Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

1. Angela Baddeley

Angela and her actress sister Hermione were born of a wealthy family with Angela making her stage debut at the age of 8 as a little orphan girl in The Dawn of Happiness. One night a police officer said that she was too young and wouldn't allow her to perform, The following year she auditioned at ...

2. Richard Attenborough

Actor | Jurassic Park

Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a ...

3. Eileen Atkins

Actress | Gosford Park

Eileen Atkins was born in a Salvation Army Women's Hostel in north London. Her father was a gas meter reader; her mother, a seamstress and barmaid. A drama teacher taught her how to drop her Cockney accent, and she studied Shakespeare and Greek tragedies. Her breakthrough role in "The Killing of ...

4. Joss Ackland

Actor | The Hunt for Red October

Joss Ackland, the distinguished English actor who has appeared in over 100 movies, scores of plays and a plethora of television programs in his six-decade career, was born Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland on February 29, 1928, in North Kensington, London. After attending London's Central School of ...

5. Christiane Amanpour

Actress | Zoolander 2

Christiane Amanpour was born on January 12, 1958 in London, England, UK. She is a writer and actress, known for Zoolander 2 (2016), Iron Man 2 (2010) and Trash (2014). She was previously married to James Rubin.

6. Peggy Ashcroft

Actress | A Passage to India

Academy Award-winning, legendary English actress - who maintained her status in the British acting elite for decades. Made a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1956. Almost always on stage, she appeared rarely in film, her first being The Wandering Jew (1933). On stage she was cast...

7. Arthur Askey

Actor | The Love Match

Arthur Askey was a diminutive British comedian, born in 1900. He began his professional career as a music hall performer in 1924, but it wasn't until 1938's Band Waggon (1940) (which lasted for three seasons), that he became a household name in England. His film debut was in the 1937 British feature...

8. Alan Ayckbourn

Writer | A Chorus of Disapproval

Alan Ayckbourn was born on April 12, 1939 in London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for A Chorus of Disapproval (1989), By Jeeves (2001) and Season's Greetings (2020). He has been married to Heather Stoney since September 1997. They have two children. He was previously married to ...

9. Shirley Bassey

Soundtrack | Moonraker

Shirley Bassey was born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales, and raised in the nearby working class neighborhood of Splott. Her mother was originally from Yorkshire, and her father was a Nigerian seaman who left the family when she was less than two. She later helped to support her family by working in an...

10. Richard Briers

Actor | Watership Down

Richard Briers was born on January 14, 1934 in Merton, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Watership Down (1978), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Peter Pan (2003). He was married to Ann Davies. He died on February 17, 2013 in London, England, UK.

11. David Attenborough

Self | Blue Planet II

Born 8 May 1926, the younger brother of actor Lord Richard Attenborough. He never expressed a wish to act and, instead, studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, graduating in 1947, the year he began his two years National Service in the Royal Navy. In 1952, he joined BBC Television at ...

12. Richard Burton

Actor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Probably best-remembered for his turbulent personal life with Elizabeth Taylor (whom he married twice), Richard Burton was nonetheless also regarded as an often brilliant British actor of the post-WWII period.

Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in 1925 into a Welsh (Cymraeg)-speaking family in ...

13. Tim Bevan

Producer | Les Misérables

Tim Bevan was born on December 20, 1957 in Queenstown, New Zealand. He is a producer and actor, known for Les Misérables (2012), United 93 (2006) and Atonement (2007). He has been married to Amy Gadney since 2001. They have two children. He was previously married to Joely Richardson.

14. Trevor Brooking

Self | Match of the Day Live: UEFA Cup

Trevor Brooking was born on October 2, 1948 in Barking, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Match of the Day Live: UEFA Cup (1997), Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (2005) and Pro Evolution Soccer 2 (2002).

15. Jack Beresford

Self | Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit

Jack Beresford was born on January 1, 1899 in London, England, UK. He died on September 3, 1977 in Shiplake, Oxfordshire, England, UK.

16. Josephine Barstow

Actress | Gloriana

Josephine Barstow was born on September 27, 1940 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Gloriana (2000), Macbeth (1972) and Owen Wingrave (2001). She was previously married to Ande Anderson and Terry Hands.

17. Chris Bonington

The Great White Mountain

Chris Bonington was born on August 6, 1934 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. He is a writer, known for The Great White Mountain (1986), A Dangerous Kind of Love (1986) and Magnetic Mountains (2017). He is married to Wendy Bonington. They have two children.

