Actor James Aubrey R.I.P.

Actor James Aubrey, who played Ralph in Lord of the Flies (the one boy who maintains his wits while the others descended into savagery) passed on 8 April at the age of 62. The cause was pancreatitus.

James Aubrey was born James Aubrey Tregido in Klagenfurt, Austria on 28 August, 1947. His father was a career military man serving with the British army in Austria at the time. The family going wherever his father was assigned, Aubrey was educated in Jamaica, Germany, and Singapore. He was in Jamaica when director Peter Brook found him at a swimming pool and cast him as the lead in the movie Lord of the Flies. The movie was shot during the summer of 1961 and took a year to edit, being released in 1963. In that time he had appeared in the play Isle of Children at the Wilmington Playhouse. He would make his only appearance on Broadway in the play, reprising the role he originally played.

Aubrey trained at the Drama Centre in London. Afterwards he was a regular on the British stage. He played at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, the Royal Court Theatre, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Comedy Theatre, and the Old Vic. He toured with the the Cambridge Theatre Company and performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Beginning in the Seventies, Aubrey regularly appeared on television. His TV debut was a guest appearance on Z Cars in 1974. He was a regular on the series Bouquet of Barbed Wire and its sequel Another Bouquet. He guest starred on the series Return of the Saint, Murder, The Sweeney, and Minder. He appeared in the films Galileo, Home Before Midnight, and The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. In the Eighties he was a regular on Emmerdale Farm. He appeared in such series as Tales of the Unexpected, The Last Place on Earth, and Lovejoy. He appeared in the films  The Hunger, The American Way, Cry Freedom, and The Rift. From the Nineties into the Naughts he appeared in such shows as Inspector Morse, Causality, The Apocalpyse Watch, The Bill, Doctors, and Brief Encounters. He appeared in such films as Buddy's Song and Spy Game.