Director and producer John van de Rest passed away yesterday at the age of 82. He has directed programs such as Pipo the clown† sesame street† Lemon with sugar and Forget it† Van de Rest died in his hometown of Laren.
Van de Rest debuted in 1961 with the youth series Pipo the clown at VARA. In 1965 he participated in the founding of the Mickery theater in Loenersloot and in 1969 he became artistic director of Het Nieuw Rotterdams Toneel.
In 1966 he left the VARA to become a stage director. He has directed several productions at Theater, Mickery and the Nieuw Rotterdams Toneel (NRT). Yet he never completely turned his back on television. In the period 1976-1985 he became a consultant to the KRO for drama affairs and worked on various productions, from drama series to children’s programmes.
In the early 1990s, Van de Rest left for Germany where he started working for Joop van den Ende. He made the series there John Sinclair and the watch. For the theater he produced the fantastic, Joan of Arc† Glass Toys, and Chekhov the musical.
‘Nice and warm person’
Actor Frank Groothof (75), known for sesame street and Clock house, is shocked at his death. “What a sad message. Despite it being more than thirty years ago, I have always enjoyed working with him.”
He still has many fond memories of that collaboration. “He was a very nice and warm person. We were once invited to his house with the entire crew. That was a great evening. He wanted to share everything with us. He was like that; a very amiable guy. Someone who made you happy directing.”
John van de Rest was married to actress Liesbeth Struppert and later to Josine van Dalsum. He leaves behind two children, Thijsje and Aram.