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- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a standard text on Anglo-Saxon law. The family later moved to Leicester where his father was appointed Principal of the university while Richard was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
His film career began with a role as a deserting sailor in In Which We Serve (1942), a part that contributed to his being typecast for many years as a coward in films like Dulcimer Street (1948), Operation Disaster (1950) and his breakthrough role as a psychopathic young gangster in the film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, Brighton Rock (1948). During World War II, Attenborough served in the Royal Air Force.
He worked prolifically in British films for the next 30 years, and in the 1950s appeared in several successful comedies for John Boulting and Roy Boulting, including Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). Early in his stage career, Attenborough starred in the London West End production of Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap", which went on to become one of the world's longest-running stage productions. Both he and his wife were among the original cast members of the production, which opened in 1952 and (as of 2007) is still running.
In the 1960s, he expanded his range of character roles in films such as Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) and Guns at Batasi (1964), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the regimental Sergeant Major. He appeared in the ensemble cast of The Great Escape (1963), as Squadron Leader "Roger Bartlett" ("Big X"), the head of the escape committee.
In 1967 and 1968, he won back-to-back Golden Globe Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor, the first time for The Sand Pebbles (1966), starring Steve McQueen, and the second time for Doctor Dolittle (1967), starring Rex Harrison. He would win another Golden Globe for Best Director, for Gandhi (1982), in 1983. Six years prior to "Gandhi", he played the ruthless "Gen. Outram" in Indian director Satyajit Ray's period piece, The Chess Players (1977). He has never been nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category.
He took no acting roles following his appearance in Otto Preminger's The Human Factor (1979), until his appearance as the eccentric developer "John Hammond" in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993). The following year, he starred as "Kris Kringle" in Miracle on 34th Street (1994), a remake of the 1947 classic. Since then, he has made occasional appearances in supporting roles, including the historical drama, Elizabeth (1998), as "Sir William Cecil".
In the late 1950s, Attenborough formed a production company, "Beaver Films", with Bryan Forbes and began to build a profile as a producer on projects, including The League of Gentlemen (1960), The Angry Silence (1960) and Whistle Down the Wind (1961), also appearing in the first two of these as an actor.
His feature film directorial debut was the all-star screen version of the hit musical, Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), and his acting appearances became more sporadic - the most notable being his portrayal of serial killer "John Christie" in 10 Rillington Place (1971). He later directed two epic period films: Young Winston (1972), based on the early life of Winston Churchill, and A Bridge Too Far (1977), an all-star account of Operation Market Garden in World War II. He won the 1982 Academy Award for Directing for his historical epic, Gandhi (1982), a project he had been attempting to get made for many years. As the film's producer, he also won the Academy Award for Best Picture. His most recent films, as director and producer, include Chaplin (1992), starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charles Chaplin, and Shadowlands (1993), based on the relationship between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham. Both films starred Anthony Hopkins, who also appeared in three other films for Attenborough: "Young Winston", "A Bridge Too Far" and the thriller, Magic (1978).
Attenborough also directed the screen version of the hit Broadway musical, "A Chorus Line" (A Chorus Line (1985)), and the apartheid drama, Cry Freedom (1987), based on the experiences of Donald Woods. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director for both films. His most recent film as director was another biographical film, Grey Owl (1999), starring Pierce Brosnan.
Attenborough is the President of RADA, Chairman of Capital Radio, President of BAFTA, President of the Gandhi Foundation, and President of the British National Film and Television School. He is also a vice patron of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.
He is also the patron of the UWC movement (United World Colleges), whereby he continually contributes greatly to the colleges that are part of the organization. He has frequented the United World College of Southern Africa(UWCSA) Waterford Kamhlaba. His wife and he founded the "Richard and Sheila Attenborough Visual Arts Center". He also founded the "Jane Holland Creative Center for Learning" at Waterford Kamhlaba in Swaziland in memory of his daughter, who died in the Tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004. He passionately believes in education, primarily education that does not judge upon color, race, creed or religion. His attachment to Waterford is his passion for non-racial education, which were the grounds on which Waterford Kamhlaba was founded. Waterford was one of his inspirations for directing Cry Freedom (1987), based on the life of Steve Biko.
