John Cairney (born 16 February 1930) is a Scottish film and television actor who is well known to audiences in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and internationally through his one-man shows on

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

, Robert Service,

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

and William McGonagall. He has worked as an actor, recitalist, lecturer, director and theatre consultant. He is also a published author and an exhibited painter. Trained at the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

, he was a notable Hamlet at the Citizens' Theatre and a successful Macbeth at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...

. He was '

This Man Craig ''This Man Craig'' is a TV drama series produced by BBC Scotland and screened over 52 episodes in 1966 and 1967. It was set in a secondary school in the fictional Scottish town of Strathaird. Episodes were filmed at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Acade ...

' on television, while his many films include ''

Lucky Jim ''Lucky Jim'' is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. The novel follows the exploits of the eponymous James (Jim) Dixon, a reluctan ...

'', '' A Night to Remember'', '' Operation Bullshine'', ''

The Flesh and the Fiends ''The Flesh and the Fiends'' (US title ''Mania'') is a 1960 British horror film directed by John Gilling. It stars Peter Cushing as 19th-century medical doctor Robert Knox, who purchases human corpses for research from a murderous pair named Bu ...

'', '' Victim'', ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

'' and '' Jason and the Argonauts''. He gained a PhD from Victoria University,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and is much in demand internationally as a lecturer, writer and consultant on Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Robert Burns. Cairney has written books on many famous Scots as well as other books on football (particularly Celtic F.C.), theatre and his native Glasgow, where he now lives with his

-born wife, actress and scriptwriter Alannah O'Sullivan. He is married to actress and playwright

Alannah O'Sullivan Alana, Alanna, or Alannah is a female given name. It can be derived either from the Old High German word for "precious" or from the Irish language term ''"a leanbh"'' for "child". Alana is also a unisex given name in the Hawaiian community meani ...

. He is the brother of footballer

Jim Cairney James Cairney (born 13 July 1931) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a half-back in the Football League for York City, in Scottish junior football for Strathclyde and Shawfield Juniors, in North America for Toronto Rom ...

. They were raised in the

Parkhead Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necrop ...

area of Glasgow; the referee

Tiny Wharton Tom "Tiny" Wharton OBE (3 November 1927 in Glasgow – 9 May 2005 in Newton Mearns) was a Scottish football referee in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Known as ''Tiny'', due to his colossal 6'4" frame, he was one of the most iconic and respected off ...

was a childhood acquaintance.

Filmography

References

External links

Official website
*
''Amazon'' author profile
* 1930 births Male actors from Glasgow Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors Living people Parkhead {{scotland-actor-stub