Curtis Waller's really world of as of right now 3 days of the week after The Birthday shown on Wikipedia about "Sterling Holloway" part one.
This is a list right now about Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Monday people including Sterling Holloway as his Birthday shown on Wikipedia as Saturday, January 14, 1905!
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- David Knight was born on 16 January 1928 in Niagara Falls, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for On Such a Night (1956), A Story of David: The Hunted (1960) and Missiles from Hell (1958). He was married to Wendy McClure. He died on 20 December 2020.Monday!
- 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.Saturday!- Robert Beatty graduated with a B.A. from the University of Toronto and started in amateur dramatics with the Hamilton Player's Guild. For a while, he made a living as a cashier for a gas and fuel company. In order to further hone his acting skills, he made his way to London in 1936 (on the advice of Leslie Howard) to train for acting at RADA. He made his theatrical debut in "Idiot's Delight" at the Apollo, and from there obtained regular work on both stage and screen in bit parts and walk-ons, eventually making his breakthrough on radio as a broadcaster for the BBC. He was famously on hand, reporting eyewitness accounts of the London Blitz for the Overseas News Service during the war years.
On the strength of this, Beatty was promoted to more substantial film roles, beginning with San Demetrio London (1943), in which he played a brash, alcoholic American sailor mellowed by his good-natured British crewmates in the best 'stiff-upper-lip' tradition. This seemed to set the tone for his future screen personae, for he was henceforth typecast as tough, down-to-earth Canadians or Americans, many of them cops or gumshoes in low budget potboilers. That notwithstanding, he had his share of quality assignments as well, notably as loyal friend to IRA fugitive James Mason in Odd Man Out (1947); as a plausible Lord Beaverbrook in The Magic Box (1951); as Lieutenant William Bush, best friend and second-in-command to Gregory Peck's Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951); and as a washed-out heavyweight prizefighter in The Square Ring (1953). Throughout his career, Beatty's stock-in-trade was masculinity, dependability and forthrightness.
Immensely popular on radio, Beatty provided the voice for private eye Philip Odell in a long-running series for the BBC "Light Programme" between 1947 and 1961. From the late 1950's, he also became increasingly prolific on television and as a narrator of documentaries. If his face was not yet recognisable enough, he appeared in commercials for a hair care product. For two years, Beatty starred in his own half-hour series, Dial 999 (1958), as a Canadian mountie seconded to Scotland Yard. On the big screen he was cast as Dr. Ralph Halvorsen in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Towards the end of his lengthy career, he gave one of his finest performances, a thoroughly convincing impersonation of President Ronald Reagan in the documentary-drama Breakthrough at Reykjavik (1987).Tuesday! - Eunice Gayson was an English actress best known for playing Sylvia Trench, James Bond's girlfriend in the first two Bond films (Dr. No and From Russia with Love). Originally, Gayson was to be cast as Miss Moneypenny, but that part went to Lois Maxwell instead.
Gayson was originally to have been a regular in the Bond film series, but her character was dropped. Gayson's voice in Dr. No and From Russia with Love was overdubbed by voice actress Nikki van der Zyl, as were the voices of nearly all the actresses appearing in the first two Bond films, though Gayson's real voice can still be heard in original trailers for Dr. No.
As the first female to be seen in Dr. No together with James Bond (Sean Connery), she is officially the very first actress to play a Bond girl.
Decades later, Gayson's daughter appeared in a casino scene in the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye.
She also starred in the Hammer horror film The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958).
Gayson died on 8 June 2018, aged 90.Saturday! - 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.Monday!
- 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.Monday!
- Jill Melford came from a rich theatrical background. She was evacuated to America during World War Two and was educated at Gardner School and the Ballet Arts School, both of which are in New York. Her New York theatre debut came in 1949 when she appeared as a dancer in a production of 'Oklahoma!' and her first London appearance came in 1953 when she performed in 'The Seven Year Itch'. She went on to appear in other stage plays including 'Auntie Mame', 'Ulysses in Night-time', 'The Life of the Party', 'The Right Honourable Gentleman', 'There's a Girl in My Soup', 'Not Now, Darling', 'Best of Friends' and 'The Chairman'. In addition to her acting work, Melford was also an experienced interior decorator. She was divorced from the actor John Standing with whom she had a son, Alexander.Monday!
