UK legends - IMDb

1. Brian Glover

Brian Glover was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire and used to be a professional wrestler going by the name of "Leon Arras the Man From Paris". He also provides one of the voices for the animated "Tetley Tea" TV adverts. His stage work included seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal ...

2. Anthony Hopkins

Actor | The Silence of the Lambs

Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...

3. Terry Jones

Writer | The Meaning of Life

Terry Jones was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the son of Dilys Louisa (Newnes), a homemaker, and Alick George Parry Jones, a bank clerk. His older brother is production designer Nigel Jones. His grandparents were involved in the entertainment business, having managed the local Amateur Operatic ...

4. Michael Palin

Writer | Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Michael Palin is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He was one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python.

After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over ...

5. John Cleese

Actor | A Fish Called Wanda

John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, England, to Muriel Evelyn (Cross) and Reginald Francis Cleese. He was born into a family of modest means, his father being an insurance salesman; but he was nonetheless sent off to private schools to obtain a good education. Here he ...

6. Peter Cushing

Actor | Star Wars

Peter Wilton Cushing was born on May 26, 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, England, to Nellie Maria (King) and George Edward Cushing, a quantity surveyor. He and his older brother David were raised first in Dulwich Village, a south London suburb, and then later back in Surrey. At an early age, Cushing was ...

7. Claude Rains

Actor | Casablanca

William Claude Rains, born in the Clapham area of London, was the son of the British stage actor Frederick Rains. The younger Rains followed, making his stage debut at the age of eleven in "Nell of Old Drury." Growing up in the world of theater, he saw not only acting up close but the down-to-earth...

8. Ted Willis

Writer | Woman in a Dressing Gown

Ted Willis was born on January 13, 1918 in Tottenham, Middlesex, England, UK. He was a writer and producer, known for Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), Flame in the Streets (1961) and No Trees in the Street (1959). He died on December 22, 1992 in Chislehurst, London, England, UK.

9. Ernest Thesiger

Actor | Bride of Frankenstein

Although he made nearly 60 films in a 50-year acting career, it is for the two he made with director James Whale that Ernest Thesiger will be best remembered. Born Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger in London on January 15, 1879, he was the grandson of the first Baron of Chelmsford. Educated at ...

10. John Mills

Actor | Great Expectations

Sir John Mills, one of the most popular and beloved English actors, was born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills on February 22, 1908, at the Watts Naval Training College in North Elmham, Norfolk, England. The young Mills grew up in Felixstowe, Suffolk, where his father was a mathematics teacher and his ...

11. Estelle Winwood

Actress | The Producers

When Estelle saw the girl on a white horse at the circus, she then decided that she wanted to be an actress. And she was from the age of 5, to the disapproval of her father. Her mother had her train with the Liverpool Repertory Company, and Estelle performed in many plays and many roles in the West...

12. Ralph Richardson

Actor | Doctor Zhivago

Sir Ralph Richardson was one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century English-language theater, ascending to the height of his profession in the mid-1930s when he became a star in London's West End. He became the first actor of his generation to be knighted. He became Sir Ralph in 1947, and was ...

13. Barry Cryer

Writer | The Stanley Baxter Show

Barry Cryer was born on March 23, 1935 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Stanley Baxter Show (1963), Tommy Cooper (1969) and The Russ Abbot Show (1986). He was married to Theresa Margaret 'Terry' Donovan. He died on January 25, 2022 in Northwick Park, Harrow...

14. Shirley Bassey

Soundtrack | Moonraker

Shirley Bassey was born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales, and raised in the nearby working class neighborhood of Splott. Her mother was originally from Yorkshire, and her father was a Nigerian seaman who left the family when she was less than two. She later helped to support her family by working in an...

15. Andrew Sachs

Actor | Fawlty Towers

Andrew Sachs born Andreas Siegfried Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, he and his family emigrated to London in 1938, to escape persecution under the Nazis. He made his name on British television and rose to fame in the 1970s for his portrayals of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers ...

