Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-13 of 13
- In a career than spanned eight decades, Thora Hird was widely-regarded as one of Britain's finest character actresses. She made over 100 films as well as starring in a host of TV comedies and, as a straight actress, excelled in the works of playwright Alan Bennett. Even in her 90s, she was working almost daily.
Born in Morecambe, Lancashire, the daughter of the manager of the local Royalty Theatre, she was carried on to the stage in a melodrama at the age of eight weeks. When old enough, she joined the Royalty's theatre company, although she kept a day job as a cashier in a grocery store. "I spent 10 years working in that grocery store", she recalled, "and I've played nearly all the customers I used to serve - maids, landladies, cleaners, forthright parents. When I'm acting, I'll do some little thing I've remembered, so simple". At the theatre, she appeared in over 500 plays and, in 1941, the comedian George Formby, on a visit to the theatre, recommended her to Michael Balcon at Ealing Film Studios. Put under contract, she first appeared in Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942) with Will Hay and a string of comedy films and dramas followed. In the same vein as the saucy seaside postcards of her Morecambe birth, Hird was usually cast as the all-seeing boarding house landlady, a gossiping neighbour or a sharp tongued mother-in-law.
In the 1950s, Hird was under contract to the Rank Organisation and was established as a major character actress. She worked with some of Britain's finest directors, including Herbert Wilcox, Lewis Gilbert and John Schlesinger but, by her own account, was not easily awed. "I've appeared in hundreds of films and television things and, in some cases, I literally mean 'appeared' around the door, that was all. Like anybody earning a living, I took most of the work that came along". She gave outstanding performances in Simon and Laura (1955) and The Entertainer (1960), opposite Laurence Olivier, but one of her best- remembered roles was that of the monstrous TV-addicted mother in A Kind of Loving (1962).
As her career progressed, she frequently returned to the stage, often in comedies, with comedians such as Arthur Askey and Harry Secombe, and, in 1964, she was memorably team with the comedian Freddie Frinton in the TV series, Meet the Wife (1963). She starred in a succession of hit TV comedies throughout the 70s and 80s but proof of her talent as a straight actress came in 1987, when she starred in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologue, A Creamcracker under the Settee for which she won a BAFTA award. She wrote several volumes of autobiography, including "Scene and Hird" and "Not in the Diary" and, in 1995, was the subject of a South Bank Show (ITV) monograph. One of the show's contributors, the actor Alan Bates, said of her, "Thora always had a grasp of her character immediately. She didn't have to work herself into a state to get it right. She is a naturally funny woman whose comedy is on the edge of tragedy. It's instinctive and very understanding of life itself". - Anthony Dutton was born on 4 June 1934 in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Department S (1969), EastEnders (1985) and The Avengers (1961). He died on 30 November 2013 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Maggie Rennie was born on 11 February 1919 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Intent to Kill (1958), Fox Mystery Theater (1984) and Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964). She was married to Michael Rennie. She died on 5 August 2017 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.- Bob Raymond was born on 21 January 1904 in Stepney, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Count of Monte Cristo (1964), Softly Softly (1966) and Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969). He died on 19 June 1985 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.
- Roy Denton was born on 4 September 1900 in Sculcoates, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for ITV Play of the Week (1955), A Farewell to Arms (1966) and The Darwin Adventure (1972). He died in 1988 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Ronnie Ronalde was born on 29 June 1923 in Islington, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Introducing the Dwights (2007), Innocent Sinners (1958) and Evans Abode (1956). He was married to Rosemarie. He died on 13 January 2015 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, England, UK.- Actor
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Dennis Castle was born on 16 August 1914 in Wandsworth, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Kaleidoscope (1946), Life at Stake (1957) and Sing Along with Me (1952). He was married to Marie E. Goodliff. He died on 27 February 1993 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, England, UK.- Bunny Reed was an actor, known for Theater of Blood (1973), Beau Geste (1982) and The BBC Television Shakespeare (1978). He died on 15 April 2020 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.
- Nancy Gabrielle was born on 6 July 1917 in Hackney, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Passport to Pimlico (1949), Passion Potion (1971) and Nana (1968). She was married to Paul Bahadur. She died on 29 July 1998 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.
- George Truzzi was born on 28 December 1924. He was an actor, known for A King in New York (1957), The Music Box (1957) and Cooperama (1966). He died in October 1994 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Joan Savage was born in January 1934 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Arthur Haynes Show (1956), Dad's Army (1968) and Coronation Street (1960). She was married to Ken Morris. She died on 1 November 2023 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, London, England, UK.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Roy Fox was born on 25 October 1901 in Denver, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for The Dreamers (2003), The Water Horse (2007) and 31 (2016). He was married to Kerry Marsh. He died on 20 March 1982 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.- Eleanor Darling was born on 17 February 1883 in Holborn, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Avengers (1961), Reluctant Bandit (1965) and Golden Girl (1960). She was married to Frank Robert Gwyn Richardson. She died on 4 February 1972 in Brinsworth House, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.