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1-23 of 23
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
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 contemporaries of the National Theatre at the "Old Vic", London. He made his screen debut in 1924. Academy Award Best Supporting Actor, 1981, for Arthur (1981), Academy Award Nomination, 1964, for Becket (1964).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
An influential figure in the world of British television comedy during the 1960s and 70s, actor and comedian John Junkin wrote scripts for such shows as The Army Game, The World of Beachcomber, Queenie's Castle, plus scripts for many comedians, including Ted Ray, Jim Davidson, Bob Monkhouse and Mike Yarwood.
As an actor he became familiar to TV soap viewers when he starred in East Enders (2001), playing Ernie, a mysterious stranger who suddenly appears at the Queen Vic.
Junkin was born in Ealing, West London. Educated locally, he worked as a teacher in the East End of London but said he hated the job. "I loved the kids," he recalled. "But hated the adults and bores of the Education Authority."
In 1960 he joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in Stratford East and was in the original cast of Littlewood's production of Sparrers Can't Sing with Barbara Windsor.
Throughout the sixties and seventies he was one of the busiest men on television, both as a performer and scriptwriter. The comedian Marty Feldman won the Golden Rose Award with a Junkin script in 1972 and with Barry Cryer and others, Junkin contributed to many of the Morecambe and Wise specials for the BBC. He also wrote, with Bill Tidy, The Fosdyke Saga, and The Grumbleweeds for radio.
He had a prolific career in the cinema playing a variety of straight and comic roles and described himself as easy to cast: "I look like the bloke next door," he said. "I always seem to be wearing one of those sheepskin coats."
In the latter part of his career, Junkin became disillusioned with show business, particularly television. He fell out with a producer - he never revealed which one - over the writing of a game show for which he had devised the format. Litigation cost him £70,000 and he was also in debt to the tax man to the tune of £120,000. He did, however, return to scriptwriting and contributed to The Crazy World of Joe Pasquale (1998) and The Impressionable Jon Culshaw (2004) and he was much in demand as an after dinner speaker.
Close friend, former Radio 1 disc jockey Dave Lee Travis, said: If you were in conversation with John, you were always in a state of hilarity. He had no airs and graces."- This ill-fated British actress was born in the Shepherd's Bush area of London, England, on February 27, 1936. After the outbreak of World War II, young Virginia and her family were evacuated to South Africa. She eventually returned to London and entered a convent school where the pretty, gray-eyed brunette developed an interest in acting.
Virginia attended drama school and finally broke into the business with TV parts, usually playing demure young lasses in assorted dashing action series such as "The Buccaneers" and The Adventures of Robin Hood." Making a minor film debut for director Roy Boulting with Happy Is the Bride (1958), she achieved better notices with her second film. In Our Virgin Island (1958), she played the bride of John Cassavetes who learns to adapt to a Robinson Crusoe-styled existence. Co-starring an up-and-coming Sidney Poitier, the story lightly tinges on racial issues.
On the strength of this, Virginia won a contract with British Lion Pictures and showcased well in The Man Upstairs (1958) with Richard Attenborough, but less so playing a airline stewardess in the mediocre Jet Storm (1959) which also wasted a top-notch cast including Attenborough, Mai Zetterling, Diane Cilento, Stanley Baker and Sybil Thorndike.
Virginia's reticent but sincere approach to films worked remarkably well in an understated way, and she proved just as quietly compelling on stage with a prime role in "The Catalyst" in 1958 with Phil Brown and Renée Asherson. She showed escalating promise and earned BAFTA nominations for her memorable work in Young and Willing (1962) and as Peter Sellers' forlorn wife in Only Two Can Play (1962), but then all filming stopped.
This abrupt end was primarily due to her marriage in 1962 and a change of focus on family life. Other than occasional TV appearances in such popular series as "Danger Man" and "The Prisoner," Virginia was seldom seen. It was learned that following the birth of her second son in February, 1966, she began showing acute signs of post-natal depression.
In the summer of 1967 Virginia returned auspiciously to filming with a remake of the soap drama Interlude (1968) playing the cast-off wife of orchestra conductor Oskar Werner. She suffered a severe nervous breakdown following the film's shoot and never recovered.
On a bitterly cold day on January 24, 1968, Virginia took a major overdose of antidepressants, drove away from her home at Princes Risborough. She was found collapsed in a nearby wooded area the next day suffering from acute hypothermia. Although she was revived briefly, she died shortly after at a nearby hospital.
Virginia won a posthumous National Board of Review award and a BAFTA nomination for her work in "Interlude." During her relatively short career, the actress seemed doomed to play unhappy, sympathetic third parties in romantic triangles. While a notable sadness touched many of Virginia Maskell's roles, her performances are all the more haunting to watch knowing her personal tragedy. - Actor
- Director
- Writer
Nicholas Parsons was without doubt one of the UK's most popular and beloved television and radio personalities, and very few can claim to have had such a long entertainment career. The son of a doctor, he was raised in Lincolnshire until the age of eight, when the family moved to London. He was educated at St. Paul's School, London. He trained as an engineer but really wanted to become an actor and decided to pursue his dream. He performed in weekly repertory in Bromley for two years, playing a wide range of parts. His particular talent for comedy and impersonations made him a natural in cabaret and he became the resident comedian at the Windmill Theatre. Much work in radio followed.