- 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.Saturday! - Actor
- Soundtrack
Born as Arthur John Stainer, he was the younger son of Ferdinand (Frank) Steiner and Lilian Blumberg. His brother was the film actor Leslie Howard and his sister the casting director Irene Howard. His uncle was the film director Wilfrid Noy. He married the actress Jean Compton Mackenzie (a daughter of the actor Frank Compton) in 1936 and they had a son together, the stage actor Alan Howard.
Arthur appeared in several television programmes such as Whack-O, a school comedy in which he played the hapless assistant headmaster Pettigrew to Jimmy Edwards's headmaster, and he was in the 1959 film version Bottoms Up. He appeared in many films, including American Friends, The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins, and had the small role of Cavendish in the James Bond film Moonraker.
Balding, worried-looking London-born comic actor, who first rose to prominence as Jimmy Edwards's long-suffering headmaster in 'Whack-O!' on BBC radio. The show was later transferred to the screen by BBC TV and ran from 1956 to 1960 in its original format.Tuesday!- 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.Thursday!
- Michael Howard was born on 4 March 1916 in Holywell Green, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Sister to Assist 'Er (1948), Golden Rendezvous (1977) and Front Page Story (1954). He was married to Peggy Evans and Betty Kelly. He died on 18 February 1988 in London, England, UK.Saturday!
- Actor
- Writer
Debonair British actor at home on stage (since the age of 15), screen and TV. Initially, his roles tended to be dramatic but, by his 40s, he was increasingly playing tongue-in-cheek comedy parts. His smooth lounge-lizard voice has frequently been used for voice-overs on television advertisements (most famously a long-running campaign for Schweppes drinks) and TV trailers.Tuesday!- Russell Napier was born on 28 November 1910 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. He was an actor, known for A Night to Remember (1958), The Case of the Red Monkey (1955) and The Time Machine (1949). He was married to Lois Mary Caird Miller. He died on 19 August 1974 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK.Monday!
- 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".Thursday!- 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.Thursday!
- 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.Tuesday!
- 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).Thursday!- 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.Monday!
- Born on October 1, 1896, in Rangoon, Burma, to Burmese-Jewish parents, and the son of a well-to-do merchant, distinguished veteran character actor Abraham Isaac Sofaer was a one-time schoolteacher in both Rangoon and London. He switched gears to acting after a short time and made his stage debut in 1921 as a walk-on in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice."
Sofaer scored his first prominent London appearance with "The Green Goddess" in 1925 and, from the 1930s on, alternated between the London and Broadway repertory stages playing an assortment of Shakespearean roles (Othello, Lear, Cassius, etc.) among other classical plays. He scored a personal triumph in New York as Benjamin Disraeli opposite Helen Hayes in "Victoria Regina" in 1936. The following year, he directed Ms. Hayes in "The Merchant of Venice", in which he played the title role of "Shylock". A theatre repertory player of note, he soon focused on the big screen and made his British film debut with The Dreyfus Case (1930). Subsequent noteworthy British film roles included his judge in A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and as Disraeli in The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947). Recognized for his bulgy, wide-eyed stare, resonant tones and imposing stance, he built up a solid reputation over the years playing odd and interesting Eastern ethnics -- sultans, swamis, high priests, witch doctors, foreign dictators and dignitaries, he was even convincing playing Indian chiefs on occasion. His characters ranged from wise and warm-hearted to cunning and wickedly evil.
In the mid-1950s, Sofaer settled in Hollywood wherein he became a main staple in exotic dramas and costumed adventure, appearing almost exclusively in movies and TV. Some of his better known U.S. films include Quo Vadis (1951), His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), Elephant Walk (1954), Taras Bulba (1962) and Chisum (1970). Throughout the 1960s, he could be counted on for guest appearances on all the popular shows of the day including Perry Mason (1957), Wagon Train (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), Daniel Boone (1964) and Star Trek (1966). On TV, he may be best remembered for his recurring role of Haji, the master of all genies, on I Dream of Jeannie (1965).
Married to wife Angela for nearly seven decades and affectionately called "Abe" to closer friends, Sofaer was the father of six children. Retiring from acting in 1974, Sofaer died of congestive heart failure at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 91 in 1988.Thursday! - 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.Saturday!
- Clifford Buckton was born on 5 January 1897 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Detective Lloyd (1932), Battle for Music (1943) and Someone at the Door (1939). He died on 9 July 1960 in Kensington, London, England, UK.Tuesday!
