Andrew Jack (dialect coach)

Andrew Jack
Jack in 2011
Born
Andrew Duncan Hutchinson

(1944-01-28)28 January 1944
Finchley[1], London, England
Died31 March 2020(2020-03-31) (aged 76)
Surrey, England[2]
Occupations
  • Dialect coach
  • actor
Years active1957–2020
Spouses
Felicity Hutchinson
​
​
(m. 1974; div. 1987)​
Paula Jack
​
​
(m. 2000; div. 2018)​
Gabrielle Rogers
​
(m. 2019)​
Children2
Websiteandrewjack.com

Andrew Jack (born Andrew Duncan Hutchinson; 28 January 1944 – 31 March 2020) was a British dialect coach who worked on over 80 motion pictures.[3][4][5]

Early life

Jack was born in London. His father, Stephen Jack, was an actor in film, radio and television.[1]

Career

He had worked with over 200 actors[6] including Robert Downey Jr. (in Richard Attenborough's Chaplin, Michael Hoffman's Restoration and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes), Pierce Brosnan (in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day), Cate Blanchett, and Viggo Mortensen. As supervising dialect coach for The Lord of the Rings, he created the Middle-earth accents and taught them, along with Elvish and Black Speech, to the cast of the trilogy.[7] He designed and taught the accents for the Greeks and Trojans in Wolfgang Petersen's Troy. He taught Evan Davis to speak with a Nottinghamshire twang.[8] He was known for helping non-British actors to be more intelligible to the audience.[9]

Jack can also be seen in the Star Wars film series portraying Resistance Major (later promoted to General) Caluan Ematt in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He also voiced the character of Moloch in Solo: A Star Wars Story.[citation needed] The final film he was working on at the time of his death was The Batman,[10] which was dedicated to him.

Personal life

Jack was married to Felicity Filmore from 1974 to 1987, and to Paula Jack from 2000 to 2018; both marriages ended in divorce.[11]

Jack's widow Gabrielle Rogers is also a voice, accent and dialect coach who first started working in the film, television and theatre industries as an actor in the 1980s. Rogers and Jack were married in 2019.

Jack is survived by his and Felicity’s children, Katherine b. 1978 and Rupert b. 1982 and two grandchildren.

Death

Jack died on 31 March 2020 at the age of 76 from COVID-19.[2] His wife Gabrielle Rogers wrote on Twitter:[12][2]

"We lost a man today. Andrew Jack was diagnosed with coronavirus two days ago. He was in no pain, and he slipped away peacefully knowing that his family were all 'with' him."

Filmography

Dialect work
Year Title Position Notes
1982 Nancy Astor Dialect coach
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Uncredited
The Ginger Tree
1990 The Gravy Train 4 episodes
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
A Demon in My View
1992 The Last of the Mohicans
Chaplin
1993 15: The Life and Death of Philip Knight
1994 Backbeat
Nostradamus
2022 The Batman Posthumous release
Film
Year Title Role Notes
2001 Kate & Leopold John A. Roebling
2009 Sherlock Holmes Professor Moriarty Voice (lines later overdubbed by Jared Harris following the release of A Game of Shadows)
2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Caluan Ematt
2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2018 Solo: A Star Wars Story Moloch Voice
2020 Ascendant Doctor Thompson Post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1957 Whack-O! School Boy 10 episodes
1959 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre Boy Episode: "Against the Stream"
1966 This Man Craig Waiter Episode: "A Wise Father"
1968 The Spanish Farm Lt. Andrews Episode: "Paris"
1969 Chronicle Bosham Episode: "Thomas Becket"
Doctor in the House Smoothie Episode: "It's All Go..."
1970 The Black Tulip Craeke 1 episode
1971 Softly Softly: Task Force Radley Episode: "Company Business"
Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2016 Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Caluan Ematt

References

  1. ^ a b Gabrielle Rogers (5 April 2020), "Movie dialect coach, Star Wars actor falls victim to COVID-19", Sydney Morning Herald
  2. ^ a b c "Star Wars actor dies after contracting COVID-19". BBC News. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Andrew Jack". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
  4. ^ "Actor Andrew Jack Dies of Coronavirus at 76 in Britain". The New York Times. 31 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Andrew Jack (I) (1944–2020)" IMDB
  6. ^ "Archived copy of Official Webpage of Andrew Jack". Archived from the original on 3 July 2011.
  7. ^ Moore, Miranda (February–March 2002). "How Elijah Wood learned Elvish". The Linguist.
  8. ^ Davis, Evan (14 May 2010). "Can Evan do a Robin Hood Accent?". BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  9. ^ Graydon, Nicola (31 May 2004). "The Lion Roars". The Times.
  10. ^ "Andrew Jack, 'Star Wars' actor, dies from Covid-19". CNN. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Lord of the Rings Dialect Coach Dies of Coronavirus". Archived from the original on 31 March 2020.
  12. ^ "Gabrielle Rogers on Twitter: "We lost a man today". Twitter. Retrieved 11 June 2021.