Hal Taggart's April 12-October 11 people.
This is a complete list of anybody and everybody born in between and/or on April 12/October 11 in Hal Taggart's case.
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- Known primarily in Britain for his many "matinée idol" roles during the 1950s, Anthony Steel is perhaps best remembered in Hollywood and elsewhere as the erstwhile husband of Anita Ekberg.
His career never really took off in Hollywood; at one point during his marriage to Ms. Ekberg, he was referred to as "Mr. Ekberg" - a slight that reflected his success (or lack of it) in movies following the eventual breakup of the marriage.
Steel was born in London and was the son of an Indian army officer. He was educated at Cambridge and in World War II served as a Major in the Grenadier Guards Parachute Regiment and for a time served in the infant Special Air Service (S.A.S.) leaving in 1948.
It wasn't until after the war he decided to pursue acting, starring in such adventure-charged films as Malta Story (1953) for the J. Arthur Rank studio. His career was at its pinnacle and he was lauded as one of Britain's biggest movie stars when he married Ekberg in 1956 and set out with her to break into Hollywood pictures. Finding Hollywood unsatisfactory and even hostile, he turned primarily to making some not-so-memorable European films in the '70s and '80s - including The Story of O (1975) (The Story of O)- and some guest spots on British TV.
He died on March 21, 2001, in Northwood, Middlesex, England. - Actor
- Soundtrack
James Robertson Justice was always a noticeable presence in a film with his large stature, bushy beard and booming voice. A Ph.D., a journalist, a naturalist, an expert falconer, a racing car driver, JRJ was certainly a man of many talents.
He entered the film industry quite late in life (37) after he was spotted serving as MC for a local music hall. He became a familiar figure on-screen after a succession of "larger than life" roles during the 40s and 50s, and particularly as Sir Lancelot Spratt in the "Doctor" film series.- In a career spanning 50 years, Isabel Dean demonstrated talent and versatility while never fulfilling the great promise initially indicated. With large eyes and classically chiseled features, she became best known as an exponent of somewhat steely patrician ladies of elegance and breeding. That she was capable of much more was demonstrated by her work on stage in both the classics and contemporary drama, but most of this was done in provincial theatres, partly no doubt because early in her career she offended "Binkie Beaumont", the West End's leading theatrical manager. She was born Isabel Hodgkinson in Aldridge, Staffordshire, in 1918. Her first ambition was to be an art teacher. She studied painting at the Birmingham Art School and in 1937 joined the Cheltenham Repertory Company as a scenic artist. Soon she was taking both acting lessons and small parts with the company. "It was inevitable, with her ravishing looks," commented one of the company later.
After appearing with repertory companies in Brighton and Norwich, she made her London debut on 1 May 1940 as Maggie Buckley in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's thriller Peril at End House, following this with a Shakespearean role, Mariana in Robert Atkins's Regent's Park production of All's Well That Ends Well. A major break came in 1943 when she played Jenny in John Gielgud's celebrated production of Congreve's Love for Love at the Phoenix.
The following year she was asked to join Gielgud's repertory company at the Haymarket, again playing Prue in Love for Love, but also understudying Peggy Ashcroft as Ophelia to Gielgud's Hamlet (the last time the great actor played the role). She played Ophelia several times when Ashcroft was sick and followed this with a performance as Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream which, according to Harold Hobson, was "as pretty and sharply defined as it was lovely".
When Beaumont asked her to go with Gielgud's company to tour India, but only to play the role of the maid in Coward's Blithe Spirit and again to under-study Ophelia, she refused and Beaumont made it clear he considered her ungrateful. She never worked for his management again and made few more West End appearances. Instead she played leading roles in Oxford, Brighton and the Boltons Theatre, including a luminous Juliet.
She returned to the West End in 1956 to play Mary Dallas in the thriller The Night of the Fourth at the Westminster, and three years later played Miss Frost, the Catholic lodger seduced by a young student, in the hit production of J.P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man at the Fortune.
She had meanwhile become a familiar face on television. She had the principal female role in Nigel Kneale's enormously popular blend of science-fiction and horror The Quatermass Experiment (1953), six 30-minute episodes which went out live, with filmed inserts. Dean played the scientist whose astronaut husband returns from a mission with an alien infection that causes him to mutate into a vegetable-like creature.
When A Life of Bliss, a successful radio comedy series, was transferred to television with its original star, George Cole, as the bumbling bachelor hero, Dean was cast as his forthright sister Anne.
Other television roles included Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, David Mercer's The Parachute (as mother to John Osborne), Julian Bond's 13-part series A Man of Our Times and a high-toned soap-opera, 199 Park Avenue, sat in a luxury apartment block where the stories of the inhabitants are linked by a gossip columnist searching for stories. Created and written by Dean's husband, William Fairchild, it went out twice weekly, but lasted only nine weeks. (Dean's 1953 marriage to Fairchild, who wrote such screenplays as Morning Departure, The Malta Story and Star!, was dissolved in the early Seventies.)
In the theatre, she had successes in several contemporary plays, including the Royal Court production of John Osborne's A Hotel in Amsterdam (1968), which moved into the West End, and in provincial productions of Orton's What the Butler Saw and John Bowen's chilling Robin Redbreast. She had a particularly notable triumph as Hester in Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea (at Guildford in 1971 and Nottingham in 1972), once more following in the footsteps of Peggy Ashcroft. Her wrenching portrayal of the clergyman's daughter, married to a High Court judge, who leaves her husband to pursue a hopeless and obsessive affair with a young air force pilot, clearly demonstrated that Dean's gifts had not always been appropriately exploited.
In 1977 she played with Gielgud, for the first time since she had been his Ophelia, in Julian Mitchell's Half Life at the National Theatre.
Dean's film career began in 1943 with a tiny role in The Man in Grey. Later films included Lean's The Passionate Friends (1948), and Sidney Gilliatt's The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953), in which she was the epitome of droll elegance as wife to Robert Morley's Gilbert. "How does it feel to be married to a transcendent genius?" asks her husband as he puts the finishing touches to The Mikado. "I suppose I've always taken it for granted, dear," is her reply.
In Alexander Mackendrick's A High Wind in Jamaica, she presented a beautiful and touching picture of Victorian motherhood in the film's early sequences. Her last appearance on the West End stage was as the tragic mother of Alan Turing (Derek Jacobi) in Hugh Whitemore's Breaking the Code (1986).
A few years earlier the critic Harold Hobson had written: "Our own stage is rich in actresses of whom the chief jewel is Peggy Ashcroft - and the most undervalued is Isabel Dean."
Dean died aged 79 in 1997. - Marie Lohr was born on 28 July 1890 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for Pygmalion (1938), Notorious Gentleman (1945) and South Riding (1938). She was married to Anthony Leyland Val Prinsep. She died on 21 January 1975 in London, England, UK.
- Harold Kasket was born on 26 July 1926 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Moulin Rouge (1952), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Reluctant Bandit (1965). He was married to Esther Laredo. He died on 20 January 2002 in London, England, UK.
- An engineer's daughter, she had first planned on becoming a ballerina, using her original Christian name Muguette, but abandoned those plans by the age of 17 when she realized that her physique was more in keeping with her other first name, Megs. She trained in Liverpool at the School of Dancing and Dramatic Art and then joined the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1933 before moving to London to appear at the Player's Theatre four years later.
During the 1950's, Megs was busy acting on stage and had considerable critical success in two plays by Emlyn Williams, 'Light of Heart' (1940) and 'The Wind of Heaven' (1945). Against character, she also played the vicious, unstable Alma Winemiller in 'Summer and Smoke' (1951) by Tennessee Williams. In 1956, she was awarded the Clarence Derwent Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the stoic wife of a longshoreman harbouring incestuous feelings for his niece in 'A View from the Bridge' by Arthur Miller. The previous year, she had made her Broadway debut in Chekhov's 'A Day by the Sea' as a supportive governess to an alcoholic physician.
