Stage Actor John Neville Dies at 86

According to published reports, stage actor and director John Neville, passed away on November 19 in Toronto. He was 86 years old.

A leading member of London's Old Vic Company, he played many classical leading roles, including Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (a role he repeated on American television for the anthology series Producers' Showcase), and an acclaimed Richard in Richard II, with Virginia McKenna as Queen Anne. He also alternated with Richard Burton the parts of Othello and Iago in Othello. He was a frequent visiting player at the Bristol Old Vic. 

He left England in 1972 and devoted his later career to the Canadian theatre, taking up the post of artistic director at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton Alberta. He later took similar positions with other Canadian theatre companies (including as artistic director of the Stratford Festival of Canada from 1985–1989), as well as continuing his acting career.

From 1995 to 1998, Neville had a prominent recurring role in The X-Files television series as the Well-Manicured Man, and in 1998, he reprised his role in the feature film The X-Files: Fight The Future. Although he made numerous other television appearances and occasional film roles, the main focus of Neville's career was always the theatre.

He was appointed to the Order of Canada, that nation's highest civilian honour, in 2006.