John Charles Greenway Irvin (7 May 1940 – 11 August 2026) was an English film and television director. A three-time BAFTA Award nominee, he began his career by directing a number of documentaries and television works, including the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He made several Hollywood films in the 1980s, including The Dogs of War (1980), Ghost Story (1981), Raw Deal (1986), and Hamburger Hill (1987).
Contents
Early life and education
John Charles Greenway Irvin was born in Wallasey, Merseyside, on 7 May 1940, to Charles and Elsie Winifred (neé Bending) Irvin. His father was a mechanical engineer who was involved in the construction of the Iran-Iraq Pipeline as part of the Royal Engineers. Irvin had a twin brother, David. He attended Durham School, where he sang in the choir, and Durham College, where he boxed and rowed competitively. He graduated from the London Film School.
Career
Documentaries
Early in his career, Irvin was an adherent of the Free Cinema movement, directing vérité-style documentaries. His breakthrough was Inheritance, a 1963 documentary short about the Algerian War of Independence. In 1969, he traveled to Vietnam to shoot footage of the ongoing conflict for Movietone. He directed documentary short subjects Gala Day (1963), Carousella (1965), and the made-for-TV East of Howard (1966). His 1967 short Mafia No!, about Italian social activist Danilo Dolci, was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.
British television
In the 1970s, Irvin directed exclusively for television, including drama episodes and made-for-TV films. In the mid-1970s, he made Possessions (1974) and Haunted (1974) and the pilot for The Nearly Man (1974) and seven episodes in 1975. In 1977, he directed an episode for ITV Playhouse and did an adaptation of Charles Dickens's Hard Times. In 1977, he directed the BBC miniseries adaptation of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.
Hollywood
In the 1980s, Irvin made The Dogs of War (1980), starring Christopher Walken, which depicted a mercenary team attacking an African country. After that, Irvin made the horror film Ghost Story (1981), an adaptation of Peter Straub's novel. Irvin's other films from that period include Champions (1984), starring John Hurt and Turtle Diary (1985), a romantic-comedy film based on the novel of the same name that starred Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley. The story tells of a lonely man and woman from London who help a couple of turtles escape from a zoo. Soon afterwards, Irvin made Raw Deal (1986), an action film, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger about an FBI agent who extracts a bloody revenge against a Mafia organisation. After that, Irvin's next film was the Vietnam War story Hamburger Hill (1987), about a violent close-quarters battle in which US soldiers attacked a well-fortified North Vietnamese Army position. Irvin then directed Next of Kin (1989), an action film starring Patrick Swayze about a police officer who starts a clan feud against a Mafia family to exact revenge for his brother's death.
In the 1990s, Irvin directed Eminent Domain (1990), starring Donald Sutherland and Anne Archer. After that, he made Robin Hood (1991), which starred Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman. Irvin's other films from the 1990s include Freefall (1994), Widows' Peak (1994), A Month by the Lake (1995), Crazy Horse (1996), the acclaimed City of Industry (1997), starring Harvey Keitel and Timothy Hutton, When Trumpets Fade (1998) and Noah's Ark (1999).
Later work
In the 2000s, Irvin directed Shiner (2000), which starred Michael Caine. The story tells about a boxing promoter searching for his son's killer. Irvin then directed The Fourth Angel (2001), an action film starring Jeremy Irons and Forest Whitaker. Irvin's other films from the 2000s include The Boys from County Clare (2003), Dot.Kill (2004), The Fine Art of Love (2005) and The Moon and the Stars (2007). Irvin released The Garden of Eden (2008), starring Mena Suvari and Jack Huston.
Irvin appeared as himself in the documentary feature The Writer with No Hands (2014), talking about the screenwriter Gary DeVore with whom he worked on The Dogs of War and Raw Deal.
His next film was the biopic Mandela's Gun (2016), relating Nelson Mandela's times as a guerrilla fighter for the ANC.
Death
Irvin died from complications of cancer at his sister-in-law's home in England, on 11 August 2026, aged 86.