- 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.Tuesday!- 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.Monday!
- 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.Monday!
- Martin Lyder was born on 30 September 1922 in Germany. He was an actor, known for Sweet Beat (1959), Rock You Sinners (1958) and The Rat Catchers (1966). He was married to Marion Shaw. He died on 12 January 2003 in Westminster, London, England, UK.Saturday!
- Actor
Professional boxer and background player Ernie Rice was born John Tomasso on November 17, 1896 in Hull, Yorkshire, England. Rice was a professional boxer from 1911 to 1930: Throughout the course of his boxing career Rice participated in 83 fights altogether, with 50 wins, 28 losses, three no contests, and two fights resulting in a draw. In the wake of retiring from boxing Ernie went on to become a boxing referee. Moreover, Rice first began popping up in films in uncredited minor roles in the mid-1930's. A large muscular man with a rough face and a hulking build, Ernie was often cast as vendors, villagers, or pub patrons. His brothers Dick Rice and Toni Rice were also boxers. Rice died in 1979.Tuesday!- 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.Tuesday!
- Anthony Faramus is known for The Colditz Story (1955) and King Rat (1965).Tuesday, July 27, 1920!
- Actor
- Director
Rex Garner was born on 31 January 1921 in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Shadow Squad (1957), Survivor (1987) and ITV Play of the Week (1955). He was married to Tammy Bonell. He died on 17 May 2015 in Havant, Hampshire, England, UK.Monday!- Nicholas Stuart was born on 15 December 1910 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Love Lottery (1954), The Night My Number Came Up (1955) and Johnny in the Clouds (1945). He died in 1985 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK.Thursday!
- Actor
- Writer
Lane Meddick was born on 18 March 1924 in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Flower of Evil (1961), The Death Wheelers (1973) and Journey's End (1954). He died on 1 January 2017 in Binfield Heath, Berkshire, England, UK.Tuesday!- British character actress, on stage from 1894. Her many notable theatrical appearances include "Little Lord Fauntleroy" at the Prince's Theatre in Bristol, and, as Lady McClean, in "Escape Me Never" at the Apollo in London (1933) - a part she subsequently took to Broadway two years later. Until well into her seventies, Katie's screen career consisted almost exclusively of smallish parts, until she was cast as sweet, frail Mrs. Wilberforce in the classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers (1955). A most quintessentially British role, it finds her in a crumbling boarding house with dodgy plumbing, surrounded by Victorian memorabilia, a parrot named General Gordon, and an assortment of genteel, but pixillated, old friends. Her innocence and moral fortitude ultimately precipitate the downfall of a gang of bank robbers, posing as a string quartet.
This was the defining role of Katie's career and it won her the 1955 BAFTA Award as Best Actress. She had another juicy role, as eavesdropping would-be sleuth Aunt Alice, in How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957). Sadly, there was to be no more from this delightful scene stealer, as she passed away shortly after, at the age of 78.Monday! - Actor
- Music Department
- Script and Continuity Department
Jack Warner started acting with the Sutton Amateur Dramatics Club after the end of World War I. From 1935, performed in cabaret at the London West End as half of the double act of Warner & Darnell. In addition to starring as Dixon of Dock Green (1955), which ran for over 20 years, he achieved lasting popularity on screen in the role of Joe Huggett, patriarch of a Cockney family, in Holiday Camp (1947), and its three sequels (plus a radio serial). Towards the end of his working life, 1976-80, Warner made a brief return to cabaret, before a stroke brought about his retirement.Thursday!- 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.Monday!- Peggy Evans was born on 10 January 1921 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Blue Lamp (1950), Penny and the Pownall Case (1948) and Murder at 3am (1953). She was married to Peter Stevens and Michael Howard. She died on 26 July 2015.Monday!
- Gladys Henson was born on 27 September 1897 in Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress, known for Derby Day (1952), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Frieda (1947). She was married to Harry Wright and Leslie Henson. She died on 21 December 1982 in London, England, UK.Monday!
- 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.Saturday, April 18, 1925 according to the right sources!
