'YOU – what's the bleeding time?' With these immortal words James Robertson Justice confirmed his place in the postwar British comedy pantheon, in his masterful role as St Swithin's consultant surgeon, Sir Lancelot Spratt, in the 1954 film Doctor in the House.
As an actor he worked with many great film directors of the 20th century – Alexander Mackendrick (Whisky Galore! in 1949), Howard Hawks and John Huston – as well as great actors such as Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn.
His success in the cinema a
lways mystified Justice, but he was aware of the freedom that it gave him to pursue his varied other interests. He described himself not as an actor but as a naturalist. He truly hated it – indeed, would switch off faster than light mid-conversation and be extremely rude – if anyone called him a film star.
As a keen ornithologist, he was also a passionate falconer (teaching falconry to Prince Charles, whose father Prince Philip was a long-time friend) and a conservationist, who often stressed that he acted only to finance his love of nature. Justice told friends that being in the film business was the only way he could work for six months and earn enough money to keep himself in the style to which he'd become accustomed for the other six. He was also a racing driver and a professional ice hockey player. There had to be something about the acting profession he liked, Justice was once asked. He brusquely replied: "The emoluments aren't exactly to be sneezed at."
Justice was the quintessential authority figure in dozens of great British films, often stealing a movie from under the nose of its star. As summed up by Dirk Bogarde's character, Dr Simon Sparrow, in Doctor at Large (1957), he was "a bit of a bear".
JAMES ROBERTSON JUSTICE was a man who never much worried about the truth if it got in the way of a good story. He even fibbed about his own birth, insisting his whole life that he'd been born on 15 June 1907 in Scotland, not at 29 Baring Road, Lee, south London, which was the reality. His family then moved to Bromley in Kent.
For much of his life Justice considered Scotland his spiritual home. When he sailed from Liverpool for Canada in 1929, intending to emigrate, he gave his nationality as British but his people as Scottish, and he bought numerous properties in the country, residing there contentedly. He was also a proud wearer of the kilt and the Robertson tartan. Justice knew that his family's roots were north of the border, but his later adoption of the Robertson moniker (he'd been born James Norval Harold Justice) is revealing. "James's father was born in Aberdeen, so that could be where the connection with the Robertsons came from." says Roderick Bromley, son of one of Justice's oldest and most cherished friends, Toby Bromley.
"James's father actively detested the Scots, though. (His consideration was] that they infested the world; he found them conceited and maudlin, scorned their humour, hated the bagpipes and mocked Burns Night. James, perhaps as a reaction to this, insisted he was a true Scot who had first seen the light of day (underneath a distillery!) in Skye.
"I think that if you find a Robertson connection through the bloodline of James's father, you will have satisfactorily explained the almost pathological adoption of that country and customs by a paternally misunderstood boy from Kent."
On finishing his education Justice took the surprising step of emigrating to Canada, arriving just in time for the great depression of 1929. Unable to find much in the way of work he was back home within a year, taking up a reporter role at Reuters in London, where he worked alongside a budding young writer named Ian Fleming.
After several more failed attempts at finding a career, Justice suddenly found himself in military uniform, and second in command of the League of Nations Police Force between 1934 and 1935. The following two years were eventful and Justice eventually fled Germany a wanted man, after allegedly killing a Nazi and shooting another in the leg.
Obviously getting a taste for action, Justice then fought with the International Brigade against General Franco's fascists during the Spanish Civil War, which started in 1936. Again, he fled the country in a hurry and this time with a heavy price on his head. Within a few years, though, General Franco and his regime would prove victorious in Spain. Justice would see action yet again in the Second World War with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve , eventually being invalided out in 1943.
Justice always liked to say that he fell into acting by extraordinary chance, as it was a profession he'd never given a single thought to following. It started in London early in 1943, at 10 Albemarle Street, which was then the home of the world-famous Players Theatre Club, where Justice was a member and a frequent visitor.
One particular evening Justice was in the audience, joining in the banter that was routinely exchanged with the compere, when his obvious boisterous nature struck the management as being ideal chairman material. The regular chairman was ill and so he was asked to fill in for a few weeks, introducing the various stage acts. He leapt at the chance. Always a fine speaker and raconteur, he immediately convinced the owners of the club that they'd asked the right chap to step in.
Justice was an instant hit in the role: no real acting was required, he could just be himself. While he was delivering this impromptu performance, he was spotted by the Ealing Studios writer/director Harry Watt and eventually rewarded with his first film appearance, as an Operations Room Officer in For Those in Peril (1944), for which Watt was co-scripting. The rest is cinematic history.
After a few more minor appearances, Justice landed the role that would change his film career for ever, providing him with the template for the on-screen persona that he would exploit for the rest of his life. Vice Versa (1948) was based on F Anstey's classic children's story of a boy and father who exchange bodies with comic consequences. The plot is familiar today since it has been remade several times, notably as a vehicle for a young Jodie Foster in 1976's Freaky Friday.
