Howard McKern Howard McKern Howard Hamlet Gordon McKern (23 March 1917 - 8 June 2009) was an Australian analytical and organic chemist, museum administrator who was Deputy Director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and President of the Royal Society of New South Wales. McKern was the son of James Gordon McKern (1888–1975) a mining engineer, geologist and petrologist who became a technical executive with the petroleum company Mobil and Edith Mary Hamlet (1890–1967), daughter of William Mogford Hamlet. McKern was born in Mosman, New South Wales and educated at Newington College (1931–1935). In the Leaving Certificate Examination he was
Leo McKern and Disson in Harold Pinter's "Tea Party". He appeared at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in "Uncle Vanya" in 1977 and in "Crime and Punishment" in 1978. McKern's film debut was in "Murder in the Cathedral" (1952). His other more notable film appearances included the science-fiction classics "X the Unknown" (1956), "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (1961), the World War I drama "King and Country" (1964), "Help!" (1965), the Academy Award-winning adaptation of "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), "The Shoes of the Fisherman" (1968), "Ryan's Daughter" (1970), "Massacre in Rome" (1973), "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" (1975),