John Nolan, the Batman actor and uncle of Christopher Nolan, has died at the age of 87, it has been announced.
A Batman and Dunkirk star has died. His widow, Kim Hartman, described Nolan as “a free spirit, who always knew what he wanted and acted on his own terms; the only truly original thinker I think I ever knew. Articulate, intelligent, and with an anarchic wit, he was always willing to see both sides of an argument.”
She added: “He was also the kindest person I ever knew – and animals loved him too!” and continued: “John was a popular and talented teacher, whether explaining a Shakespeare soliloquy or how to swing a golf club, and was devoted to his family.”
Born on 22nd May 1938, Nolan died on 11th April. The theatre veteran previously worked as a director and lecturer at Stratford College. He is best remembered for playing the main villain, John Greer, in the CBS sci-fi drama Person of Interest, which was created by his nephews Jonathan and Christopher Nolan.
His character made his debut in the second series and remained a fixture until the show’s conclusion in its fifth series in 2016. The news comes as Christopher Nolan’s ‘breathtaking’ war epic has arrived on Netflix.
Over the years, Nolan collaborated regularly with his nephews, appearing as Douglas Fredericks, a Wayne Enterprises board member, in Batman Begins and its hugely successful follow-up, The Dark Knight Rises.
The veteran performer also took on the role of a blind man in Nolan’s wartime drama, Dunkirk, alongside the likes of Harry Styles Fionn Whitehead, James D’Arcy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Barry Keoghan, and featured in the HBO series Dune: Prophecy, delivering his swan song performance aged 85 as the Speaker of The Hall, reports the Mirror US.
John Francis Nolan leaves behind his renowned nephews, his wife, Kim Hartman, their children, Miranda and Tom, and his grandchildren, Dylan and Kara. He was the younger sibling of Christopher and Jonathan’s late father, Brendan Nolan. The Stratford-upon-Avon Herald was the first to confirm his passing.
Tributes flooded social media as admirers of the late actor expressed their sympathies to the Nolan family. One fan wrote, “He was a terrific villain in Person of Interest. R.I.P.”
Another commented, “I know he was the Nolans’ uncle and they liked to place him in their projects, but I liked it when he popped up. He had just a couple of lines in Dunkirk as a blind war vet welcoming the soldiers home, but it was probably my favourite cameo of his.”
A third posted, “Rest in peace, he was really cool. Must have been a cool uncle, too. He goes all the way back to Chris’s first movie, Following.”
John’s last on-screen credit came just two years ago, playing the Speaker of the High Council in Dune: Prophecy.
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