Between 1943 and 1970 Justice appeared in almost 80 films. For those who assume he retired after making Doctor in the House, try taking a look at Scott of the Antarctic, Whisky Galore!, The Guns of Navarone, The Sword & The Rose, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – some of the most popular British films of the 20th century. Not bad for a self-proclaimed Scot from south London who said he couldn't act.
In November 1957, Justice was elected Rector of Edinburgh University, an achievement that gave him enormous pride. When he delivered his rectorial address at his installation at the McEwan Hall on 20 February 1958, with the chancellor of the university, Prince Philip, present, he extolled the virtues of education, believing that teachers were undervalued in society and should have more respect.
When asked how he would justify his appointment, Justice said: "I will be taking a considerable interest in the welfare of the undergraduate body. The Rector is second only to the Chancellor, who is the senior figure of the University. The rector is in fact the representative of the student body. The rector in all continental Universities has the most enchanting title, because he's always addressed as Your Magnificence. Unfortunately we haven't got this in Scotland, which is a shame because I rather like the idea of being addressed as Your Magnificence!"
Justice had taken his duties seriously, but his tenure ended in 1960. Elections for Rector were held every three years and on 8 November 1963, to everyone's amazement, he was elected for a second time. His success made history, for this was the first occasion since the Rectorship was instituted at the University in 1859 that anyone had succeeded in becoming Rector again after leaving the post. Both William Ewart Gladstone and Sir Donald Pollock had served twice as Rector, but their terms had run consecutively.
This time, Justice faced fierce competition for the post from fellow showbiz luminaries: Peter Ustinov, violinist Yehudi Menuhin, as well as local boy Sean Connery. In accordance with tradition, Vice-chancellor Sir Edward Appleton, Edinburgh University's principal, announced the result to a crowd of 500 students in the Old Quad from a window of the College's Upper Library.
Liberal politician Jo Grimond had succeeded Justice as Rector from 1960, and at the handover ceremony in 1963, when Grimond bestowed the Rectorial reins back over to his predecessor, Justice bowed theatrically to the politician and then began his speech: "As I was saying before I was interrupted…"
Despite his English birth, James Robertson Justice proudly considered himself a Scot who refused to take either himself or the trade he practised seriously. He described himself as a "terrible actor, with no right whatever to stardom", and remained genuinely mystified by the eagerness of producers to pay what he saw as astronomical sums simply to go before the cameras and be himself. "If the public wish to see, that's their affair," he would growl when quizzed on the subject of his film stardom. "I'm an intelligent layman rather than an actor."
So, was James Robertson Justice, who died in 1975, aged 68, a true character actor? Or merely a character who acted? That will always be open for debate, but the fact that he remained a screen star for more than a quarter of a century is without doubt a testament to his ability.
© James Hogg – 2008
Whisky Galore (1949)An Ealing Studios classic, in which Robertson Justice played the island doctor, Dr McLaren, who remarks: "It's a well-known fact that some men are born two drinks below par."
The Sword and the Rose (1953)Robertson Justice was tailor-made, visually and temperamentally (he was even practised in the royal sport of falconry) for his portrayal of Henry VIII in this Disney confection.
Doctor in the House (1954)The first and probably best of the seven "Doctor" films, in which Robertson Justice co-starred with a young Dirk Bogarde, playing the crusty head surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt.
Doctor at Sea (1955)Co-starring with Brigitte Bardot, Robertson Justice played the fiery-tempered, woman-hating, whisky-addicted Captain Hogg – simply Lancelot Spratt with a nautical makeover.
Foxhole in Cairo (1960)Robertson Justice took a rare leading role as a British intelligence officer outwitting Rommell in this Second World War desert spy yarn (with Michael Caine in an early, minor role as a German).
Very Important Person (1961)He played a belligerent research scientist, Sir Earnest Pease, imprisoned in a German PoW camp. At one point, Sir Earnest shouts in German at a Nazi officer. Justice was a fluent German speaker and almost certainly ad-libbed the lines – which translate as "You can kiss my arse, you filthy Nazi!" – doubtless presuming they'd be lost on the rest of the crew, and the censor.
Guns of Navarone (1961)His prologue narration, delivered in characteristically rich and commanding tones, set the scene: "Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea have given birth to many myths and legends of war and adventure…"
Doctor in Clover (1966)A late-in-the-day stab at the "Doctor" formula, with Leslie Phillips in the role previously taken by Bogarde. Sir Lancelot Spratt: "Don't be alarmed madam, I've removed hundreds of stones in my time. Enough to cobble a courtyard."
• James Robertson Justice: What's The Bleeding Time? includes a foreword by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and is published by Tomahawk Press.