Among her screen roles, best remembered are those of Nurse Woods in the excellent murder mystery Green for Danger (1946); her plump, homely innkeeper providing final happiness to the title character at the end of The History of Mr. Polly (1949)); and three of her many housekeepers : the proper one of Indiscreet (1958), the nervously anxious one, sensing danger in The Innocents (1961) and the warm, dependable one in the musical Oliver! (1968). From the 1960's, Megs did a lot of television work, starred in her own series, Weavers Green (1966), as a country veterinarian, and even made tea bag commercials. Her versatility and popularity as an actress ensured that she was never out of work. - Actor
- Writer
Gordon Harker born in 1885 in London into a well-known family of theatrical artists, he first appeared on stage in 1903. Lugubrious, shifty cockney character who starred and supported in over 60 films his first film role as Major Kent in Harold M. Shaw 'General John Regan' starring Milton Rosmer for the Stoll Film Company in 1921 he was often cast as a comical cockney crook or cop in many comedy and thrillers, he appeared in three silent films directed by Alfred Hitchcock 'The Ring' in 1927 'The Farmer's Wife' in 1928 and Champagne' in 1929 busy throughout the 1930's with some of his best, including 'Rome Express' in 1932, Boys Will Be Boys' in 1935 with Will Hay, and Michael Powell's 'The Phantom Light' in 1935, and also the 'The Frog' in 1937, he was noted for his performances as 'Inspector Hornleigh' in a trilogy of films made between 1938-40, his last appearance as Hardy in 'Left Right and Centre' in 1959 starring Ian Carmichael and Alastair Sim, also popular on radio and t.v. he died in 1967 in London age 82.- Cyril Luckham was born on 25 July 1907 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Man for All Seasons (1966), The Guardians (1971) and The Barchester Chronicles (1982). He was married to Violet Lamb. He died on 8 February 1989 in London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Writer
Debonair British actor at home on stage (since the age of 15), screen and TV. Initially, his roles tended to be dramatic but, by his 40s, he was increasingly playing tongue-in-cheek comedy parts. His smooth lounge-lizard voice has frequently been used for voice-overs on television advertisements (most famously a long-running campaign for Schweppes drinks) and TV trailers.- Actor
- Soundtrack
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 in tow, having served with the South African Army during World War 2. By now an aspiring actor, James claimed to have boxed in his youth, perhaps to explain his craggy features, but was certainly a well respected hairdresser in his native country. Known in the trade as "one take James", he became a very talented and professional actor, constantly in demand for small parts in British post-war cinema. In 1960 James debuted in the fourth of the Carry On films, taking the lead role in Carry on Constable (1960) and went on to appear in a further 18 Carry On films as well as various stage and television spin-offs. Reputed not to have got on with Carry On co-star Kenneth Williams, the two often played adversaries on-screen, notably in the historical parodies Carry on Up the Khyber (1968) and Carry on Don't Lose Your Head (1967). James however was respected and revered by almost everyone he worked with and contrary to popular myth, a true gentleman. An addiction to gambling played a large part in James' workaholic schedule and subsequent heart attack in 1967. He was soon back in action however, playing a hospital patient in Carry on Doctor (1967), able to spend most of the film in bed. He suffered a second and fatal heart attack on stage in Sunderland, England on April 26 1976, leaving behind 3 children and his third wife Valerie who had stuck by him despite his affair with Carry On co-star Barbara Windsor, saying, "He always came home to me".- Barbara Leake was born on 14 May 1903 in Hunstanton, Norfolk, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Dead of Night (1945) and A Study in Terror (1965). She was married to Stafford Byrne. She died on 18 August 1991 in Chichester, Sussex, England, UK.
- Douglas Ives was born on 16 August 1898 in Sheffield, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Brandy for the Parson (1952), The History of Mr. Polly (1959) and ITV Television Playhouse (1955). He died on 6 March 1969 in London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Popular Hollywood leading man of late silents and early talkies. He is best remembered for his teaming with Janet Gaynor in 12 screen romances between 1927 and 1934. He retired from films in the early 1940s, but TV audiences of the 1950s would see him as Gale Storm's widower dad in the popular television series My Little Margie (1952).- Charles Farrell was born on 6 August 1900 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Night and the City (1950), The Crimson Pirate (1952) and Wall of Death (1951). He was married to Babbie McManus. He died on 27 August 1988 in London, England, UK.
- Andy Ho was born on 2 July 1913 in Singapore. He was an actor, known for Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966) and The Avengers (1961). He died in January 1992 in London, England, UK.
- Born on October 1, 1896, in Rangoon, Burma, to Burmese-Jewish parents, and the son of a well-to-do merchant, distinguished veteran character actor Abraham Isaac Sofaer was a one-time schoolteacher in both Rangoon and London. He switched gears to acting after a short time and made his stage debut in 1921 as a walk-on in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice."
Sofaer scored his first prominent London appearance with "The Green Goddess" in 1925 and, from the 1930s on, alternated between the London and Broadway repertory stages playing an assortment of Shakespearean roles (Othello, Lear, Cassius, etc.) among other classical plays. He scored a personal triumph in New York as Benjamin Disraeli opposite Helen Hayes in "Victoria Regina" in 1936. The following year, he directed Ms. Hayes in "The Merchant of Venice", in which he played the title role of "Shylock". A theatre repertory player of note, he soon focused on the big screen and made his British film debut with The Dreyfus Case (1930). Subsequent noteworthy British film roles included his judge in A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and as Disraeli in The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947). Recognized for his bulgy, wide-eyed stare, resonant tones and imposing stance, he built up a solid reputation over the years playing odd and interesting Eastern ethnics -- sultans, swamis, high priests, witch doctors, foreign dictators and dignitaries, he was even convincing playing Indian chiefs on occasion. His characters ranged from wise and warm-hearted to cunning and wickedly evil.
In the mid-1950s, Sofaer settled in Hollywood wherein he became a main staple in exotic dramas and costumed adventure, appearing almost exclusively in movies and TV. Some of his better known U.S. films include Quo Vadis (1951), His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), Elephant Walk (1954), Taras Bulba (1962) and Chisum (1970). Throughout the 1960s, he could be counted on for guest appearances on all the popular shows of the day including Perry Mason (1957), Wagon Train (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), Daniel Boone (1964) and Star Trek (1966). On TV, he may be best remembered for his recurring role of Haji, the master of all genies, on I Dream of Jeannie (1965).
Married to wife Angela for nearly seven decades and affectionately called "Abe" to closer friends, Sofaer was the father of six children. Retiring from acting in 1974, Sofaer died of congestive heart failure at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 91 in 1988. - Kenneth Kove was born on 30 April 1892 in Wandsworth, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Organizer (1963), The Great Game (1930) and Thark (1948). He died in December 1984 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jill Adams (nee Siggins), was discovered while working as a model, having been asked to step in at the department store where she was an artist, when a model failed to show up. She was the daughter of Irish-American silent film actress Molly Adair, and New-Zealand writer, Arthur James Siggins (published under the name A.J. Siggins),. He had first sailed from the Antipodes to Africa as a young man to fight in the Boer war, where he served with the Matabele Mounted Police and later represented The ANZACs at Cecil Rhodes funeral in1902. His first wife was from Mozambique. The couple first met in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), where he was working with the High Commission. She was there on location to star in the silent film version of 'The Blue Lagoon' The young ingénue became A.J. Siggins' 2nd wife. After several years in Africa, during which time two sons were born, they relocated to England, where Jillian M.M.J. Siggins was born in London. During WWII, the family moved to North Wales, where they had 2 working farms. Upon returning to London following the war, and after Jill had become a successful model, she married a young US Navy officer stationed in the British capital, by the name of James Adams, in 1951. They had a daughter (Tina) in 1952. Jill's career began to flourish, but sadly the marriage did not, and now alone she began securing a few minor TV and film roles, before eventually being signed by J. Arthur Rank as one of the corporation's 'starlets'. The bubbly blonde actress, Jill Adams, soon made a string of popular films for the studios - many of which were light-hearted comedies such as 'Doctor at Sea' and 'Brothers in Law' - and she was often referred to as Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe. She also made a few films in the US and Australia. In 1957, she married the well-known BBC radio and TV personality, Peter Haigh, and they were very much the 'It' couple. They had a daughter, Peta Louise, in 1962. Jill also starred in the popular TV series 'The Flying Doctor' which lasted for 39 episodes. Over the next few years, although no longer getting the bigger roles, Adams continued to work both in radio and on stage. But, by the end of the 60s, with fewer opportunities available, she essentially retired from show business. In 1971, she and her husband Peter moved the family to the Algarve in Portugal, where they ran a hotel and restaurant in Albufeira. When that marriage ended, Adams spent several years with Michael Johnson, a former British radio host and musician, with whom she ran two businesses. She then eventually went solo until meeting Alan 'Buster' Jones, and moved first to the Lisbon area to be with him, and then they relocated to Spain. Following Jones's death in 1996, in the Costa del Sol, she returned to Portugal to be nearer to family. Always a prolific, popular and talented artist, she continued to paint even after being diagnosed with cancer in 2005 and right up until her death in Clareanes, in the Algarve., on May 13, 2008, at the age of 77.- Edward Jewesbury was born on 6 August 1917 in Marylebone, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Richard III (1995), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Henry V (1989). He was married to Christine Roberts. He died on 31 March 2001 in Esher, Surrey, England, UK.
- Jim Tyson was born on 2 September 1912 in England, UK. He was an actor, known for St. Ives (1967), Pegasus (1969) and The Benny Hill Show (1955). He died on 9 September 1974 in England, UK.
- Extremely prolific and ubiquitous British background player Victor James Harrington was born on August 27, 1909 in Casal Paola, Malta. Harrington first began appearing in movies in uncredited minor roles in the mid-1930's. One of the most busy and tireless of British bit players, Victor could be frequently spotted in countless films and TV shows as a patron in a pub, nightclub, casino, or restaurant, a party guest, a military officer, a spectator at a sporting event, or an audience member at a play or concert. His daughter Victoria Harrington was also an actress. Harrington died at age 70 on July 23, 1980 in Brighton, East Essex, England.
- Martin Lyder was born on 30 September 1922 in Germany. He was an actor, known for Sweet Beat (1959), Rock You Sinners (1958) and The Rat Catchers (1966). He was married to Marion Shaw. He died on 12 January 2003 in Westminster, London, England, UK.
