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1-17 of 17
- Linked inextricably with actor Basil Radford, Welsh-born character actor Naunton Wayne, together with Radford, struck such a major chord with film audiences as an inept, uppercrust pair of cricket-obsessed British gents, that the two were invariably teamed up time and time again in a host of "veddy" popular film comedies. The perennial partners would prove equally popular on radio.
Next to the hearty, mustachioed Radford, the dapper-looking Wayne paled in size and appeared much tweedier in appearance. Born on June 22, 1901, he was educated at Clifton College in Bristol. A comic entertainer in Wales for the first eight years of his career, he arrived in London in 1928 and was utilized as an emcee and quipster in a number of West End stage productions, concert parties, vaudeville shows, cabarets and such night clubs as the Ritz, the Dorchester and Cafe de Paris. He didn't even consider straight acting roles until 1937. The legendary Alfred Hitchcock ignited the team spark after casting both in his classic mystery The Lady Vanishes (1938). As the characters Charters and Caldicott traveling by train through Europe, they nearly stole the show as a pair of cricket twits completely oblivious to the murder and mayhem happening on board, with victims piling up on the corridor floors, nefarious Nazis on the prowl and missing passengers nowhere to be found. Totally irrelevant to the plot, Wayne and Radford provided marvelously droll relief and their instant rapport, expertly written by screenwriters Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, did not go unnoticed.
The duo showed up again, courtesy of Gilliat and Launder, in director Carol Reed's Night Train to Munich (1940) -- same characters, same setting, same Hitchcockian suspense, same laughs. Radio was a natural diversion as well with Launder and Gilliat writing a serial for their Charters and Caldicott characters which they called "Crooks' Tour" in 1940. A same-titled film with them as the centerpiece was released the following year. They also popped up together in wartime shorts and co-starred in a second radio serial, "Secret Mission 609," with their usual bungling somehow foiling another sinsiter Nazi plot. The film Millions Like Us (1943) also utilized their popular deadpan characters, and they appeared in cameos together in The Next of Kin (1942) and the "Golfing Story" segment of the classic thriller Dead of Night (1945). Launder and Gilliat claimed a copyright on the character names so when Wayne and Radford turned down roles in the writers' I See a Dark Stranger (1946) due to their undernourished parts, Wayne and Radford bid adieu to the characters and returned to radio--together.
Their first appearance in "Double Bedlam" spawned a series of comedy-thrillers including "Traveller's Joy," "Crime Gentlemen Please," "That's My Baby," "Having a Wonderful Crime" and "May I Have the Treasure." This led back to their co-starring in films. In the vehicle It's Not Cricket (1949), in which they appeared as the characters Bright and Early, they played private eyes dogged by yet another Nazi. The climax was set, of course, during a cricket match. They made cameo appearances in two other late 1940s comedies Helter Skelter (1949) and Stop Press Girl (1949). While appearing on their 1952 radio adventure "Rogues' Gallery," Radford, age 55, suffer a fatal heart attack. Wayne continued the storyline alone.
Wayne appeared rather sparingly thereafter, usually in officious "perfect Englishman" roles. He filmed his final picture playing Lord Whitebait in Nothing Barred (1961). His last role was on the TV series John Browne's Body (1969). He passed away on November 17, 1970 in Surbiton, Surrey, England. - James Kenney was born on 20 July 1930 in Wandsworth, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), The Love Match (1955) and H.M. Tennent Globe Theatre (1956). He died on 13 January 1987 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Cynthia Grenville was born on 7 April 1931 in Gower, Glamorgan, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for Ivanhoe (1997), Doctor Who (1963) and Within These Walls (1974). She died on 21 November 2021 in Surbiton, Greater London, England, UK.