He was elected to the post of Chancellor of the University of Sussex on 20 March 1998, replacing the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. A lifelong supporter of Chelsea Football Club, Attenborough served as a director of the club from 1969-1982 and, since 1993, has held the honorary position of Life Vice President. He is also the head of the consortium, "Dragon International", which is constructing a film and television studio complex in Llanilid, Wales, often referred to as "Valleywood".
In 1967, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was knighted in 1976 and, in 1993, he was made a life peer as Baron Attenborough, of Richmond-upon-Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
On 13 July 2006, Attenborough and his brother, David Attenborough, were awarded the titles of Distinguished Honorary Fellows of the University of Leicester "in recognition of a record of continuing distinguished service to the University". Lord Attenborough is also listed as an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University for his continued efforts to film making.
Attenborough has been married to English actress Sheila Sim, since 1945. They had three children. In December 2004, his elder daughter, Jane Holland, as well as her daughter Lucy and her mother-in-law, also named Jane, were killed in the tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake. A memorial service was held on 8 March 2005, and Attenborough read a lesson at the national memorial service on 11 May 2005. His grandson, Samuel Holland, and granddaughter, Alice Holland, also read in the service.
Attenborough's father was principal of University College, Leicester, now the city's university. This has resulted in a long association with the university, with Lord Attenborough a patron. A commemorative plaque was placed on the floor of Richmond Parish Church. The university's "Richard Attenborough Centre for Disability and the Arts", which opened in 1997, is named in his Honor.
His son, Michael Attenborough, is also a director. He has two younger brothers, the famous naturalist Sir David Attenborough and John Attenborough, who has made a career in the motor trade.
He has collected Pablo Picasso ceramics since the 1950s. More than 100 items went on display at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery in Leicester in 2007; the exhibition is dedicated to his family members lost in the tsunami.- Actor
- Additional Crew
One of England's most successful and enduring character actors, with a prolific screen career on television and in films, Robert Hardy was acclaimed for his versatility and the depth of his performances.
Born in Cheltenham in 1925, he studied at Oxford University and, in 1949, he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. Television viewers most fondly remember him as the overbearing Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small (1978) but his most critically acclaimed performance was as the title character of Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981). His portrayal of Britain's wartime leader was so accurately observed that, in the following years, he was called on to reprise the role in such productions as The Woman He Loved (1988) and War and Remembrance (1988).
Unlike some British character actors, Hardy was not a Hollywood name and his work in films was therefore restricted to appearances in predominantly British-based productions such as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Frankenstein (1994) and Sense and Sensibility (1995). However, in the 21st century, Hardy came to the attention of a whole new generation for his performances in the hugely successful Harry Potter films, while also continuing to make regular appearances in British television series. His co-star from All Creatures Great and Small (1978), Peter Davison, quite simply described Hardy as an "extraordinary" actor who would "never do the same thing twice" when he was acting with him. He was awarded the CBE for services to acting. He died in August 2017.- Kathleen Byron trained for the stage at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, beginning her work in the movies soon after she finished her training. Her early work with Michael Powell made her name in the UK. She went to Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s but found it difficult to break into the US productions. Mainly because although everyone greatly admired her performance as Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus (1947), she was typecast and only expected to be able to play neurotic characters.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Billie Whitelaw first appeared on the radio aged 11. She made her theatrical debut in 1950 and in films from 1953. She has made a speciality of playing intense, single-purposed women. Also, (on stage), she has appeared in many of the stranger plays by Samuel Beckett.- Actress
- Soundtrack
London-born Sylvia May Laura Syms hit major film appeal at a relatively young age. Born on January 6, 1934, she was educated at convent schools before receiving dramatic training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She made her stage debut in a production of "The Apple Cart" in 1954.
A repertory player by the time she was discovered for films by the British star Anna Neagle and her director/husband Herbert Wilcox, the lovely demure blonde started out auspiciously enough in the delinquent film Teenage Bad Girl (1956) in which she played Neagle's troubled daughter. This was followed by a second Neagle/Wilcox collaboration with No Time for Tears (1957).
