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1-21 of 21
- This urbane, sourly handsome British actor was born to privilege and most of his roles would follow suit. Born Dennistoun John Franklyn Rose-Price in Berkshire in 1915, Dennis Price, the son of a brigadier-general, was expected to abide by his family wishes and make a career for himself in the army or the church. Instead he became an actor. First on stage (Oxford University Dramatic Society) where he debuted with John Gielgud in "Richard II" in 1937, he was further promoted in the theatre by Noël Coward.
After brief extra work, Price nabbed early star-making film roles in several overbaked Gainsborough mysteries/melodramas, including A Place of One's Own (1945), The Magic Bow (1946) and Caravan (1946), but the one showcase role that could have led him to Hollywood, that of the title poet in The Bad Lord Byron (1949), proved a critical and commercial failure. He took this particularly hard and fell into severe depression. His fatally charming serial murderer in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which he does in nearly all of Alec Guinness' eight characters (Guiness plays eight different roles), is arguably his crowning achievement on celluloid.
By the 50s Price was suffering from severe alcoholism, which adversely affected his personal and professional career. A marriage to bit actress Joan Schofield in 1939 ended eleven years later, due to his substance abuse problem and homosexuality, the latter being a source of great internal anguish for him. They had two daughters.
Price became less reliable and fell steeply in his ranking, moving into less quality "B" pictures. Eccentric comedy renewed his fading star a bit in such delightful farces as Private's Progress (1956), I'm All Right Jack (1959) and School for Scoundrels (1960). TV also saved him for a time in the 60s with the successful series The World of Wooster (1965), in which he played the disdainful butler, Jeeves.
Bad times, however, resurfaced. He filed bankruptcy in 1967 and moved to the remote Channel Island of Sark for refuge. Many of his roles were reduced to glorified cameos and the necessity for cash relegated him to appearing in campy "Z" grade cheapfests, many helmed by the infamous writer/director Jesús Franco, a sort of Spanish version of Roger Corman. Vampyros Lesbos (1971) was just one of his dreadful entries. Price also played Dr. Frankenstein for Franco in Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972) [Dracula vs. Frankenstein] and the The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1973) [The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein]. Fully bloated and in delicate health, he died in 1973 at age 58 in a public ward from liver cirrhosis. A sad ending for one who of Britain's more promising actors and film stars. - Barry Jones was born on 6 March 1893 in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK. He was an actor, known for Brigadoon (1954), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) and Prince Valiant (1954). He died on 1 May 1981 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Born in Germany he went to America some time before the second World War and spent a year in Hollywood reading foreign scripts after which he returned to Berlin where he set up his own company to organise the remaking of foreign films into German language versions. One he handled was 'All Quiet on the Western Front', an anti war film that became a kind of personal crusade for him. On the opening night the Nazi's, then in power, put a bomb in the cinema. When the Nazis came into power he left Germany and divided his time between Britain, France and America. He changed his name to the more international sounding S.P. Eagle but changed it back when with 'On the Waterfront' he realised he'd made a film to which any man would be proud to put his name.- Actor
- Writer
Max Robertson was born on 28 August 1915 in Dacca, Bengal Presidency, British India [now in Dhaka, Bangladesh]. He was an actor and writer, known for Four Desperate Men (1959), Friends and Neighbours (1959) and Oh in Colour (1970). He was married to Elisabeth Beresford and Nancy Suttor. He died on 20 November 2009 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.- Music Department
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Ronnie Hazlehurst was born on 13 March 1928 in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The English Patient (1996), Only Fools and Horses (1981) and Yes Minister (1980). He died on 1 October 2007 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Although many reference sources inexplicably give Barry Gray's year of birth as 1925, he was in fact born John Livesey Eccles in Blackburn on 18 July 1908. His father John Haworth Eccles was a stationery traveller by profession, but both parents were said to be musically talented, and John Junior went to study at the Royal Manchester College of Music and at Blackburn Cathedral, learning composition from Matyas Seiber. His professional music career began with London publishers B. Feldman & Co. where he arranged scores for variety theatres, and he also worked for Radio Normandy. After war service with the R.A.F. he became a freelance composer and lyricist for radio, records and film music libraries. He joined the Performing Right Society in 1947 under his real name, but later changed it by deed poll to John Livesey Barry Gray. After several years as musical assistant to Eartha Kitt, Hoagy Carmichael and Vera Lynn, in 1956 he began a long and successful association with producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, scoring popular marionation series such as Twizzle, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds. He continued to compose independently, sometimes using the pseudonyms John Livesey, Gene Durant or Martin Jerbourg (a character in Bergerac). Barry Gray himself moved to the Channel Islands in 1970, settling in St Peter-in-the-Wood in Guernsey and with a music studio in St Peter Port, and occasionally guesting as pianist at island venues. He died of heart disease at Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital on 26 April 1984, age 75. His music continues to find favour with film makers, particularly the ever-popular Thunderbirds March which enjoyed a notable revival in the expensive Thunderbirds remake of 2004.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Cyril Fletcher enjoyed something of a renaissance in his long comedy career in 1972 when TV producer and presenter Esther Rantzen asked him to join the consumer program That's Life and recite some of his 'Odd Odes'. He proved such a success with the audience that he became a fixture of the show for eight years. Fletcher had been composing and performing his comic odes as a child and throughout his career as a first class comedian and pantomime 'dame' they were a staple part of his act. He was part of British variety's heyday both as a producer and performer and once said of the genre: "Variety as a cradle for stardom was unsurpassed. It is an exciting and exacting science."