- Louis Matto was born on 16 August 1910 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Glad Tidings! (1953) and Softly Softly: Task Force (1969). He was married to Norah Mary Cox. He died on 16 April 1989 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, UK.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Gordon Humphris was born on 22 April 1921 in Sutton, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Come Dance with Me (1950), Miracle in Soho (1957) and Kaleidoscope (1946). He died on 4 July 2010 in Surrey, England, UK.- Anthony Faramus is known for The Colditz Story (1955) and King Rat (1965).
- Gladys Henson was born on 27 September 1897 in Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress, known for Derby Day (1952), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Frieda (1947). She was married to Harry Wright and Leslie Henson. She died on 21 December 1982 in London, England, UK.
- Patric Doonan was born on 19 April 1926 in Alvaston, Derby, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Project M7 (1953), The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) and Crest of the Wave (1954). He was married to Aud Johansen. He died on 10 March 1958 in Chelsea, London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Meredith Edwards was born on 10 June 1917 in Rhosllannerchrugog, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for A Run for Your Money (1949), Flower of Evil (1961) and The Great Game (1953). He was married to Daisy Clark. He died on 8 February 1999 in Denbighshire, Wales, UK.- Arthur Rigby was born on 27 September 1900 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Wolves of the Underworld (1933), Dixon of Dock Green (1955) and Love Lies (1931). He was married to Sheila MacEvoy. He died on 25 April 1971 in Worthing, Sussex, England, UK.
- Glen Michael was born in 1926 in Devon, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Revenue Men (1967), Taggart (1983) and The Adventures of Francie and Josie (1962). He is married to Beryl ?. They have two children.
- Frederick Piper was born on 23 September 1902 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Fly Away Peter (1948), Passport to Pimlico (1949) and Brandy for the Parson (1952). He died on 22 September 1979 in Berkshire, England, UK.
- Michael Golden was born on 15 August 1913 in Bray, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Murder She Said (1961), Quatermass II (1955) and Clochemerle (1972). He died in 1983 in Hastings, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Tall, serious-looking British character actor, formerly a graduate of Edinburgh Academy and Sandhurst. He was a member of the Black Watch, but resigned his commission in 1932 to join the chorus of the Drury Lane Theatre as a specialty dancer. He later turned to films, usually acting in small supporting roles in which he invariably projected an air of confidence and authority. He rejoined the British Army in 1939 for wartime service. His one noteworthy screen success after 1945 was as the titular star of Patrol Car (1954), playing real-life detective Robert Fabian. In 1963, upon the death of his brother, Sir Alexander Hay Seton, he became the eleventh Baronet of Abercorn. Along with other actors, Bruce Seton was one of the founder members of the Lord's Taverners in 1950, Britain's premier youth cricket and disability sports charity association.
- Doris Yorke was born on 18 April 1897 in Islington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Crow Hollow (1952), The Franchise Affair (1951) and The Little Beggars (1958). She was married to William J. Heneghan. She died in 1976 in Cuckfield, Sussex, England, UK.
- Ann Lancaster was born on 5 May 1920 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Carry on Again Doctor (1969), Theatre Night (1957) and Rhubarb (1970). She died on 31 October 1970 in London, England, UK.
- Gwynne Whitby was born on 8 July 1903 in Leamington Spa, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Mine Own Executioner (1947), Time Without Pity (1957) and Princess (1969). She was married to Hugh Williams. She died on 11 July 1984 in Denville Hall, Northwood, London, England, UK.
- Renee Gadd was born on 22 June 1908 in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was an actress, known for Dead of Night (1945), David Copperfield (1935) and The Love Captive (1934). She was married to Joe Wilson, Guy Tooth and Harry Hardman. She died on 20 July 2003 in Hove, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
The son of Alexander Sim JP and Isabella McIntyre, Alastair Sim was educated in Edinburgh. Always interested in language (especially the spoken word) he became the Fulton Lecturer in Elocution at New College, Edinburgh University from 1925 until 1930. He was invited back and became the Rector of Edinburgh University (1948 - 1951). His first stage appearance was as Messenger in Othello at the Savoy Theatre, London. He went on to create some of the most memorable (usually comedic) roles in British films from 1936 until his death in 1976.- Carol Marsh was an English actress from Southgate, an urban area which at the time of her birth was outside London. She was in the prime of her career during the late 1940s and the 1950s. She worked frequently in radio plays until the 1980s. Her later life was reportedly reclusive.
Marsh was educated at a convent school. During her school years, she often appeared in school plays. She later decided to follow an acting career, and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). She was trained in both acting and singing. She also received speech lessons, and additional additional lessons through joining "The Company of Youth", an acting school for young contract players maintained by British film studio The Rank Organisation.
In 1947, Marsh won an audition to play the role of Rose Brown in the film noir Brighton Rock (1948) (1948). The film was based on the popular thriller novel of the same title by Graham Greene, published in 1938, which had previously been adapted into a hit play. Marsh's character was the frail and naive wife of psychopathic gangster Pinkie Brown (played by Richard Attenborough), who is unaware that he had ulterior motives when he romanced her. Reportedly over 3,000 women had auditioned for the role. Marsh, a then-obscure rookie, was chosen due to closely matching the character's appearance and vulnerability. This was her film debut, and it is still regarded as her most popular role.
Marsh was next chosen for the lead role of Alice in a French film, "Alice in Wonderland" (1949). The film was based on the novel by Lewis Carroll, and most of Wonderland's characters were portrayed by stop-motion animated puppets. The film was not distributed in the United Kingdom, due to including a satirical version of Queen Victoria.
Marsh's third film was the romantic comedy Marry Me (1949) (1949). It included a frame story of a journalist investigating a matchmaking service, but it depicted the stories of various people involved in the service, in the style of an anthology. Marsh had the leading role of teenaged heiress Susan Graham in the romantic comedy "Helter Skelter" (1949). The film depicts Susan's efforts to avoid the matchmaking efforts of her legal guardians, to cure herself from a persistent case of hiccups, and to face the overbearing mother of her new boyfriend.
Marsh's next significant film role was in the Christmas film "Scrooge" (1951), an adaptation of the novella "A Christmas Carol" (1843) by Charles Dickens. Marsh played the role of Fan Scrooge, the beloved sister of Ebenezer Scrooge (played by Alastair Sim). The film expanded Ebenezer's backstory, fleshed out his business career, and explored his ambivalent relationship with his family; it was one of the most popular films in Britain during 1952.
Marsh next had the female lead role in the "Salute the Toff" (1952). The film was the sixth part in a film series about the upper-class detective The Toff/Richard Rollinson, based on the novels of John Creasey (1908-1973). Marsh played Fay Gretton, the woman who hires Rollinson and tasks him with locating her missing employer. The film was popular at the time of its release, but was considered lost for decades. It was rediscovered in the early 2010s, and received its first home video release.
Marsh worked extensively in radio and television during the 1950s, but her film career went on hiatus. She made a comeback in the horror film "Dracula" (1958), in her first film role since 1952. The film was a loose adaptation of the novel by Bram Stoker. Marsh played the female vampire Lucy Holmwood, based on the novel's Lucy Westenra. Marsh was one of the first actresses to portray female vampires for Hammer Film Productions, a film studio that specialized on horror films.
Marsh next played the female lead in the crime film "Man Accused" (1959), playing Kathy, a baronet's daughter. The film's protagonist Bob Jensen (played by Ronald Howard) is Kathy's fiance. Bob has been framed for murder, and tries to discover the identities of the real killers. The film was poorly received, in part due to its plot recycling elements from previous works. This was Marsh's last film role.
Marsh continued working extensively on radio, and it is estimated that she performed in over a hundred BBC radio plays. She also voiced roles for BBC's radio anthology "Children's Hour" (1922-1964), which was primarily aimed at an audience of children. During the 1970s, Marsh had a role in theatrical productions of the play "The Mousetrap" (1952) by Agatha Christie. The play features a small group of staff and residents in a guesthouse, as they start to suspect that one of them is a wanted killer. Christie used elements of the real-life Dennis O'Neill manslaughter case (1945) as elements in the origin of the play's killer.
Marsh retired in the 1980s. She spent the rest of her life in Bloomsbury, London, living alone. She never married, and (according to her obituary) became a recluse. In March 2010, she died in London, aged 83. Her name remains familiar to fans of classic British (and French) cinema, due to several of her films having had cult followings. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Some of Hordern's finest work was not in films or television but on radio: His performance as Gandalf in the BBC's radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings was arguably the definitive portrayal of that character (contrast Hordern's Gandalf with that of Ian McKellen in the 3-part film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson).- Actor
- Soundtrack
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 "business man" in the hit ITV drama series, Minder (1979).
However, Cole had long been a household name well before "Minder" aired on television. His successful film career began in the 1940s, appearing with Alastair Sim and Sir John Mills in the film Bombsight Stolen (1941). Further success came throughout the 1950s and 1960s, where he played the part of "Flash Harry" in the popular "St Trinians" films, alongside his close friend and mentor, Alastair Sim. By 1963, Hollywood had recognized the talents of Cole and he was cast in the iconic film, Cleopatra (1963), starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. During the 1970s, George continued to star in films and television programmes, becoming a regular and sought after actor. It is interesting to note that, in 1971, he appeared with Dennis Waterman (who would later become his Minder (1979) co-star) in the horror film, Fright (1971). In 1979, Cole was cast as the hapless "Arthur Daley", a self-professed entrepreneur in the ITV drama Minder (1979), a role he played until 1994. The role showcased Cole's acting prowess and brought him to the attention of a younger audience.
