John Sessions could do anyone, and he could tell you when they were born. The mimicry was exact and the learning was real; what he never quite found was the film that wanted both of them at the same time.
Fi1m perspective
He usually arrives as somebody else. A voice comes first, a prime minister's or a dead actor's, pitched so close to the original that you look for the join. Then, often, a fact: a date, a middle name, the title of the book the man in question never finished. John Sessions was an impressionist who had read everything, and he could not keep either half of himself hidden for long.
He trained at RADA from 1979, in the same intake as Kenneth Branagh, and started out doing improvised monologues on the comedy circuit of the 1980s. Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1988–91) made his name, and it made it for a particular thing: improvisation stuffed with literary and historical reference, done at speed. Branagh cast him as Macmorris in Henry V (1989), the first of three films together. Stella Street (1997), which he co-created, wrote and performed with Phil Cornwell, turned the impressions into a semi-improvised sitcom. After that came the character parts: Dr Prunesquallor in Gormenghast (2000), Edward Heath in The Iron Lady (2011), Arthur Lowe, in 2015, and by the 2010s a steady line of authority figures, old buffers and politicians, including more than one prime minister.
The impressions were the strength, and the strength was steadiest when a script held it in place. His Heath was noted for its accuracy, and the same is said of his Lowe. Left to improvise, he reached for the reference, and not everyone thanked him for it: on QI (2003) and other panels he acquired a name as a smart alec, the man who knows the dates. We laughed at him on Whose Line and were slightly annoyed at the same time, because he plainly knew more than we did and had not decided whether to pretend otherwise. That was the feeling he most often produced, and it did not always help him.
The stardom some expected after the early success did not arrive, and he had a clear idea why. He set out, he said, to be a comedian and an actor at once: "I never felt I joined either club." Loving Vincent (2017), in which he voices Père Tanguy, is one of his last major screen appearances and shows what the second half of the career looked like. We scored it 65 and preferred the moving brushstrokes to the stiff inquiry into the painter's death; he is one voice among many painted faces, and we did not single him out. For a man who spent thirty years making sure you noticed him, that is a quiet way to finish.
Start with Stella Street for the impressions. Then try Gormenghast, where Prunesquallor let him be peculiar on somebody else's lines.
Biography
John Sessions (born John Gibb Marshall, 11 January 1953 – 2 November 2020) was a British actor and comedian. He was born in Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland, and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Sessions was known for his work in improvisation comedy, appearing regularly on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and voicing characters on Spitting Image (1984). Early television credits include Barney Spitz in the series Boon (1986). He also acted in films such as Henry V (1989) and Loving Vincent (2017), in which he played Père Tanguy.
Other notable roles include appearances in Gangs of New York (2002), The Iron Lady (2011) and Mr. Holmes (2015). He was a panellist on the quiz show QI and co-created the sitcom Stella Street.
