Matthew Broderick's March 21-September 19 people.
This is a list of everybody that was born on March 21-September 19 category in Matthew Broderick's perspective!
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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
- 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 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966), Swiss Family Robinson (1960) and The Avengers (1961). He died in January 1992 in London, England, UK.
- 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.
- British bit player Chris Adcock was born on April 7, 1922 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. Adcock first began appearing in films in uncredited minor roles in the late 1940's. A husky fellow with a rough face and short dark hair, Chris was frequently cast as soldiers, sailors, or assorted working class blokes. Adcock died at age 75 on January 1, 1998.
- 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).
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Sir Dirk Bogarde, distinguished film actor and writer, was born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde on March 28, 1921, to Ulric van den Bogaerde, the art editor of "The Times" (London) newspaper, and actress Margaret Niven in the London suburb of Hampstead. He was one of three children, with sister Elizabeth and younger brother Gareth. His father was Flemish and his mother was of Scottish descent.
Ulric Bogaerde started the Times' arts department and served as its first art editor. Derek's mother, Margaret - the daughter of actor and painter Forrest Niven - appeared in the play "Bunty Pulls The Strings", but she quit the boards in accordance with her husband's wishes. The young Derek Bogaerde was raised at the family home in Sussex by his sister, Elizabeth, and his nanny, Lally Holt.
Educated at the Allen Glen's School in Glasgow, he also attended London's University College School before majoring in commercial art at Chelsea Polytechnic, where his teachers included Henry Moore. Though his father wanted his eldest son to follow him into the "Times" as an art critic and had groomed him for that role, Derek dropped out of his commercial art course and became a drama student, though his acting talent at that time was unpromising. In the 1930s he went to work as a commercial artist and a scene designer.
He apprenticed as an actor with the Amersham Repertory Company, and made his acting debut in 1939 on a small London stage, the Q Theatre, in a role in which he delivered only one line. His debut in London's West End came a few months later in J.B. Priestley's play "Cornelius," in which he was billed as "Derek Bogaerde". He made his uncredited debut as an extra in the pre-war George Formby comedy Come on George! (1939).
The September 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union triggered World War II, and in 1940 Bogarde joined the Queen's Royal Regiment as an officer. He served in the Air Photographic Intelligence Unit and eventually attained the rank of major. Nicknamed "Pippin" and "Pip" during the war, he was awarded seven medals in his five years of active duty. He wrote poems and painted during the war, and in 1943, a small magazine published one of his poems, "Steel Cathedrals," which subsequently was anthologized. His paintings of the war are part of the Imperial War Museum's collection.
Similar to his character, Captain Hargreaves, in King & Country (1964), he was called upon to put a wounded soldier out of his misery, a tale recounted in one of his seven volumes of autobiography. While serving with the Air Photographic Intelligence Unit, he took part in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, which he said was akin to "looking into Dante's Inferno".
In one of his autobiographies, he wrote, "At 24, the age I was then, deep shock stays registered forever. An internal tattooing which is removable only by surgery, it cannot be conveniently sponged away by time."
After being demobilized, he returned to acting. His agent re-christened him "Dirk Bogarde," a name that he would make famous within a decade. In 1947 he appeared in "Power Without Glory" at the New Lindsay Theatre, a performance that was praised by Noël Coward, who urged him to continue his acting career. The Rank Organization had signed him to a contract after a talent scout saw him in the play, and he made his credited movie debut in Dancing with Crime (1947) with a one-line bit as a policeman.
His first lead in a movie came that year when Wessex Films, distributed by Rank, gave him a part in the proposed Stewart Granger film Sin of Esther Waters (1948). When Granger dropped out, Bogarde took over the lead. Rank subsequently signed him to a long-term contract and he appeared in a variety of parts during the 14 years he was under contract to the studio.
For three years he toiled in Rank movies as an apprentice actor without making much of a ripple; then in 1950, he was given the role of young hood Tom Riley in the crime thriller The Blue Lamp (1950) (the title comes from the blue-colored light on police call-boxes in London), the most successful British film of 1950, which established Bogarde as an actor of note. Playing a cop killer, an unspeakable crime in the England of the time, it was the first of the intense neurotics and attractive villains that Bogarde would often play.