Excelling whether cast in stark melodrama, spirited adventure or harmless comedy fluff, Syms' film list grew impressive in the late 1950s and early 1960s working alongside the likes of John Mills and Anthony Quayle in Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Curd Jürgens and Orson Welles in Ferry to Hong Kong (1959), Lilli Palmer and Yvonne Mitchell in Conspiracy of Hearts (1960), Laurence Harvey in Expresso Bongo (1959), William Holden in The World of Suzie Wong (1960), and Dirk Bogarde in the landmark gay-themed Victim (1961), playing the unsuspecting wife of Bogarde's closeted male. After nearly a decade's absence, Sylvia returned briefly to the London theatre lights in 1964 to play the title role in "Peter Pan."
Ably portraying innocent love interests throughout the years, she graced a number of pictures without ever nabbing that one role that would truly put her over the top. She was nominated, however, three times for British Film Academy Awards--twice for best actress in Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957) and No Trees in the Street (1959) and once for supporting actress in The Tamarind Seed (1974) that starred Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif.
The 1970s saw quite a bit of TV series work and she played British prime minister Margaret Thatcher at one point on both stage and TV. She grew plumper with middle age and found herself immersed in character roles, offering support in such films as Absolute Beginners (1986), Shirley Valentine (1989) and Shining Through (1992).
The stage once again beckoned in the mid-to-late 1980's with touring performances, among many others, in "The Heiress," "The Beaux Stratagem," "The Ideal Husband," "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "The Vortex," "Hamlet," "Anthony and Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She portrayed the Queen and Margaret Thatcher in a production of "Ugly Rumours" and was among the cast in a musical presentation of "On the Town" in 2005.
Into the millennium, Sylvia has continued to have remarkable agility. American audiences have recently seen her as the dog-doting "Princess Charlotte" in the light teen comedy What a Girl Wants (2003) with Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth, and treading water as the Shelley Winters character in the TV-remake of The Poseidon Adventure (2005). Other movies have included the role of the Queen Mum in The Queen (2006) starring Oscar-winning Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, as well as featured roles in Is Anybody There? (2008) starring Michael Caine and Booked Out (2012). She also co-starred opposite Peter Bowles in the heart-warming senior character study Together (2018).
Married once and divorced in the 1980s from Alvin Edney, daughter Beatie Edney (aka Beatrice) is a highly prolific actress in her own right, and her son, Benjamin Edney, was briefly an actor while young and appeared with his mother as her son in the western The Desperados (1969). Ms. Syms is sometimes confused with Brooklyn-born jazz/cabaret performer and recording artist Sylvia Syms (1917-1992) (née Sylvia Blagman).- Actress
- Soundtrack
An English stage and television actress. She was best known for her roles in British television sitcoms, such as Elizabeth in Keeping Up Appearances (1990) and Miss Davenport in Last of the Summer Wine.
Tewson was born in Hampstead, London, England in 1931. Her father, William, was a professional musician and played the double bass in the BBC Symphony Orchestra; her mother, Kate (née Morley, born 1908), was a nurse. After grammar school, Tewson studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from which she graduated in 1952. She was briefly married to actor Leonard Rossiter; they divorced in 1961.
A regular comedy performer in sketches featuring Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker on David Frost on Sunday and Hark at Barker (1970), she later appeared in Mostly Monkhouse, a BBC Radio comedy programme with David Jason supporting Bob Monkhouse. She also appeared a few times in Z-Cars (1963-69) and The Charlie Drake Show (1968). Tewson played Edna Hawkins (usually referred to as Mrs H by Shelley) in the first six series of the British sitcom Shelley (1979-82). Later, she played Jane Travers in Ronnie Barker's sitcom Clarence (1988), which he also wrote, and was his last starring television role before his retirement.
Tewson is best known for her role as Elizabeth, neighbour and confidant of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. Tewson appeared in nearly every episode for the five series run, providing an often rattled but pragmatic counter to the scattered and clueless Mrs Bouquet.
Tewson starred with John Inman in Odd Man Out (1977), a sitcom, where they played half-brother/half-sister roles.