18. Peter Brook

Director | Lord of the Flies

Born in London, Peter was educated at Westminster, and Magdalen College Oxford. He has staged numerous productions for Birmingham Rep, Stratford Upon Avon and Broadway. In 1962 he was appointed Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a position he held for 2 decades. His most famous stage ...

19. Alan Bates

Actor | Gosford Park

Alan Bates decided to be an actor at age 11. After grammar school in Derbyshire, he earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Following two years in the Royal Air Force, he joined the new English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. His West End debut in 1956, at 22...

20. John Boorman

Producer | Hope and Glory

John Boorman attended Catholic school (Salesian Order) although his family was not, in fact, Roman Catholic. His first job was for a dry-cleaner. Later, he worked as a critic for a women's journal and for a radio station until he entered the television business, working for the BBC in Bristol. ...

21. Simon Russell Beale

Actor | The Death of Stalin

Simon Russell Beale is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed talents in British theatre.

He spent his early years abroad as his father was Surgeon General to the British Army (his mother is also a doctor), but aged 8 was relocated to England and became a pupil at St Paul's Cathedral ...

22. The Bee Gees

Soundtrack | Ready Player One

The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang ...

23. Robert Bolt

Writer | Lawrence of Arabia

Son of a small shopkeeper, he attended Manchester Grammar School. He later said that he made poor uses of his opportunities there. He went to work in an insurance office, but later entered Manchester University, taking a degree in History. A post-graduate year at Exeter University led to a ...

24. Michael Bryant

Actor | Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Michael Bryant was born on April 5, 1928 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972) and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). He was married to Judith Coke and Josephine Martin. He died on April 25, 2002 in Richmond, London, England, UK.

25. Tina Brown

Producer | A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

Tina Brown was born on November 21, 1953 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, UK. She is a producer and writer, known for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015), Three Piece Suite (1977) and Hillary Clinton: The Power of Women (2015). She was previously married to Harold Evans.

26. Darcey Bussell

Actress | True Blue

Darcey Bussell is one of Britain's leading Ballet stars. She studied at the Royal Ballet school and joined the SWRB in 1987 becoming the principal soloist in 1989. Her repertory includes Odette, Cinderella, Giselle, Juliet, the Sugar Plum Fairy, Raymonda, Manon, Mitzi Caspar, and the Black Queen. ...

27. Simon Callow

Actor | Four Weddings and a Funeral

Simon Callow was born on June 13, 1949 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and A Room with a View (1985). He has been married to Sebastian Fox since June 2016.

28. Petula Clark

Soundtrack | Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Petula Clark was a star at the age of 11. She starred in British concert halls and on BBC radio singing for the troops during WWII. She was a child star in a series of British films from the end of WWII through to the early 1950s,and by 1954 was having hit records. After a move to France in 1960, ...

29. Eric Clapton

Soundtrack | Lethal Weapon 3

Eric Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, on March 30, 1945. His real father was a Canadian pilot but he didn't find that out until he was 53. When he was 2 his mother felt she was unable to look after him, so Eric then went to live with his grandparents. When he was 14 he took up the ...

30. Brian Cox

Actor | Succession

Brian Cox is an Emmy Award-winning Scottish actor. He was born on June 1, 1946 in Dundee, Scotland, to Mary Ann Guillerline Cox, maiden surname McCann, a spinner, and Charles McArdle Campbell Cox, a shopkeeper and butcher. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother was of Irish and Scottish ...

31. Richard Curtis

Writer | Love Actually

Richard Curtis was born on November 8, 1956 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is a writer and producer, known for Love Actually (2003), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and About Time (2013).

32. John Clements

Actor | The Four Feathers

John Clements hailed from southern England and was educated at St Paul's School in London and St John's College, Cambridge. His acting aspiration prompted his first stage appearance at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in 1930 in the play "Out of the Blue". Through the 1930s, he continued to develop ...

33. Colin Callender

Producer | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

Colin Callender Colin Callender an Emmy, Golden Globe and BAFTA award winning film and television producer and a Tony Award and Olivier Award winning theater producer, who founded the New York and London based production company Playground in 2012.

Callender began his career as stage manager at ...

34. Helena Bonham Carter

Actress | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Helena Bonham Carter is an actress of great versatility, one of the UK's finest and most successful.

