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1-50 of 228
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Deborah Jane Trimmer in Glasgow, Scotland in 1921, she was the daughter of a soldier who had been gassed in World War I. A shy, insecure child, she found an outlet for expressing her feelings in acting. Her aunt, a radio star, got her some stage work when she was a teenager, and she came to the attention of British film producer Gabriel Pascal, who cast her in his film version of George Bernard Shaw's "Major Barbara" (Major Barbara (1941)) and Love on the Dole (1941). She quickly became a star of the British cinema, playing such diverse roles as the three women in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and the nun in Black Narcissus (1947).
In 1947, she "crossed the pond" to Hollywood and came to MGM, where she found success in films like The Hucksters (1947), Edward, My Son (1949) and Quo Vadis (1951). After a while, however, she tired of playing prim-and-proper English ladies, so she made the most of the role of the adulteress who romps on the beach with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (1953). The film was a success, and Kerr received her second Oscar nomination. She also achieved success on the Broadway stage in "Tea and Sympathy", reprising her role in the 1956 film version of the same name. (Tea and Sympathy (1956)). That same year she played one of her best-remembered screen roles, "Mrs. Anna" in The King and I (1956). More success followed in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), An Affair to Remember (1957), Separate Tables (1958), The Sundowners (1960), The Innocents (1961) and The Night of the Iguana (1964).
In 1968, she quit movies, appalled by the explicit sex and violence of the day. After some stage and TV work in the 1970s and 1980s and swan song performances in The Assam Garden (1985) and Hold the Dream (1986), she retired from acting altogether. Kerr holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations for Best Actress without a win (six), but that was made up for in 1994, when she was given an Honorary Oscar for her screen achievements.- Joanna Dunham was born on 6 May 1936 in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Advocate (1993), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and Van der Valk (1972). She was married to Reggie Oliver and Henry A. Osborne. She died on 25 November 2014 in Saxmundham, Suffolk, England, UK.
- Gaunt and saturnine British character actor of stage and screen, Guy Rolfe made his stage debut in 1936, the same year he had a small uncredited bit part in Knight Without Armor (1937). Rolfe had spent his early twenties as a professional race car driver and boxer before making the move into films. In 1952, he starred in Ivanhoe (1952) with Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor. Rolfe's characters ranged from wealthy businessmen, to romantic leads, to sinister villains and heroes, starring in over thirty motion pictures. His important film roles include playing "Caiaphas" in King of Kings (1961), Taras Bulba (1962) and Mr. Sardonicus (1961). Although he was always recognized in such classic pictures, Rolfe became a familiar presence when he took over the role of toy maker "Andre Toulon" in the slasher film franchise "Puppetmaster". First appearing in the third installment, he made brief appearances in most "Puppet Master" movies since then. Guy Rolfe passed away of "natural causes" at the British Film Hospital in London, England at the age of 91.
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, Emeric Pressburger worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin and Paris) before World War II, finally finding sanctuary in London--but as a scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends led to his meeting with "renegade" director Michael Powell. They then went on to make some of the most interesting (IMHO) and complex films of the 1940s and 1950s under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often showed a deep understanding of the British only granted to those "outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English than the English". After all, some of us were just BORN English, but he CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage, Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so well.- Actor
- Writer
Douglas Wilmer was born on 8 January 1920 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Octopussy (1983), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and El Cid (1961). He was married to Anne Harding and Elizabeth Joan Melville. He died on 31 March 2016 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Vivacious, hazel-eyed, strawberry-haired Jean Kent was a popular star of British films in the 1940's and early 50's. The daughter of variety performers Norman Field and Nina Norre, she was convent-educated. By the age of ten, she accompanied her mother on tour, then spent several years in the chorus line at London's Windmill Theatre in the West End. Having honed her acting skills on the provincial repertory stage, Jean signed with Gainsborough Pictures in 1943. Her first noteworthy performance was in Man of Evil (1944) for which she received fifth billing. Through sheer determination and hard work, she quickly moved up the ladder to integral roles as willful 'scarlet women' in juicy melodramas. These were often parts other leading actresses refused to play, point in case her gypsy wildcat Rosal in Caravan (1946), considered even by Margaret Lockwood as 'too awful'. Using her training to best advantage, Jean performed some striking dance numbers in the film.
She was the femme fatale wartime audiences loved to hate, an early British sex symbol, most effectively paired with the likes of Stewart Granger or James Mason. In one of her best-remembered performances, Jean took sole limelight as the titular star of the cautionary drama Good-Time Girl (1948), as a juvenile delinquent who falls in with spivs and gangsters and ends up in prison. However, within just a few years, Jean's box-office appeal had waned, possibly attributable to having portrayed a woman ten years older than herself in The Browning Version (1951) (though the film itself was a box-office and critical success). Her remaining screen career was thereafter confined to appearances on the small screen, from the much-derided soap opera Crossroads (1964), to playing Queen Elizabeth I in the excellent Sir Francis Drake (1961) or as Daphne Goodlace, potential seductress of both Albert and Harold, in Steptoe and Son (1962).- Freda Dowie was born on 22 July 1928 in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Omen (1976), Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Old Curiosity Shop (1979). She was married to David Thompson, John Harding Goodrich and Lionel Tolson Butterworth. She died on 10 August 2019 in Wherstead, Suffolk, England, UK.
- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
After his mother committed suicide, he lived with his grandmother. When he was 12, he joined Sir Philip Game Boys Club in Croydon, run by an ex-pro music hall performer, where his interest in theatre began. His grandmother took him to the theatre and the first show he remembers was with G.H. Elliott at the Croydon Empire. He worked at a market stall for pocket money, then at 15, in a boys' club concert where he was seen by Michael Bentine, who advised him to take up show business as a career - but first he had to do his military service. After that, he took his first step on the show business ladder by forming a double act with a friend from the boys club. Much later in his career, he became the chairman of the Entertainment Artists Benelovent Association. His first marriage was to Ann, whom he divorced in 1983, then married Debbie.- 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. - Actress
- Sound Department
Gillian Barge, born Gillian Betty Bargh, (27 May 1940 - 19 November 2003) was an English stage, television and film actress.
She was born in Hastings, Sussex and she started acting at the age of 17, training at the Birmingham Theatre School.
Gillian performed on the stage internationally, as well as in Britain where she has played all the major London theatres. Her stage roles included The Cherry Orchard (as Varya), Measure For Measure (Isabella) and The Winter's Tale (Paulina). In 2001 she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award as Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Passion Play at the Donmar Warehouse.
In addition to her theatre work, Gillian Barge has numerous television appearances to her credit. These include guest appearances on episodes of Pie in the Sky (1996), Lovejoy (1994), Midsomer Murders (2002), One Foot in the Grave (1990), All Creatures Great and Small (1980), Van der Valk (1977) and Softly, Softly (1972). Her film credits include The National Health (1973).
Her second husband was the actor Clive Merrison. She died in 2003 of cancer, aged just 63.- Actor
- Writer
South African-born Stratford Johns was forever associated with the role of tough, abrasive Superintendant Charlie Barlow on TV's Z Cars (1962) and its sequels Softly Softly: Task Force (1969) and Barlow at Large (1971). In between, he also played Barlow in the miniseries Jack the Ripper (1973) (which, in turn, led to a 'cold case' investigation series called Second Verdict (1976)). He even spoofed his famous screen detective on The Two Ronnies (1971). His perennial sidekick was the actor Frank Windsor (in the role of Sergeant Watt), who once jokingly referred to their on-screen partnership as being "the Morecambe & Wise of serious television".
Johns was educated in Pietermaritzburg in Natal Province. He began working life as a deckhand with the South African Navy during World War II. He then had a brief spell as an accountant, before finding his vocation in the dramatic arts. After some work in local repertory companies, he went to England on a one-way ticket in 1948, acting for four and a half years on stage in Southend-on-Sea, followed by a comedy act in the variety halls. Since this amounted to little more than a meager income, Johns was forced to make ends meet by doing handyman jobs, building fences, painting and gardening. His big break came in 1962, when he was presented with the choice of whether to accept a small part in the epic blockbuster Cleopatra (1963), or, alternatively, screen test for a new BBC police series (initially called "Crime Cars"). Though tempted by the gentler Roman climate, he wisely chose the latter.
For better or worse, Johns became identified with Barlow to such an extent over the years, that he was even sought-after by police for recruitment drives on television. Conversely, though he occasionally attempted to break away from typecasting, especially on stage, he was rarely deemed to have succeeded.- Prunella Ransome was born on 18 January 1943 in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) and Man in the Wilderness (1971). She died in March 2002 in Suffolk, England, UK.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
The son of a regimental sergeant major, Albert Patrick Jordan grew up in London where he debuted on stage in a 1946 Old Vic production of "Richard II" at the New Theatre. The ensemble cast comprised actors Harry Andrews, Rosalind Atkinson and Alec Guinness. The same group of players went on to perform in other Shakespearean plays, including "Coriolanus" and "The Taming of the Shrew". Jordan began on screen in a TV adaptation of The Browning Version (1949), reprising his stage role from earlier that year. Most of his celluloid assignments in the 50s and 60s consisted of small or uncredited parts. His distinctively stern features and no-nonsense authoritarian bearing led to being invariably typecast as police officers or soldiers. A trademark scar on his right cheek added extra credence to his characters, more than a few of whom did not survive to the final reel. He appeared several times in No Hiding Place (1959), Dixon of Dock Green (1955) and Crossroads (1964) and had featured roles in the war films The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Play Dirty (1969) and Too Late the Hero (1970). Through his friend Alec Guiness, he managed to secure a role in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) as an Imperial Officer, aide to Grand Moff Tarkin (played by Peter Cushing ). He unwisely opted to take a one-off fee for his part, rather than a tiny share of the royalties -- much to his later regret.