As well as starring in Minder (1979), George continued with other projects in film and television, including Root Into Europe (1992), An Independent Man (1995), Mary Reilly (1996), Dad (1997), Station Jim (2001), Bodily Harm (2002) and, alongside his good friend Dennis Waterman, in the BBC hit drama, New Tricks (2003). He also starred in several stage productions. It is hoped that Cole will not be be remembered simply for portraying "Arthur Daley", but instead for being one of Britain's most enduring actors, one of only a handful of actors who can claim to have had a 60-year career and for being an extremely likable, charismatic man.- Rona Anderson was born on 3 August 1926 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She was an actress, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Circumstantial Evidence (1952) and The Labours of Erica (1989). She was married to Gordon Jackson. She died on 23 July 2013 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.
- Brian Worth was born on 14 July 1914 in Willesden, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Holiday Week (1952), Quatermass and the Pit (1958) and A Christmas Carol (1951). He died on 25 August 1978 in Seville, Spain.
- Olga Edwardes was born on 26 May 1917 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She was an actress, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and Sherlock Holmes (1951). She was married to Nicholas Davenport and Anthony Baerlein. She died on 1 July 2008 in Elstree, England, UK.
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Rotund, cherubic-looking Welsh-born character actor, graduate of Oxford University. Hughes looked every inch the Marlborough House schoolmaster he was earlier in life, prior to embarking upon a theatrical career in 1910. Tailor-made for Dickensian impersonations, he was spot-on casting as Tim Linkinwater, partner and clerk for the Cheeryble Twins (one of whom he also played for a 1957 BBC TV serialisation), in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947). Equally so, as old Mr. Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol (1951).
Originally trained as a singer, Hughes first appeared on the London musical comedy scene during the First World War. During the 1920's, he was busy acting in plays at the West End, demonstrating a penchant for comedy. By the end of the decade, he even had a starring turn on Broadway in the popular comedy "Bird in Hand". Hughes entered films in 1932, often featured in small roles as tradesmen, doctors, butlers or minor officials. In later years, he alternated his screen roles with acting on stage. He retired from films in 1961 and died in February 1970 at the age of 78.- Actor, playwright and screenwriter Miles Malleson's list of credits reads like a history of British cinema in the first half of the 20th century. Born in Croydon in Surrey, he was educated at Brighton College in Sussex and Emmanuel College Cambridge. He had intended to become a schoolmaster but he opted instead for the stage and went into repertory theatre in Liverpool and then onto the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
He wrote his first play in 1913 and, in contrast to the characters he often portrayed on screen, held socially progressive views which were often reflected in his work. His output included two plays about the First World War, "D Company" and "Black Eill", and one about the Tolpuddle Martyrs. He also worked as a screenwriter on two documentaries for Paul Rotha, Land of Promise (1946) and World of Plenty (1943).
Following the outbreak of The Great War in July 1914 Malleson enlisted in the British Army as a Private (No. 2227) in the 1/1st (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers). He served from 5th September 1914 until receiving a medical discharge in 1915, which included a period spent in Egypt. Malleson made no secret of his objection to the war as both a member of the Independent Labour Party and a supporter of the No-Conscription Fellowship.
His most prolific period as a screenwriter was in the 1930s and 1940s, initially on historical subjects like Nell Gwyn (1934), Rhodes (1936), and Victoria the Great (1937). In many of these films he also began appearing in supporting roles, and from the mid-'30s onward he found himself in increasing demand as an actor as well as a writer. Over the next 30 years he appeared in nearly 100 films, featuring in everything from Alfred Hitchcock thrillers and Ealing comedies to Hammer horrors.
Usually cast as a befuddled judge or a doddering old doctor, academic or other local eccentric, he first caught audiences' imagination as the hearse driver in the Ealing chiller compendium Dead of Night (1945), after which he began to get bigger and better parts. He was particularly memorable as the philosophical hangman in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Canon Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), Dr. McAdam in Folly to Be Wise (1952), the barrister Grimes in Brothers in Law (1957) and as Windrush Sr. in Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959).
Towards the end of his career he continued to appear in cameo roles in comedy films, and made several appearances in Hammer horror films including Horror of Dracula (1958) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), before failing eyesight forced him into retirement in his late 70s. - Actor
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Tony Wager was born on 24 June 1932 in Willesden, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Great Expectations (1946), Silent Number (1974) and BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950). He died on 23 December 1990 in Bali, Indonesia.- Richard Pearson was born on 1 August 1918 in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Pirates (1986), Macbeth (1971) and Middlemarch (1968). He was married to Patricia Dickson. He died on 2 August 2011 in Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Fred Johnson was born on 6 August 1899 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961) and Martin Luther (1953). He died on 4 December 1971 in London, England, UK.
- David Hannaford was born on 1 October 1942 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Pickwick Papers (1952), A Christmas Carol (1951) and Now Barabbas (1949).
- Hugh Dempster was born on 3 August 1900 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Fan (1949), Johnny in the Clouds (1945) and The Winslow Boy (1948). He was married to Emma Trekman. He died on 30 April 1987 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- John Barrard (born 1924 in Cape Town, South Africa, died 2013 in England, UK) was a British character actor who had a career spanning five decades and who perhaps is best known for playing Dooley, Santa's #2, in Santa Claus (1985).
Barrard's television appearances included the Concierge in 'The Count of Monte Cristo', Gatekeeper in an episode of Armchair Theatre (1956), George in The Larkins (1958), Napoleon in The Army Game (1960), Carlos the Pedlar in The Saint (1962), Mr Craddock in Crossroads (1964), the Shopkeeper in the Doctor Who story The Reign of Terror (1964) and two roles in Coronation Street; Harry Mascall in 1972 and Sidney Wilson in 1974. Before these roles he appeared in the Coronation Street (1960) spin-off Pardon the Expression (1965). Other appearances included Ludo McAllister in Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1965), Sid Seaton in Softly, Softly (1966), Arnold Maddox in The Troubleshooters (1966), Harris in Public Eye (1968), Valarti in The Avengers (1969), Sir Bruce Ingoe in Callan (1969), King of Diamonds in Here Come the Double Deckers (1970), Mr Whitfield in Doctor at Large (1971), Shop Assistant in Budgie (1972), and Mr Forbes/Mr Finch in The Fenn Street Gang (1971-1972).
Further television credits included Gem Setter in The Protectors (1972), Pilkington in Follyfoot (1973), Lionel in The Growing Pains of PC Penrose (1975), Chauffeur in The Sweeney (1976), Mr Oliver in Survivors (1977) Judge Lambsfoot in Dick Turpin (1980), Scruffy Man in The Professionals (1980), Dr Losborne in Oliver Twist (1982), Jonathon Hopper in Whoops Apocalypse (1982), Mr Barraclough/Executive in Metal Mickey (1980-1982), Lapsley/Josie's Dad in Last of the Summer Wine (1976-1983), Mr Adam in The Witches and the Grinnygog (1983), the Retired Morris Dancer in The Black Seal episode of The Black Adder (1983), Old Mr Brooks in We'll Think of Something (1986), Arkroyd in Never the Twain (1986-1987), Bernie in Terry and June (1979), Oskar Friedman in War and Remembrance (1989), Harold Wharton in One Foot in the Grave (1990), Anatole in Jeeves and Wooster (1990), Mr Pebbles in Sean's Show (1992), Baths Attendant in Minder (1993), Houseowner in Keeping Up Appearances (1990), Norman Spencer/Mr Jeffries in The Bill (1989-1999), Stamp Collector in Mr. Bean (1994) Security Guard in As Time Goes By (2000), and Mr Taylor in Doctors (2002).
His film roles included the Taxidermist in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Lennie Ross in Cover Girl Killer (1959), Small Man in Peeping Tom (1960), There Was a Crooked Man (1960), Honeydew in The Primitives (1962), Consul in We Joined the Navy (1962), Zebra Man in Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968), Wedding Guest in Crossplot (1969), Patron in Our Miss Fred (1972), Blind Man in Tales from the Crypt (1972), Benjamite Elder in King David (1985), Dooley in Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), Walter in Buster (1988), and Old Man in Swinging with the Finkels (2011).
Theatre appearances included The Tenth Man (1961) at the Comedy Theatre.
Barrard was the Chairman of the North West London branch of the actors' union Equity.
He died in 2013 aged 89. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 17 October 2013 and his ashes were interred at the Golders Green Jewish Cemetery in May 2014. - Ian Wilson was born on 2 July 1901 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Wicker Man (1973), The Good Companions (1957) and The Day of the Triffids (1963). He died in December 1987 in Exeter, Devon, England, UK.
- Archie Duncan was born on 26 May 1914 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955), Sherlock Holmes (1954) and Saint Joan (1957). He died on 24 July 1979 in Waltham Forest, London, England, UK.
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Denis Martin was born on 2 June 1920 in Belfast, Ireland. He was an actor and producer, known for A Little of What You Fancy (1968), Here and Now (1955) and Tonight's the Night (1954). He died on 23 October 1988 in Westminster, London, England, UK.- Moiya Kelly, appeared on stage at the Hippodrome in Norwich at not quite three, dancing a duet. Again at six and seven. Was considered exceptional at 13 and was invited to audition for a place at the Royal Ballet School, who agreed that she was the best they had auditioned, but that she would not grow tall enough for the corps de ballet.