Bonham Carter was born May 26, 1966 in Golders Green, London, England, the youngest of three children of Elena (née Propper de Callejón), a psychotherapist, and Raymond Bonham Carter, a merchant ...

35. Michael Caine

Actor | The Dark Knight

Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...

36. Billy Connolly

Actor | Brave

Billy Connolly was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. He left school to work in the shipyards, becoming a welder, and joined the Territorial Army (in the parachute regiment) at around the same time. He developed an interest in folk music, eventually being an accomplished banjo player and a ...

37. Arthur C. Clarke

Writer | 2001: A Space Odyssey

Arthur C. Clarke was born in the seaside town of Minehead, Somerset, England in December 16, 1917. In 1936 he moved to London, where he joined the British Interplanetary Society. There he started to experiment with astronautic material in the BIS, write the BIS Bulletin and science fiction. During ...

38. Constance Cummings

Actress | Blithe Spirit

Coming from a musical family - her mother was a concert soprano - Constance Cummings made her show business debut in 1926 in regional stock theater, and by 1928 had appeared in her first Broadway play. Her success in the theater resulted in an invitation to Hollywood, where she went 1931. Although ...

39. Cicely Courtneidge

Actress | Aunt Sally

Cicely Courtneidge was born on April 1, 1893 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for Along Came Sally (1934), Things Are Looking Up (1935) and The Ghost Train (1931). She was married to Jack Hulbert. She died on April 26, 1980 in Putney, London, England, UK.

40. Bobby Charlton

Actor | Jossy's Giants

Sir Robert Charlton is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the year he also won the Ballon d'Or. He played almost all of his club ...

41. Menzies Campbell

Script_department | The Advocates

Menzies Campbell was born on May 22, 1941 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is known for The Advocates (1991), UK General Election (1950) and A Week in Politics (1982). He was previously married to Elspeth Urquhart.

42. Earl Cameron

Actor | Inception

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 ...

43. Stephen Daldry

Director | The Reader

In 1989, Stephen Daldry worked as a freelance reader of unsolicited manuscripts for Literary Manager Nicholas Wright in the Scripts Department at the Royal National Theatre. In July of that year, he directed a Dadaist/expressionist production of "Judgement Day," a play by Odon von Horvath, at the ...

44. Michael Denison

Actor | My Brother Jonathan

One of the finest exponents of the art of light comedy acting, Michael Denison enjoyed a highly successful career both on stage and screen. He and his wife, actress Dulcie Gray, appeared in over 100 West End shows and their marriage, which lasted nearly sixty years, was regarded as one of the ...

45. Lindsay Duncan

Actress | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Lindsay Duncan was born on November 7, 1950 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), About Time (2013) and Under the Tuscan Sun (2003). She is married to Hilton McRae. They have one child.

46. Roger Daltrey

Actor | Lisztomania

Roger Daltrey is noted as a founder of the legendary rock band The Who. After leaving London's Acton County Grammar School in 1963, he formed a skiffle band called The Detours, then displayed an early genius by putting together unusual elements into a world-class performance. The unusual elements ...

47. Ray Davies

Soundtrack | End of Watch

Ray Davies was born on June 21, 1944 in Fortis Green, which is located in Muswell Hill, north of London, England. He was the seventh of eighth children, and with his younger brother Dave, he was one of the only two boys in his family. In 1963, he joined Dave's band The Ravens on rhythm guitar and ...

48. Carl Davis

Composer | The General

Carl Davis was born on October 28, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for The General (1926), City Lights (1931) and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). He was married to Jean Boht. He died on August 3, 2023 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.

49. Pete Donohue

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Pete Donohue is known for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) and The Blacklist (2013).

50. Paul Eddington

Actor | Yes, Prime Minister

Paul Eddington was a tall, debonair actor who achieved international success in the 1970s with The Good Life (1975), a popular television series about a young couple farming their backyard in a London suburb. He played the supporting role of neighbor Jerry Leadbetter. It was the hit comedy series ...

51. Denholm Elliott

Actor | A Room with a View

Denholm entered RADA at the age of 17, but dropped out after a year having hated every minute being there. He joined the RAF in 1940, trained as a gunner/radio operator, and was shot down over Germany in 1942. In the POW camp he and his fellow prisoners staged various productions in a theatre ...

52. Michael Eavis

Glastonbury Calling

Michael Eavis was born on October 17, 1935. He is known for Glastonbury Calling (2004), Songs of Praise (1961) and Points West (1957). He is married to Liz. He was previously married to Jean Hayball and Ruth.

