Joss Ackland CBE was born in 1928 in London. Trained as an actor, he has appeared in countless theatre productions, where his partners included such luminaries as Jean Simmons, Claire Bloom, Ingrid Bergman and Lauren Bacall, musicals and many films.
Joss met his wife Rosemary in 1951 when playing alongside her in J M Barrie's Mary Rose at Pitlochry. A talented actress she was forced to give up her work after being injured in a house fire, but threw herself into caring for her husband, and their seven children and thirty-two grandchildren.
Rosemary was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2000 but still continued to accompany her husband on location and latterly took up painting, producing some 300 watercolours and crayons. She died in July 2002.
Joss is now an Ambassador for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.