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Good-natured British actor Jimmy Hanley was groomed by the Rank Studio system during his teen years and earned stardom as the "boy next door" type in exuberant musicals and likeable comedies. He married actress Dinah Sheridan in 1942 and they appeared together in a number of featherweight war-era films, including Salute John Citizen (1942) and For You Alone (1945). When Jimmy grew up he tried everything from Henry V (1944) with Laurence Olivier to The Huggetts film series. But radio and TV were his forte and it was those two mediums which revived his star in the late 50s, becoming a familiar face on a number of TV series, notably "Jim's Inn" co-starring second wife Maggie Hanley, which ran from 1957-1963. Jimmy died of cancer in 1970.Tuesday!- Actor
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Campbell Singer was born on 16 March 1909 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Saint (1962), Murder on Monday (1952) and Take a Pair of Private Eyes (1966). He was married to Gillian Maude. He died on 16 February 1976 in London, England, UK.Tuesday!- Norman Shelley was born on 16 February 1903 in Chelsea, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Railway Children (1957), Wuthering Heights (1967) and Madame Bovary (1964). He was married to Monica Brett. He died on 22 August 1980 in London, England, UK.Monday!
- Arthur Rigby was born on 27 September 1900 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Wolves of the Underworld (1933), Dixon of Dock Green (1955) and Love Lies (1931). He was married to Sheila MacEvoy. He died on 25 April 1971 in Worthing, Sussex, England, UK.Thursday!
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Jennifer Jayne was born on 14 November 1931 in Yorkshire, England, UK. She was an actress and writer, known for The Crawling Eye (1958), Danger Man (1960) and They Came from Beyond Space (1967). She was married to Peter Mullins. She died on 23 April 2006 in London, England, UK.Saturday!- Frederick Piper was born on 23 September 1902 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Fly Away Peter (1948), Passport to Pimlico (1949) and Hue and Cry (1947). He died on 22 September 1979 in Berkshire, England, UK.Tuesday!
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Betty Ann Davies was born on 24 December 1910 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), The Man in Black (1950) and She Knew What She Wanted (1936). She was married to Alexander Blackford. She died on 14 May 1955 in Manchester, England, UK.Saturday!- Sam was a very well known, un-sung, British Actor from 1946 to his death in 1982. He was originally born in Northern Ireland but came over to London England as a boy with his mother and her brothers, setting up home in Bayswater, then Shepherd's Bush, then Chiswick. He was sent to Dunstable school. Before the Second World war he worked at Alvis Cars and Whiteley's Department Store in the bedding department but also entered Talent Contests as a stand up and impressionist. He got a job with the Oscar Rabin Band at the Hammersmith Palais as part of his 'Hot Shots' introducing the band's numbers, and telling a few gags and tap dancing in a few numbers. In 1939 at the start of the war, he was called up as he'd been very briefly in the Territorial Army. According to his autobiography, "Quick Mum He's on Now" he made over 240 films, many of the titles as yet unloaded to IMDb. The autobiography, recently discovered by his son Jonathan (also on IMDb) in his mother's loft after her death, was never published during his lifetime, but is a witty informative follow up to his successful "For You the War is Over" written about his incarceration in a German prison camp from 1939 to 45 , and selling over 40,000 in paperback. He similarly made thousands of TV appearances once more uncredited. Jonathan intends to publish the book next year.Monday!
- 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.Saturday!
- 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.Monday!
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Joe Gladwin was born on 22 January 1906 in Salford, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Last of the Summer Wine (1973), Nearest and Dearest (1972) and Nearest and Dearest (1968). He was married to Lily Anne Wynne. He died on 11 March 1987 in Manchester, England, UK.Monday!- Actor
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The son of Alexander Sim JP and Isabella McIntyre, Alastair Sim was educated in Edinburgh. Always interested in language (especially the spoken word) he became the Fulton Lecturer in Elocution at New College, Edinburgh University from 1925 until 1930. He was invited back and became the Rector of Edinburgh University (1948 - 1951). His first stage appearance was as Messenger in Othello at the Savoy Theatre, London. He went on to create some of the most memorable (usually comedic) roles in British films from 1936 until his death in 1976.Tuesday!- Actress
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Although British actress Kathleen Harrison was born in 1892 in the Lancashire town of Blackburn, she was fondly known for her cockney characters throughout her career. Trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art she first married and lived overseas in Argentina for nearly eight years. Upon her return she made her initial stage appearance in "The Constant Flirt" in 1926. In the 30s she found her way onto the screen, taking many of her delightful theatre roles to film, including Line Engaged (1935), Night Must Fall (1937) (probably her most noteworthy), and Who Is Guilty? (1939). She added immeasurable Dickensian flavor as various maids and mums to such classics as Oliver Twist (1948), A Christmas Carol (1951) and The Pickwick Papers (1952).