53. Gareth Edwards

Actor | Old Scores

Sir Gareth Owen Edwards CBE (born 12 July 1947) is a Welsh former rugby union player who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey".

In 2003, in a poll of international rugby players conducted by Rugby World magazine, Edwards was ...

54. Bryan Forbes

Actor | The Guns of Navarone

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 ...

55. Colin Firth

Actor | A Single Man

Colin Andrew Firth was born into an academic family in Grayshott, Hampshire, England. His mother, Shirley Jean (Rolles), was a comparative religion lecturer at the Open University, and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, lectured on history at Winchester University College (formerly King Alfred's...

56. Frank Finlay

Actor | Lifeforce

One of Britain's finest products of the stage, film and TV, actor Frank Finlay, he with the dark and handsomely serious-to-mordant looks, was born on August 6, 1926, in Farnworth, England, the son of Josiah, a butcher, and Margaret Finlay. Of English, Irish and Scottish descent, Frank attended St. ...

57. Bryan Ferry

Actor | Breakfast on Pluto

Son of a coal miner, Bryan Ferry cultivated his musical abilities while studying art at the University of Newcastle. In 1971, Ferry founded Roxy Music with, among others, composer and synthesizer player Brian Eno, who left in 1973. Ferry was Roxy's front man until its demise in 1983, but as Eno was...

58. Frederick Forsyth

Writer | The Day of the Jackal

Frederick Forsyth was youngest pilot of the Royal Airforce, joining at the age of 19. He then became a journalist and worked for Reuters in several European capitals. Now he is a thriller author and his books have been sold over 35 million times worldwide.

59. Eric Fellner

Producer | Les Misérables

Eric Fellner was born on October 10, 1959 in Marylebone, London, England, UK. He is a producer and executive, known for Les Misérables (2012), United 93 (2006) and Atonement (2007).

60. Alex Ferguson

Actor | Pepsi - Inside the Man U Changing Room

Alex Ferguson played professional football from 1957 to 1974, all for Scottish clubs, before becoming even more famous as a manager. He was the manager of St Mirren from 1974 to 1978 and won the Cup Winners Cup in 1983 with Aberdeen. He was nicknamed "Furious Fergie" while he was managing Aberdeen....

61. Frederic Franklin

Actor | Great Performances: Dance in America

Frederic Franklin was born on June 13, 1914 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Great Performances: Dance in America (1976), The Gay Parisian (1941) and Your Show of Shows (1950). He died on May 4, 2013 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

62. Bruce Forsyth

Actor | Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Veteran entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth had a career spanning eight decades, in which he went from struggling variety performer to Saturday night TV stardom. On the way, he became one of the most recognisable entertainers in the business, driven by what appeared to be inexhaustible energy. He became ...

63. Marius Goring

Actor | The Red Shoes

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 ...

64. Lewis Gilbert

Director | Alfie

Lewis Gilbert was a British film director, producer and screenwriter best known for Alfie (1966), as well as three James Bond films: You Only Live Twice (1967), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).

He also directed Reach for the Sky (1956), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), Educating Rita (...

65. Dulcie Gray

Actress | My Brother Jonathan

Sweet-faced, gentle-voiced veteran British actress Dulcie Gray's demure career is often linked with that of her late actor/husband Michael Denison, with whom she appeared frequently on stage, TV and in films in over a hundred projects for nearly four decades.

She was born Dulcie Winifred Catherine ...

66. Michael Grade

Producer | Kane & Abel

For Michael Grade, a distinguished and highly successful career in showbusiness appeared to be in the genes. Born in 1943 in London, England, his father was Leslie Grade and his uncles were Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont. Grade became a trainee journalist on the Daily Mirror in 1960 (he was their ...

67. Alec Guinness

Actor | Star Wars

Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...

68. Robin Gibb

Soundtrack | Saturday Night Fever

Robin Gibb was born in 1949 on the Isle of Man, about half an hour before his twin brother Maurice. His parents, Barbara and Hugh, were both musical. Barbara sang and Hugh was a drummer and bandleader. Robin had four siblings - an older sister and brother, Lesley and Barry, twin Maurice and younger...

69. Peter Greenaway

Director | The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Peter Greenaway trained as a painter and began working as a film editor for the Central Office of Information in 1965. Shortly afterwards he started to make his own films. He has produced a wealth of short and feature-length films, but also paintings, novels and other books. He has held several ...