16. Jack Rosenthal

Writer | And a Nightingale Sang

Jack Rosenthal was born on September 8, 1931 in Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a writer and producer, known for And a Nightingale Sang (1989), The Chain (1984) and Yentl (1983). He was married to Maureen Lipman and Catherine Maxine Ward. He died on May 29, 2004 in Finchley, London, ...

17. Vera Lynn

Soundtrack | Hellboy

Vera Lynn was born on March 20, 1917 in East Ham, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Hellboy (2004), Lolita (1997) and Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982). She was married to Harry Lewis. She died on June 18, 2020 in Ditchling, East Sussex, England, UK.

18. John Gielgud

Actor | Arthur

Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other ...

19. Christopher Lee

Actor | Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films and cult saga. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it ...

20. James Whale

Director | Bride of Frankenstein

James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his four classic horror films: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He also directed films in other genres, including what is ...

21. Barbara Windsor

Actress | EastEnders

Legendary EastEnders actress and Carry On star Barbara Windsor was born Barbara Ann Deeks in Stepney, London, the daughter of Rose (Ellis), a dressmaker, and John Deeks, a costermonger. She was a bright pupil at school and her parents wanted her to go to university, but after her first taste of ...

22. Julie Andrews

Actress | The Sound of Music

Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her...

23. Stanley Baxter

Actor | Crooks Anonymous

As a youth in 1940's Glasgow Stanley spent as much time as possible at the Grosvenor Cinema even skipping school. His father was a branch manager of Commercial Union while his mother would have liked to have been an actress, When the family agreed that acting was respectable his mother took him ...

24. Victoria Wood

Actress | Housewife, 49

From the mid-1980s right up until her premature death in April 2016, Victoria Wood's appearances on stage and television were always eagerly anticipated, whether it was laugh-a-minute stand-up, a beautifully judged dramatic performance in the TV film Housewife, 49 (2005) or the canteen sitcom ...

25. Julie Walters

Actress | Billy Elliot

For decades, British actress and comedienne Dame Julie Walters has served as a sturdy representation of the working class with her passionate, earthy portrayals on England's stage, screen and television. A bona fide talent, her infectious spirit and self-deprecating sense of humor eventually ...

26. Michael Caine

Actor | The Dark Knight

Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...

27. Daniel Radcliffe

Actor | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe was born on July 23, 1989 in Fulham, London, England, to casting agent Marcia Gresham (née Jacobson) and literary agent Alan Radcliffe. His father is from a Northern Irish Protestant background, while his mother was born in South Africa, to a Jewish family (from Lithuania, ...

28. Ronnie Corbett

Actor | Casino Royale

Ronnie Corbett began his successful show business career in the early 1950s. Amongst many other things he performed on stage with Danny La Rue in a cacophony of well received variety and cabaret shows.

It was whilst performing in these shows that Corbett attracted the attention of several top TV ...

29. Alan Rickman

Actor | Die Hard

Alan Rickman was born on a council estate in Acton, West London, to Margaret Doreen Rose (Bartlett), of English and Welsh descent, and Bernard Rickman, of Irish descent, who worked at a factory. Alan Rickman had an older brother (David), a younger brother (Michael), and a younger sister (Sheila). ...

30. Betty Driver

Actress | Coronation Street

Elizabeth Mary "Betty" Driver, MBE was a British actress and singer, best known for her role as Betty Williams (previously Betty Turpin) on the British soap opera, Coronation Street (1960) from 1969 to 2011, appearing in more than 2,800 episodes.

She had previously appeared as Mrs Edgley in ...

31. David Warner

Actor | Titanic

Distinguished character actor David Hattersley Warner was born on July 29, 1941 in Manchester, England, to Ada Doreen (Hattersley) and Herbert Simon Warner. He was born out of wedlock and raised by each of his parents, eventually settling with his itinerant father and stepmother. He only saw his ...