Tewson appeared semi-regularly as Miss Davenport in Last of the Summer Wine (2003-10), a series written by Roy Clarke who also wrote Keeping Up Appearances. She also appeared in two episodes of the documentary series Comedy Connections, talking about her work in Keeping Up Appearances (2004) and opposite The Two Ronnies (2005). In 2009, she played the role of Iris in the radio drama Leaves in Autumn written by Susan Casanove, produced by the Wireless Theatre Company.
Other television appearances were in an episode of Heartbeat ("Closing The Book", 2002) and as the competition judge, Samantha Johnstone, in an episode in the mystery drama Midsomer Murders ("Judgement Day", 2002). Later she was featured in two episodes of Doctors as kleptomaniac, Audrey Wilson, ("Now You See It...", 2009) and as Marjorie Page, a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease ("The Bespectacled Bounder," 2012). She also appeared in an episode of Lewis.
In 2012 Tewson launched her one-woman show Still Keeping Up Appearances? touring the UK.
She died on 18th August 2022 of natural causes at the age of 91.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Peter started off as a junior bank clerk but he had always been interested in the theatre and went every week to the Intimate Theatre in Palmers Green in London which was run by actor John Clements. Serving in the RAF as a radio instructor one of his pupils was Peter Bridge (now a theatre impresario) who later asked him to play David Bliss in his production of 'Hay Fever', He enjoyed the experience so much that he decided to make the theatre his profession.- Actor
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Andrew Sachs born Andreas Siegfried Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, he and his family emigrated to London in 1938, to escape persecution under the Nazis. He made his name on British television and rose to fame in the 1970s for his portrayals of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers (1975), a role for which he was BAFTA nominated.
He went on to have a long career in acting and voice-over work for television, film and radio. In his later years, he continued to have success with roles in films such as Quartet, and as Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.
Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina (née Schrott-Fiecht), a librarian, and Hans Emil Sachs, an insurance broker. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic, and of half-Austrian descent. He left with his parents for Britain in 1938, when he was eight years old, to escape the Nazis. They settled in north London, and he lived in Kilburn for the rest of his life.
In 1960, Sachs married Melody Lang, who appeared in one episode of Fawlty Towers, "Basil the Rat", as Mrs. Taylor. He adopted her two sons from a previous marriage, John Sachs and William Sachs, and they had one daughter, Kate Sachs.
In the late 1950s, whilst still studying shipping management at college, Sachs worked on radio productions, including Private Dreams and Public Nightmares by Frederick Bradnum, an early experimental programme made by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Sachs began in acting with repertory theatre and made his West End debut as Grobchick in the 1958 production of the Whitehall farce Simple Spymen. He made his screen debut in 1959 in the film The Night We Dropped a Clanger. He then appeared in numerous television series throughout the 1960s, including some appearances in ITC productions such as The Saint (1962) and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).
Sachs is best known for his role as Manuel, the Spanish waiter in the sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979). During the shooting of the Fawlty Towers episode "The Germans", Sachs was left with second degree acid burns due to a fire stunt. He was hit with a faulty prop on the set of the show by John Cleese and suffered a massive headache.
Sachs recorded four singles in character as Manuel; the first was "Manuel's Good Food Guide" in 1977, which came in a picture sleeve with Manuel on the cover. Sachs also had a hand in writing (or adapting) the lyrics. This was followed in 1979 by "O Cheryl" with "Ode to England" on the B side. This was recorded under the name "Manuel and Los Por Favors". Sachs shares the writing credits for the B side with "B. Wade", who also wrote the A side.
In 1981, "Manuel" released a cover version of Joe Dolce's number one in the United Kingdom "Shaddap You Face", with "Waiter, there's a Flea in my Soup" on the B side. Sachs also adapted "Shaddap You Face" into Spanish, but was prevented from releasing it before Dolce's version by a court injunction. When finally released it reached 138 in the UK Chart.
In 2007, the BBC broadcast an adaptation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency with Sachs portraying Reg (Professor Urban Chronotis, the Regius Professor of Chronology). He would later appear in another Adams adaptation as the Book in the live tour of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy during its run at Bromley's Churchill Theatre.