70. Barry Gibb

Soundtrack | Grease

If you were to try and summarize Barry Gibb's forty-five year career in the music industry in a single phrase you would probably come up with something such as "versatile". Barry Gibb continues to remain an important, relevant figure in the music industry due to his willingness to adapt his music, ...

71. Maurice Gibb

Soundtrack | Saturday Night Fever

Maurice Gibb was born on December 22, 1949 in Douglas, Isle of Man, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Saturday Night Fever (1977), Ready Player One (2018) and Virtuosity (1995). He was married to Yvonne Gibb and Lulu. He died on January 12, 2003 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.

72. David Gilmour

Soundtrack | Pink Floyd: The Wall

David Jon Gilmour was born on 6th March, 1946, in Grantchester Meadows, Cambridge. As the lead guitarist of Pink Floyd, he is by many considered one of the most influential guitarists on the rock stage. Right up to "The Dark Side of The Moon", Dave wrote his own songs, but from then up to "The ...

73. Jane Goodall

Writer | Jane

After her school education, she initially attended a school for secretaries, but in 1957, at the invitation of a former schoolmate, she realized her long-held dream of getting to know Africa and traveled to Kenya. She found a job at the Kenya National Museum and came into contact with its director ...

74. Christopher Gable

Actor | The Boy Friend

Christopher Gable was born on March 13, 1940 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for The Boy Friend (1971), The Devil's Crown (1978) and Doctor Who (1963). He was married to Carole Needham. He died on October 23, 1998 in Near Halifax, Yorkshire, England, UK.

75. Howard Goodall

Music_department | Johnny English

Howard Goodall was educated at New College School, Stowe School and Lord Williams's School. A boy chorister, he studied music at Christ Church, Oxford, where he achieved a First. He became known to the public for composing the theme tunes to popular BBC comedy series such as Blackadder (1982), Red ...

76. Harvey Goldsmith

Producer | The Second Annual Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert

Harvey Goldsmith was born on March 4, 1946 in Edgware, London, England, UK. He is a producer and production manager, known for The Second Annual Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert (1987), Tribute to Pavarotti - One Amazing Weekend in Petra (2008) and Howling V: The Rebirth (1989).

77. Michael Gambon

Actor | Gosford Park

Sir Michael Gambon was born in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland, to Mary (Hoare), a seamstress, and Edward Gambon, an engineer. After joining the National Theatre, under the Artistic Directorship of Sir Laurence Olivier, Gambon went on to appear in a number of leading roles in plays written by Alan Ayckbourn...

78. Michael Grandage

Director | My Policeman

Michael Grandage was born on May 2, 1962 in Yorkshire, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for My Policeman (2022), Genius (2016) and Jack and Lem.

79. Lucian Grainge

Producer | Protest the Hero: Gallop Meets the Earth

Sir Lucian Grainge is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment.

Grainge has spent his entire career in the music industry and has signed and worked with many worldwide stars, including ABBA, Jay Z, Elton John, Katy Perry, Queen,...

80. Jack Hawkins

Actor | The Bridge on the River Kwai

In Britain, special Christmas plays called pantomimes are produced for children. Jack Hawkins made his London theatrical debut at age 12, playing the elf king in "Where The Rainbow Ends". At 17, he got the lead role of St. George in the same play. At 18, he made his debut on Broadway in "Journey's ...

81. Barry Humphries

Actor | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

His father was a well-to-do builder. Barry was a highly intelligent boy who attended Melbourne University. There, he began acting in revues and doing impersonations. He moved to London in 1959 and began his professional performing career on the West End and Broadway stages as Mr Sowerby in Oliver!,...

82. Ronald Harwood

Writer | The Pianist

Born in Cape Town, Union of South Africa in 1934, Ronald Harwood moved to London in 1951 to pursue a career in the theatre. After attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he joined the Shakespeare Company of Sir Donald Wolfit, one of the last 'actor-manager' of Great-Britain. From 1953 to 1958...

83. Peter Hall

Director | Three Into Two Won't Go

Sir Peter Hall directed his first play while he was still a student. He soon achieved prominence as a stage director. He started his occasional film work in 1968 with Work Is a Four Letter Word (1968). He was the Artistic Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon from 1960 - ...

84. Stephen Hawking

Actor | Star Trek: The Next Generation

Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 on Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. He was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.