32. Hattie Jacques

Actress | Carry on Again Doctor

Best known for playing Matron--as in "Ooh, Matron!"--in four films: Carry on Nurse (1959), Carry on Doctor (1967), Carry on Again Doctor (1969) and, of course Carry on Matron (1972). Key roles included: Grace Short in Carry on Teacher (1959), Sophie Bliss in Carry on Loving (1970) and Peggy Hawkins...

33. June Whitfield

Actress | Absolutely Fabulous

June Whitfield had a long and successful career that has included musical theatre, films and numerous radio and television performances. Her mother was into amateur dramatics and June had elocution and dancing lessons from an early age. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in ...

34. Felix Dexter

Actor | Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge

Felix Dexter was born on July 26, 1961 in St. Kitts, British West Indies [now Saint Kitts and Nevis]. He was an actor and writer, known for Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge (1994), Citizen Khan (2012) and The Fast Show (1994). He died on October 18, 2013 in London, England, UK.

35. Ian McShane

Actor | Deadwood

A natural at portraying complex villains, anti-heroes, and charming heavies, Ian McShane is the classically trained, award-winning actor who has grabbed attention and acclaim from audiences and critics around the world with his unforgettable gallery of scoundrels, kings, mobsters and thugs.

And, now...

36. Ronald Colman

Actor | A Double Life

British leading man of primarily American films, one of the great stars of the Golden Age. Raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, he attended boarding school in Sussex, where he discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father's ...

37. Sidney James

Actor | Carry on Cleo

The star of the Carry On series of films, Sid James originally came to prominence as sidekick to the ground breaking British comedy actor Tony Hancock, on both radio and then television. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and named Solomon Joel Cohen, James arrived in England in 1946, second wife ...

38. Albert Finney

Actor | Murder on the Orient Express

The son of a Lancashire bookmaker, Albert Finney came to motion pictures via the theatre. In 1956, he won a scholarship to RADA where his fellow alumni included Peter O'Toole and Alan Bates. He joined the Birmingham Repertory where he excelled in plays by William Shakespeare. A member of the Royal ...

39. Thelma Barlow

Actress | Mrs. Henderson Presents

Thelma Barlow (née Pigott) is an English television actress and writer, most famous for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the sitcom Dinnerladies.

Thelma Barlow was born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, the younger of two ...

40. John Hurt

Actor | Nineteen Eighty-Four

One of stage, screen and TV's finest transatlantic talents, slight, gravel-voiced, pasty-looking John Vincent Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, in Shirebrook, a coal mining village, in Derbyshire, England. The youngest child of Phyllis (Massey), an engineer and one-time actress, and Reverend ...

41. Gladys Cooper

Actress | My Fair Lady

Gladys Cooper was the daughter of journalist William Frederick Cooper and his wife Mabel Barnett. As a child she was very striking and was used as a photographic model beginning at six years old. She wanted to become an actress and started on that road in 1905 after being discovered by Seymour ...

42. Frank Muir

Writer | The Seven Faces of Jim

Frank Muir was born on February 5, 1920 in Broadstairs, Kent, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Seven Faces of Jim (1961), The Frost Report (1966) and Bachelor in Paris (1952). He was married to Polly McIrvine. He died on January 2, 1998 in Thorpe, Surrey, England, UK.

43. Denis Norden

Writer | Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell

Denis Norden was born on February 6, 1922 in Hackney, London, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968), The Seven Faces of Jim (1961) and Every Home Should Have One (1970). He was married to Esther Avril Rosen (1921-2018). He died on September 19, 2018 in ...

44. Bill Dean

Actor | Gumshoe

Bill Dean was born on September 3, 1921 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Gumshoe (1971), Scum (1979) and The Good Companions (1980). He died on April 20, 2000 in Wirral, Merseyside, England, UK.

