Tributes have been paid to actor and comedian John Sessions who has died aged 67 from a heart attack, it was announced today.
John Gibb Marshall, better known by his stage name John Sessions, passed away at his home in South London yesterday, his agent confirmed.
The comedian is best known for his appearances on panel shows including Whose Line is it Anyway?, Have I Got News For You, and QI, as well as numerous appearances in UK and Hollywood movies.
He was not married and did not have children but was a loving uncle to his sibling’s children and had three goddaughters and five godsons.
Paying tribute to the actor, fellow comedian Ronni Ancona described him as ‘a genius’ while comedian Robert Webb remembered him as someone who ‘absolutely inspired me.’
John Gibb Marshall, better known by his stage name John Sessions, passed away at his home in South London yesterday. Pictured at The Wipers Times play, London, 2017
Comedian Rory Bremner tweeted: ‘Jeez. Another one. John Sessions. Just the best, he’d blow everyone away on Whose Line with his speed of thought & breadth of reference.
‘Utterly absorbed by Hollywood, its characters and stories, brilliant raconteur, genius mimic. A flash of brilliance just went out.’
Actress and comedian Helen Lederer added that Sessions was ‘such an original force of clever wit and talent.’
Comedian Rory Bremner shared a tribute, tweeting: ‘Jeez. Another one. John Sessions’
Actor Samuel West tweeted: ‘Hate that John Sessions has gone. World so much better with him in it.’
The team at QI paid tribute tweeting that Sessions was a panellist on the show’s first episode
Robert Webb tweeted: ‘Bobby Ball and now John Sessions! Two very different performers who both absolutely inspired and delighted me at different times. Lovely, funny men.’
A statement issued by his agent Alex Irwin today said: ‘It is with great sadness we can confirm that on Monday, November 2, the actor John Sessions died at his home in South London.
‘He will be hugely missed.’
Sessions was born on January 11, 1953, in Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland, and had a twin sister, Maggie, and an older brother Bill.
John Sessions performing at the Kings Head Theatre, London, 1985
Evening Standard Drama Awards at the Savoy, John Sessions with Joan Collins, November 1994
Mark Hadfield and John Sessions (right) at Road play, After Party, London, July 2017
The family left Scotland for Bedford, Bedfordshire, when he was three. He studied MA in English literature at Bangor University before moving to Canada to spend four years working on a PhD from McMaster University.
In 1979, at the age of 26, he decided to embark on an acting career, attending Rada where he met his long-time friend Kenneth Branagh.
Three years later he landed a part in his first film, The Sender, and began working the comedy circuit alongside French and Saunders booking gigs as a double bill.
Sessions was the only mimic impersonating politicians on the satire Spitting Image to eventually earn his own puppet, he proudly told The Independent: ‘They did John Sessions going up his own arse.’
Friends and colleagues today paid tribute to Sessions, who died aged 67 on Monday
Comedian and writer Michael Spicer paid a heartfelt tribute to Sessions praising his ‘extraordinary range’
His big-screen credits included The Good Shepherd, The Merchant of Venice and The Bounty. Sessions also starred alongside Meryl Streep in the Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady.
He was also known for his surreal performances on his one-man TV shows. Recent TV drama credits included Victoria, The Loch and Mr Selfridge.
The actor also performed in various film adaptations of Shakespeare plays including Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V in 1989, playing Philostrate in the 1999 film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Salerio in the 2004 movie The Merchant of Venice.
A tweet from the team behind panel show QI said: ‘John Sessions was a panellist on QI’s first ever episode: Series A, Episode One, ‘Adam’.
‘His incredible wit and encyclopaedic knowledge played a huge part in the show’s history and everyone at QI is deeply saddened to learn of his passing.’
Actor and politician Laurence Fox, who worked with Sessions in ITV’s Victoria, also paid tribute. He said: ‘Dear God, no! He phoned me the other day to check in and tell me that he’s there if I ever need him.
‘What an absolute diamond of a man. Always there for you. Absolutely hilarious. Always kind, always gentle. What a lovely friend. Goodnight dear John.’
Blur musician Graham Coxon said: ‘John sessions… was mega bright and funny.. that’s a great shame. RIP.’
John Sessions as Lord John Russell, and Laurence Fox as Lord Palmerston in Victoria, ITV drama series, Series 3, Episode 1, 2019
John Sessions as CI Frank Smilie in ‘The Loch’ ITV Series, June 2017
The actor also performed in various film adaptations of Shakespeare plays
The actor previously told the Guardian how he outed himself as gay to the Evening Standard when a journalist asked him about his sexuality.
He said: ‘Yes I am, but my parents don’t know and I don’t want them to find out by picking up a copy of the Evening Standard.’
His mother died died unexpectedly six weeks later and his father quickly developed dementia shortly afterwards. ‘It was never mentioned,’ he said.
Broadcaster Danny Baker shared a poster for radio series Beachcomber… By the Way to Twitter after the news of Sessions’ death broke today.
He said: ‘Shocked to hear that John Sessions has died at 67.