On 17 November 2008, it was announced that Sachs had been approached to appear in ITV soap Coronation Street. He later confirmed on 14 December that he was taking up the offer, saying, "I'm taking Street challenge". In May 2009 he made his debut on the street as Norris' brother, Ramsay. He appeared in 27 episodes and left in August 2009.
With the Australian pianist Victor Sangiorgio, he toured with a two man show called "Life after Fawlty", which included Richard Strauss's voice and piano setting of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Enoch Arden". 2012 saw his last major role, as Bobby Swanson in the movie Quartet.
Sachs was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012, which eventually left him unable to speak and forced him to use a wheelchair. He died on 23 November 2016 at the Denville Hall nursing home in Northwood, London, England. He was buried on 1 December 2016, the same day his death was publicly announced.
On 2 December 2016, BBC One broadcast the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems" in his memory. John Cleese led tributes to Sachs, describing him as a "sweet, sweet man"- Frank Middlemass, the son of a naval architect, was born in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton. He made his stage debut at the Newcastle Upon Tyne Playhouse in Jesmond after the war then performed in repertory in Penzance and later at London's Old Vic, Bristol, and on a world tour. . He appeared in a number of films including Barry Lyndon, Madame Sin and The Island. He had a sister who lived in Newcastle.
- Moray Watson was born on 25 June 1928 in Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Quatermass Experiment (1953), No Wreath for the General (1960) and Nobody's Perfect (1980). He was married to Pam Marmont. He died on 2 May 2017 in Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Margaret Rose Mount in Essex, England, she went to work as a secretary in her early teens after the death of her father, despite her early desire to enter the theatre. It would be almost 15 years before she landed a role with the Hanson Players, when she played the part of an eccentric guest in 'The Sleeping Prince.' She stayed with the company for three years, and became known for her imposing and impressive voice. She originated one of her best known roles, the formidable battleaxe, Emma Hornett, in 'Sailor Beware' with her repertory troupe in 1953, and reprised the role on the West End, the role making her a star. She made her film debut in the screen version a year later: it was known as 'Panic in the Parlor' in the US. In 1958 she appeared in 'The Adventures of Mr. Pastry' on British television, before appearing as another popular harridan role in 'The Larkins' that same year on ITV. In 1960 she tackled Shakespeare at the Old Vic, taking the role of the Nurse in 'Romeo and Juliet' to excellent reviews. For the next two decades she split her time between the stage and various television series which included 'Winning Widows' from 1961 to 1962, the 1966 to 1968 series 'George and the Dragon,' and 'Lollipop Loves Mr Mole' from 1971 to 1972. Additionally she appeared in such films as 'The Naked Truth' in 1957, 'Ladies Who Do' in 1963, and 'Oliver!' in 1968. In the 1980s she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and much of her later work was on stage, although she did appear in the cult television series, 'Doctor Who' in 1988's 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy' episode. In 1996 she was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to her art. In her later years she lost her sight, forcing her retirement, and later suffered a series of strokes. She died at an actors' retirement home in Northwood, Middlesex at the age of 86.- Actor
- Soundtrack
David was the son of a naval seaman at Gillingham and worked to help keep his family during the depression of the 30';s from working as a milkman to being a butchers boy. He found his acting talent in RAF concerts and later in music halls and pantomimes then a film casting agent who'd seen him as a demon king in pantomime offered him £20 a day to work on the film Cockleshell Heroes. Since then he;s made well over 60 films and spent about 6 months on the BBC tv serial United as the football manager Jerry Barford, He's married to Lyn, a French woman and lives in Richmond- Actress
- Soundtrack
Carmen Silvera was a British comic actress of Spanish descent, primarily known for television roles. Her most memorable role was playing Edith Artois in the hit sitcom "'Allo 'Allo!" (1982-1992), which depicted multiple ongoing conspiracies in German-occupied France during World War II.