45. Murray Melvin

Actor | The Phantom of the Opera

Murray Melvin was born on August 10, 1932 in St. Pancras, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Phantom of the Opera (2004), A Taste of Honey (1961) and Barry Lyndon (1975). He died on April 14, 2023 in Westminster, London, England, UK.

46. Gerard Glaister

Producer | Howards' Way

One of Britain's foremost television producers, Gerard Glaister was responsible for a string of top rating hit series including Dr Finlay's Casebook, Secret Army, Colditz, The Expert and Howard's Way.

His biggest success was the road haulage family drama The Brothers (1972-76), which he both devised...

47. Joyce Grenfell

Actress | Stage Fright

Toothy, oval-faced Britisher Joyce Grenfell with her stark, equine features charmed and humored audiences both here and abroad on radio, stage, film and TV for nearly four decades. Lovingly remembered as a delightfully witty revue artist, monologist and raconteur, she inherited her bold talents ...

48. Michael Ripper

Actor | The Mummy

The British character actor Michael Ripper was born in 1913 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. His father was a speech therapist and encouraged him to participate in diction and public speaking competitions. From this, the young Michael gained an interest in acting and got his first taste of the ...

49. Miriam Margolyes

Actress | The Age of Innocence

A veteran of stage and screen, award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes has achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic. Winner of the BAFTA Best Supporting Actress award in 1993 for The Age of Innocence (1993), she received Best Supporting Actress at the 1989 LA Critics Circle Awards for her role...

50. Maggie Smith

Actress | Gosford Park

One of the world's most famous and distinguished actresses, Dame Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Essex. Her Scottish mother, Margaret (Hutton), worked as a secretary, and her English father, Nathaniel Smith, was a teacher at Oxford University. Smith has been married twice: to actor ...

51. Andy Serkis

Actor | War for the Planet of the Apes

English film actor, director and author Andy Serkis is known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for such computer-generated characters as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), ...

52. Iain Cuthbertson

Actor | Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey

Iain Cuthbertson was born on January 4, 1930 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Gorillas in the Mist (1988), Doctor Who (1963) and Scotch on the Rocks (1973). He was married to Janet Mary Smith and Anne Kristen. He died on September 4, 2009 in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland, UK.

53. Esma Cannon

Actress | Jassy

Legendary Australian character actress of the British screen, Miss Cannon was without doubt one of the best scene stealing actresses.

Her pixie like looks and extraordinary facial expressions made her a true favourite of many a British movie.

Without her appearances in many a 'Carry On..' film in the...

54. Patrick Magee

Actor | A Clockwork Orange

Born in Armagh, Northern Ireland, Patrick Magee is a classic example of how certain actors rate the stage far more highly than the screen. He was a favorite actor of Samuel Beckett, one of whose greatest plays, 'Krapp's Last Tape', was written specifically for him. He did outstanding work on film, ...

55. Roger Moore

Actor | Moonraker

Roger Moore will perhaps always be remembered as the man who replaced Sean Connery in the James Bond series, arguably something he never lived down.

Roger George Moore was born on October 14, 1927 in Stockwell, London, England, the son of Lillian (Pope) and George Alfred Moore, a policeman. His ...

56. Terry Nation

Writer | Doctor Who

Before becoming a film scriptwriter, Terry Nation was a prolific writer of UK television scripts in both the action and science fiction genres. His scripts are noted for their depth, i.e. they usually have many sub-plots as well as the main plot. As a writer on the BBC's Doctor Who (1963) series, ...

57. Peter Hawkins

Actor | The Big Spender

Peter Hawkins was born on April 3, 1924 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Big Spender (1965), Doctor Who (1963) and The Storyteller (1987). He was married to Rosemary Miller. He died on July 8, 2006 in London, England, UK.