She was also openly received as Mrs. Huggett in the "Huggett Family" series that ran a few years in the late 40s. In her five decade career, Kathleen 'toiled' as various servile characters in nearly 80 films. As popular in England as similar 'working class' as character player Thelma Ritter was in America, Kathleen also enjoyed a slight shot of TV popularity late in her career, notably in the brief series Mrs Thursday (1966) as a cleaning lady who inherits her boss's vast fortune. Kathleen's last years were spent in a nursing home, living to the ripe old age of 103.Tuesday!- Mervyn Johns was born on 18 February 1899 in Pembroke, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Dead of Night (1945), A Christmas Carol (1951) and The Day of the Triffids (1963). He was married to Diana Churchill and Alice Maud Steele Wareham. He died on 6 September 1992 in Norwood, England, UK.Saturday!
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A brash character actress who specialized in cinema, television, and theater, Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley was born on November 13, 1906 in Broseley, Shropshire. She was the youngest of four sisters - including Angela Baddeley, also an actress - and her half-brother, Very Rev William Baddeley, was a Church of England Minister.
Not much is known about Baddeley's early life. She made her stage debut in 1918, and became popular in London stage comedies and revues prior to World War II, known for her dancing talent and natural comic ability. She memorably performed several times with Hermione Gingold. Baddeley made her film debut in 1927, with a role in the extremely obscure silent comedy A Daughter in Revolt (1927), but didn't come to attention until twenty years later, when she portrayed the affable but blowzy Ida in the film noir Brighton Rock (1948).
Known for her memorable character roles, Baddeley dabbled in such movies as Passport to Pimlico (1949), A Christmas Carol (1951), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951), The Pickwick Papers (1952), The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), Mary Poppins (1964), and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her acid-tongued performance in Room at the Top (1958). At two minutes and thirty-two seconds, it is the shortest performance to ever be nominated for the award.
Baddeley became a household favorite for her role as irritable cockney housekeeper Mrs. Naugatuck on the '70s comedy series Maude (1972). She landed guest spots on multiple other shows, including but not limited to Hancock's Half Hour (1956), The Patty Duke Show (1963), Bewitched (1964), Night Gallery (1969), The Bionic Woman (1976), The Love Boat (1977), Charlie's Angels (1976), Wonder Woman (1975), Fantasy Island (1977), and Magnum, P.I. (1980).
Baddeley's two marriages failed, and she had a daughter, Pauline Tennant, from her first. She was in a long-term relationship with actor Laurence Harvey until he left her for Margaret Leighton, and died on August 19, 1986 at the age of 79 following a series of strokes.Tuesday!- Actor
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Glyn Dearman was born on 30 December 1939 in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School (1952) and Four Sided Triangle (1953). He was married to Susan MacDonald. He died on 30 November 1997 in Westminster, London, England, UK.Saturday!- 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.Monday! - Actor
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Some of Hordern's finest work was not in films or television but on radio: His performance as Gandalf in the BBC's radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings was arguably the definitive portrayal of that character (contrast Hordern's Gandalf with that of Ian McKellen in the 3-part film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson).Tuesday!- John Charlesworth was born on 12 November 1935 in Hull, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951) and The Children of the New Forest (1955). He died on 2 April 1960 in Birmingham, England, UK.Tuesday!
- 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.Tuesday!
- 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.Thursday's child according to Wikipedia!
- 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.Thursday's child also according to Wikipedia!
- Known for her small yet earthy Brit portrayals on film, Eleanor Summerfield was born in London on March 7, 1921, initially trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1937). The hard-looking, blue-eyed blonde began in films in 1947 but created some waves first on stage opposite Cicely Courtneidge in "Her Excellency" at the London Hippodrome in 1949. She followed that with a top role in a rather mediocre musical entitled "Golden City." Musicals would be a strong suit for her in the ensuing years, including a more glamorous role in "When in Rome" (1959) alongside June Laverick. Summerfield made her last West End musical in 1974 in a show based on the cartoon characters of Osbert Lancaster. A popular radio actress and a regular on BBC Radio Four panel show "Many a Slip," she positively shone on TV in a number of comedy series as she entered her matronly years. She had the difficult task of replacing Dora Bryan in the established program "Our Dora" when Bryan abruptly left the series after the sudden death of her first child. Soon retitled My Wife's Sister (1956), the show, and Summerfield, succeeded quite well. During her five-decade career, she added bite to a number of films, often raucous comedies, including Laughter in Paradise (1951), Uncle Willie's Bicycle Shop (1953), Dentist in the Chair (1960), On the Fiddle (1961) and Some Will, Some Won't (1970), which was a remake of the earlier film Laughter in Paradise (1951). Wed to actor Leonard Sachs in 1947, they produced two sons; one son, Robin Sachs, became an actor in his own right. Her husband died in 1990, and Summerfield followed him a decade later on July 13, 2001, in London. She was 80.Monday!
