John Higgins dies at 71

John Higgins, an actress, director, producer and dialect coach, died November. 11 of dental cancer in Fremont, Calif. He was 71.Australia-born Higgins made his professional acting debut using the Old Globe Theater in North Park and made an appearance in 16 Shakespeare plays in repertory on the four-year period. He made an appearance Off Broadway in "Desire Underneath the Elms" with George C. Scott as well as in the celebrated manufacture of "Six Figures looking for a writer,Inch directed by William Ball. Moving to London in 1970, he carried out using the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as in the initial West Finish productions of "The Boys within the Band" and "Fortune and Men's Eyes." In 1974 Higgins gone to live in Gauteng, where he directed and behaved using the Market Theater. In 1975, he directed "Of Rodents and Males," with Ken Gampu, the very first government-approved multiethnic production in South African history, in the Lakeside Theater. In 1977, he directed the anti-apartheid play "Survival," with Seth Sibanda and David Kekana the development together with towards the U.K., Russia and also the U.S. Coming back to California within the late '70s, John directed the U.S. premiere of "The Biko Inquest," a play concerning the South African activist, in the Globe in North Park, and also the world premiere of Ken Kesey's "The Further Inquiry." Throughout the eighties Higgins divided his time between England, the U.S. and Australia, pointing new works "Two With no Cause" (plays by Michael Weller and Israel Horovitz) in Sydney in addition to Charles Marowitz's "The Shrew" and Woodsy Allen's "God" working in london. In 1990, he directed a questionable musical manufacture of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," occur the Haight-Ashbury District of Bay Area from the turbulence from the sixties Civil Privileges Movement. Within the the nineteen nineties, he directed plays and musicals in Bay Area and Sacramento for that Eureka Company, the Spreckles Arts Center, Next Phase and also the Alcazar Theater. Higgins also made an appearance in greater than a dozen movies, including "Phar Lap" and "The Newest,Inch as well as on TV.Since coming back to Australia in 2000, he offered being an acting and dialect coach for the kind of Chris Hemsworth and Rose Byrne. He trained in the Ensemble Galleries, National Institute of Dramatic Art, Stables Theater and Company B. He was along the way of planning a revival of his musical on Bob Dylan known as "Words and Music," and creating an up-to-date version of "Midsummer Night's Dream," when he learned he'd cancer. John Edward Higgins Junior. was created in Sydney, the boy of the American father and Australian mother. John and the more youthful brother, filmmaker Colin Higgins ("Harold and Maude," "Foul Play"), gone to live in the U.S. and settled in Atherton, Calif. John Higgins received a b -.A. from San Jose Condition U. as well as an acting diploma in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art working in london, and that he offered within the U.S. Navy in early sixties. He's made it by his mother and siblings Gary, John, Craig and Dennis.Specifics of an event honoring Higgins' existence, to become held sometime following the year, is going to be offered at Professorjohnhiggins.com. John's brother John might be arrived at at higginsb28@yahoo.com Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com