Biography
Born into a theatrical family, British actor James Fox made his film bow as a child actor in 1950, using his own name, William Fox. Fox's first movie was
The Miniver Story (1950), a Hollywood-financed sequel to 1942's Mrs. Miniver. The best of the actor's earliest appearances was in
The Magnet (1950), in which 11-year-old Fox played a fun-loving young boy at play with his mates. Fox changed his first name to James when he began assuming adult roles in the early 1960s, a period in which he played upper-class types. It was in one of these roles that Fox appeared with
Dirk Bogarde in the brooding, Freudian
Harold Pinter drama
The Servant (1963); that same year, Fox appeared in the "angry young man" exercise
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which starred
Tom Courtenay With his
Servant vis-a-vis
Sarah Miles, Fox headlined an international cast in the comedy extravaganza
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965). Fox continued in films into the 1980s, generally in class-"A" items like
A Passage to India (1984) and
The Russia House (1989). Fox continues to play old-blood aristocrats in films, most recently as the foolishly fascistic lord of the manor in
Remains of the Day (1993); he also appeared in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) and
Heart of Darkness (1994). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide