John Herman Merivale (1 December 1917 – 6 February 1990), also credited as Jack Merivale, was a Canadian-British actor. He appeared on Broadway and the West End, and played mainly supporting roles in films. He was also the longtime companion (and eventual caretaker) of Vivien Leigh.
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Early life
Merivale was born in Toronto in 1917. He was the son of English actors Philip Merivale and Viva Birkett. His stepmother was the English actress Gladys Cooper. He was raised in Canada, England, and the United States, and educated at Rugby School in Warwickshire and New College, Oxford.
Career
Merivale made his acting debut at age 15, playing the small role of a newsboy in James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933). His stage career started when he was 21, as an understudy in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where he first met Vivien Leigh. He later worked in the 1940 Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet by Leigh and her husband, Laurence Olivier.
Merivale's career was put on hold while he served as a pilot with both the British and Canadian air forces during World War II. He resumed his career in 1946, with a starring role in a successful Broadway production of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan.
In 1956 Merivale made his second film appearance, in The Battle of the River Plate. He went on to have supporting roles in films such as A Night to Remember (1958), Circus of Horrors (1960), House of Mystery (1961), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), (where he played the title character, who is killed thirteen minutes into the film), King Rat (1965), and Arabesque (1966).
Although Merivale had the leading role in the Italian horror film Caltiki - il mostro immortale (1959), he tended to concentrate on theatre work, in such productions as Venus Observed, Anne of the Thousand Days, The Reluctant Debutante and The Last of Mrs. Cheyney.
Personal life
He was married to American actress actress Jan Sterling from 1941 until 1948, and lived with Vivien Leigh from 1960 until her death in 1967, becoming her dedicated caretaker in her final years. He began a relationship with actress Dinah Sheridan in 1968; they married in 1986.
Death
Merivale died at Charing Cross Hospital in London from kidney failure, on 6 February 1990.
Partial stage credits
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