- Louise Hampton was born on 23 December 1879 in Stockport, Cheshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), Haunted Honeymoon (1940) and The Middle Watch (1940). She was married to Edward Thane. She died on 10 February 1954 in Charing Cross Hospital, London, England, UK.Tuesday!
- 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.Thursday!
- Actor
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Producer
British actor Patrick Macnee was born on February 6, 1922 in London, England into a wealthy and eccentric family. His father, Daniel Macnee, was a race horse trainer, who drank and gambled away the family fortune, leaving young Patrick to be raised by his lesbian mother, Dorothea Mary, and her partner. Shortly after graduating from Eton (from which he was almost expelled for running a gambling ring), Macnee first appeared on stage and made his film debut as an extra in Pygmalion (1938). His career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Royal Navy. After military service, Macnee attended the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art in London on scholarship. He also resumed his stage and film career, with bit parts such as Young Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol (1951). Disappointed with his limited roles, Macnee left England for Canada and the United States.
In 1954, he went to Broadway with an Old Vic troupe and later moved on to Hollywood, where he made occasional television and film appearances until returning to England in 1959. Once back home, he took advantage of his producing experience in Canada to become co-producer of the British television series Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years (1960). Shortly thereafter, Macnee landed the role that brought him worldwide fame and popularity in the part of John Steed, in the classic British television series The Avengers (1961). His close identification with this character limited his career choices after the cancellation of the series in 1969, prompting him to reprise the role in The New Avengers (1976), which, though popular, failed to recapture the magic of the original series. During the 1980s and 1990s, Macnee became a familiar face on American television in such series as Gavilan (1982), Empire (1984), Thunder in Paradise (1994) and NightMan (1997). In the past decade, Macnee has also made several audio recordings of book fiction.Monday!- Francis De Wolff was born on 7 January 1913 in Essex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for From Russia with Love (1963), Moby Dick (1956) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959). He was married to Linda Finch, Melissa Dundas and Jean Fairlie. He died on 18 April 1984 in Sussex, England, UK.Tuesday!
- 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.Tuesday!
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
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.Thursday!- Douglas Muir was born on 5 November 1904 in Greenwich, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Avengers (1961), The Appleyards (1952) and Mr. Gillie (1950). He was married to Miriam Adams. He died on 30 November 1966 in Brompton Hospital, Chelsea, London, England, UK.Saturday!
- Noel Howlett was born on 22 December 1902 in Maidstone, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Please Sir! (1971) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). He died on 26 October 1984 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK.Monday!
- David Hannaford was born on 1 October 1942 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Pickwick Papers (1952), A Christmas Carol (1951) and Now Barabbas (1949).Thursday!
- Henry Hewitt was born on 28 December 1885 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Where's Charley? (1952), Rembrandt (1936) and A Christmas Carol (1951). He was married to Hilda Geraldine Powell. He died on 23 August 1968 in Newbury, Berkshire, England, UK.Monday!
- 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.Tuesday!
- Maire O'Neill was born on 12 January 1885 in Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress, known for Juno and the Paycock (1929), The Fugitive (1939) and A Christmas Carol (1951). She was married to Arthur Sinclair and G.H. Mair. She died on 2 November 1952 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.Monday!
- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Ronald Adam was a man who combined an acting career with an extra-ordinary military career that encompassed being a victim of the Red Baron in World War One to taking his revenge as an RAF fighter controller in the Battle of Britain. Born Ronald George Hinings Adams on the last day of 1896, he was educated at University College, London. When still only 17 years of age, Adams volunteered to join the British army on the outbreak of the first world war. On December 2nd 1914, he was commissioned as a temporary second Lieutenant in the 15th (reserve) battalion of the Middlesex regiment. He then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) as an observer and then undertook pilot training. Adams then served with 18 squadron and flew Sopwith Camel's with 44 squadron on home defense duties. He then joined 73 squadron, also flying Sopwith Camel's in France. On April 7th 1918, he was shot down near Villers-Brettoneux in northern France. Historians still debate who shot down Adams, some argue his victor was Ltn Hans Kirchstein, but many others think that he was the 78th victim of the legendary Baron Manfred von Richthofen, known to history as "The Red Baron". Adams was wounded and captured and, on the evening of his aerial defeat, was visited by a German orderly who gave him Von Richthofen's compliments. Ronald Adams spent eight months in hospitals and prison camps before he was re-repatriated on 17th December 1918, the 15th anniversary of the Wright brothers first powered flight.
Post-war Adams trained as a chartered accountant and then moved into theatre management, running the Embassy Theatre in London. He then decided to become an actor proper, altering his name slightly to Ronald Adam. He also wrote books and several of his plays were staged. From 1936 he began to work in films. On the outbreak of the second world war Ronald Adam rejoined the Royal Air Force (RAF) and during the Battle of Britain which raged over England in the summer of 1940 he was the fighter controller for the Hornchurch sector. No matter how good the RAF's Spitfire and Hurricanes were, they could not be effective unless they could intercept the armada of incoming German planes. It was Wing Commander Ronald Adam's job to co-ordinate the RAF fighter command interceptions from data gathered by radar and ground observers and then dispatch fighters to intercept. It was a vital role in one of histories decisive battles in which the future of western civilization was at stake. Post war Ronald Adam lived in Surbiton, Surrey and died on 28th March 1979. He was 83 years of age.Thursday!- Vi Kaley was born on 19 November 1878 in Lambeth, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Detective Lloyd (1932), My Brother Jonathan (1948) and On Velvet (1938). She was married to Alfred Artois. She died in 1967 in Marylebone, London, England, UK.Tuesday!
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Best known for playing Matron--as in "Ooh, Matron!"--in four films: Carry on Nurse (1959), Carry on Doctor (1967), Carry on Again Doctor (1969) and, of course Carry on Matron (1972). Key roles included: Grace Short in Carry on Teacher (1959), Sophie Bliss in Carry on Loving (1970) and Peggy Hawkins in Carry on Cabby (1963). She was married to John Le Mesurier (Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army (1968)), but left him for another man. They divorced but remained friends. An unexpectedly attractive woman in her time, she played parts which depended upon and mocked her weight. Only in Carry on Cabby (1963) was she allowed to escape her dragon persona and play the romantic lead opposite Sidney James. She died prematurely at the age of 58 from a heart attack.Tuesday!- John Drake was born on 11 February 1929 in Somerset, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955), Doctor at Sea (1974) and The Time Tunnel (1966). He died in October 1993 in Hertfordshire, England, UK.Monday!
- 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.Tuesday!
- Fanny Carby was born on 2 February 1925 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Elephant Man (1980), Lassiter (1984) and The Good Companions (1980). She was married to Roderick Horne. She died on 20 September 2002 in London, England, UK.Monday!
- 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.Tuesday!
- Lawrence Ward was born on 15 January 1929 in England, UK. He was an actor, known for Fanciulle di lusso (1952) and Mad About Men (1954). He was married to Elizabeth Seal, Lisa Heseltine, Fay Brooke, Susan Stephen and Lettice Laird-Clowes. He died on 17 April 2011.Tuesday!
- Actor
- Writer
Alex Lowe was born on 15 January 1968 in Brent, Middlesex, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Frankenstein (1994) and Peter's Friends (1992).Monday!- Actor
- Additional Crew
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.Monday!- Actor
- Soundtrack
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.Monday!- Michael Goodliffe was born on 1 October 1914 in Bebington, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Night to Remember (1958), Peeping Tom (1960) and The One That Got Away (1957). He was married to Dorothy Margaret Tyndale. He died on 20 March 1976 in Wimbledon, London, England, UK.Thursday!