Parsons acted in several British films during the 1950s and 1960s, including dramas such as The Third Key (1956) and Eyewitness (1956) and comedies such as Doctor in Love (1960) and Carry on Regardless (1961). On television he worked with Eric Barker and most notably on The Arthur Haynes Show (1956) as Haynes' straight man. In 1967 he became presenter of "Just a Minute", a comedy panel show on BBC Radio 4 which also featured regular appearances by Kenneth Williams over the next 20 years. Through the 1970s and into the 1980s, Parsons hosted the hugely popular ITV game show Sale of the Century (1971).
In 1989, having become so closely associated with comedy and light entertainment, Parsons surprised many when he returned to a dramatic role. He brought great depth and sensitivity to his portrayal of Reverend Wainwright, a tormented clergyman whose faith is tested to the limit by the horrors of the Second World War and the resurrection of a Viking curse in The Curse of Fenric: Part One (1989). It was one of the most unusual and complex characterizations ever created for the Doctor Who (1963) series, and Parsons later described this guest appearance as "one of the most treasured memories".
Parsons celebrated his 90th birthday in 2013 and he was joined at the party by stars including Esther Rantzen, Paul Merton and Gyles Brandreth. A performer of remarkable longevity, he was still taking his one-man show to the Edinburgh Fringe.- Actor
- Writer
Roger Milner was born on 2 April 1925 in Hexham, Northumberland, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Brideshead Revisited (1981), The Queen's Guards (1961) and ITV Playhouse (1967). He was married to Carol Snape. He died on 22 February 2014 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Joan Ellacott was born on 15 February 1920 in London, England, UK. She was a costume designer, known for Pride and Prejudice (1980), Floods of Fear (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She was married to Michael Mulcaster. She died on 4 January 2007 in Aylesbury, England, UK.- Writer
- Producer
Heather Couper was born on 2 June 1949 in Wallasey, Cheshire, England, UK. She was a writer and producer, known for Universe (1999), The Planets (1985) and The Stars (1988). She died on 19 February 2020 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Actress
- Music Department
Sheila Bromberg was born on 2 September 1928 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Around the World of Mike Todd (1967), Anne Lorne Gillies (1974) and A Song for Everyone (1958). She was married to Sydney Laurence. She died on 17 August 2021 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Cinematographer
Cedric Williams was born in 1913 in Birkenhead, England, UK. He was a cinematographer, known for Third Time Lucky (1949), The House in the Woods (1957) and The Adventures of P.C. 49: Investigating the Case of the Guardian Angel (1949). He died in 1999 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Cecil McGivern was born on 22 May 1907 in Fellling, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, UK. Cecil was a writer, known for Great Expectations (1946) and Blanche Fury (1948). Cecil died on 30 January 1963 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Eileen Beldon was born on 12 September 1901 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950), Laburnum Grove (1947) and Pygmalion (1938). She died on 3 August 1985 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Ludwig Guttmann was born on 3 July 1899 in Toszek, Prussia. He was married to Else Samuel. He died on 18 March 1980 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Elizabeth Kent was born on 6 October 1915 in Swansea, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for Why Pick on Me? (1937), Dial 999 (1938) and Racing Romance (1937). She died in 1954 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Howard Cochran was born in 1873 in St George Hanover Square, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for His Last Defence (1919), Beyond the Dreams of Avarice (1920) and The Skin Game (1921). He died on 5 May 1937 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Mike Smith was born on 6 December 1943 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Having a Wild Weekend (1965), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) and Get Yourself a College Girl (1964). He was married to Arlene Charles and Jill Smith. He died on 28 February 2008 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Art Department
- Sound Department
David Lusby was born in November 1930 in Romford, Essex, England, UK. He is known for The Fifth Element (1997), Entrapment (1999) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). He died in 2002 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Anne Pashley was born on 5 June 1935 in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Hansel and Gretel (1961), Peter Grimes (1981) and Music on 2 (1965). She was married to Jack Irons. She died on 7 October 2016 in Chilton House, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Actor
- Director
Cecil Mannering was born on 28 December 1886 in Chester, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for The Valley of Fear (1916), David Copperfield (1913) and Giddy Golightly (1917). He died in 1974 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Arthur Chisholm was born on 1 May 1884 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Bladys of the Stewpony (1919) and The Angel of the Ward (1915). He died in 1960 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Additional Crew
Mary Timewell was born in 1922 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. Mary was married to Edward Carrick. Mary died in 2005 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Location Management
- Production Manager
Micky Moynihan was born in 1937 in Paddington, London, England, UK. Micky was a production manager, known for Prospects (1986), Widows (1983) and Le Petomane (1979). Micky died in 1994 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Ian Rodger was born on 14 June 1926 in Brentford, Middlesex, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Elizabeth R (1971). He died on 30 August 1984 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
June Faithfull was born in 1926 in Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK. She is known for The Boy Who Stole a Million (1960), The Franchise Affair (1951) and The Secret Partner (1961). She was married to John Hills. She died in October 2001 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.