Well here are two more pictures of this large than life actor – around the time of the release of The Sword and The Rose for Walt Disney in 1953

Here he is BELOW with his Falcon ‘Siubhlac ( Gaelic for Soft )

He was quite a character no doubt and in some ways I admire how he grasped the chance to go into films and to become very successful. He was lucky enough to have a very good role as Little John in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men  and again – this time as the King in ‘The Sword and the Rose’  – Below – Both films for Walt Disney and both – particularly the first one – did very well at the Box Office on a Worldwide scale.  This gave him the publicity and credibility as an actor that he needed.

ABOVE        Two Stills from The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men 1952 where James Robertson Justice was ideally cast as 

Little John – What a wonderful film that was !!

As regards his many reputed exploits prior to the War – and after – I take much of this with a pinch of salt. He was a Storyteller and Fantasist not just  with his claim to have been born on the Isle of Skye which was  completely untrue but things like dropping his rifle in front of Hitler and fighting in the Spanish Civil War,  being a racing car driver – the list goes on.

I have a feeling though that there was some truth in the racing car driver claim.

Terrible tragedy struck him and his wife  when their son James died at the age of four in 1949 when he drowned in a mill stream near the family home in Whitchurch, Hampshire.

The loss of his son  must have been a heart breaking time for both  him and his wife – and it really broke their marriage as she blamed him for not fencing the access to the River nearby where their son lost his life. It must have been a devastating loss for them.

His wife eventually divorced him but not until many years later when his own health was breaking down.

Really good colour picture from that time, I think – as Henry VIII in ‘The Sword and the Rose’ for Walt Disney

He was personal friends with Prince Philip and Prince Charles, who he seemed to take under his wing in that he taught him about falconry and other country pursuits  – I have a feeling that this may have when Prince Charles was at Gordonstoun and he lived just North of Inverness.

Indeed Prince Philip attended the ceremony at which his friend James Robertson Justice was installed as Rector of Edinburgh University

ABOVE   Edinburgh University, Scotland. Actor James Robertson Justice is installed as the Rector – on 17 th February 1964