- Russell Napier was born on 28 November 1910 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. He was an actor, known for A Night to Remember (1958), The Case of the Red Monkey (1955) and The Time Machine (1949). He was married to Lois Mary Caird Miller. He died on 19 August 1974 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Neil Landor was born on 7 July 1925 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Hazell (1978), The Golden Door (1951) and The Dawson Miller Stable Hole Machine (1961). He died on 15 January 1987 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Norman Lee was born on 10 October 1898 in Sutton, Surrey, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for The Pride of the Force (1933), Josser on the River (1932) and The Monkey's Paw (1948). He died on 3 June 1964 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Giles Cooper was born on 9 August 1918 in Dublin, Ireland. He was a writer, known for Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971), Mystery and Imagination (1966) and Lilli Palmer Theatre (1955). He was married to Gwyneth Lewis. He died on 2 December 1966 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Guy Jones was born on 5 November 1874 in Dublin, Ireland, UK [now Republic of Ireland]. He was a composer and actor, known for Mutiny on the Elsinore (1937), Kathleen (1937) and Love's Old Sweet Song (1933). He died on 8 February 1959 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.- Mrs. Henry Lytton was born on 12 April 1864 in Kensington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Disraeli (1916), For Valour (1928) and Sixty Years a Queen (1913). She was married to Henry Lytton. She died on 2 May 1947 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Roy Royston was born on 5 April 1899 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Magistrate (1921), One Summer's Day (1917) and Just for a Song (1930). He was married to Dorothy Evelyn Taylor and Laura Marguerite Gould (née Carter). He died on 7 October 1976 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- C.H. Middleton was born on 22 February 1886 in Northamptonshire, England, UK. He was married to Rosa Annie Jenkins. He died on 18 September 1945 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Courtice Pounds was a successful stage actor and singer in operetta and musicals for much of his professional life. The most celebrated part of his career was possibly his time with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company which he joined in 1881 as Tenor Chorister, understudying Durward Lely, later progressing to Principal Tenor and creating the roles of Fairfax in "The Yeomen of the Guard" and Marco Palmieri in "The Gondoliers". When he left the Carte in 1895, he had also performed the following principal roles in other Gilbert and Sullivan operas: The Defendant in "Trial By Jury", Ralph in "HMS Pinafore", Tolloller in "Iolanthe", Hilarion in "Princess Ida", Nanki-Poo in "The Mikado", and Richard Dauntless in "Ruddigore". His first wife was fellow D'Oyly Carte singer, contralto Jessie Gaston (later Jessie Pounds, later Jessie Gaston-Murray). She sang with the Carte between 1885 and 1886, 1891 and 1892 and 1898 and 1901, playing the roles of Mrs Partlet in "The Sorcerer", Ruth in "The Pirates of Penzance", Jane in "Patience" and Inez in "The Gondoliers". Courtice's four sisters also sang with the D'Oyly Carte: Lily Pounds, who married fellow Carte singer George Mudie, sang with the company in 1888 as a mezzo-soprano chorister, and played the role of Kate in "The Pirates of Penzance"; Rosy Pounds, who sang as a chorister during 1887; Nancy Pounds, who married D'Oyly Carte bass William H. Kemble, and played the roles of Hebe in "HMS Pinafore", Isabel in "The Pirates of Penzance", Pitti-Sing in "The Mikado" and Phylla in "Utopia, Ltd." between 1887 and 1888, 1893 and 1895 and 1901 and 1903; and principal mezzo-soprano 'Louie Pounds". Courtice Pounds later married actress Millicent Pine.
- Patrick Colbert was born on 20 November 1897 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Shipmates o' Mine (1936), The Mikado (1926) and BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950). He died on 18 January 1971 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Casting Department
- Additional Crew
- Casting Director
Ann Stanborough was born in 1930 in Richmond, Surrey, England, UK. She was a casting director, known for Lifeforce (1985), Sword of the Valiant (1984) and The Shooting Party (1984). She died on 25 June 2014 in Surbiton, Greater London, England, UK.- P.G. Clark was born on 11 April 1896 in Whetstone, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Lure (1933) and Borrowed Clothes (1934). He died on 17 October 1964 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Eileen Gray was born on 25 April 1920 in Bermondsey, London, England, UK. She was married to Walter (Wally) Herbert Gray. She died on 20 May 2015 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.
- Shirley Lenner was born on 22 December 1923 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Those Kids from Town (1942) and Swingonometry (1943). She was married to Tibor Kunstler. She died on 15 December 1967 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.