At 16 she was in the pantomime Cinderella, with Deryk Roy and Christine Nordon. Then in the play Cosh Boy at Swiss Cottage followed by Rene ln Master Crook at the Comedy Theatre, where she was spotted by Brian Desmond Hurst and given the part of Martha Cratchet in his film Scrooge (1951) with Alistair Sim. She then played the part of May in the musical 'Love from Judy', with June Whitfield. Moiya also played an extra in 'St. Trinians' and 'The Love Lottery.' She also took part in the BBC outside broadcast of 'Youth Wants To Know' and was selected to join a program showing promising talent with Julian Bream, Lesley Crowther and Shani Wallace. - Leo Genn was the son of a successful jewelry merchant Woolfe (William) Genn and his wife Rachel Asserson. He attended the City of London School as a youth and went on to study law at Cambridge. He received his law degree as a qualified barrister (which in English law tradition is a lawyer who is a specialist in law and who appears in court as representative of a client, whereas a solicitor is also a lawyer but further defined as an attorney who deals directly with the client, writing all case-related briefs and hiring a barrister for court appearance - there is no such division in the USA). He began practice in 1928, however law was not his only interest. Acting caught his eye, and about 1930 he made the acquaintance of actor/manager Leon M. Lion, who needed an actor and a legal advisor. Genn fitted both and was hired and later that year made his stage debut. It was certainly of practical value that he continued offering legal counsel into the 1930s to augment the small income of a budding stage performer learning his craft. In 1933 he met and married Marguerite van Praag, a casting director at Ealing Studios.
His first screen role was as Shakespeare's Shylock in the UK production The Immortal Gentleman (1935). It mortised nicely between his two year (1934-36) period of Shakespearean apprenticeship as a member of the Old Vic Company where he appeared in many productions of Shakespeare. Genn had a very pleasant neutral British accent that could fit anywhere. And his voice was wonderfully smooth and yet authoritative, likened to "black velvet", that fit like a glove to his refined manner. Douglas Fairbanks Jr.., in London for one of his many UK starring vehicles, hired Genn as a technical advisor on the law for Accused (1936) and received a bit role - not for his legal advice - but for a "splendid voice and presence". But the legal side of his character stuck to him as he was in the process of dropping the law for acting full time. He spent 1937 playing film prosecutors and defending attorneys - not something he expected. Things picked up the next year - though still wading through some crime dramas - when he nabbed a small Indian character role in The Drum (1938), the ambitious adventure yarn by producer Alexander Korda. And he was the prince dance partner to Wendy Hiller in Pygmalion (1938) - uncredited - as was a young Anthony Quayle. Obviously, small featured extra roles allowed time for more ambitious outings. He starred in the stage hit "The Flashing Stream" also in 1938. It received the nod from Broadway, and Genn made his American debut in early 1939 in the play's successful run in New York.
Though still tagged for law officialdom in several films, Genn moved on to more hearty supporting roles in 1940 with war looming. He joined the Royal Artillery and received a rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1943. In that year he was already wanted for film's war effort agenda as movie narrator. In 1944 he was given leave for two flag-waver movies - the second a most unusual and significant cinematic event. For Genn, it was a small part, but it was part of a glorious celebration of England and English history during the crisis of World War II - the Henry V of Laurence Olivier. Genn was the Constable of France, and though the lines were few, Shakespeare infused them with a sardonic wink that Genn delivered perfectly in an understated style that became one of his hallmarks. This part brought him to notice as a film actor, but he did not entertain its fruits until later 1946, for with the end of the war Genn, who had been awarded the French Croix de Guerre in 1945, went back to law counseling. He volunteered his legal knowledge to the British army unit involved in the investigation and prosecution of Nazi war crimes perpetrated at the Belsen concentration camp near Luneburg, Germany. And in the subsequent tribunals, Genn served as assistant prosecutor.
He was back in film in 1946, but more so he was being courted by Broadway to return - which he did in that crowded year with one of his best stage roles in the Lillian Hellman classic "Another Part of the Forest". Hollywood waited in the wings to grab him for the Eugene O'Neill update Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) of the ancient Greek tragedy triangle "Orestaia". It was not Genn's American film debut, for he had appeared in the UK/US crime drama The Girl in the News (1940) - as - what else - a prosecuting counsel - a barrister. He was competing with the American debut of Michael Redgrave in the O'Neill adaptation (3 hours, pared to about 2 hours for general release). The film was a great piece of dialog display but a disaster at the box office. But the chemistry of Genn with Rosalind Russell was such that they were marketed together again the next year in another American film, The Velvet Touch (1948), more whodunit but with snappy lines. Subsequently Genn was about equally in demand for film and stage on both sides of the Atlantic.
His film roles on into the 1950s were somewhat uneven, but Genn was always to form - the calm, understated but in control male lead or supporting character, whether war adventure or the inevitable crime drama - many a steady military officer and understanding professional - with a bit of comedy and a few shady characters thrown in.
Perhaps his best known American film role was as the sardonic Gaius Petronius Arbiter in Quo Vadis (1951). Genn's generous part as the ancient Roman satirist was filled with double meaning quips and understated sarcasm that Genn delivered with his poker face charm and subtle sidelong glances. He is so good that the audience hangs on his next sub-level dig with anticipation that partially eclipses the first rate histrionics of Peter Ustinov as a tongue-in-cheek deranged Nero. The level of Genn's performance was recognized with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. The next year he was more than just a straight-laced William Bradford of American colonial history fame in Plymouth Adventure (1952), a much maligned American film that was, in fact, a realistic portrayal of the trials and tribulations of the Pilgrims (they were not all religious dissenters, not the dour, black and white Puritans who were later arrivals). Having to compete with a cantankerous, perhaps too hammy Spencer Tracy as the ship's captain, Genn's understated intensity brings off a compassionate portrayal.
Genn helped grace some of the most ambitious films of the later 1950s and into the 1960s: Moby Dick (1956), The Longest Day (1962), and 55 Days at Peking (1963). He embraced TV playhouse, both American and British programs, and US/UK episodic series through the period, as well as more outings on Broadway. He made six appearances on the Great White Way - the last in a short run of "The Only Game in Town" in mid 1968. All along Genn's voice had found welcoming slots in narration. Beside films, he was the voice of the royal coronation programs of 1937 and 1953. And he always kept a foot in his first love, British theater; he was a governor of London's The Mermaid Theatre. - Actor
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David Tomlinson is best known for his role as George Banks in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (1964). As a youth he spent a short spell in the guards. He joined the RAF in WW2 where he survived the trauma of a plane crash on his first solo flight due to engine failure, then becoming a flying instructor for the remainder of the war. He began his film career in the pre-war British film Quiet Wedding (1941) and followed that with Leslie Howard's 'Pimpernel' Smith (1941). Altogether he has made over 50 films and on stage he has had long-running successes in many plays including "The Little Hut" with Robert Morley and Roger Moore as his understudy. During the 1930s he understudied Alec Guinness. By the time he went to Hollywood to make Mary Poppins (1964) he was a veteran film and stage actor. David returned to Disney to great success in The Love Bug (1969) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). David was close friends with Errol Flynn, Robert Morley and Peter Sellers. He also spent time with Walt Disney whilst they discussed his role in Mary Poppins (1964). He retired in the early 1980s after an exemplary career on film and stage, and will always be remembered as one of the centuries greatest character actors.- Michael Goodliffe was born on 1 October 1914 in Bebington, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Night to Remember (1958), Peeping Tom (1960) and The One That Got Away (1957). He was married to Dorothy Margaret Tyndale. He died on 20 March 1976 in Wimbledon, London, England, UK.
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Bryan Forbes was born on July 22, 1926 in Stratford, London, England as John Theobald Clarke. He was an actor, writer, and director, known for The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Whisperers (1967) and Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964). He was married to Nanette Newman and Constance Smith. He died on May 8, 2013 in Virginia Water, Surrey, England.- Actor
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Patrick Waddington was born on 19 August 1901 in Great Ouseburn, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Night to Remember (1958), Department S (1969) and The Black Tulip (1937). He died on 4 February 1987 in York, England, UK.- Actor
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Russell Waters began his acting career in the 1930s and soon found himself cast in various film roles at the start of what promised to be a bright future as an actor. Unfortunately, WWII radically changed his prospects; conscripted into the army for the duration and wounded at some point around mid to late 1944 which saw him invalided back to England.
Shortly after his return home he met a young war widow Barbara; they married and produced four children: John Waters, Angela, Stephen, and Fiona Fizz Waters. The Waters family lived in a rented top floor 2 bedroom flat in Anlaby Road, Teddington, Middlesex close to the Thames TV studios. Russell's career was capricious to say the least, an obviously talented actor, underrated and often overlooked probably due to the vagaries of time and circumstance brought about by the events of WWII.- Philip Dale was born on 20 May 1916 in Woodley, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Six Proud Walkers (1954), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and Circle of Danger (1951). He was married to Pauline Winter. He died on 5 October 1973 in Moreton Pinkney, Northamptonshire, England, UK.
