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1-17 of 17
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Rare is the reference to Margaret Rutherford that doesn't characterize her as either jut-chinned, eccentric, or both. The combination of those most mundane of attributes has led some to suggest that she was made for the role of Agatha Christie's indomitable sleuth, Jane Marple, whom Rutherford portrayed in four films between 1961 and 1964 plus in an uncredited film cameo in The Alphabet Murders (1965). Rutherford began her acting career first as a student at London's Old Vic, debuting on stage in 1925. In 1933, she first appeared in the West End at the not-so-tender age of 41. She had made her screen debut in 1936 portraying Miss Butterby in the Twickenham-Wardour production of Hideout in the Alps (1936).
In summer 1941, Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit opened on the London stage, with Coward himself directing. Appearing as Madame Arcati, the genuine psychic, was Rutherford, in a role in which Coward had earlier envisaged her and which he then especially shaped for her. She would carry her portrayal of Madame Arcati to the screen adaptation, David Lean's Blithe Spirit (1945). Not only would this become one of Rutherford's most memorable screen performances - with her bicycling about the Kentish countryside, cape fluttering behind her - but it would establish the model for portraying that pseudo-soothsayer forever thereafter. Despite Rutherford's appearances in more than 40 films, it is as Madame Arcati and Miss Jane Marple that she will best be remembered.- John Laurie was a Scotsman who would play many character roles in his long career - a lot of Scotsmen to be sure - but an enthusiastic and skilled actor in nearly 120 screen roles. He was the son of a mill worker, and studied for a career in architecture which he indeed began. But with World War I he left his position to join the British army. After the war he set his sights in a different direction, training to become an actor by attending the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. His first stage play was in 1921. He honed his skills thereafter (from 1922 to 1939) principally as a Shakespearian actor at the Old Vic in London or at Stratford-upon-Avon - and later the Open Air in Regent's Park. But by 1930 he was giving time to films as well. His first movie was the Sean O'Casey play Juno and the Paycock (1929), one of Alfred Hitchcock's early sound efforts. With his craggy profile and arcing bulbous nose, and rather stern visage (though it could as quickly break into a broad smile), he was right for many a memorable character. Hitchcock made sure of that first off by calling on him again to play the dour, suspicious, and miserly farmer, John Crofter, in The 39 Steps (1935). Laurie became a good friend of another Shakespearean, Laurence Olivier, and the two, Olivier as a lead, were in Hungarian director/producer Paul Czinner's As You Like It (1936). The year 1937 was a busy one, with six films, the most important giving him one of his few leading roles. This was director/screen writer Michael Powell's intriguing The Edge of the World (1937), doubly important in that it was the film that sold Powell to producers like Alexander Korda. The film was shot on location on the remote Shetland isle of Foula, the furthest point of Britain. It dealt with the impact of the modern world on the lives of the inhabitants of an economically decaying island. Into 1938 and 1939 Laurie was involved in British experimental TV movies, that medium to be revisit later frequently. In 1939 he was taped by Alexander Korda for his classic film production of The Four Feathers (1939) in which Laurie, who could fit his Scots voice to any part, played the zealous Mahdi (the Khalifa). He is hardly to be recognized in character.
During the war Olivier was planning one of the important morale movies of World War II; his Henry V (1944), and Laurie was asked to play a memorable Capt. Jamie. Olivier also called on him for his two other Shakespeare ventures: Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). As any good character actor, Laurie could play comedy as well and set a number of roles to that end into the 1940s. He and Roger Livesey were cast in Emeric Pressburger and Powell's first color film, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). And Laurie was a jubilant John Campbell in the Powell/Pressburger wonderful and thoughtful comedy of more insular Scots life, I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) with a delightful young Wendy Hiller and worldly-wise Livesey.