He continued to act on-stage, appearing in the West End in Jean Anouilh's "Point of Departure". While he was praised for his performance, stage acting made him nervous, and as he became more famous, he began to be mobbed by fans. The pressure of the public adulation proved overwhelming, particularly as he suffered from stage fright. He was accosted by crowds of fans at the stage door during the 1955 touring production of "Summertime," and his more enthusiastic admirers even shouted at him during the play. He was to appear in only one more play, the Oxford Playhouse production of "Jezebel," in 1958. He never again took to the boards, despite receiving attractive offers.
He first acted for American expatriate director Joseph Losey in The Sleeping Tiger (1954). Losey, a Communist and self-described Stalinist at the time, had emigrated to England after being blacklisted in Hollywood after he refused to direct The Woman on Pier 13 (1949) at RKO Pictures, which was owned by right-wing multi-millionaire Howard Hughes at the time, and he was accused in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee of being a Communist. The director, like Bogarde, would not find his stride until the early 1960s, and Losey and Bogarde would build their reputations together.
First, however, Losey had to overcome Bogarde's reluctance to star in a low-budget film (shot for $300,000) with a blacklisted American director. Losey, who had never heard of Bogarde until he was proposed for the film, met with him and asked Bogarde to view one of his pictures. After seeing the film, Bogarde was enthusiastic, and Losey talked him into taking the role, which he accepted at a reduced fee (Losey originally was not credited with directing the film due to his being blacklisted in the States). A decade later they would make more memorable films that would be watersheds in their careers.
It was not drama but comedy that made Dirk Bogarde a star. He achieved the first rank of English movie stardom playing Dr. Simon Sparrow in the comedy Doctor in the House (1954). The film was a smash hit, becoming one of the most popular British films in history, with 17 million admissions in its first year of release. As Sparrow, Bogarde became a heartthrob and the most popular British movie star of the mid-50s. He reprised the character in Doctor at Sea (1955), Doctor at Large (1957).
The title of the latter film may have described his mood as a serious actor having to do another turn as Dr. Sparrow between his career-making performances in Losey's The Servant (1963), with a script by Harold Pinter, and Losey's adaptation of the stage play King & Country (1964), in which Bogarde memorably played the attorney for a young deserter (played by Tom Courtenay).
Bogarde, hailed as "the idol of the Odeons" in honor of his box-office clout, was offered the role of Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger (1959) by producer Harry Saltzman and director Tony Richardson, based on the play that touched off the "Angry Young Man" and "Kitchen Sink School" of contemporary English drama in the 1950s. Though Bogarde wanted to take the part, Rank refused to let him make the film on the grounds that there was "altogether too much dialog." The part went to Richard Burton instead, who went over-the-top in portraying his very angry, not-so-young man.
After this disappointment, Bogarde went to Hollywood to play Franz Liszt in Song Without End (1960) and to appear in Nunnally Johnson's Spanish Civil War drama The Angel Wore Red (1960) with Ava Gardner. Both were big-budgeted films, but hampered by poor scripts, and after both films failed, Bogarde avoided Hollywood from then on.
He was reportedly quite smitten with his French "Song Without End" co-star Capucine, and wanted to marry her. Capucine, who suffered from bi-polar disorder, was bisexual with an admitted preference for women. The relationship did not lead to marriage, but did result in a long-term friendship. It apparently was his only serious relationship with a woman, though he had many women friends, including his I Could Go on Singing (1963) co-star Judy Garland.
In the early 1960s, with the expiration of his Rank contract, Bogarde made the decision to abandon his hugely successful career in commercial movies and concentrate on more complex, art house films (at the same time, Burt Lancaster made a similar decision, though Lancaster continued to alternate his artistic ventures with more crassly commercial endeavors). Bogarde appeared in Basil Dearden's seminal film Victim (1961), the first British movie to sympathetically address the persecution of homosexuals. His career choice alienated many of his old fans, but he was no longer interested in being a commercial movie star; he, like Lancaster, was interested in developing as an actor and artist (however, that sense of finding himself as an actor did not extend to the stage. His reputation was such in 1963 that he was invited by National Theatre director Laurence Olivier to appear as Hamlet to open the newly built Chichester Festival Theatre. That production of the eponymous play also was intended to open the National Theatre's first season in London. Bogarde declined, and the honor went instead to Peter O'Toole, who floundered in the part.)
