Acting

Jack Birkett

Born — Died

1934-06-11 — 2010-05-10

Place of birth

Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

13 titles

Jack Birkett was born on June 11, 1934 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. He was an actor, mime artist, dancer and singer, a contemporary of Lindsey Kemp and a key member of his troupe. Often billed as Orlando, or The Incredible Orlando, Birkett was born to a Romani family and worked as an arrist's model for David Hockney before finding work as a stage hand at Leeds' Grand Theatre in 1950. He began to lose his sight in 1966, he then gradually became completely blind and was so for more than the last three decades his life. A regular cohort of the arthouse filmmaker Derek Jarman, Birkett appeared in Jubilee, The Tempest, Caravaggio and The Garden for the director. He retired from performing in the…

Known for

The Bride poster
5.4

Doctor Frankenstein creates a mate for his monster, a woman called Eva, who promptly rejects the male creature. In turn, the doctor becomes obsessed with Eva, and tries to make her a perfect Victorian woman. Meanwhile, the male creature embarks on a journey of self-discovery, alongside a dwarf named Rinaldo.

The Bride

1985

No artwork available
NR

Music variety show from the United Kingdom.

Rising Stars

1979

Caravaggio poster
6.1

A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.

Caravaggio

1986

Jubilee poster
6.0

Queen Elizabeth I visits late 1970s England to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.

Jubilee

1978

The Garden poster
5.7

A nearly wordless visual narrative intercuts two main stories and a couple of minor ones. A woman, perhaps the Madonna, brings forth her baby to a crowd of intrusive paparazzi; she tries to flee them. Two men who are lovers marry and are arrested by the powers that be. The men are mocked and pilloried, tarred, feathered, and beaten. Loose in this contemporary world of electrical-power transmission lines is also Jesus. The elements, particularly fire and water, content with political power, which is intolerant and murderous.

The Garden

1990

Moon Child poster
5.4

Adopted by a treacherous semi-scientific cult where extraordinary mental powers are common, extraordinary 12-year-old David begins an archetypal journey across two continents to find his destiny as Child of the Moon.

Moon Child

1989

Film credits

1980s · 7 titles

1970s · 3 titles

Series credits