Cyril Trevellian Fletcher was born in 1913. He began writing comic poetry when he was still at school and at an early age had ambitions to become a classical actor. His first job was as an insurance clerk but a chance meeting with the producer Greatorex Newman led to him appearing in the Fols De Rols Concert Party in 1936 at Hastings, Sussex.
Fletcher went on to appear at the Holborn Empire in London and was soon given his own radio series with the BBC. He topped bills in variety all over Britain and was one of the first comedians to appear on television at the BBC's new Alexandra Palace in the first pantomime ever televised, Dick Whittington.
After World War Two he and his wife Betty Astell presented summer shows and pantomimes throughout Britain.
On television Fletcher was a regular on What's My Line? and TV's first religious program Sunday Story but it was his lugubrious voice and cozy presence on That's Life that made him a household name in later years. Gardening was one of his great loves and for 14 years he was presenter of ATV's Gardening Time and in 1990 Cyril Fletcher's Lifestyle Garden.
He and his wife eventually retired to Guernsey in the Channel Islands but he still occasionally delighted audiences with his one man show After Dinner with Cyril Fletcher. He wrote an autobiography, Nice One, Cyril.- Music Department
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Robert Farnon was born on 24 July 1917 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a composer, known for The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Bear Island (1979) and His Majesty O'Keefe (1954). He was married to Patricia Smith. He died on 23 April 2005 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.- Nicholas Stuart was born on 15 December 1910 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Love Lottery (1954), The Night My Number Came Up (1955) and Johnny in the Clouds (1945). He died in 1985 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.
- Actor
- Writer
Maurice Colbourne was born on 24 September 1894 in Cuddington, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Arms and the Man (1932), The Last Chronicle of Barset (1959) and The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's (1961). He died on 22 September 1965 in Perelle, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.- Brian Walden was born on 8 July 1932 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The New Statesman (1987), Titmuss Regained (1991) and Weekend World (1972). He was married to Hazel Downes, Sybil Blackstone and Jane McKerron. He died on 9 May 2019 in St Peter Port, Guernsey, UK.
- Mary Barclay was born on 20 July 1916 in Williton, Somerset, England, UK. She was an actress, known for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950), Alexander Graham Bell (1965) and Sex and the Other Woman (1972). She was married to David Taylor and Richard Barclay. She died on 19 February 2008 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.
- Casting Director
- Production Manager
Patricia Smith was a casting director and production manager, known for King's Rhapsody (1955), Maytime in Mayfair (1949) and Let's Make Up (1954). She was married to Robert Farnon. She died on 4 October 2007 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.- E. Phillips Oppenheim was born on 22 October 1866 in London, England, UK. E. Phillips was a writer, known for The Golden Web (1926), The Black Box (1915) and Monte Carlo Nights (1934). E. Phillips died on 3 February 1946 in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.
- Actress
- Writer
- Music Department
Betty Astell was born on 23 May 1912 in Brondesbury, London, England, UK. She was an actress and writer, known for Strictly Illegal (1935), Magpie Masquerade (1949) and A Piece of Cake (1948). She was married to Cyril Fletcher. She died on 27 July 2005 in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.- Andrew York was born on 7 December 1930 in Georgetown, British Guiana. He was a writer, known for Danger Route (1967) and The Book Programme (1973). He died on 2 November 2017 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, England, UK.
