright under the name, Steve Hill.
Born in Montreal, the third of five children, Hill attended Earl Haig Secondary School in North York where he received Honourable Mention at Sears Ontario High School One Act Drama Festival. In 1977, he began working as an actor as 'Stephen Hill' in television commercials. Hill got his break on stage from four notable pioneers of 'Canadian' theatre: Susan Douglas Rubeš' Young People's Theatre in Toronto; two seasons with William Hutt's Grand Theatre Young Company; three seasons with Dennis Sweeting at Kawartha Summer Theatre in Lindsay, Ontario; and with Douglas Riske at Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary.
From 1980–1982, in the West End theatre in London, England, Hill worked as John Stephen Hill because another 'Stephen Hill' was already a member of British Actors' Equity. Hill's West End work include his leading role debut in the Michael Blakemore hit Deathtrap at the Garrick Theatre, and Ladies in Retirement at the Fortune Theatre, and was directed by Tommy Tune in the original UK production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He stood by for Elizabeth Taylor's Broadway revival of The Little Foxes at the Victoria Palace Theatre. In the London fringe, Hill produced two plays. He was directed by Tom Conti in Beyond Therapy . He did play readings at Canada House, and on the Lyttleton stage at the Royal National Theatre. Hill is an alumnus of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art where he was directed by Ian Judge.
In 1980, Hill began playing small roles in films, such as The Sender , [1] as Catherine Deneuve's first victim in The Hunger directed by Tony Scott (1983); with Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again (1983), [2] with Vincent Price in Bloodbath at the House of Death .
Hill's acting career ended in the mid-1980s. He began a sabbatical volunteering with a L'Arche home for adults with developmental disabilities founded by Canadian humanitarian Jean Vanier. He studied theology with the Jesuits at Regis College, University of Toronto. Until his retirement in 2014, Hill served in ministry among the sick and dying. He married in 1990. They have one son, Keita.
In 2015, Steve Hill wrote and directed When I'm 64, a stage play with roles for older actresses. [3] The play sold out Sid Williams Theatre on March 28, 2015. [4] [5]
The play received favorable reviews. Mark Allan called it, "triumphant, inspirational, a winner." [6] Katherine Gibson found it, "funny, poignant, authentic," [7] and Sharon Pollock said, "actors and audiences will love these roles."[ citation needed ]
The TV movie When I'm 64 (2015), written and directed by Steve Hill, was first broadcast on Shaw TV, March 29, 2015. [8]
George William Peppard was an American actor. He secured a major role as struggling writer Paul Varjak when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and later portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers (1964). On television, he played the title role of millionaire insurance investigator and sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s mystery series Banacek. He played Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squad in the 1980s action television series The A-Team.
Albert Finney was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining fame for movie acting during the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960), directed by Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in theatre. He maintained a successful career in theatre, movies and television.
Samuel Shepard Rogers III was an American actor, playwright, author, director and screenwriter whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any writer or director. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. Shepard received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. He received the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award as a master American dramatist in 2009. New York magazine described Shepard as "the greatest American playwright of his generation."
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor of stage and screen. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and came to the attention of film audiences as one of the close collaborators of director Neil Jordan. He is an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and Tony Award nominee, a two-time BAFTA Award winner, and a three-time Irish Film and Television (IFTA) Award winner.
Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including Young Cassidy (1965), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Train Robbers (1973) and A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975).
Keir Atwood Dullea is an American actor. He is best-known for his portrayal of astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and its 1984 sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. His other film roles include David and Lisa (1962), Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) and Black Christmas (1974). Dullea studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. He has also performed on stage in New York City and in regional theaters; he has said that, despite being more recognized for his film work, he prefers the stage.
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. His accolades included an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making him the only Canadian recipient of the "Triple Crown of Acting". He also received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
Wes Bentley is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Ricky Fitts in American Beauty (1999), which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Supporting Actor; Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games (2012); Doyle in Interstellar (2014); Erik in Mission: Impossible – Fallout; and Jamie Dutton in Yellowstone. He was one of four subjects in the documentary My Big Break (2009), which covered his fame after American Beauty and his subsequent struggles with substance abuse. Rebuilding his career, he starred in the premiere of Venus in Fur by David Ives in the off-Broadway production in 2010. Other film roles include The Four Feathers (2002), Ghost Rider (2007), P2 (2007), and Pete's Dragon (2016).
Brian Manion Dennehy was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles in over 180 films and in many television and stage productions. His film roles included First Blood (1982), Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), Cocoon (1985), F/X (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990), Tommy Boy (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Ratatouille (2007), and Knight of Cups (2015). Dennehy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Willy Loman in the television film Death of a Salesman (2000). Dennehy's final film was Driveways (2020), in which he plays a veteran of the Korean War, living alone, who befriends a young, shy boy who has come with his mother to clean out his deceased aunt's hoarded home.
Nicodemo Antonio Massimo Mancuso is an Italian-Canadian actor, artist, playwright, and director. Beginning his career as a stage actor, he had his breakthrough role in the 1981 drama Ticket to Heaven, for which he won the Genie Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor. He has over 155 film and television credits, including a starring role on the NBC series Stingray (1985–87) and as antichrist Franco Macalousso in the Apocalypse film series.
John William Francis Hallam was a British character actor, who frequently played hard men or military types.
Sidney Eddie Mosesian, known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor. He was known for his appearances in horror films, most notably his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie films House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects and 3 from Hell. Haig's Captain Spaulding, and Haig himself, have been called icons of horror cinema. Haig had a leading role on the television series Jason of Star Command as the villain Dragos. He appeared in many television programs, including The Untouchables, Batman, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Star Trek, Get Smart, The Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, MacGyver, and Emergency!. Haig also had roles in several of Jack Hill's blaxploitation films from the 1970s.
Jonathan Crombie was a Canadian actor and voice-over artist, best known for playing Gilbert Blythe in CBC Television's 1985 telefilm Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels.
Canada Lee was an American professional boxer and then an actor who pioneered roles for African Americans. After careers as a jockey, boxer and musician, he became an actor in the Federal Theatre Project, including the 1936 production of Macbeth adapted and directed by Orson Welles. Lee later starred in Welles's original Broadway production of Native Son (1941). A champion of civil rights in the 1930s and 1940s, Lee was blacklisted and died shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He advanced the African American tradition in theatre pioneered by such actors as Paul Robeson. Lee was the father of actor Carl Lee.
Arthur Hindle is a Canadian actor and director.
Christopher Francis Villiers is an English actor, screenwriter and producer.
Chris Ward is an English-Canadian film and theatre director and playwright.
Steven I. "Steve" Robman is an American television and theatre director/producer.
Robert Kya-Hill is an American actor, director, playwright, musician, composer, and educator. He also performed under the name "Bob Hill". On learning that there was an actor with the same name, he briefly changed his name to Robert Hill II. He then added the prefix "Kya" after joining the Screen Actors Guild in 1961 because a union rule barred members from having the same name.
Stefan Kalipha is a Trinidad-born British actor who has been active since about 1970. He played Ramon, the Cigar Factory Foreman in the film Cuba (1979), Daoud in The Curse of King Tut's Tomb and Fat Larry in Babylon. He also appeared as Hector González, a Cuban hitman, in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981). Kalipha's other film roles include Wali Dad in The Crucifer of Blood (1991) and Buldeo in The Jungle Book (1994).