Jack Grimston, in Bogarde's "Sunday Times" obituary of May 9, 1999, entitled "Bogarde, a solitary star at the edge of the spotlight," said of the late actor that he "belonged to a group that was rare in the British cinema. He was a fine screen player who owed little to the stage. Dilys Powell, the Sunday Times film critic, wrote of him before her own death: 'Most of our gifted film players really belonged to the theater. Bogarde belonged to the screen.'" Bogarde had won the London Critics Circle's Dilys Powell award for outstanding contribution to cinema in 1992.
Appearing in "Victim" was a huge career gamble. In the film, Bogarde played a married barrister who is being blackmailed over his closeted homosexuality. Rather than let the blackmail continue, and allow the perpetrators to victimize other gay men, Bogarde's character effectively sacrifices himself, specifically his marriage and his career, by bravely confessing to be gay (homosexuality was an offence in the United Kingdom until 1967, and there reportedly had been a police crackdown against homosexuals after World War II which made gay men particularly vulnerable to blackmail).
The film was not released in mainstream theaters in the US, as the Production Code Administration (PCA) refused to classify the film and most theaters would not show films that did not carry the PCA seal of approval. "Victim" was the antithesis of the light comedy of Bogarde's "Doctor" movies, and many fans of his character Simon Sparrow were forever alienated by his portrayal of a homosexual. For himself, Bogarde was proud of the film and his participation in it, which many think stimulated public debate over homosexuality. The film undoubtedly raised the public consciousness over the egregious and unjust individual costs of anti-gay bigotry. The public attitude towards the "love that dared not speak its name" changed enough so that within six years, the 1967 Sexual Offences Act decriminalizing homosexual acts between adults passed Parliament. Bogarde reported that he received many letters praising him for playing the role. His courage in taking on such a role is even more significant in that he most likely was gay himself, and thus exposed himself to a backlash.
Bogarde always publicly denied he was a homosexual, though later in life he did confess that he and his manager, Anthony Forwood, had a long-term relationship. When Bogarde met him in 1939, Forwood was a theatrical manager, who eventually married and divorced Glynis Johns. Forwood became Bogarde's friend and subsequently his life partner, and the two moved to France together in 1968. They bought a 15th-century farmhouse near Grasse in Provence in the early 1970s, which they restored. Bogarde and Forwood lived in the house until 1983, when they returned to London so that Forwood could be treated for cancer, from which he eventually died in 1988. Bogarde nursed him in the last few months of his life. After Forwood died, Bogarde was left rudderless and he became more reclusive, eventually retiring from films after Daddy Nostalgia (1990).
Mark Rowe and Jeremy Kay, in their obituary of Bogarde, "Two brilliant lives - on film and in print," published in "The Independent" on May, 9, 1999, wrote, "Although he documented with frankness his early sexual encounters with girls and later his adoring love for Kay Kendall and Judy Garland, he never wrote about his longest and closest relationship - with his friend and manager for more than 50 years, Tony Forwood. Sir Dirk said the clues to his private life were in his books. "If you've got your wits about you, you will know who I am." The British documentary The Private Dirk Bogarde: Part One (2001) made with the permission of his family, stressed the fact that he and Forwood were committed lifelong partners.
In the same issue, the National Film Theatre's David Thompson, in the article "The public understood he was essentially gay," wrote about Bogarde at his high-water mark in the 1950s, that "Audiences of that time loved him . . . Very few people picked up on the fact that there was a distinct gay undertone. It says something about British audiences of the time. He had the good fortune to break out of that prison, and it came through the film Victim (1961), where he played a gay character, and through meeting with Joseph Losey, who directed him in The Servant (1963). For the first time, Bogarde's ambivalence was exploited and used by film."
Bogarde's sexuality is not the issue; what was striking was that it was an act of personal courage for one of Britian's leading box-office attractions to appear in such a provocative and controversial film. Even in the 21st century, many mainstream actors are afraid to play a gay character lest they engender a public backlash against themselves, which is much less likely than it was more than 40 years ago when Bogarde made "Victim."
Apart from sociology, "Victim" marks the milestone in which critics and audiences could discern the metamorphosis of Bogarde into the mature actor who went on to become one of the cinema's finest performers. Most of Bogarde's best and most serious roles come after "Victim," the film in which he first stretched himself and broke out of the mold of "movie star." He received the first of his six nominations as Best Actor from the British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) for the film.