‘Terrific company always and a true talent. His roles at the heart of this, my favourite radio series, have given endless pleasure to me and will continue to do so always. Travel easy, chum…’
Reverend Richard Coles added: ‘ Very sad to hear about the death of #JohnSessions.
‘He was brilliantly talented, made me laugh a lot, and was a friend for twenty five years. RIP.’
Actor Samuel West tweeted: ‘Hate that John Sessions has gone. World so much better with him in it. Lucky to work with him several times.
‘Brain the size of Swindon. So full of life and stories and contradictions and possibilities and love for the job of acting. Goodnight, dear man x.’
From Spitting Image to Whose Line Is it Anyway?: How John Sessions kept audiences laughing during career that spanned four decades
Born John Gibb Marshall on January 11, 1953 in Ayrshire, Scotland, the actor spent his early 20s in academia before a sudden change of heart led him into an acting career spanning four decades.
At the age of three his family left Scotland for Bedford and later moved to St Albans, Hertfordshire where he lived with his parents and twin sister Maggie.
He also had an older brother, Bill, who went to sea when he was only four, but whom he once credited for his love of classical music.
BBC2’s Stella Street: Episode one. Phil Cornwell as Mick Jagger (left) and John Sessions as Keith Richards (right). In the show the pair run a typical surburban corner shop in true rock ‘n roll style. October 16, 1998
Though he admitted to the Guardian in 2017 that he ‘wasn’t as good at maths’ as his engineer father, the actor was academically talented elsewhere.
He studied English Literature at Bangor University and completed an MA before moving to Canada to spend four years pursuing a PhD from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
He described this endeavour as ‘an academic bridge too far’ and, in 1979 when he was 26, Sessions decided to embark on an acting career and attended Rada alongside his long-time friend Kenneth Branagh.
Sessions won a scholarship to the acclaimed drama school in London despite turning up to the audition hungover.
Comedians (left to right) John Sessions, Clive Anderson and Stephen Fry for the BBC Radio 4 series ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’, January 1988
John Sessions on Whose Line Is It Anyway? The show started on radio before moving to television in 1988 on Channel 4
The actor later appeared in Henry V (1989) and In the Bleak Midwinter (1995), both directed by Branagh.
Despite his late start in the industry, Sessions – so named because there was another John Marshall on the Equity register – once described doing his first impersonation aged seven.
He recalled singing a Lonnie Donegan song, largely to win the approval of his father, a gas engineer who he admitted having a difficult relationship with.
The actor also previously described how he outed himself as gay to the Evening Standard in 2017 when a journalist asked him about his sexuality.
He said: ‘Yes I am, but my parents don’t know and I don’t want them to find out by picking up a copy of the Evening Standard.’
John Sessions (left) as Joe Pesci with Phil Cornwall as Michael Caine in ‘Stella Street’ a ten part soap opera about Hollywood superstars
Sessions’ mother died died unexpectedly six weeks later and his father quickly developed dementia shortly afterwards. ‘It was never mentioned,’ he said.
The actor’s film debut was in The Sender (1982), directed by Roger Christian, in which he played a patient. This was quickly followed by small parts in The Bounty (1984) and Castaway (1986).
At the same time, the actor worked on the small venue comedy circuit with freewheeling fantasy monologues, once topping a double bill with French and Saunders.
Phil Cornwell and John Sessions in another episode of Stella Street in which they played different Hollywood characters
He later launched a one-man stage show, The Life of Napoleon, which ran in London’s West End at the Albery Theatre in 1987.
Later in the 80s, he starred in his own television show, John Sessions, in which he would launch improvised performances based on objects and settings recommended by the audience.
He then had two further shows John Sessions’ Tall Tales (1991) and John Sessions’ Likely Stories (1994).
Sessions was also one of two regular panelists on Whose Line Is It Anyway in the 1980s, alongside Stephen Fry, and he voiced characters for the ITV satire Spitting Image.
He was the only mimic impersonating politicians on the show to eventually earn his own puppet, he proudly told The Independent: ‘They did John Sessions going up his own arse.’
Phil Cornwell and John Sessions (right) in Stella Street
Notably, Sessions starred in mockumentary Stella Street – a ‘soap opera’ comedy about a suburban British street inhabited by celebrities such as Michael Caine, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. It ran from 1997 to 2001.
He later returned to film, appearing in The Good Shepherd (2006) and The Merchant of Venice (2004). Sessions also starred alongside Meryl Streep in the Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady (2011).
The actor also performed in various film adaptations of Shakespeare plays including Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989), playing Philostrate in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999), and Salerio in The Merchant of Venice (2004).
Alongside his film and television roles, Sessions made regular appearances on quiz shows Have I Got News for You and QI.
Recently, he appeared in the teen drama Skins as one of the adoptive fathers of Franky Fitzgerald in 2012.
Sessions also featured in an episode of comedy Outnumbered alongside Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner in 2011.
His recent TV drama credits also include Victoria, The Loch and Mr Selfridge.
The actor died at his home in south London on Monday aged 67 after a heart attack.