Well known great British talent
by cookemd | created - 02 Jun 2013 | updated - 15 Jun 2013 | Publicwell known on British tv
1. Clive Dunn
Actor | Dad's Army
Clive Dunn was born on January 9, 1920 in Brixton, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Dad's Army (1968), The Avengers (1961) and Bootsie and Snudge (1960). He was married to Priscilla Morgan and Patricia Kenyon. He died on November 6, 2012 in Faro, Algarve, Portugal.
2. Bill Pertwee
Actor | Dad's Army
Bill Pertwee was born on July 21, 1926 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Dad's Army (1968), Dad's Army (1971) and Chance in a Million (1984). He was married to Marion Pertwee. He died on May 27, 2013 in Truro, Cornwall, England, UK.
3. Harry H. Corbett
Actor | Carry on Screaming!
Harry H Corbett (he added the "H" to avoid being confused with Sooty's friend) was born in Burma in 1925. His father was an officer in the army. His mother died when he was very young and he moved to England as a child and was brought up in Manchester by an aunt.
After his war service, he joined a ...
4. Tommy Trinder
Actor | Sailors Three
An amiable, beloved Cockney cut-up from the 1930s on, London-born Tommy Trinder, the son of a tram driver, quit school and sought the stage, milking laughs at the tender age of 13 in a musical revue that was touring South Africa. Following that he became a boy vocalist at Collins' Music-Hall. The ...
5. Harry Corbett
Writer | Sooty
Harry Corbett was born on January 28, 1918 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Sooty (2011), The Sooty Show (1968) and Sooty: Learn the Alphabet (2015). He was married to Marjorie Corbett. He died on August 17, 1989 in Child Okeford, Blandford Forum, ...
6. Arthur Lowe
Actor | Dad's Army
Lowe, rotund and professionally indefatigable, rightly gained acclaim as an accomplished comedy character actor; fondly remembered as the irascible "Captain Mainwaring" in the Home Guard comedy series Dad's Army (1968-1977), and as Coronation Street (1960)'s "Leonard Swindley". The only child of a ...
7. Norman Wisdom
Actor | A Stitch in Time
Sir Norman Wisdom has become the great British clown in the mold of Sir Charles Chaplin with his little man in the ill fitting suit and cloth cap. His character is an everyman, much put upon but struggling through to a (usually) happy ending. He was brought up in an orphanage after his mother died ...
8. Bob Grant
Actor | On the Buses
Bob Grant was trained at Rada after spending some time as a Lieutenant with the Royal Artillery. He plied his trade to begin with in Repertory and appeared on stage for many years all around the UK. His work in rep continued up to the mid-90s. He will be best remembered for his role of Jack Harper,...
9. Anna Karen
Actress | Holiday on the Buses
Anna Karen was born on September 19, 1936 in Durban, South Africa. She was an actress, known for Holiday on the Buses (1973), The Rag Trade (1975) and On the Buses (1971). She was married to Terry Duggan and Dick Smart. She died on February 22, 2022 in Ilford, Greater London, England, UK.
10. Des O'Connor
Soundtrack | Kraft Music Hall Presents: The Des O'Connor Show
Brought up on Northampton where he had his first job and played football for Northampton Town. He joined the RAF and on completing his service became a Butlin Redcoat and began to learn the rudiments of comedy which led him to become a professional. After 6 years he got his first big television ...
11. Ken Dodd
Actor | Hamlet
Ken Dodd was born on November 8, 1927 in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Hamlet (1996), Cruella (2021) and The Ken Dodd Laughter Show (1979). He was married to Anne Dodd. He died on March 11, 2018 in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.
12. Charles Hawtrey
Actor | Don't Lose Your Head
Coming from a theatrical family (although not related to the famous Edwardian actor Sir Charles Hawtrey, he did "borrow" his last name), Charles Hawtrey made his stage debut at age 11 after having spent several years in a prestigious acting school. A string of stage roles followed, and by 1929 his ...
13. Frankie Howerd
Actor | Up Pompeii
Francis Alick Howerd, who grew up to become popular British comedian Frankie Howerd, was born in 1917 and first stepped onstage at age 4. As a teen he taught Sunday school; not long after his Army-man father died in 1934, 17-year-old Frankie was invited to audition for RADA. After a poor audition, ...
14. Matthew Corbett
Writer | The Sooty Show
Matthew Corbett was born on March 28, 1948 in Yorkshire, England, UK. He is a writer and actor, known for The Sooty Show (1968), Doctor Who (1963) and Blue Heelers (1994). He is married to Sallie Corbett.