58. Pete Postlethwaite

Actor | The Usual Suspects

An oddly fascinating bloke with prominent bony cheeks and rawboned figure, Peter William (Pete) Postlethwaite was born on February 16, 1946 and was a distinguished character actor on stage, TV and film. Growing up the youngest of four siblings in a Catholic family in Warrington, Lancashire (near ...

59. John Carson

Actor | Doomsday

John Carson was a hugely prolific actor who appeared constantly on UK screens throughout the mid-50s until the mid-80s. He has appeared alongside many of the UK's stars and became hugely popular as a villain or hero. The secret of John's success was his versatility and his wonderful silky voice. He...

60. John Ringham

Actor | V for Vendetta

John Ringham was born on February 10, 1928 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for V for Vendetta (2005), Just Good Friends (1983) and The River Flows East (1962). He was married to Hedwig Felizitas Nowacki and Elizabeth Shepherd. He died on October 20, 2008 in ...

61. Freddie Jones

Actor | Dune

British character actor Freddie Jones came to the acting profession after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant and acting in amateur theater on the side. To kick off his mid-life career change, Jones attended Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent, England, on a scholarship. He ...

62. Monty Berman

Producer | Department S

Monty Berman was a producer of popular action series for ITC in the 1960's and early 70's. He was born Nestor Montague Berman to Jewish parents in the poor Whitechapel district of London. After completing his education at the University College School, he joined the small Twickenham Studio as a ...

63. Rudolph Cartier

Director | Studio 4

Rudolph Cartier was born on April 17, 1904 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. He was a director and producer, known for Studio 4 (1962), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and Teilnehmer antwortet nicht (1932). He died on June 8, 1994 in London, England, UK.

64. Frank Middlemass

Actor | Barry Lyndon

Frank Middlemass, the son of a naval architect, was born in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton. He made his stage debut at the Newcastle Upon Tyne Playhouse in Jesmond after the war then performed in repertory in Penzance and later at London's Old Vic, Bristol, and on a world tour. . He appeared in a ...

65. Clive Swift

Actor | Excalibur

Clive Swift was born on February 9, 1936 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Excalibur (1981), Frenzy (1972) and Keeping Up Appearances (1990). He was married to Margaret Drabble. He died on February 1, 2019 in London, England, UK.

66. Bernard Cribbins

Actor | Frenzy

An actor since the age of 14, Bernard Cribbins had become a major star on the London stage by his mid-20s, but it was another ten years before he became a national star by his success in film comedies and with a string of hit records. He appeared in several of the "Carry On" series, and also ...

67. Elizabeth Taylor

Actress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked ...

68. Russell Lewis

Writer | Grace

Russell Lewis was born in 1963 in the UK. He is a writer and actor, known for Grace (2021), Between the Lines (1992) and Endeavour (2012).

69. Josephine Tewson

Actress | Keeping Up Appearances

An English stage and television actress. She was best known for her roles in British television sitcoms, such as Elizabeth in Keeping Up Appearances (1990) and Miss Davenport in Last of the Summer Wine.

Tewson was born in Hampstead, London, England in 1931. Her father, William, was a professional ...

70. Colin Welland

Actor | Straw Dogs

In a career of over 30 years this Lancashire-born former art teacher has achieved great success in acting, both in television and film and writing, for television, film and stage.

His first film appearance is perhaps still his best-loved, the sympathetic Mr Farthing in Kes (1969), for which he won a...

71. Melville Cooper

Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood

Born George Melville Cooper on October 15, 1896, in Birmingham England, he was the son of non-professionals W.C.J. and Frances (Brennan) Cooper, and attended various English public schools, including King Edward's School in Birmingham. Attracted to the stage as a teenager, he made his debut at ...

72. Norman Bird

Actor | The Lord of the Rings

Norman Bird was born on October 30, 1924 in Coalville, Leicestershire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Lord of the Rings (1978), The League of Gentlemen (1960) and Maniac (1963). He was married to Nona Blair. He died on April 22, 2005 in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, UK.