Bogarde co-starred with John Mills in The Singer Not the Song (1961), and with Alec Guinness in Damn the Defiant! (1962) (a.k.a. "Damn the Defiant!"). In 1963 he reunited with Losey to film the first of two Losey films with screenplays by Pinter. Bogarde's participation in the two Losey/Pinter collaborations, The Servant (1963) and Accident (1967), in addition to 1964's "King & Country", solidified his reputation. Critics and savvy moviegoers appreciated the fact that Bogarde had developed into a first-rate actor. For his role as the eponymous servant, Bogarde won BAFTA's Best Actor Award. He had now "officially" arrived in the inner circle of the best British film actors.
These three films also elevated Losey into the ranks of major directors (Bogarde also starred in Losey's 1966 spy spoof Modesty Blaise (1966), but that film did little to enhance either man's reputation. He turned down the opportunity to appear in Losey's The Assassination of Trotsky (1972) due to the poor quality of the script).
Philip French, in his obituary "Dark, exotic and yet essentially English", published in "The Observer" on May 9, 1999, said of Bogarde, "Losey discovered something more complex and sinister in his English persona and his performance as Barrett, the malevolent valet in 'The Servant,' scripted by Harold Pinter, is possibly the most subtle, revealing thing he ever did - by confronting his homosexuality in a non-gay context."
Losey told interviewer Michel Ciment that his work with Bogarde represented a turning point in the actor's career, when he developed into an actor of depth and power. He also frankly admitted to Ciment that without Bogarde, his career would have stagnated and never reached the heights of success and critical acclaim that it did in the 1960s.
Interestingly during the filming of "The Servant." Losey was hospitalized with pneumonia. He asked Bogarde to direct the film in order to keep shooting so that the producers would not cancel the film. A reluctant Bogarde complied with Losey's wishes and directed for ten days. He later said that he would never direct again.
Bogarde co-starred with up-and-coming actress Julie Christie in John Schlesinger's Darling (1965), for which Christie won a Best Actress Oscar and was vaulted into 1960s cinema superstardom. During the filming of the movie, both Bogarde and Christie were waiting to hear whether they would be cast as Yuri Zhivago and his lover Lara in David Lean's upcoming blockbuster Doctor Zhivago (1965). Christie got the call, Bogarde didn't, but he was well along in the process of establishing himself as one of the screen's best and most important actors. He won his second BAFTA Best Actor Award for his performance in "Darling."
Bogarde went on to major starring roles in such important pictures as The Fixer (1968), for which Alan Bates won a Best Actor Academy Award nomination. While Bogarde never was nominated for an Oscar, he had the honor of starring in two films for Luchino Visconti, The Damned (1969) ("The Damned") and Death in Venice (1971), based on Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice." Bogarde felt that his performance as Gustav von Aschenbach, the dying composer in love with a young boy and with the concept of beauty, in "Death in Venice" was the "the peak and end of my career . . . I can never hope to give a better performance in a better film."
Visconti told Bogarde that when the lights went up in a Los Angeles screening room after a showing of "Death in Venice" for American studio executives, no one said anything. The silence encouraged Visconti, who believed it meant that the executives were undergoing a catharsis after watching his masterpiece. However, he soon realized that, in Bogarde's own words, "Apparently they were stunned into horrified silence . . . A group of slumped nylon-suited men stared dully at the blank screen." One nervous executive, feeling something should be said, got up and asked, "Signore Visconti, who was responsible for the score of the film?"
"Gustav Mahler," Visconti replied.
"Just great!", said the nervous man. "I think we should sign him."
After "Venice", Bogarde made only seven films over the next two decades and was scathing about the quality of the scripts he was offered. To express himself artistically, he began to write. In his third volumes of autobiography, he wrote, "No longer do the great Jewish dynasties hold power: the people who were, when all is said and done, the Picture People. Now the cinema is controlled by vast firms like Xerox, Gulf & Western, and many others who deal in anything from sanitary-ware to property development. These huge conglomerates, faceless, soulless, are concerned only with making a profit; never a work of art . . . "
He rued the fact that "it is pointless to be 'superb' in a commercial failure; and most of the films which I had deliberately chosen to make in the last few years were, by and large, just that. Or so I am always informed by the businessmen. The critics may have liked them extravagantly, but the distributors shy away from what they term 'A Critic's Film', for it often means that the public will stay away. Which, in the mass, they do: and if you don't make money at the box-office you are not asked back to play again."
