John Richard Easton (born March 22, 1933) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.

Biography

Easton was born in Montréal, Québec, Canada, the son of Mary Louise (née Withington) and Leonard Idell Easton, a civil engineer. He started acting in a children's theatre group before moving, at the age of seventeen, to Ottawa to work in a weekly repertory theater.

Easton has performed in a number of stage productions, as well as various film roles. He has had television guest appearances on Doctor Who, L.A. Law, Frasier, and Ed.

Easton underwent a procedure to correct a heart arrhythmia in 2006, briefly delaying the opening of Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia, in which he plays a central role.
In 2002, Easton starred in the title role in a three-part documentary, Benjamin Franklin, on PBS.
Between 2005 and 2011, Easton appeared as Benjamin Franklin in a series of commercials and videos about Freemasonry, produced for the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts A.F. & A.M.

In 2008, Easton was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

In 2011, Easton made a guest appearance in the second season of Boardwalk Empire, appearing as Jackson Parkhurst in the episode, "Gimcrack & Bunkum".

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