Ronni Ancona

Unpredictable, dangerous, adorable: John Sessions was the Richard Burton of comedy

• Darling, maverick, brilliant, tortured, sublimely funny, inspired, genius. John Sessions has left us far too soon. The loss will be immeasurable. I first came to know Johnny, although I had always been a huge fan, when I was asked to be in the Stella Street movie, the film adaption of the cult series conceived by Peter Richardson, Phil Cornwall and Johnny. He was, without doubt, the most talented performer I had ever met. I was awestruck. He played the truth of all the characters he performed so profoundly, from the brilliant comic creation of Mrs Huggett - the cleaning lady to the stars who lived in Stella Street - to his Al Pacino impression to serious roles in hard hitting dramas or Shakespeare. He approached them all with the same respect and method. That’s what made them so unique. The real exasperation and genuine fury etched on Huggett’s face at the indignity of picking up Michael Caine’s undies will forever be seared in my memory. Johnny was that rare commodity, a towering intellect who was able to translate his vast intelligence into highly accessible unadulterated comedy. Who else could do a monologue combining Coronation Street with the Bloomsbury Set? His take on Virginia Woolf pulling pints at the Rovers return is the stuff of legends.