- Franz Schafheitlin was born on 9 August 1895 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Raumpatrouille - Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion (1966), The Ringer (1932) and Was wissen Sie von Titipu? (1972). He was married to Hertha Scheel, ??? and Ika. He died on 6 February 1980 in Pullach im Isartal, Bavaria, Germany.
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Jacques B. Brunius was born on 16 September 1906 in Paris, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Sea Devils (1953), Life Is Ours (1936) and Violons d'Ingres (1939). He was married to Cecile Chevreau and Colette Hulmann. He died on 24 April 1967 in Exeter, Devon, England, UK.- Hans Meyer was born in South Africa, into a German farming family. He spent his childhood in Natal and Zululand. He also became a farmer, but then he decided to travel to Europe. A friend in Germany working in an advertising agency helped him get his first acting job, in a popular television advert for Puschkin Vodka. He helped the vodka become Germany's leading brand and he became well known and his acting career took off!
He quickly became very successful, working with many of the top directors in both films and television in Europe. He is fluent in English, German, French and Zulu. He is highly respected by fellow actors, a very cultured man who is both reserved and modest about his long and distinguished career. - Actor
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Despite being one of the finest actors of his generation, Peter Finch will be remembered as much for his reputation as a hard-drinking, hell-raising womanizer as for his performances on the screen. He was born in London in 1916 and went to live in Sydney, Australia, at the age of ten. There, he worked in a series of dead-end jobs before taking up acting, his film debut being in the mediocre comedy The Farmer Goes to Town (1938). He made his stage debut as a comedian's stooge in 1939. Laurence Olivier spotted him and persuaded him to return to Britain to perform classic roles on the stage. Finch then had an affair with Olivier's wife, Vivien Leigh. Despite being married three times, Finch also had highly-publicized affairs with actresses Kay Kendall and Mai Zetterling. Finch soon switched to film after suffering appalling stage fright. As a screen actor, he won five BAFTA awards and his talent was beyond doubt. His two finest roles, the only two for which he received Oscar nominations, were as the homosexual Jewish doctor in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and as the "mad prophet of the air-waves" in Network (1976). He died a couple of months before being awarded the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in Network (1976) and was the first actor to have won the award posthumously.- Actor
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Meinhart Maur was born on 18 August 1884 in Hajdúnánás, Hungary. He was an actor and writer, known for Dick Barton at Bay (1950), The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) and Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses (1920). He was married to Annie Arden. He died in 1964 in London, England, UK.- Prolific and ubiquitous British background player George Hilsdon was born on April 25, 1907 in West Ham, London, England. Hilsdon first began appearing in films in often uncredited minor roles in the mid-1940's. A burly fellow with a gruff face and receding silver gray hair, George was frequently cast as policemen, news vendors, or security guards. Hilsdon died at age 75 on May 28, 1982 in Essex, England. Predeceased by his wife Ivy Lilian Benge, he was survived by two children.
- Prolific and ubiquitous British bit player Jim Brady was born on May 13, 1907 in England. Jim first began popping up in films in uncredited minor roles in the mid-1940's. A large and imposing fellow with a rough face and a husky build, Brady was frequently cast as pirates, villagers, brutish thugs, pub patrons, or scruffy working class blokes. He died at age 83 on January 1, 1991 in Islington, London, England.
- Michael Rittermann was born on 30 June 1910 in Möllersdorf, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor, known for Der Andere (1959), The Saint (1962) and Mystery Submarine (1962). He died on 8 August 1989 in London, England, UK.
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The son of Joseph Livesey and Mary Catherine (nee Edwards), Roger was educated at Westminster City School, London. His first stage appearance was the office boy in Loyalties at St. James' theatre in 1917. Subsequently, he played in everything from Shakespeare to modern comedies. He played various roles in the West End from 1920 to 1926. He toured the West Indies and South Africa the returned to join the Old Vic/Sadler's Wells company from September 1932 until May 1934. In 1936, he appeared in New York in the old English comedy "The Country Wife" and also married Ursula Jeans whom he had known previously in England. At the outbreak of war Roger and Ursula were among the first volunteers to entertain the troops before he volunteered for flying duties in the R.A.F. He was turned down as too old to fly so went to work in an aircraft factory at Desford aerodrome near Leicester to do his bit for the war effort. He was chosen by Michael Powell to play the lead in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). This was shown in New York and established his international reputation as a brilliant character actor. He continued playing many theatrical roles during his film career from 1935 until 1969. Tall and broad with a luxurious mop of chestnut hair, Roger has (had) a deep voice, a gentle manner and the physique of an athlete. His favourite hobby is listed as "tinkering."- Actress
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Elegant, quintessentially British Valerie Hobson was the daughter of a British army officer. She studied dancing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and appeared onstage for the first time at age 16, but she contracted a case of scarlet fever and decided to give up dancing for acting. She journeyed to Hollywood, but became disillusioned with the studio system and returned to Britain, where she was often cast in aristocratic roles.
She married producer Anthony Havelock-Allan and subsequently appeared in many of his films. They divorced in 1952. She then married politician -- and future notorious sex-and-espionage-scandal figure -- John Profumo and gave up her acting career. She stood strongly by Profumo during that distasteful period. In her later years she was devoted to charity work. She died in 1998, aged 81.- Actor
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Educated at the University of Toronto & Balliol College, Oxford, he joined the Canadian Field Artillery in World War I, served in France & was wounded. His first appearance was in a stage production in Siberia, during the multi-nation intervention of 1918 - 1919. Raymond returned to Canada & his family farm implement business , Massey-Harris Tractor Company, after the war, although footlights proved a greater allure than plowshares. He appeared at the Everyman Theatre, London in "In the Zone" in 1922 and from then his acting career never looked back. As adept in front of arc lights as the footlights, he was signed up for a 5 year contract by Alexander Korda. Major Massey was invalided from the Canadian Army in 1943. Raymond was devoted to his American wife Dorothy, to whom he referred all queries and problems. He had an ardent radio following in the States and became an American citizen. This was natural as his mother and maternal grandmother were Americans. A bad traveler, Raymond hated the sea and airplanes. A good sportsman, he excelled at golf and fishing, A scholar, he loved good literature. A modest man, he regarded himself as supremely uninteresting.- Gerald Campion was born on 23 April 1921 in Bloomsbury, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Carry on Sergeant (1958) and Department S (1969). He was married to Suzie Mark and Jean Symond. He died on 9 July 2002 in Agen, Lot-et-Garonne, France.
- Michael Martin-Harvey was the only son of the celebrated Edwardian actor-manager Sir John Martin Harvey. Highly artistic his interests extended to dance, the stage, poetry, painting and pottery. Not blessed with the conventional good looks of his famous father, he merely paddled in the shallows of film, often cast in 'character' roles. He appeared in about a dozen films from the 20s - 50s with just one leading role, that of Charles Peace the eponymous Victorian criminal. Michael's first film appearance came in The Only Way (1925), an adaptation of Charles Dickens well known novel 'A Tale of Two Cities' Sir John played Sidney Carton re creating the role he first played on stage in 1899. The film was noteworthy as being the first film to attain a length of 10,000 feet. Michael was married to Hester Margetson a noted illustrator of children's books. Michael and Hester shared a love of dance and together formed a small ballet touring company - The Martin-Harvey Miniature Ballet, Michael having worked at one time or another with several key figures including Frederick Ashton, Sergei Diaghilev and Isadora Duncan. In the 50s Michael teamed with the composer Margaret More to form the Hans Andersen Players, performing selected works from the well known children's author. Michael died in 1974 and was much beloved by all who knew him.
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British actor David Tree was a promising talent who came from prime theatre stock as the son of drama critic Alan Leonard Romaine Parsons and stage actress Viola Tree. His mother, in turn, was the daughter of one of England's most heralded classical stage actors of the late 19th century and early 20th century, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, and his actress/wife who, as Helen Maude Holt, billed herself as Lady Tree. His younger sister, Virginia (1917-2003) would grow up to become the Marchioness of Bath. Born on July 15, 1915, Tree took his first acting bow at age six alongside his mother with a small role in "The Tempest." Educated at Eton, he gained repertory experience at the Old Vic, the Playhouse and the Oxford theatre companies, among others, and attained good notices for his portrayals of Ferdinand in "The Tempest" and Feste in "Twelfth Night."