Jordan retired in 1995 and died at the age of 96 in January 2020. His wife was Margery Gill (1925-2008), an acclaimed illustrator of children's books.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Pat Keen was born on 21 October 1933 in Willesden, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Without a Clue (1988), Fierce Creatures (1997) and Shadowlands (1993). She died on 1 March 2013 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK.- Actor
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
As a young lad Percy was fascinated by the wild creatures of his native Suffolk and found his ability to imitate them made an interesting "party piece" from the age of 12. His first broadcast experience came in the BBC radio series "Vaudeville" in 1930. He made hundreds of broadcasts until his "official" retirement in 1989. He became a household name after his animal imitations in the radio shows Ray's a Laugh with 'Ted Ray' and Life of Bliss, and in later years was in constant demand by television and film companies. In 'real life' Percy was a distinguished ornithologist although he always described himself as an 'entertainer'. He could accurately imitate over 600 birds as well as making many other animal sounds. he played the whales in 'Orca (1977)', The Reindeer in 'Santa Claus (1985)' and the voice (?) of the Alien in 'Alien (1979)'.- Christopher Crawford was born on 15 October 1942 in California, USA. He was an actor, known for Holiday Island (1981) and Skyways (1979). He died on 22 September 2006 in Greenport, Suffolk County, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Bill was a proper London Cockney with being born with in the sound of London's Bow Bells but he was brought up in Hackney and Bethnal Green. He was one of a family of 6 boys and 2 girls and left school at 14 starting work as a tailboard monkey - hanging on to the back of railway lorries carrying parcels to stations. He did his national service in the RAF, after which he decided to be an actor but with money being scarce he enlisted for 4 years as a state room steward on a P &O liner in order to pay his way through drama school. From there he went into rep, Summer School, radio and commercials. He was Sidney the milkman in Mrs Dale's Diary on the radio,a greengrocer with a ring of confidence in a toothpaste commercial. He married Kate, an Australian actress 3 years after they met when he was 35 and she was 21. They had a son Jamie, born in 1974 and a daughter Sophie born in 1978 and made their home in a 19th century Suffolk gamekeepers cottage. Bill went on to become known as Arthur Fowler in the BBC's Eastenders.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jacqueline Clarke was born on 26 February 1916 in St George Hanover Square, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Blithe Spirit (1945), Johnny in the Clouds (1945) and Escape (1948). She was married to Jonathan Glennon-Anderson, Gordon Anthony (photographer) and Anthony Compton (stage actor). She died on 30 June 1994 in Clare, Suffolk, England, UK.- Gwen Nelson was born on 30 June 1901 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Doctor Zhivago (1965), National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) and A Kind of Loving (1962). She died on 15 October 1990 in Boxford, Suffolk, England, UK.
- Actress
- Writer
Mona Bruce was born on 3 December 1924 in Birmingham, England, UK. She was an actress and writer, known for Within These Walls (1974), ITV Television Playhouse (1955) and BBC Play of the Month (1965). She was married to Robert James. She died on 15 October 2008 in Suffolk, England, UK.- Pamela Cundell was born on January 15, 1920 in Croydon, Surrey, England as Pamela Isabel Cundell. She was an actress, known for TwentyFourSeven (1997), Big Deal (1984) and Dad's Army (1968). She was married to Bill Fraser, Leslie Newport-Gwilt and Robert O'Connor. She died on February 14, 2015 in Finchley, North London, England.
- Lydia Bilbrook was born on 6 May 1888 in Somerset, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Mexican Spitfire's Elephant (1942), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) and Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942). She was married to George Harrison Brown and Reginald Owen. She died on 4 January 1990 in Suffolk, England, UK.
- Austin Trevor was born on 8 October 1897 in Belfast, Ireland [now Northern Ireland], UK. He was an actor, known for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Lord Edgware Dies (1934) and The Red Shoes (1948). He was married to Violet Clowes. He died on 21 January 1978 in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, UK.
- Veteran British character player Ralph Truman was a pioneer radio actor and appeared in over 5000 broadcasts during his career. Born in London at the turn of the century, his overall film career was commendable but less enviable than his voice work on the airwaves. Originally from the stage, he had just finished a run of "Josef Suss" in 1930 when he moved directly into films, making his unbilled debut in the early talkie Farewell to Love (1931). Throughout the 1930s he would be found steadily in "B" films including The Bells (1931), That's My Uncle (1935), The Lad (1935), Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk (1935), Under the Red Robe (1937) and Dinner at the Ritz (1937). In the 1940s the distinctively balding, hook-nosed actor found featured work in more important films such as his Mountjoy in Laurence Olivier's stellar Shakespearean piece Henry V (1944). A natural for period settings, Truman played the nefarious Monks in Oliver Twist (1948), and was part of the large-scale proceedings in Christopher Columbus (1949) and Treasure Island (1950), giving animated Robert Newton a run for the money in the latter with a ripe, over-the-top pirate performance as George Merry. Married to fellow radio artist Ellis Powell, he was best known in later years for playing men of high ranking or position (lords, captains, admirals, governors, etc.). He retired after appearing in two final period epics: Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and Lady Caroline Lamb (1972). He passed away a few years later.
- Actress
- Producer
Sheila Raynor was born on 15 March 1906 in London, England, UK. She was an actress and producer, known for A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Omen (1976) and Man in the Wilderness (1971). She was married to Keith Pyott. She died on 17 February 1998 in Suffolk, England, UK.