War of the rings
Ex-wife and widow of Tolkien movies voice coach in battle over £100k insurance payout
HE HELPED turn Lord Of The Rings actors into convincing denizens of war-torn Middle-earth.
But now the late Hollywood dialect coach Andrew Jack is involved in a different kind of battle scene – as his second and third wives fight over his life insurance.
The two women are locked in a court battle over who should benefit from a £100,000 payout.
Mr Jack, from Chertsey in Surrey, also starred as Major Ematt in recent Star Wars films, and worked on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and dozens of other blockbusters as a dialect coach.
For the Lord Of The Rings films, he worked with celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood and Christopher Lee, mostly teaching received pronunciation and the Elvish dialect.
Mr Jack died in March last year at the age of 76, two days after he had been diagnosed with Covid.
His life insurance is now being fought over by second wife Paula Jack, a Briton, and his third wife, fellow movie voice coach Gabrielle Rogers, an Australian.
He was married to fellow voice coach Miss Rogers when he died but had completed his divorce from 74year-old Miss Jack only in May 2018 – although they had been separated since 2012.
According to papers filed with London’s High Court, Miss Jack, of Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire, is the trustee in charge of his life insurance settlement, even though Miss Rogers is Mr Jack’s widow and the executor of his estate.
Miss Rogers claims her late husband’s ex-wife should be removed from her position as trustee because she wants to pay out the money to herself.
Lawyers for Miss Rogers say in her claim form: ‘Ms Jack now seeks to appoint herself the beneficiary under the settlement in order to benefit from the £100,000 life insurance policy.
‘She has failed to recognise a conflict of interest which prevents her from having regard to the interests of all potential beneficiaries.’ Miss Rogers says she wants a ‘fit and proper person’ to replace Miss Jack as trustee.
She also wants Miss Jack to pay her court costs.
In a pre-trial hearing, Miss Jack’s barrister John Aldis told the judge there were ‘disputes of fact’ between the women, saying there was a ‘question of what the deceased’s intention was’. He added Miss Jack claimed to have ‘evidence relating to the relationship between the deceased and Miss Rogers about the possible deterioration of that relationship’.
The case was adjourned and the women will face each other before the judge again at a later date.
When Mr Jack died, Miss Rogers tweeted: ‘We lost a man today. Andrew Jack was diagnosed with coronavirus two days ago. He was in no pain, and he slipped away peacefully knowing that his family were all “with” him.’
Before his marriage to Miss Jack in 2000, Mr Jack was married to Felicity Filmore from 1974 to 1987 and had two children with her, Katherine and Rupert.
Miss Rogers and Mr Jack, who lived on a houseboat in the Thames, were married in 2019.