His scientific works include a collaboration with ...

85. Bob Hope

Actor | The Ghost Breakers

Comedian Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons of Avis (Townes), light opera singer, and William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His maternal grandmother was Welsh. Hope moved to Bristol before emigrating with his parents...

awarded an honorary CBE in 1976.

86. Alan Howard

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Alan Howard was born on August 5, 1937 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). He was married to Sally Beauman and ...

87. Robert Helpmann

Actor | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Robert Murray Helpmann was born in Mount Gambier, Australia, as the eldest of three children born to stock and station agent James Murray Helpman and Mary Gardiner.

After the family moved to Adelaide in 1914, Helpmann was educated at Prince Alfred's College, but he soon left school at the age of 14 ...

88. Christopher Hampton

Writer | The Father

Christopher Hampton was born on January 26, 1946 in Faial, Açores, Portugal. He is a writer and producer, known for The Father (2020), Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Atonement (2007). He has been married to Laura de Holesch since 1971. They have two children.

89. Rolf Harris

Soundtrack | Australia

Rolf Harris came to London in 1952 to study Art. A year later he was appearing on TV as an artist and storyteller and had his first hit as a singer in the early sixties with Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport. After a relatively quiet period in his life in the late seventies, his brother Bruce Harris ...

probably forfeited by the honors committee.

90. Trevor Horn

Soundtrack | Toys

Trevor Horn was born on July 15, 1949 in Hertfordshire, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Toys (1992), Mona Lisa Smile (2003) and Wanted (2008). He was previously married to Jill Sinclair.

91. Terry Hands

Director | Carrie

Terry Hands was born on January 9, 1941 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UK. He was a director and actor, known for Carrie (1988), Cyrano de Bergerac (1985) and Otello (1978). He was married to Emma Lucia, Ludmila Mikaël and Josephine Barstow. He died on February 4, 2020 in the UK.

92. Anthony Hopkins

Actor | The Silence of the Lambs

Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...

93. John Hurt

Actor | Nineteen Eighty-Four

One of stage, screen and TV's finest transatlantic talents, slight, gravel-voiced, pasty-looking John Vincent Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, in Shirebrook, a coal mining village, in Derbyshire, England. The youngest child of Phyllis (Massey), an engineer and one-time actress, and Reverend ...

94. Sheila Hancock

Actress | The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Sheila Hancock was born February 22, 1933. on the Isle of Wight. She later moved to King's Cross in London, where her mother and father ran a pub. Sheila went to Dartford Grammar School, and then with a grant she went to RADA. She then went into nine years of weekly repertory around the country. ...

95. Lenny Henry

Actor | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Lenworth George Henry was born on August 29, 1958, in Dudley, West Midlands in England to a family of Jamaican immigrants. He made his TV debut on a talent show called "New Faces" in 1975 at the age of 16. He won and went on to things such as The Fosters (1976) and Tiswas (1974), which was when his...

96. Ian Holm

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Sir Ian Holm was one of the world's greatest actors, a Laurence Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning, BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated British star of films and the stage. He was a member of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company and has played more than 100 roles in films and on ...

97. Robert Hardy

Actor | Sense and Sensibility

One of England's most successful and enduring character actors, with a prolific screen career on television and in films, Robert Hardy was acclaimed for his versatility and the depth of his performances.

Born in Cheltenham in 1925, he studied at Oxford University and, in 1949, he joined the ...

98. Nigel Hawthorne

Actor | The Madness of King George

Widely regarded as one of the greatest stage and screen actors both in his native UK and internationally, the unparalleled Nigel Hawthorne was born in Coventry, England on 5 April 1929, raised in South Africa and returned to the UK in the 1950s with his extensive work as a great gentleman of acting...

99. Jonathan Ive

Actor | CollegeHumor Originals

Jonathan Ive is Apple's Chief Design Officer, responsible for all design including the look and feel of Apple hardware, user interface, packaging, major architectural projects such as Apple Park and Apple's retail stores, as well as new ideas and future initiatives. Since 1996 Ivy has led Apple's ...

100. Derek Jacobi

Actor | Gosford Park

Preeminent British classical actor of the first post-Olivier generation, Derek Jacobi was knighted in 1994 for his services to the theatre, and, in fact, is only the second to enjoy the honor of holding TWO knighthoods, Danish and English (Olivier was the other). Modest and unassuming in nature, ...