Edith was the antagonistic wife of the series' main character, the opportunist café owner Rene Artois. Husband and wife were reluctant members of the French Resistance, while also collaborating with corrupt German officers and being involved in several other conspiratorial schemes. Ongoing plot-lines involving Edith included her suspicions that Rene was cheating on her (while she appeared unaware that he was having extramarital affairs with all of their waitresses, and that he had an unrequited love for resistance leader Michelle Dubois), her regular attempts to perform as a cabaret singer (despite having an awful singing voice), her romantic relationships with undertaker Monsieur Alfonse and the Italian Captain Alberto Bertorelli, and Edith being far more patriotic and idealistic than her husband.
In 1922, Silvera was born in Toronto, Ontario to British expatriate parents. Her father was Roland Silvera (1895-1986), a well-known bowls player, and a member of the Stoke Bowling Club, Coventry. In the 1970s, Roland served as a president of the Warwickshire County Bowls Association. During his term, the association won the English Bowling Association Middleton Cup for the first time in its history.
The Silvera family emigrated back to England in 1924. They settled in Warwickshire, a county in the West Midlands region of England. Carmen was evacuated to Montreal, Canada during World War II. She originally aspired to follow a dancing career, taking lessons from a ballet company that served as one of several rival successors to the famed "Ballets Russes" (1909-1929). She appeared with the ballet company on stage, but only for a small number of performances.
Following the end of World War II, Silvera returned to England and decided to follow an acting career. She was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and then started appearing repertory theatre. She had a brief marriage to theatrical actor John Cunliffe. In 1948, they were divorced after Silvera suffered a miscarriage. She never remarried, instead focusing o her career.
In the late 1950s, Silvera started appearing in television roles. Her first recurring role in a series was playing Camilla Hope in the soap opera "Compact" (1962-1965). The opera depicted the personal and professional lives of the employees of a magazine. It reportedly enjoyed high ratings throughout its run. Its demise was attributed to the dislike of its premise by BBC executives.
In 1966, Silvera played three different roles in the story arc "The Celestial Toymaker" of the hit science fiction series "Doctor Who" (1963-1989). One of her three roles was the Queen of Hearts in a set of living playing cards. The episodes were considered offbeat for featuring strong fantasy elements in a series that typically focused on science fiction and historical fiction. Silvera later returned to the series in the story arc "Invasion of the Dinosaurs", which featured dinosaurs transported to modern-age London. This story arc was noted for featuring villains who were well-intentioned extremists, firmly believing that the ends justify the means (in other words, that their crimes were justified by their righteous goal).
In 1970, Silvera had a guest star role in an episode of the World War II-themed sitcom "Dad's Army" (1968-1977), which featured the misadventures of the Home Guard. She portrayed Fiona Gray, a middle-aged woman who wants to join the war effort. Her character served as a new love interest for the main character, the aging Captain George Mainwaring. The episode was unusual in having a tragic theme, and emphasizing Mainwaring's loneliness. It was directed by David Croft, who would later cast Silvera in "'Allo 'Allo!".
Silvera made her film debut in the erotic film "Clinic Exclusive" (1971), at the age of 49. She played the role of Elsa Farson, an aging, lonely lesbian who is in love with Julie Mason (played by Georgina Ward), not caring that Mason is a ruthless businesswoman with a side career as a blackmailer. The film was scripted and produced by Hazel Adair, who had previously worked with Silvera in "Compact". Most of the film's actors were veterans from Adair's television productions.
Throughout the 1970s, Silvera had a few more film roles in British productions. Her last film role in this decade was playing Lady Bottomley in the sex comedy "Keep It Up Downstairs" (1976). The film's plot focused on the efforts of two aging aristocrats to find a rich wife for their son, despite the young man's disinterest in anything outside his career as an inventor.
Silvera found success late in life, when cast in the role of Edith Artois in the sitcom "'Allo 'Allo!" (1982-1992). Initially conceived as a parody of the wartime drama series "Secret Army" (1977-1979), it became a much more popular and long-running series than the one it parodied. Unusual for a sitcom, "'Allo 'Allo!" had overarching plot-lines, rather than featuring simple stand-alone stories. Nearly every character took part in conspiracies and had agendas of his/her own, but their schemes often clashed and backfired. Besides the ongoing scheming, the film placed emphasis on the characters' romantic and sexual lives, with a large amount of sexual innuendo in each episode. The series lasted for 9 seasons, and 85 episodes. Much of the main cast of series gained enduring popularity with the British public.
