The warm, self-effacing personality of actor Gordon Jackson as well as his acting ability made him one of Scotland's most likeable performers. On leaving school he started out as a draughtsman in Rolls Royce but his interest in acting resulted in him getting a part as a Scottish soldier in "The Foreman Went to France" made in the early years of WW2.
His film career really took off with "Whisky Galore" in 1948, where he played the son dominated by his mother in the classic Compton McKenzie story (known as "Tight Little Island" in North America). Other well remembered film roles were in "Tunes of Glory" (1960) with Alec Guinness and John Mills, "The Great Escape" (1963) and "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969), the latter based on the novel by Muriel Spark.
Gordon also had a distinguished career on the stage, which started in the theatre in Rutherglen but he went on to appear in Orson Wells' production of Moby Dick (1955), as Banquo in Macbeth (with Alec Guinness) and Horatio in Hamlet.
In the 1970s his career took off again, this time in TV dramas - he won an Emmy Award for his performance as Hudson in "Upstairs and Downstairs" (1970-1975) and he appeared in "The Professionals" from 1977-1981.
When I took this photograph of Gordon Jackson in the mid-1980s, I asked him if he was perturbed about having to sign autographs and pose for so many photographs. His response was to say that he would be more concerned if people stopped asking!