However, the courageous artist was not to be daunted: "But I'd had very good innings. Better than most. So what the hell?" His well-written works were enthusiastically received by critics and the book-buying public.
Bogarde appeared in another film that flirted with the theme of German fascism, Liliana Cavani's highly controversial The Night Porter (1974) ("The Night Porter"). He played an ex-SS officer who encounters a woman with whom he had been engaged in a sado-masochistic affair at a World War II Nazi extermination camp. Many critics found the film, which featured extensive nudity courtesy of Charlotte Rampling, crassly offensive, but no one faulted Bogarde's performance.
He played Lt. Gen. Frederick "Boy" Browning in the all-star blockbuster A Bridge Too Far (1977). Although some of his fellow actors were World War II veterans, only Bogarde had been involved in the actual battle. His performance arguably is the best in the film. Appearing in Alain Resnais' art house hit Providence (1977) gave Bogarde the opportunity to co-star with John Gielgud. He also starred in German wunderkind Rainer Werner Fassbinder's adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Despair (1978), with a script by Tom Stoppard. Though the film was not much of a critical success, Bogarde's acting as 1930s German businessman Hermann Hermann, a man who chooses to go mad when faced with the paradoxes of his life in his proto-fascist fatherland, was highly praised.
Bogarde enjoyed working with Fassbinder. He wrote that "Rainer's work was extraordinarily similar to that of Visconti's; despite their age difference, they both behaved, on set, in much the same manner. Both had an incredible knowledge of the camera: the first essential. Both knew how it could be made to function; they had the same feeling for movement on the screen, of the all-important (and often-neglected) 'pacing' of a film, from start to finish, of composition, of texture, and probably most of all they shared that strange ability to explore and probe into the very depths of the character which one had offered them."
After his experience with Fassbinder, he acted only four more times, twice in feature films and twice on television. Bogarde was nominated for a Golden Globe for playing Roald Dahl in The Patricia Neal Story (1981). He got rave reviews playing Jane Birkin's father in Bertrand Tavernier's Daddy Nostalgia (1990), his last film.
In 1984 Bogarde was asked to serve as president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, a huge honor for the actor, as he was the first Briton ever to serve in that capacity. Two years earlier he had been made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des lettres 1982. A decade later, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on February 13, 1992.
Bogarde won two Best Actor Awards out of six nominations from the British Academy of Film & Television Arts, for "The Servant" and "Darling" in 1964 and 1966, respectively. He was also nominated in 1962 for "Victim," in 1968 for "Accident" and Our Mother's House (1967) and in 1972 for "Morte a Venezia."
Bogarde suffered a stroke in 1996, and though it rendered him partially paralyzed, he was able to recover and live in his own flat in Chelsea. However, by May of 1998 he required around-the-clock nursing care, and he had his lawyers draw up a "living will," also known as a no-resuscitation order. Bogarde publicly came out in favor of voluntary euthanasia, becoming Vice President of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society. He publicly addressed the subject of his own "living will," which ordered that no extraordinary measures be taken to keep him alive should he become terminally ill.
The living will proved unnecessary. Dirk Bogarde died of a heart attack on May 8, 1999, in his home in Chelsea, London, England. According to his nephew Brock Van den Bogaerde, the family planned to hold a private funeral but no memorial service in accordance with his uncle's wish "just to forget me." Bogarde wanted to be cremated and have his ashes scattered in France, and accordingly, his remains were returned to Provence.
Margaret Hinxman, in her May 10, 1999, obituary in "The Guardian", said of him, "At his peak and with directors he trusted - Joseph Losey, Luchino Visconti and Alain Resnais - Dirk Bogarde . . . was probably the finest, most complete, actor on the screen."
Clive Fisher's obituary in "The Independent" on May 10, 1999, praised Bogarde as "a major figure because, wherever they were made, his finest films are all somehow about him. He was a great self-portraitist and the screen persona he fashioned, a stylization of his private being, not only dominated its surroundings but spoke subliminally and powerfully to British audiences about the tensions of the time, about connivances and cruel respectabilities of England in the Fifties and Sixties."
The secret of Dirk Bogarde's success as a great cinema actor was his intimate relationship with the camera. Bogarde believed that the key to acting on film was the eyes, specifically, the "look" of the actor. Like Alan Ladd, it didn't matter if an actor was good with line readings if they had mastery over the "look." For many critics and movie-goers at the end of the 20th century, Dirk Bogarde's face epitomized the "look" of Britain in the tumultuous decades after the Second World War.
