Harold Thomas Gregson was born in Liverpool on the 15th of March 1919 of Irish descent and grew up in Wavertree, where he was educated at Greenbank Road Primary School and later at St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool. He left school at 16, working first for a telephone company as an engineer, and then for Liverpool Corporation. During this time, he became interested in amateur dramatics, joining first the local Catholic church theatre group at St Anthony's in Mossley Hill. John's elder brother Ernest lived in Alexander Drive, Aigburth, and his sister, Mrs Chris Bird, lived in Limeade Road, Mossley Hill.
When war broke out, he was called up and joined the Royal Navy serving as a sailor on minesweepers. At one point, his minesweeper was torpedoed and he was rescued from the sea with a knee injury. After demobilisation, and known professionally as John Gregson, he joined the Liverpool Old Vic for a year, making his stage debut in 'The Knight of the Burning Pestle' at the Liverpool Playhouse where they had decamped during the war. Going on to Perth Theatre in Scotland, he met his future wife actress Ida Reddish, from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Nottingham (at the time she was using the stage name Thea Kronberg, though she later became Thea Gregory). They moved to London in 1947, and married in Hampstead and eventually had three daughters and three sons. Gregson appeared alongside Alec Guiness in the play 'The Human Touch' in the West End and acted alongside Robert Donat and Margaret Leighton in 'A Sleeping Clergyman' at the West End Criterion Theatre in 1947. He also starred in Roger MacDougall's comedy 'Macadam and Eve' and later enjoyed success in Hugh Hasting's play 'Seagulls Over Sorrento' at the Apollo Theatre. During the same period, he was also cast in his first movie, the romantic period melodrama 'Saraband for Dead Lovers' (1948), though his scenes ended up being cut. Undeterred, he was in the popular 'Scott of the Antarctica' as Tom Crean (1948).
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| With Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth Moore and Kay Kendall in 'Genevieve' |
He established himself as a popular favorite in subsequent Ealing comedies such as 'Whisky Galore' (1949), 'Treasure Island' (1950) and 'The Lavender Hill Mob' (1951). He had a lead role in the 1952 British war film 'Angels One Five', a British war film alongside Jack Hawkins, Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray, and also had a leading role in another Ealing comedy, 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' (1953). His most fondly remembered role was that of vintage car enthusiast Alan McKim, in the idiosyncratic (and typically British) comedy 'Genevieve' (1953). Also starring Kenneth Moore, Dinah Sheridan and Kay Kendall it was the second-most popular film of the year in Britain. Ironically, while he is featured in almost every scene behind the wheel, Gregson couldn't drive a car when filming began and proved to be a slow learner. A long term contractee with the Rank Organisation, they kept him busy, though the films he made were undemanding fare. His screen personae tended to be men of integrity: regular guys who don't necessarily finish on top, introspective, somewhat diffident, and often troubled. He might only have taken minor roles, but he proved himself to be a versatile performer who looked dashing in uniform, while also having a softer romcom side and a Scouse-Irish blokeishness that meant he never looked out of place. He had a big hit with the war film 'Above Us the Waves' (1956) and a more successful war movie based on a true story 'The Battle of the River Plate' (1956). This film helped British exhibitors vote him the eighth-biggest British film star in the country for 1956 and in 1957 he was the fourth-biggest British star.
Gregson's film career faded after ten good years from 1952–1962 when the era of angry young men arrived and from 1963 onwards he never played another leading film role. Like his peers, Kenneth More and Richard Todd, he seemed better suited to television than cinema. With his film career virtually over by the time the sixties started to swing, he moved successfully into TV and became a living-room favourite in Gideon’s Way (1964-67) as Commander George Gideon and co-starred with Shirley Maclaine in the sitcom 'Shirley's World'. He played Shakespeare in Ivor Brown's BBC TV play 'William's Other Anne' and also appeared in 'The Saint' with Roger Moore. He took over from Kenneth More in long-running TV adverts for coffee on British television and starred in a Hamlet cigar advert. Refusing to acknowledge his stardom, Gregson insisted: "I just see myself as a handy type to have around."
John died of a heart attack on the 8th of January 1975 while on holiday near Porlock Weir, Somerset at just 55 years of age, walking on the path to St. Beuno's Church, Culbone.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/07/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-arthur.html
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