John Herman Louis Burgess (2 February 1933 – 15 November 2010)[1] was an English actor, best known as David Crosbie in Channel 4's long-running soap opera, Brookside, between 1992 and 1998.
He changed his name from Bogush to Burgess after becoming an actor, later explaining that "The principal of RADA tactfully suggested that a rather more English sounding name might be more suitable for the 'anyone for tennis' brand of plays then popular on the British repertory circuit.
[3] Burgess resumed his career in weekly rep at Folkestone, where he ran into his old actor friend, Harry Landis, who was, at that time, artistic director of the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury.
[5] For Nunn, he also performed the roles of Scroop in Henry IV, Parts I and II, Duke Frederick in As You Like It and Syringe and Sir John Friendly in The Relapse.
Burgess was directed by Ron Daniels in The Lorenzaccio Story,[6] in which he played a goldsmith, The Women Pirates – Ann Bonney and Mary Read, in which he appeared as Forbes, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he performed the role of Egeus.
He appeared in many established shows, from Midsomer Murders, Lovejoy, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and Van der Valk to Grange Hill, EastEnders, Holby City, The Bill and Harry Enfield.
Amongst the drama serials and soap operas, there were also two films: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead [8] and Give My Regards to Broad Street,[9] in which Burgess played Paul McCartney's chauffeur.
Burgess also featured in a number of television movies, including The Dybbuk, Love's Labour's Lost and Murders Amongst Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story.
In the early 1990s, he played the equivalent of the "Q" character in the James Bond films in one of a series of popular Barclaycard adverts in which Rowan Atkinson starred.
[10] For the National, Burgess also appeared in Humble Boy, The Alchemist, Luther, The Relapse, Romeo and Juliet and, notably, in Mike Leigh's much lauded Two Thousand Years.
In 2002, he played an active role in preventing an "attempted coup" by a group of right wing actors who believed that "had been politicised by Labour members, to the disadvantage of ordinary performers."