He began his film career in 1937 with Knight Without Armor (1937) and quickly found a future with major parts in The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937) and The Drum (1938). Pygmalion (1938) proved to be his star-in-making role as the ever-dapper Freddy Eynsford-Hill, the suitor who briefly comes between Wendy Hiller's Eliza Doolittle and Leslie Howard's Professor Henry Higgins. His mother had a minor part in the film as well. Progressing beautifully, he played a co-lead in French Without Tears (1940), a U.S. film with Ray Milland (replacing a then untested Rex Harrison who had played the lead earlier on stage). Tree displayed a strong, stalwart gait in war films as well, with a top role in Q Planes (1939). With WWII approaching and following his work in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Major Barbara (1941), he left to serve his country in the Royal Artillery. Tragedy occurred when he lost his arm during duty. Following his discharge, Tree abandoned acting and retired to become a farmer. Although he was seen on stage, including a role in "Billy Budd" in 1951, he was little heard from until his director/friend Nicolas Roeg persuaded him to take a role in Don't Look Now (1973) after more than 30 years. It was to be his one and only reappearance.- Actor
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Roy Emerton was a big, brawny character actor whose scarred face and resounding deep voice made him a natural for menacing roles. One of his best and most typical was as the evil Boss McGinty in The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935).- Actor
- Director
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Martin Walker was born on 27 July 1901 in Harrow, London, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Mimi (1935), Hide and Seek (1922) and The Flying Fool (1931). He died on 18 September 1955 in Kensington, London, England, UK.- Veteran British character player Ralph Truman was a pioneer radio actor and appeared in over 5000 broadcasts during his career. Born in London at the turn of the century, his overall film career was commendable but less enviable than his voice work on the airwaves. Originally from the stage, he had just finished a run of "Josef Suss" in 1930 when he moved directly into films, making his unbilled debut in the early talkie Farewell to Love (1931). Throughout the 1930s he would be found steadily in "B" films including The Bells (1931), That's My Uncle (1935), The Lad (1935), Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk (1935), Under the Red Robe (1937) and Dinner at the Ritz (1937). In the 1940s the distinctively balding, hook-nosed actor found featured work in more important films such as his Mountjoy in Laurence Olivier's stellar Shakespearean piece Henry V (1944). A natural for period settings, Truman played the nefarious Monks in Oliver Twist (1948), and was part of the large-scale proceedings in Christopher Columbus (1949) and Treasure Island (1950), giving animated Robert Newton a run for the money in the latter with a ripe, over-the-top pirate performance as George Merry. Married to fellow radio artist Ellis Powell, he was best known in later years for playing men of high ranking or position (lords, captains, admirals, governors, etc.). He retired after appearing in two final period epics: Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and Lady Caroline Lamb (1972). He passed away a few years later.
- Though primarily a stage actor, Sebastian Shaw appeared in some forty film and television productions from 1930 to 1991. Born in Holt, Norfolk, England, he first appeared on stage as a child in 1913, graduating to lead roles by the late 1920s. It was in 1930 that he made his first film appearance in Caste (1930). His most notable film roles of this period were as an aspiring actor opposite Miriam Hopkins and Rex Harrison in the Alexander Korda-produced Men Are Not Gods (1936); as a crime suspect in another Korda production, Murder on Diamond Row (1937); and opposite Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson in Michael Powell's U-Boat 29 (1939). His later films included Roy Boulting's documentary-style Journey Together (1945), The Glass Mountain (1949) (in which he played an eccentric Scottish lyricist), and Scotch on the Rocks (1953).
In the 1960s, he appeared in Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's imaginative It Happened Here (1964), made in semi-documentary style showing Britons coping during a Nazi persecution. Mostly stage and television work followed (including an appearance as a judge in Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)). In 1982, Shaw was approached by George Lucas to make an appearance in the final episode of his Star Wars films, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). The role was the small but crucial one at the film's climax of the unmasked Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) and in the final scene as Anakin's ghost. The role has since made him a cult figure all over the world. Much of Shaw's remaining career was spent playing distinguished elderly gent roles, such as cold war spy-cum-art critic Basil Sharpe in High Season (1987). Shaw continued to act on stage, film and television well into his eighties. Sebastian Shaw died at age 89 of natural causes on December 23, 1994. - Actress
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Glamorous June Duprez was born in Teddington, England, during an air raid on May 14, 1918. Her father, Fred Duprez, was an American vaudevillian who found stage and film work in England. She herself picked up an interest in performing and eventually joined the Coventry Repertory Company to gather the necessary stage experience.
June made her film debut as an extra in 1935. She married at a young age and her career was initially encouraged by her first husband, a Harley Street doctor. However, once she started flirting with stardom, he became increasingly envious and possessive and their marriage fell apart. Her sultry and exotic appearances in such British films as U-Boat 29 (1939), The Four Feathers (1939) and, especially, Alexander Korda's The Thief of Bagdad (1940) made a star out of her and she was quickly ushered to Hollywood to capitalize on this newly-found fame. Although she stayed in America throughout WWII, both Korda and June's agent set her price too high--at $50,000 per picture. This pretty much put her out of contention and she found herself working very little in the next few years. Her most notable American picture during that time was None But the Lonely Heart (1944) opposite Cary Grant.
June subsequently left Hollywood in 1946 and took a few roles on the Broadway stage. She retired altogether when she married for a second time in 1948 to a well-to-do sportsman. They had two daughters but divorced in 1965. June lived in Rome for a time, then returned to London to live out the remainder of her life. She died in 1984 at age 66 following an extended illness.- Actor
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The son of Dr. Charles Buckman Goring M.D. and Kate Winifred (nee MacDonald). Marius Goring was educated at Perse School, Cambridge, England and at the Universities of Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Paris. He studied for the stage under Harcourt Williams at the Old Vic dramatic school, London. His first stage appearance was at Cambridge in 1925 in "Crossings". His first London appearance was at the Rudolph Steiner Hall, December 1927 as Harlequin. He performed at the Old Vic, Sadler's Wells and toured France and Germany. he played Macbeth, Romeo, Trip in School for Scandal amongst others. His first west end appearance was at the Shaftesbury Theatre, May 1934 in the Voysey Inheritance. He joined the army in June 1940 and became the supervisor of productions of the BBC service broadcasts. Most of his army work was done under the alias Charles Richardson. For some reason the name GORING wasn't too popular at the time. He was a founder member of British Equity in 1929. He lists his recreations as walking, riding, skating and travelling.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Athole Stewart was born on 25 June 1879 in Ealing, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Speckled Band (1931), Jack of All Trades (1936) and Faithful Hearts (1932). He was married to Ellen Frances Hatch. He died on 18 October 1940 in Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Helen Haye was born on 28 August 1874 in Assam Province, British India. She was an actress, known for The Frightened Lady (1940), The 39 Steps (1935) and Drake the Pirate (1935). She was married to Ernest Attenborough. She died on 1 September 1957 in London, England, UK.
- Diminutive Scots character actor of quirky personality and gift of gab. As a drama student at St. Andrews, he first performed in productions staged by the university's dramatic society. He served with the Royal Scots during World War I, then forged a career playing comic roles on the Shakespearean stage, where he was often billed as 'D.Hay Petrie'. With the Old Vic from 1920, he was much acclaimed for his performances as Sly in "The Taming of the Shrew" and as Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The screen saw him as eccentric personae, well-cast in period drama and in Dickensian parts (such as the malevolent debt-collector Quilp, in The Old Curiosity Shop (1934) and as the corn-chandler Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations (1946)). An inveterate scene-stealer, Petrie was able to slip with consummate ease from genre to genre and from comical to villainous.
He is perhaps best remembered as The MacLaggan in The Ghost Goes West (1935) and as the evil Dr. Fosco in Crimes at the Dark House (1940). To his ever-lasting regret, he missed out on the two parts he most coveted: that of Sancho Panza in Feodor Chaliapin Sr.'s film version of Don Quixote (1933) and as Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). Petrie died suddenly, just two weeks after his 53rd birthday, from undisclosed causes. - The movie character actor Skelton Knaggs, who was possessed of one of the most unusual visages ever to grace motion pictures, was born Skelton Barnaby Knaggs in the Hillsborough district of Sheffield, England on June 27, 1911. Before he became known for his unusual physical appearance that was put to good use in many horror films and thrillers, he was a man of the theater: he learned his craft after moving to London to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Upon graduation, he became a Shakespearean actor, appearing on stage in Shakespeare's Cymbeline, but he is known as a movie actor, first plying that trade in English quota quickies in the 1930s, making his debut in The High Command (1936), in support of Lionel Atwill. At the end of the decade, as the war clouds gathered over Europe, he appeared in Michael Powell's U-Boat 29 (1939) with Conrad Veidt.
After moving to Los Angeles, California, Knaggs found steady work in Hollywood movies. His diminutive frame and eccentric-looking looking appearance led to him being type-cast in sinister parts, usually in horror movies. Knaggs was employed by directors for his ability to inject a menacing mood into a picture through his unique presence alone.
He made his American film debut in the 1939 Poverty Row potboiler Torture Ship (1939) for the Producers Distributing Corporation. Knaggs appeared as a murderer shanghaied by a mad doctor played by Irving Pichel, who indulged his penchant for medical research on a ship stocked with criminals as a floating laboratory, the villains used as guinea pigs for glandular experiments. He next appeared in the Victor McLaglen picture Diamond Frontier (1940) at Universal. He did not appear again in motion pictures until 1943, when he was cast in Thumbs Up (1943) at Republic. From then on, he had a busy movie career for the next 12 years.
Along with his classical acting training, Knaggs' looks and demeanor (to say nothing about that memorable name) enabled him to make the transition to higher-budgeted films produced by the major studios, although he remained typecast in creepy roles. He became a regular supporting player in Universal Pictures B horror picture unit, popping up in such classics of the genre as House of Dracula (1945) (in which he appeared as the rabble rouser "Steinmuhl"). Other memorable roles came in The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) and Terror by Night (1946), the latter movie being the penultimate entry in the Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes series at Universal. In the Holmes movie, Knaggs has a role as a stealthy assassin.
