James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor, known for his work in film and television. He is a member of the Fox family of actors. Fox's career began in the 1960s through leading roles in films such as The Servant (1963), King Rat (1965), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), and Performance (1970).
In the 1970s, Fox took a break from acting to focus on personal and spiritual matters, returning to acting in the early 1980s. Over time, he built a reputation for playing a variety of roles, including upper-class figures and more serious characters, notably in known for his roles in A Passage to India (1984), Patriot Games (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), Jinnah (1998), Sherlock Holmes (2009), and Effie Gray (2014).
Fox won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for his performance in The Servant, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Passage to India. He is also a Golden Globe Award nominee.
Fox was born on 19 May 1939 in London, the second son of theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. His elder brother is actor Edward Fox and his younger brother was film producer Robert Fox. Fox's maternal grandfather was playwright Frederick Lonsdale. He applied successfully to study acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Fox first appeared on film as 11-year-old Toby Miniver in The Miniver Story in 1950. His early screen appearances, both in film and television, were made under his birth name, William Fox.
Fox appeared in the film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962). His father, Robin, quarreled bitterly with Tony Richardson over this, having attempted to forbid his friend from giving his son James (known as "Willie") a part in the film. His father claimed Willie had no talent for acting and should not give up his job in a bank.
In 1964, Fox won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for The Servant (1963), working alongside Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, and Wendy Craig. On 16 June 1965, Ken Annakin's period aviation film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines was released. In this British period comedy film, Fox is featured among an international ensemble cast including Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Robert Morley, Terry-Thomas, Red Skelton, Benny Hill, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi. Some of the other films he acted in during this time are King Rat (1965), The Chase (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Isadora (1968), and Performance (1970).
After finishing work on Performance (released 1970, but shot in 1968), Fox suspended his acting career. The film, which starred Fox and Mick Jagger, was deemed so outrageous that critics at a preview screening walked out, with one film executive's wife reportedly throwing up in the cinema.
In a 2008 interview, Fox said: "It was just part of my journey...I think my journey was to spend a while away from acting. And I never lost contact with it â watching movies, reading about it ... so I didn't feel I missed it."
Fox became an evangelical Christian, working with the Navigators and devoting himself to the ministry. During this time, the only film in which Fox appeared was No Longer Alone (1976), the story of Joan Winmill Brown, a suicidal woman who was led to faith in Jesus Christ by Ruth Bell Graham.
After an absence from acting of several years, in 1981 Fox appeared on television in the Play for Today "Country" by Trevor Griffiths, a comedy drama set against the 1945 UK parliamentary elections. On film he starred in Stephen Poliakoff's Runners (1983), A Passage to India (1984), and Comrades (1986). He played Anthony Blunt in the BBC play by Alan Bennett, A Question of Attribution (1992). He also portrayed the character of Lord Holmes in Patriot Games (1992), as well as Colonel Ferguson in Farewell to the King (1989) and the Nazi-sympathising aristocrat Lord Darlington in The Remains of the Day (1993).
Fox has since appeared in the 2000 film Sexy Beast, the 2001 adaptation of The Lost World as Prof. Leo Summerlee, Agatha Christie's Poirot â Death on the Nile (2004) as Colonel Race, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) as Mr. Salt, Veruca Salt's father. He appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Shada, and in 2007, Fox guest-starred in the British television crime series Waking the Dead. He also appeared opposite his son Laurence Fox in "Allegory of Love", an episode in the third series of Lewis. He was part of the cast of Sherlock Holmes (2009), as Sir Thomas, leading member of a freemason-like secret society.
In 2010, Fox filmed Cleanskin, a terrorist thriller directed by Hadi Hajaig. The following year, he played King George V in the film W.E., written and directed by Madonna. In 2013, Fox played a lead role alongside Natalie Dormer in the movie A Long Way from Home.
Fox married Mary Elizabeth Piper in September 1973, with whom he has five children, including Laurence and Jack. Piper died at their home on 19 April 2020.
Through his daughter Lydia, Fox's son-in-law is actor Richard Ayoade. His former daughter-in-law is actress Billie Piper, who was married to his son Laurence from 2007 to 2016.