15. Bruce Forsyth
Actor | Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Veteran entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth had a career spanning eight decades, in which he went from struggling variety performer to Saturday night TV stardom. On the way, he became one of the most recognisable entertainers in the business, driven by what appeared to be inexhaustible energy. He became ...
16. Michael Parkinson
Actor | Love Actually
Michael Parkinson was educated at Barnsley Grammar School. He left at the age of 16 and his ambition of becoming a professional cricketer was dashed when he was rejected by Yorkshire County Cricket Club. He turned to journalism, worked on several local newspapers in Yorkshire before joining the ...
17. Terry Wogan
Actor | Screen One
Terry Wogan was a television and radio broadcaster who was most associated with his work for the BBC. He was known for his own long-running primetime chat show, Wogan (1982), as well as being a regular presenter of [error] and commentator of The Eurovision Song Contest. Among his other works for ...
18. Val Doonican
Soundtrack | Ring of Bright Water
Val Doonican was born on February 3, 1927 in Waterford, Co. Waterford, Republic of Ireland. He was a writer and actor, known for Ring of Bright Water (1969), The Val Doonican Music Show (1975) and Christmas Eve with Val Doonican (1986). He was married to Lynette Rae. He died on July 1, 2015 in ...
19. Bernard Manning
Actor | The Impressionable Jon Culshaw
Bernard Manning was born on August 13, 1930 in Ancoats, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Impressionable Jon Culshaw (2004), Coronation Street (1960) and The Great British Striptease (1980). He was married to Veronica Finneran. He died on June 18, 2007 ...
20. Arthur English
Actor | Are You Being Served?
One of Britain's great variety comedians Arthur English was known as 'The Prince of the Wide Boys', a cockney 'spiv' character outrageously dressed on stage and wearing a huge kipper tie.
Born in Aldershot, Hants English started his career at an early age appearing in amateur shows but did not ...
21. Warren Mitchell
Actor | Jabberwocky
Warren Mitchell was born on January 14, 1926 in Stamford Hill, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Jabberwocky (1977), The Crawling Eye (1958) and In Sickness and in Health (1985). He was married to Constance Wake. He died on November 14, 2015 in Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, London, ...
22. James Beck
Actor | Dad's Army
Londoner James Beck took to the Theatre at the end of his National Service, playing roles as diverse as Shylock to Archie Rice in "The Entertainer". His role as Cockney spiv Private Walker in Dad's Army made him a familiar face, if not a familiar name. His life was cut short before a potentially ...
23. John Le Mesurier
Actor | The Italian Job
The son of a solicitor, British character actor John Le Mesurier attended public school in Dorset, England, before embarking on a career in law. However, acting was his true calling, and at age 20, with his parents' approval, he began his acting career by studying drama at the Fay Compton School of...
24. John Laurie
Actor | The 39 Steps
John Laurie was a Scotsman who would play many character roles in his long career - a lot of Scotsmen to be sure - but an enthusiastic and skilled actor in nearly 120 screen roles. He was the son of a mill worker, and studied for a career in architecture which he indeed began. But with World War I ...
25. Arnold Ridley
Actor | Dad's Army
Young Arnold Ridley was forced to give up a budding acting career and turn to writing. He hit the jackpot with 'The Ghost Train' which was a great West End success, and has been filmed several times. This was followed by a number of other plays during the 1920s and 1930s. In later life he returned ...
26. Danny La Rue
Actor | Our Miss Fred
After his first start in show business he quit because he was only getting about £7 a week and he went into the rag trade. Later a friend asked him to make a two week appearance at a theatre to help him out. In the show he impersonated a woman and found that he had a talent for female impersonation...
27. Ian Lavender
Actor | Dad's Army
Ian Lavender attended Bournville Technical College in the West Midlands, and then studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He graduated in 1967. Acting on the stage at Canterbury followed, and his first television work was the ATV play "Flowers At My Feet" in 1968. He then became the youngest...
28. Tommy Cooper
Actor | The Cool Mikado
After leaving the army Tommy Cooper took up show business in 1947 and so started his long career of comedy derived around visual humour, magic tricks that didn't work and his trademark red fez, a prop that started from his days in the army. The BBC described him as an "Unattractive young man with ...
29. Keith Harris
Actor | Shameless
Keith started in show business at the early age of 9 in a comedy act with his father. Two years later when his father retired Keith couldn't find a partner to be a straight man so decided to be a ventriloquist. His father bought him his first 'doll' but after the string broke in the middle of his ...
30. Richard Gibson
Actor | 'Allo 'Allo!
Richard Gibson was born on January 1, 1954 in Kampala, Uganda. He is an actor, known for 'Allo 'Allo! (1982), The Go-Between (1971) and Wainwrights' Law (1980). He is married to Kate. They have two children.
Tell Your Friends