- Ironically, he is actually taller than The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) co-stars Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen, yet he plays the Dwarf.
- He spent up to 5 hours a day putting on makeup for the role of Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was discovered early on that he was allergic to the prosthetics, so he could only put them on and work about every third day. The first week, it burned off the skin under his eyes. After filming was completed he was given the appliance used and told to do what he wanted with it. One of the makeup artists claimed they had never seen him move so fast as he threw it into a nearby fire.
- His son urged him to accept the role in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
- According to an article in the Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), December 14, 2003, the actors who played the members of the Fellowship of the Ring got a tattoo as a memento of their shared experiences, except for Rhys-Davies, who sent his stunt double instead. According to the BellaOnline body art website, the double was martial artist Brett Beattie, who in fact spent more film hours performing as Gimli the Dwarf.
- Lost the end tip of his left hand middle finger to the knuckle while changing a van engine. During filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), he was fitted with a gel tip for the finger. Rhys-Davies and the crew played a prank on director Peter Jackson by slicing the gel tip nearly in half and inserting prop blood inside. Rhys-Davies approached Jackson to tell him he was hurt and pulled open the tip, letting the blood flow out.
- While working on the Lord of the Rings films, he lost seventy pounds from all the running around the part involved. When he went back to New Zealand for re-shoots, the makeup artists had to alter his Gimli makeup to better fit his slimmed-down facial features.
- Is the only actor to star in the James Bond, Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings franchises.
- Owns property in New Zealand and lives there when not on location.
- Although a double needed to be used to make Rhys-Davies look much smaller than his shorter co-stars Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom, his height was exactly the right proportions to those of his hobbit co-stars and no body doubles were used in their shots together. The hobbits are supposed to average about 3' 6" (2 feet shorter than the actors who played them) and Gimli, at just over 4 feet tall, is about 2 feet shorter than the real Rhys-Davies.
- A resident of the Isle of Man since 1988, he provides the introductory voice-over to the Island's Castle Rushen, one of the best preserved medieval fortresses in Britain. In 2018 he leant his voice to the Isle of Man's tourism commercial.
- John Rhys Davies and his wife, Suzanne, had two sons, Tom and Ben. He has lived with Lisa Manning since 2004; they have a daughter, Maia. He separated from his wife in the early 1980s; the couple never divorced. Suzanne Davies was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1995 and died in 2010.
- Bears a resemblance to Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti. This has been poked fun at in several of his projects including The Great White Hype (1996) and The King Is Back (1995).
- A supporter of the British Conservative Party, Rhys-Davies was a radical leftist in the '60s, who tried to heckle a young Tory MP. But the parliamentarian "shot down the first two hecklers in such brilliant fashion that I decided I ought for once to shut up and listen". The MP was Margaret Thatcher. He is a supporter of Brexit. On 25 April 2019, he appeared as a panellist on the BBC's Question Time (1979). His conduct on the programme towards politician Caroline Lucas was later described as "thuggish and sexist" by some viewers.
- Keeps busy by developing a new hobby with each movie.
- Played the character of Malone in the TV Series The Untouchables (1993). The character was played by Sean Connery in the movie version The Untouchables (1987). Both actors also played Richard the Lionheart, King of England, in separate versions of Robin Hood: Rhys-Davis in TV's Robin Hood (1984) and Connery (albeit uncredited) in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). Connery and Rhys-Davies appeared together in between these projects in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
- Is one of four "Lord of the Rings" stars to star, pre-"Rings," with Harrison Ford. He starred with Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Ford starred with Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) in Witness (1985), with Sean Bean (Boromir) in Patriot Games (1992), and with Miranda Otto (Eowyn) in What Lies Beneath (2000).
- April 2004 - Appeared as the special Lord of the Rings guest at the Armageddon Sci-Fi and Comics Convention in Auckland, New Zealand.