- Cinematographer
Kenneth Charles Carr was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1888 the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Charles Carr of Brereton, Rugeley, England. His maternal grandfather was the Rev. Dr. Bowlan of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and he had a sister, Constance. A talented musician, he played cello in his teenage years. At the age of 21 his father bought him a ticket on a Union Castle ship bound for Cape Town, South Africa which began several years exploring South Africa and Kenya in search of adventure and opportunity.
In 1912, he bought a tract of land in the Masaka district of Uganda, where he built a house and planted coffee. He joined the British colonial army during World War I, enlisting initially in the Uganda Training Corp (Regiment No.8) as a Sergeant and then as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Uganda Carrier Corps and was engaged in minor skirmishes with the Germans along the southwestern Uganda frontier in 1916. Kenneth then built up a reputation as a "White Hunter" and was so highly regarded the he was chosen as the guide for the great expedition in 1921 of Prince Vilhelm of Sweden, who had come to Africa to collect specimens for the Stockholm Museum. Prince William's expedition killed scores of animals, among them fourteen of the now endangered mountain gorillas, which are still on display at the Stockholm Museum. A documentary film of the expedition was released in 1922 titled 'Med prins Wilhelm på afrikanska jaktstigar' and know in the United Kingdom as "The Cradle of the World". In 1927 he returned to England for a period and then went back to Africa.In 1938 he made a series of extraordinary colour films of Africa taken during a year-long safari from Uganda to the African west coast. Kenneth travelled to the United States in 1939 , bringing with him his film "Africa In Color", one of the earliest colour films made on that continent.The films were first screened in the USA at a dinner at The River Club, New York on the 25th March 1941 for the benefit of the British War Relief Society. On April 1st of that year in the auditorium of the Haven School he presented his film for The Young Woman's Community Club in Chicago. These were virtually the first color films of Africa to be shown in the United States. He had filmed the 1938 eruption of Nyamulagira volcano, the Bambutti pygmies, the Mangbetu, the women of the Congolese Babira tribe, and Nigerian horsemen wearing medieval-style armor. In the autumn of 1941 at the Art Students League, New York, Patrick Putnam, son of Dr. Charles Lowell Putnam, introduced Kenneth Carr to Rosamond Hasley.Rosamond, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Gurden Halsey, of Orange were engaged on October 8th, 1941 and married in May 1942. They lived in New York for a time in Rosamond's apartment (Owned by the son of J.P.Morgan) and she continued to work as a fashion illustrator. When the United States entered the war, Kenneth was recommended for a post in Washington with the Board of Economic Warfare and they moved to Alexandria, Virginia. It was Kenneth's role to provide information and expertise on Central Africa, when it became apparent that the war would not reach the region his position at the B.E.W. ended. After his time with the B.E.W., Kenneth's knowledge of mining landed him a position as a field engineer for mica production with the U.S. Metals Reserve Project in western North Carolina, and the Carr's moved to Spruce Pine where they lived for three years. Eventually, they bought a small property in Skyland, near Ashville. Kenneth and Rosamond eventually traveled to Africa.The couple spent two weeks in Leopoldville (Kinshasa), twelve days on the Congo River, then Stanleyville (Kisangani) and finally they settled in Gisenyi, Western Rwanda, close to the Congalese border. Kenneth and Rosamond divorced in 1953. Rosamund Carr remained in Gisenyi until her death in 2006 aged 93. In 1961 Kenneth Carr sailed from Mombassa back to the United Kingdom. He never returned to Africa and ended his days in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands in 1981.- Emiliano Sala (born 31 October 1990) was an Argentine footballer who in 2012 made his professional debut with the Bourdeaux football team in France. Three years later, he signed a five-year contract with Ligue 1 Nantes. It was not until 19 January 2019 that Sala then joined the Premier League side Cardiff City. Emiliano Sala was tragically killed in a plane that fell on the Channel Islands on 21 January 2019. He was 28 years old at the time of his death.
- Pamela Wood was born in July 1916 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Macushla (1937), East of Ludgate Hill (1937) and Dr. O'Dowd (1940). She died in January 2006 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.
- Steffani was born on 29 March 1904 in Beccles, Suffolk, England, UK. He died in 1974 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.
- Jo Scott Matthews was born on 4 June 1905 in Southsea, Hampshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Mr Pye (1986), The Haunting of M. (1979) and The XYY Man (1976). She died on 31 December 1999 in Guernsey, Channel Islands.