Typed in malevolent supporting parts from the beginning of his career in Hollywood, it was a genre ghetto that he could not break out of. However, it did provide him with the finest role of his career, and the one part that came closest to a starring role, the mute Finn in producer Val Lewton's The Ghost Ship (1943) (directed by Mark Robson). Knaggs played a Finnish seaman in the psychological thriller (a mute, though his character narrates the film's key sections with an internal voice-over monologue). Despite turning in a fine performance in one of the seminal classics of the horror genre, Knaggs' reputation did not gain much luster as "The Ghost Ship" was withdrawn from distribution soon after its release due to legal problems, not going back into circulation until the mid-1990s.
He played villains in Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946) and Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) (in which the spectacularly unattractive Knaggs mocks Boris Karloff's "gruesome" face).
Knaggs briefly returned to England in the late 1940s, marrying Thelma Crawshaw in 1949. Returning to Hollywood as the decade of the 1950s approached, Knaggs appeared the lab assistant of mad doctor 'Alan Napier' in the 1949 Bowery Boys film "Master Minds" (featuring 'Glenn Strange' as the monster "Atlas"), as a villain in Columbia's science-fiction serial Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (1951), and as one of the sidekicks of Robert Newton's Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952). The last film in which he appeared was Fritz Lang's Moonfleet (1955).
In 1955, Knaggs died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 43. His like will likely never be seen again! - John Penrose was born on 5 May 1914 in Southsea, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Adventures of Tartu (1943) and The Adventures of P.C. 49: Investigating the Case of the Guardian Angel (1949). He died on 22 May 1983 in London, England, UK.
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The British character actor Bernard Miles was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, England, in 1907; his father was a farm laborer and his mother was a cook. After graduation from Pembroke College, Oxford, he was a teacher for a while and then joined the New Theatre in London. In 1937, he worked in Herbert Farjeon's revue company and established his theatrical career. He made appearances in relatively few films, serving as director, producer, and screenwriter, as well as actor, on a number of them. In 1959, Miles opened the Mermaid Theatre in London; his contributions to the London stage won him a knighthood in 1969 and a life peerage ten years later.- Bryan Herbert was born on 24 April 1894 in Dublin, Ireland, UK. He was an actor, known for The Alcoa Hour (1955), 'Pimpernel' Smith (1941) and General John Regan (1938). He died in 1963 in New York, USA.
- Sydney Tafler was born on 31 July 1916 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Operation Diplomat (1953) and It Always Rains on Sunday (1947). He was married to Joy Shelton. He died on 8 November 1979 in London, England, UK.
- Joy Shelton was born on 3 June 1922 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Millions Like Us (1943), Impulse (1954) and The Green Finger (1946). She was married to Sydney Tafler. She died on 28 January 2000 in Surrey, England, UK.
- Geoffrey Hibbert was born on 2 June 1922 in Sculcoates, Hull, Humberside, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Love on the Dole (1941), The Shipbuilders (1943) and The Hundred Hour Hunt (1952). He was married to Prudence Rennick. He died on 3 February 1969 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK.
- "Fearless" Freddie Mills was born on June 26, 1919 in Bournemouth, England. In 1936, at the age of 17, he began a highly successful and colorful professional boxing career which made him the "darling" of the British fight scene. At 5' 10" and 175lbs., Mills was noted for his hard-charging, straight ahead style of brawling. It took 6 years for him to break into the world rankings. But in 1942 at the height of World War II, he knocked out Len Harvey in 2 rounds to capture the British Commonwealth Light heavyweight Championship. He went on to win the European 175 pound title with a knockout over Pol Goffaux, and in 1948 defeated Gus Lesnevich to win the World Light heavyweight Boxing Championship. Mills boxing career and championship days were numbered however. Noted for a "fast" lifestyle of enjoying the night-life, he was finished at 31 years old and after losing his World Championship to Joey Maxim on January 24, 1950, he retired. Mills was extremely popular even in retirement and ran a highly successful nightclub. He also had character roles in a number of films and was a presenter on the early BBC TV music show, Six-Five Special (1957). He died of gunshot wounds on July 25, 1965 under a cloud of mystery. Although he had tax problems and the official verdict was suicide, many people believe he was murdered.
- Born in Vienna. Studied at Max Reinhardt School. Early years as entertainer at Reiss Bar in Vienna. Often appeared at still-existing Raimund-Theater. Met wife, Liselotte, on stage in Brno (now Czech Republic). She escaped to London in 1938, he in 1939, where they married that year. Frequent appearances on German BBC during the war. Appeared often on British stage, including "Point of Departure" (with Dirk Bogarde, Mai Zetterling and Brenda de Banzie), "Settled out of Court" (with Nigel Patrick) and "The Threepenny Opera" (with Bill Owen, Georgia Brown, George A. Cooper, Lisa Lee), playing the part of Peachum. Frequent TV appearances, including episodes of The Saint (1962) and The Avengers (1961). Resumed German-speaking career in 1965, starring in "Das Feuerwerk" in Munich (from which the song "Oh My Papa" comes). Among other stage appearances in Germany: "Der Talisman" and "Der Entertainer". Was back in Vienna on the stage, appearing at the Theater an der Wien in musicals, including: "Das Apartment" ("Promises, Promises"), in which he played the doctor (a version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" was inserted for him to sing), "Billy" (a version of "Billy Liar"), and "Die Graefin von Naschmarkt", in which he starred alongside Marika Rökk. Tales from the Vienna Woods (1979) was his last film. It was directed by Maximilian Schell, and was included in the 1979 London Film Festival. He died durng final rehearsals for his second appearance at the Salzburg Festival, playing together with Schell as the Dicke Fetter (the fat cousin) in the traditional "Jederman" ("Everyman").
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Dandy Nichols was born on 21 May 1907 in Fulham, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Alf Garnett Saga (1972), The Vikings (1958) and The Deep Blue Sea (1955). She was married to Stephen Baguley Waters. She died on 6 February 1986 in Whitechapel, London, England, UK.- Anthony Oliver was born on 4 July 1922 in Abersychan, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for The Nudist Story (1960), Love and Mr Lewisham (1959) and BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950). He was married to Eve ?. He died in November 1995 in London, England, UK.
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Michael Brennan was born on 25 September 1912 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Thunderball (1965), The Onedin Line (1971) and Johnny Nobody (1961). He was married to Mary Hignett. He died on 29 June 1982 in Chichester, West Sussex, England, UK.- Actor
- Writer
Arthur Lovegrove was born on 15 July 1913 in Fulham, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Eye of the Needle (1981), Meet Simon Cherry (1949) and The Avengers (1961). He was married to Cara Dorothea Kathleen Wilson and Marjorie Ruth Herridge. He died on 7 November 1981 in Surrey, England, UK.- In a career than spanned eight decades, Thora Hird was widely-regarded as one of Britain's finest character actresses. She made over 100 films as well as starring in a host of TV comedies and, as a straight actress, excelled in the works of playwright Alan Bennett. Even in her 90s, she was working almost daily.
Born in Morecambe, Lancashire, the daughter of the manager of the local Royalty Theatre, she was carried on to the stage in a melodrama at the age of eight weeks. When old enough, she joined the Royalty's theatre company, although she kept a day job as a cashier in a grocery store. "I spent 10 years working in that grocery store", she recalled, "and I've played nearly all the customers I used to serve - maids, landladies, cleaners, forthright parents. When I'm acting, I'll do some little thing I've remembered, so simple". At the theatre, she appeared in over 500 plays and, in 1941, the comedian George Formby, on a visit to the theatre, recommended her to Michael Balcon at Ealing Film Studios. Put under contract, she first appeared in Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942) with Will Hay and a string of comedy films and dramas followed. In the same vein as the saucy seaside postcards of her Morecambe birth, Hird was usually cast as the all-seeing boarding house landlady, a gossiping neighbour or a sharp tongued mother-in-law.
In the 1950s, Hird was under contract to the Rank Organisation and was established as a major character actress. She worked with some of Britain's finest directors, including Herbert Wilcox, Lewis Gilbert and John Schlesinger but, by her own account, was not easily awed. "I've appeared in hundreds of films and television things and, in some cases, I literally mean 'appeared' around the door, that was all. Like anybody earning a living, I took most of the work that came along". She gave outstanding performances in Simon and Laura (1955) and The Entertainer (1960), opposite Laurence Olivier, but one of her best- remembered roles was that of the monstrous TV-addicted mother in A Kind of Loving (1962).
As her career progressed, she frequently returned to the stage, often in comedies, with comedians such as Arthur Askey and Harry Secombe, and, in 1964, she was memorably team with the comedian Freddie Frinton in the TV series, Meet the Wife (1963). She starred in a succession of hit TV comedies throughout the 70s and 80s but proof of her talent as a straight actress came in 1987, when she starred in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologue, A Creamcracker under the Settee for which she won a BAFTA award. She wrote several volumes of autobiography, including "Scene and Hird" and "Not in the Diary" and, in 1995, was the subject of a South Bank Show (ITV) monograph. One of the show's contributors, the actor Alan Bates, said of her, "Thora always had a grasp of her character immediately. She didn't have to work herself into a state to get it right. She is a naturally funny woman whose comedy is on the edge of tragedy. It's instinctive and very understanding of life itself".