- Every film he has made with Kiran Shah has been nominated for Best Picture: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
- Before getting the role of Gimli, he auditioned for the role of Denethor. Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, auditioned for the role of Denethor's other son, Faramir. In Helen of Troy, Rhys-Davies played Priam, and in Troy (2004), Bloom played Paris, Priam's younger son.
- As of 2014, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), with the latter winning in the category.
- He was considered for guest roles in Doctor Who (1963) - Commander Lytton in "Resurrection of the Daleks" and King Ycranos in "Mindwarp".
- He was considered for Methos in Highlander (1992).
- Parents: Rhys Davies (a mechanical engineer) and Mary Margaretta Phyllis Jones (a nurse).
- Graduated from the University of East Anglia. Later attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) , of which he is an Associate Member.
- In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) he sings several lines from Gilbert & Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore". The same song was sung by Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). Both men have appeared together in the TV series I, Claudius (1976); they have also both featured in the 'Star Trek' and 'Dune' universe: Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Dune (1984); Rhys-Davies in Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Dune 2000 (1998).
- He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
- He was considered for Captain John Sheridan in Babylon 5 (1993).
- In 2004, he was the unknowing subject of an internet prank that spread false rumours in several mainstream media sources that he was scheduled to play the role of General Grievous in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).
- He is the narrator of The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible, a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully dramatised audiobook version of the New Testament which uses the Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition translation. In 2011, he presented KJB: The Book That Changed The World, which features him reading diverse snippets from the King James Version.
- Two of his television movies have been followed up with similarly themed theatrical films starring Eric Bana. He played "The Kingpin" in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989); the film Hulk (2003) starred Bana. He played "King Priam" in Helen of Troy (2003); Eric Bana played "Hector" in Troy (2004).
- September 2004 - Attended the Armaggeddon Pulp Culture Expo Convention in Wellington, New Zealand as a Lord of the Rings guest
- In 2016, he provided spoken words for Voices of Fire, the sixth album by a cappella power metal band van Canto.
- In the 2023 video game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, he reprises the role of Gimli and narrates the opening scene.
- Rhys-Davies is the only one of the nine Fellowship of the Ring actors who did not receive a tattoo of the word "nine" written in the Tengwar script; his stunt double, Brett Beattie, was offered the tattoo instead as Rhys-Davies was disinclined to get one himself and Beattie had spent so much time as his double that he almost received co-credit.
- Born on exactly the same date as Roger Rees (of "Cheers" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" fame).
- Rhys-Davies was vocal in his support for Brexit.
- After a stint teaching at a secondary school in Watton, Norfolk, he won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
- Rhys-Davies voice was recorded for some of the callouts in the 1993 Williams SuperPin Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure.
- Due to his father's work as a colonial police officer, he was raised in Tanganyika (today part of Tanzania) before his family moved to the Welsh town of Ammanford.
- He has received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, with one win, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
- He was educated at independent Truro School in Cornwall and then at the University of East Anglia, where he was one of the first 105 students admitted and became a co-founder of its drama club.
- John Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor known for portraying Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise and Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- In an interview with the conservative journal National Review, he said that he is opposed to Islamic extremism because he believes that it violates the Western values of equality, democracy, tolerance, and the abolition of slavery.
- When it comes to religion, he holds Christianity in high regard and has stated that "Christian civilisation has made the world a better place than it ever was.".
- In 2014, he joined the cast of the television show Metal Hurlant Chronicles to play Holgarth, an immortal alchemist.
- He was a radical leftist as a university student in the 1960s, but changed his views when he went to heckle Margaret Thatcher, who he said "shot down the first two hecklers in such brilliant fashion that [he] decided [he] ought for once to shut up and listen".
- His first wife Suzanne was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.
- His family moved to Africa when he was a small boy. They crossed the line on his 5th birthday in 1949 on the SS Medura.
- He spent the next 20 years in LA where an industry magazine at one point said he was the 44th busiest actor in Hollywood.
- Most well known for his breakout role in the cult classic, Robot in the family.
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