David Tindle's portrait of Bogarde is part of the collection of London's National Portrait Gallery, London. In 1999, the portrait, on temporary loan, was displayed at 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence, with other modern works of art. Officially, Dirk Bogarde had become the look of Britain.- 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.
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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.- 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.
- 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.
- 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. - 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.
- Czeslaw Konarski was born on 31 March 1914 in Warsaw, Poland. He was an actor, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Flight from Folly (1945) and No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1948). He died on 18 August 1985 in Warsaw, Poland.
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He was born 21st March 1912 in London, the fourth son of Sir William James Bull M.P. and Lillian Heather Brandon. Educated at Winchester College, he started in journalism before studying for the stage with Elsie Fogerty and made his stage debut at London's Shaftsbury Theatre in As You Like It on 15th June 1933. In 1941 he joined the navy as an ordinary seaman, eventually becoming a commander of a landing craft in the Mediterranean during which time he was promoted to Lt. Commander and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He left the service in 1948 and returned to acting both on stage and in films. In between times he used his journalism experience to write a number of books, including "To Sea in a Sieve" (1956) "Bulls in the Meadow" (1957), "I Know the Face But..." (1959), "Not on Your Telly" (1961), "I Say Look Here" (1965), and ran a small shop in Notting Hill Gate, in London.- 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.
- 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.
- Clifford Mollison was born on 30 March 1897 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), The Lucky Number (1932) and A Southern Maid (1934). He died on 4 June 1986 in Cyprus.
- 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: The Movie (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.- 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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Peter Burton was born on 4 April 1921 in Bromley, Kent, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Dr. No (1962), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Avengers (1961). He was married to Lillias Walker. He died on 27 November 1989 in Chelsea, London, England, UK.- 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.- Actor
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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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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), Department S (1969) and Carry on Sergeant (1958). 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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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
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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.
- 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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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.- Michael Ward was born George William Everard Yeo on 9th April 1909 in the village of Carmenellis, Cornwall. Being the son of a clergyman, his family moved from parish to parish for most of his early life. He detested this nomadic lifestyle and being an only child. It was not until 1930 when the family settled in Caddington, near Luton, that he got the chance to make friends and become independent.
Between 1930 and 1945 Michael worked as a private tutor and then as an ambulance driver during the war years.
By March 1946 he had chosen acting after abandoning his first love, to be a concert pianist, winning a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
On completing the course, he began auditioning and in 1946 landed the role as understudy to comedian Vic Oliver in The Night and the Music at the Coliseum, now the home of English National Opera.
This was the beginning of a long career in supporting roles comprising of nearly seventy films, twenty West End shows and over two hundred television appearances.
It was in 1947 that Michael secured his first film role. Directed by Alexander Korda, An Ideal Husband starred Paulette Goddard and was released in June of that year. It was generally well received and acted as a springboard for Michael's screen career, as between 1947 and 1960 he starred in no fewer than thirty films, making him one of the country's busiest and best-known character actors.
The year 1961 brought Michael to the attention of an even wider audience, playing the photographer in Carry On Regardless. Further roles in the series included 'Man in Tweeds' in Carry On Cabbie, 'Archimedes' in Carry On Cleo, 'Vivian the Window Dresser' in Carry On Screaming and 'Andre the Wigmaker' in Carry On Don't Lose Your Head.
The BFI credited Michael as delivering one of the funniest one liners in British film history, as the effete gentleman in tweeds who alights from Kenneth Connors' black cab. Remember it? Watch it again and judge for yourself.
Other classic British comedy vehicles included four Norman Wisdom comedies, as well as dozens of other films, but eventually television provided the bread and butter of his later career.
His work on the big screen was reflected on TV, from the early 1960's to the mid-1970's, the golden age of British television comedy. Appearances ranged from Hancock's Half Hour, The Jack Benny Show, Steptoe and Son, Sykes and Rising Damp. Other shows included The Avengers, The Two Ronnies and The Dick Emery Show. He was most memorably cast in Morecambe and Wise, where he played Adrian, the comedy duo's extremely camp next door neighbour.