73. Geoffrey Hughes

Actor | Yellow Submarine

Geoffrey began his extensive stage career at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool. He then appeared in several West End productions, such as Say Goodnight to Grandma and Run for Your Wife. He appeared in numerous TV shows, including Coronation Street (1960) and Keeping Up Appearances (1990), where he ...

74. Bill Paterson

Actor | The Witches

Bill Paterson was born on June 3, 1945 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for The Witches (1990), Miss Potter (2006) and How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008). He has been married to Hildegard Bechtler since 1984. They have two children.

75. Michael Crawford

Actor | The Knack ...and How to Get It

His father was a pilot during the second World War and was killed in action before Michael was born resulting in him being brought up by his mother, Doris, and Irish grandmother, Kathleen .His mother married a, Kent grocer when he was 4 but after his mother died when he was 21 he broke off all ...

76. André Maranne

Actor | A Shot in the Dark

Beleaguered-looking French-British character actor, born André Gaston Maillol in Toulouse. Active in the United Kingdom (where he would take out citizenship by naturalisation in 1967) and billed as André Maranne from 1956, he provided a cultivated presence as stereotypical French gendarmes, customs...

77. George Cole

Actor | Cleopatra

George Cole OBE was a veteran British film, television and stage actor whose impressive career spanned over 60 years. For many, he will perhaps be best remembered for playing one of the most endearing characters of recent times on British television, "Arthur Daley", the shifty but very likable "...

78. Mervyn Johns

Actor | Dead of Night

Mervyn Johns was born on February 18, 1899 in Pembroke, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Dead of Night (1945), A Christmas Carol (1951) and The Day of the Triffids (1963). He was married to Diana Churchill and Alice Maud Steele Wareham. He died on September 6, 1992 in Norwood, England, UK.

79. Oliver Reed

Actor | Gladiator

Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. His notable films include The Trap (1966), playing Bill Sikes in the Best Picture Oscar winner Oliver! (1968), Women in Love (1969), Hannibal Brooks (1969), The Devils (1971), Revolver (1973), ...

80. Gordon Jackson

Actor | The Great Escape

Gordon Cameron Jackson was born on December 19, 1923, in Glasgow, Scotland, the youngest of five children, whose father taught painting in the city. His interest in acting began during his school years, when he took part in many amateur productions. This led to him being spotted by the BBC, and ...

81. James Ottaway

Actor | Big Deal

Over four decades from the Thirties, James Ottaway was a regular on the West End stage, but his talents as a character actor were not fully realised on television until the Sixties. He followed roles in such classic productions as Laurence Olivier's Macbeth at the Old Vic Theatre in 1937 with ...

82. Olivia de Havilland

Actress | Gone with the Wind

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her ...

83. Sarah Lancashire

Actress | Happy Valley

Sarah Lancashire was born on October 10, 1964 in Oldham, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Happy Valley (2014), Yesterday (2019) and Clocking Off (2000). She has been married to Peter Salmon since August 22, 2001. They have one child. She was previously married to ...

84. Bob Todd

Actor | Superman III

Bob Todd was born on December 15, 1921 in Faversham, Kent, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Superman III (1983), Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973) and The Best Things in Life (1969). He died on October 21, 1992 in Sussex, England, UK.

85. Roger Delgado

Actor | Doctor Who

Born of a Spanish father and French mother in Whitechapel. Although most often called upon to play the villain (due to his dark good looks and sinister beard), he also had a career as a voice actor on BBC Radio appearing on such programs as the "Morning Story". He was a notable 'The Master' in many...

86. Eric Sykes

Actor | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

'Eric Sykes' started as a radio scriptwriter but he soon found he could perform as well as write. The slight handicap of being very hard of hearing doesn't interfere with his wonderful comic timing. The spectacles he wears have no lenses but contain a bone conducting hearing aid.