Through the remainder of the decade and into the 1950s, Laurie's face showed up in a variety of films - with greater frequency as assorted Scotsmen-comedic and otherwise - and further down the credits list of supporting actors. He was familiar in the decade invasion to the UK of American co-productions, such as Disney's Treasure Island (1950) and Kidnapped (1960). And he even trod the uncertain path of a few sci-fi films - that shall remain nameless here. But he was certainly always busy - when all told - the actor's foremost blessing. Television drama and series gave him better opportunities for a veteran actor, beginning with a Henry V (1953) where he played the comic role of Pistol. Along with some BBC TV theater (more Shakespeare and some American playhouse as well) and sporadic serials, he had a stint on the long-running BBC children's reading program "Jackanory". And he is probably best remembered as the dour James Frazer on the popular "Dad's Army" series (1968-1977). But one of his last and most touching performance was simply being his good-natured self - 80 years old but still a vibrant man with his Scots burr - when he accompanied Powell back to dramatically isolated Foula for the director's short documentary Return to the Edge of the World (1978) (included with the 2003 DVD release of the 1937 movie). There was a bit of staging by Powell. But Laurie's animated face was a picture of profound humanity, as - with a shade of theatrics when appropriate - he remembered the shoot and with sincere joy renewed acquaintances with the inhabitants, as if he himself had returned once more to his native heath. A bonnie old actor indeed! - Actor
- Additional Crew
Stringer Davis was born on 4 June 1899 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Murder She Said (1961), Murder Most Foul (1964) and Murder at the Gallop (1963). He was married to Margaret Rutherford. He died on 29 August 1973 in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Alan Hume was born on 16 October 1924 in London, England, UK. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Lifeforce (1985), Runaway Train (1985) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). He was married to Sheila Nevard. He died on 13 July 2010 in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Born in 1921, Eric Rogers' interest in music began at an early age. A regular churchgoer, he was taught to play the church organ at the age of 13. His musical apprenticeship was a largely untutored one. During the Second World War, Rogers found himself playing the piano in return for free beer! Following the war, Rogers set up his own orchestra, playing in the Orchid Room at London's Trocadero. His reputation grew and he was gradually offered a series of jobs scripting incidental music for films. Later successes were writing the theme for the hugely popular Sunday Night at the Palladium, and transcribing Lionel Bart's notes for Oliver! (Bart himself couldn't read or write music).- Michael Mulcaster was born on 3 October 1911 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and John of the Fair (1954). He was married to Joan Ellacott. He died on 10 August 1984 in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Ian Ainsley was born in 1914 in Lambeth, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Quatermass and the Pit (1958), Escape (1957) and The Avengers (1961). He was married to Diane Marie Violette Françoise de Faucigny-Lucinge. He died on 30 July 2015 in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Moray Grant was born on 13 November 1917 in Forres, Morayshire, Scotland, UK. He was a cinematographer, known for Quatermass and the Pit (1967), Journey to the Unknown (1968) and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). He died on 17 September 1977 in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Richard Dare was born in 1922. He was an actor, known for Garry Halliday (1959), Quatermass and the Pit (1958) and St. Ives (1960). He died on 2 February 1964 in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Writer
- Soundtrack
John Milton was an English poet and intellectual who served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious and political instability, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667). Written in blank verse, Paradise Lost is widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.- Production Manager
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Orme was a British film producer. He worked regularly with Powell & Pressburger, Ralph Thomas, Basil Dearden and John Boorman. He has over 50 credits on a number of classics including The 39 Steps (1959), Khartoum (1966), Deliverance (1972), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and The Omen (1976). He was an original member of the multiple-award-winning Powell & Pressburger production team known as The Archers. He was a production assistant, production manager and assistant director on many of their classic productions, including The Red Shoes (1948), The Small Back Room (1949), Gone to Earth (1950) and The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), Oh... Rosalinda!! (1955), The Battle of the River Plate (1956) and Ill Met by Moonlight (1957).- Additional Crew
- Actress
Bridget D'Oyly Carte was born on 25 March 1908 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Three Men in a Boat (1956), Patience (1965) and Omnibus (1952). She died on 2 May 1985 in Chalfont St. Giles, England, UK.- Harry Prime was born on 5 March 1920 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to ??? and Marie. He died on 15 June 2017 in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Writer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
David Hatch was born on 7 May 1939. He was a writer and actor, known for The Tennis Elbow Foot Game (1968), The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) and Broaden Your Mind (1968). He was married to Mary Clancy and Ann Elizabeth Martin. He died on 12 June 2007 in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Arthur Morrison was born on 1 November 1863 in Poplar, London, England, UK. Arthur was a writer, known for The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971), The Hole in the Wall (1972) and The Hole in the Wall (1955). Arthur was married to Elizabeth Thatcher. Arthur died on 4 December 1945 in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Music Department
Vic Ash was born on 9 March 1930 in East London, England, UK. He is known for The Truth About Billy Newton (1961) and Jazz 625 (1961). He was married to Helen Ash. He died on 24 October 2014 in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roy Ayton was an editor and assistant director, known for Illegal Abortion (1966), Arabia the Fortunate (1974) and The Ernie Game (1967). He was married to Pearl Garraway. He died on 3 January 2019 in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.