After making what would be his last ever screen outing in 1978's Revenge of the Pink Panther, Michael suffered a stroke, forcing him to retire. He finally passed away on 8 November 1997 at St Mary's Hospital, Ladbroke Grove, London, aged eighty-eight. - 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". - Duncan Lamont began his career in the 1940's in Waterfront Women (1950) and Quentin Durward (1955) then went to Hollywood for Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). Returning to Britain he went into what he described as one of his happiest roles opposite Margaret Rutherford in Murder at the Gallop (1963). He described himself as a 'heavy with a capacity for light villainy' as he was never really a bad villain. When the film is nearly over there's usually justice to contend with, While sometimes he's was on the right side of the law never the less he always seems to end up dead or defeated. Television work took him to America for appearances in such as The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), Hawaiian Eye (1959), and The Alaskans (1959), while British credits included such as Z Cars (1962), Danger Man (1960), and Dixon of Dock Green (1955).
- Earl Cameron did not set out to be an actor. Bermudian by birth, Cameron joined the British Merchant Navy in the 1930s for the travel opportunities that it afforded. By the early 1940s, with World War II in full swing, Cameron found himself in London working menial jobs to survive. After seeing a West End revival of the musical comedy Chu Chin Chow, he got the acting bug. When an actor didn't show up for a performance, Cameron replaced the actor in the production. This was followed by a series of roles on the London stage.
In 1951, he received a big break when he was cast in Pool of London (1951). The film directed by Basil Dearden in which Cameron played a dockworker who falls in love with a local woman, was significant in that it was one of the first British films to feature a Black man in a non-stereotypical role. He was essentially the UK counterpart to Sidney Poitier, who made his film debut around the same time, although equally talented, he never became a star. Toward the end of the decade, he would work with Dearden again in Sapphire (1959), where he would play a physician who is the brother of the title character, who was murdered while passing for White.
Other significant film film roles in Cameron's career include Thunderball (1965) where he played opposite Sean Connery as Pinder, Bond's Bahamian assistant. Cameron played an ambassador in A Warm December (1973), a film starring and directed by Poitier. In The Interpreter (2005), a film directed by Sydney Pollack , in which he played Edmond Zuwanie, a dictator loosely based on Robert Mugabe.
Cameron continued to work steadily in film and television into his nineties. One of his last appearances was in They've Gotta Have Us (2018), a documentary on Black actors in Hollywood produced by BBC Two.
He died in 2020 at the age of 102. - Anna Turner was born on 6 May 1918 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Empire of the Sun (1987), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and Night of the Big Heat (1967). She died on 29 March 2014 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK.
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After their home was bombed during the war the family was evacuated to Swanage in Dorset where Nosher attended the Swanage Grammar School, On his return to London he took up boxing and became an occasional sparring partner for Joe Louis and later Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali. He continued to box during his national service with the Royal Army Medical Corps and on discharge turned professional, retiring in 1960 having had 78 fights - 51 as a professional and only 9 losses but was never knocked out. He first started in films in 1944 when he was a stuntman in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He continued with stunt work in between his boxing and had small roles in such as David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948),and The Slasher (1953). In 1963 he began working as Sean Connery's stunt double in From Russia with Love (1963) which continued for many years. Away from stunt work he and his wife ran a pub near the Wimbledon greyhound stadium.- Derek Prentice was born on 29 March 1904 in Krugersdorp, South Africa. He was an actor, known for Break in the Circle (1955), Man in a Suitcase (1967) and Norman Conquest (1953). He died on 19 April 1977 in Perth, Australia.
- Sheila Aza was born on 29 July 1924 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Shirley Valentine (1989) and Time, Gentlemen, Please! (1952). She was married to Morris Aza. She died on 23 October 2006 in London, England, UK.
- Paul Dupuis was born on 11 August 1913 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was an actor, known for Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), Passport to Pimlico (1949) and Madness of the Heart (1949). He died on 23 January 1976 in St-Sauveur, Québec, Canada.
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Jane Hylton was born on 16 July 1927 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Here Come the Huggetts (1948), My Brother's Keeper (1948) and Passport to Pimlico (1949). She was married to Euan Lloyd and Peter Dyneley. She died on 28 February 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.- Actor
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John Slater was born on 22 August 1916 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Othello (1946), Man with a Million (1954) and Violent Playground (1958). He was married to Betty Levy (actress). He died on 9 January 1975 in London, England, UK.