87. Joyce Carey

Actress | Brief Encounter

Genteel London-born actress Joyce Carey came from a distinguished theatrical family. Her own lengthy career on the stage began in 1916 when she played Princess Katherine in an all-female ensemble of "Henry V". She made her debut on the legitimate stage in a small part in the West End production of ...

88. Patrick Gowers

Composer | The Woman in White

Patrick Gowers was born on May 5, 1936 in Islington, London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The Woman in White (1982), I Remember Nelson (1982) and Smiley's People (1982). He was married to Caroline Molesworth Maurice. He died on December 30, 2014 in London, England, UK.

89. Patricia Hayes

Actress | Willow

She became an actress because her mother had been stage struck so attended RADA and won a gold medal but despite that she was out of work for a year. An early success was as Ruby in Getting Married at St Martins Theatre in 1938, Probably best remembered for her role as Edna the Inebriated Woman for...

90. Richard Attenborough

Actor | Jurassic Park

Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a ...

91. Harold Goodwin

Actor | The Bridge on the River Kwai

Harold Goodwin (22 October 1917 - 3 June 2004) was an English actor born in Wombwell, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England.

Goodwin trained at RADA and was a stage actor at Liverpool repertory theatre for 3 years. He appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s and 1960s, usually playing 'flat cap'...

92. Norman Reynolds

Art_director | Star Wars

Oscar-winning British art director and production designer, most famous for being the creative genius behind the look of the original Star Wars trilogy. Reynolds also worked on many other blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Superman (1978), Empire of the Sun (1987) and Bicentennial Man...

93. Elizabeth Dawn

Actress | Coronation Street

Sylvia Butterfield MBE, known professionally as Elizabeth Dawn or Liz Dawn, was an English actress, best known for her role as Vera Duckworth in the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street. First starting on the serial in 1974, she had more of a recurring role as a factory worker until ...

94. Rosalie Crutchley

Actress | The Haunting

Acclaimed actress Rosalie Crutchley originally trained at the Royal Academy of Music. She made her acting debut in repertory in 1938 at the Liverpool Playhouse. She made her Broadway debut in 1950. The Guild of Television named her best actress of the year in 1956 for Armchair Theatre: Black ...

95. Caroline Aherne

Actress | The Royle Family

Caroline Aherne was born on December 24, 1963 in Ealing, London, England, UK. She was an actress and writer, known for The Royle Family (1998), The Mrs. Merton Show (1995) and Mrs Merton & Malcolm (1999). She was married to Peter Hook. She died on July 2, 2016 in Timperley, Altrincham, Greater ...

96. Ian Carmichael

Actor | I'm All Right Jack

Unassuming, innocent-eyed and undeniably ingratiating, Brit comedy actor Ian Carmichael was quite the popular chap in late 50s and early 60s film. He was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England on June 18, 1920, the son of Arthur Denholm Carmichael, an optician, and his wife Kate (Gillett). After ...

97. Liz Smith

Actress | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Liz Smith found fame as an actress at an age when most people are considering retirement. It was a long road to eventual stardom, during which she struggled to raise a family after a broken marriage. She became best known for her roles in The Vicar of Dibley (1994) and The Royle Family but her ...

98. Trevor Howard

Actor | The Third Man

The son of an insurance underwriter who represented Lloyd's of London in Ceylon, Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was born in Margate, Kent. He spent his early childhood globetrotting with his mother, frequently left in the care of strangers. After attending private school he went on to study drama at ...

99. Billy Connolly

Actor | Brave

Billy Connolly was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. He left school to work in the shipyards, becoming a welder, and joined the Territorial Army (in the parachute regiment) at around the same time. He developed an interest in folk music, eventually being an accomplished banjo player and a ...

100. Joan Hickson

Actress | Miss Marple: Nemesis

Joan Hickson was born in 1906 at Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Her stage career began with provincial theater in 1927, going on to a long series of West End comedies, usually playing the part of a confused or eccentric middle-age woman. She performed at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, at the time ...