- Director
- Producer
- Actor
David Greene had a varied early career, beginning with his first job as junior reporter for the Walthamstow Guardian. Life as a journalist was not to be his forte, however. During the years spanning the mid- to late 1930's, he tried his luck variously in the furniture removal business, as a deck hand and as a hospital porter, before signing on with the Merchant Navy at the onset of World War II. He lasted a year before being invalided out in 1941. Becoming affiliated with the Everyman Theatre in London as its publicity manager, he finally found his vocation in the acting profession and subsequently enrolled at RADA. From 1948, he performed in repertory which included a season or two at the Old Vic. Movies followed, with supporting roles in films like The Wooden Horse (1950).
While travelling through Canada with the touring Broadway Company of 'Anthony and Cleopatra' in 1952, Greene decided to accept an offer from the Canadian Broadcasting Company to join their television department. He emigrated officially in 1953, and moved to New York three years later. By the end of the decade, he had become one of the most sought-after TV directors in the business. Working on both sides of the Atlantic, he helmed episodes of popular action and adventure series like Sir Francis Drake (1961) and The Defenders (1961). He also directed the occasional feature. Three of these stand out.
His first, The Shuttered Room (1967), was a macabre story, loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft. Greene's eye for off-beat location, combined with his clever use of subjective camera technique, gave the film a striking visual sense and considerably heightened its suspense value. Sebastian (1968), with its stark Orwellian visions of London, was a stylish espionage thriller about code breaking that did not take itself all that seriously. It boasted an excellent cast, headed by Dirk Bogarde, Susannah York and Lilli Palmer, and was directed with style, fairly obscuring the numerous incongruities within the plot. Third of the trio, The Strange Affair (1968), was a gritty, somewhat unpleasant, tale of police corruption and obsession set in swinging 60's London. More overtly violent than its predecessors in the genre, it imported Greene's American experience into British film and is worth viewing chiefly for the director's taut handling.
Once again back in the U.S. from the mid-1970's, Greene directed several instalments of the popular miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) and then specialised in made-for-TV films, also occasionally working as producer or executive producer. Arguably, his most successful spell in the medium was between 1976 and 1979, winning three of his four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing of a Drama Series or Special. The oft-married Greene retired in 1999 and died in April 2003, aged 82.Tuesday!- Actor
- Writer
- Director
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.Thursday!- Actor
- Soundtrack
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.Monday!- Walter Gotell was born on 15 March 1924 in Bonn, Germany. He was an actor, known for Moonraker (1979), A View to a Kill (1985) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). He was married to Celeste F. Mitchell and Yvonne Hills. He died on 5 May 1997 in London, England, UK.Saturday!
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
He made his film debut in The Conspirator in 1949 and went on to starring roles in such as Geordie and The Bridal Path, He's probably better known though for the animal films which he made with his actress wife Virginia McKenna such as Born Free, An Elephant Called Slowly and Ring of Bright Water, His sister was the actress Linden Travers and his niece is the actress Penelope WiltonTuesday!- 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.Saturday!
- 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.Tuesday! - Actor
- Director
- Writer
Despite being one of the finest actors of his generation, Peter Finch will be remembered as much for his reputation as a hard-drinking, hell-raising womanizer as for his performances on the screen. He was born in London in 1916 and went to live in Sydney, Australia, at the age of ten. There, he worked in a series of dead-end jobs before taking up acting, his film debut being in the mediocre comedy The Farmer Goes to Town (1938). He made his stage debut as a comedian's stooge in 1939. Laurence Olivier spotted him and persuaded him to return to Britain to perform classic roles on the stage. Finch then had an affair with Olivier's wife, Vivien Leigh. Despite being married three times, Finch also had highly-publicized affairs with actresses Kay Kendall and Mai Zetterling. Finch soon switched to film after suffering appalling stage fright. As a screen actor, he won five BAFTA awards and his talent was beyond doubt. His two finest roles, the only two for which he received Oscar nominations, were as the homosexual Jewish doctor in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and as the "mad prophet of the air-waves" in Network (1976). He died a couple of months before being awarded the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in Network (1976) and was the first actor to have won the award posthumously.Thursday!- Actor
- Writer
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.Monday!- Dan Cunningham was born on 1 January 1917 in Beverly, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Mulberry Accelerator (1955), Richard III (1955) and The Six Proud Walkers (1954). He was married to Rosalie Crutchley. He died in September 2001 in Lancashire, England, UK.Monday!
- Saturday, February 23, 1907 and today is his 116th birthday!
- 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.Thursday!
- 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.Monday!
- 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.Thursday!
- Actor
- Soundtrack
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."Monday!- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
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.Saturday!