Veteran Scottish actor John Cairney has died aged 93
Scottish actor John Cairney has sadly passed away at the age of 93.
The Glasgow-born artist is best known for starring in ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ as well as a number of other stage, film and television productions.
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The popular star was born in 1930 in the Baillieston district.
After leaving school, young Cairney briefly studied art before completing his training at the prestigious Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The star started his career on stage, appearing in the UK premiere of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
And appeared in the original 1958 Titanic adaptation, titled A Night to Remember.
However, he is best known for the 1963 adventure film Jason and the Argonauts, in which his character is famously crushed to death by a living bronze statue.
Shortly after graduating from drama school, the actor met his first wife, Sheila.
In the 1970s, Cairney swapped the big screen for the small, appearing in the BBC Scotland drama Scotch on the Rocks, playing an SNP politician with ties to the paramilitaries and the Soviet Union.
The veteran artist had a long-standing association with Robert Burns, touring the world with his one-man play about the poet.
He even named his 1987 autobiography after the Scottish bard, calling it The Man Who Played Burns.
In later years, Cairney developed a passion for art and became an acclaimed painter.
A spokesman for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, formerly RSAMD, said: “We are so incredibly saddened to hear of John Cairney’s death. John was a member of our very first acting program and was literally the first in the classroom door when it opened.” 1950.
“Throughout his life he has been a passionate advocate of the power of performance and the transformative potential of the arts and arts education. He was a lovely man and we will miss him dearly.”
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