During the 1990s, Silvera enjoyed a revival of her theatrical career. She appeared in stage musicals, such as "That's Showbiz" (1997) by Jimmy Perry. Her last film role was a small part in the drama film "La Passione" (1996). The film was partly based on the childhood experiences of screenwriter Chris Rea as a son of immigrants in the United Kingdom.
Silvera was a heavy smoker for much of her life, and she was eventually diagnosed with lung cancer. She spend her last years as a resident of Denville Hall, a retirement home for professional actors and their spouses. In August 2002, Silvera died there due to cancer. She was 80-years-old. Her popularity endures primarily due to her appearances in classic sitcoms.- Geoffrey Keen was born on 21 August 1916 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979) and For Your Eyes Only (1981). He was married to Doris Groves, Madeline Howell and Hazel Terry. He died on 3 November 2005 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
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Young Arnold Ridley was forced to give up a budding acting career and turn to writing. He hit the jackpot with 'The Ghost Train' which was a great West End success, and has been filmed several times. This was followed by a number of other plays during the 1920s and 1930s. In later life he returned to acting, often as kindly and gentle old men such as his most famous role as Private Godfrey in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army (1968) from 1968 to 1977.
Ridley's acting career began before World War I while he was a student at Bristol University when he was paid a pound a week for, in his own words, "playing bits and pieces" at the Theatre Royal in Bristol (now the Bristol Old Vic). Having been "rather badly knocked about" in World War I (he fought at the Battle of the Somme and was injured three times, with one serious bayonet wound leaving him with no strength in his right arm) he returned to England but could find no acting work and went instead to work for his father's boot company in Bath. Still keen on pursuing a life in the theatre he turned to writing. He wrote a lot of what he called "serious plays," claiming that he didn't like thrillers very much, but after one of these was rejected by London producers, he went to the theatre to pass the evening before returning to the West Country the following morning.
He saw "an American thriller which I didn't like a bit, and I thought to myself, 'If that's the sort of tosh they'll put on, I'll write one of those only I'll try to make mine a bit better than that.'" The result was "The Ghost Train" which was a West End hit and whose popularity endures over 80 years on. He wrote several other plays in the 1920s and '30s, directing in the theatre and on film, and running both a theatre and film company (which went bust). When times were hard in the late-1920s he sold the amateur rights to "The Ghost Train" for 200 pounds, a decision he later regretted, believing that he had "lost a fortune" by selling the rights to such a popular play. He was wounded again in World War II and returned to acting, appearing in numerous television shows through the 1950s and '60s until he was cast as the kindly, retired shop assistant Mr Godfrey in Dad's Army (1968). Colleagues from the show commented that he had been "forced" to work long into his old age by financial circumstances, but he said himself that his great fear was being forced to retire.
He continued to work until the show ended in 1977, by which time he was 81. He was made an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 1982 Queen's New Years Honours List, for services to drama, and died two years later.- 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.
- A stalwart, subtle presence of British stage and screen, Gerald Sim's work was both prolific and varied. Nonetheless, he will be best remembered by the majority of viewers as the wily rector of To the Manor Born (1979). The son of a Barings Bank employee, Gerald was born in Liverpool on June 4, 1925. His elder sister was the actress Sheila Sim. After schooling in Kent he was trained at RADA, apparently having become enamored with acting after listening to a 1943 radio broadcast of John Gielgud (entitled "The Great Ship"). Then followed extensive repertory experience, both in England, and in Durban, South Africa (1954, with the McNeale Company). Beginning with a small role in Fame Is the Spur (1947), Sim was to eventually become one of Britain's most reliable, yet ever-so-discreet screen character players, his profile firmly established in several films directed by Bryan Forbes, including Whistle Down the Wind (1961), King Rat (1965) and The Wrong Box (1966).
He was most often featured as bumptious upper crusts (suitably convincing because of his clear voice and precise diction), obtuse vicars, police inspectors, barristers and very British stiff-upper-lip military types. He appeared in seven films directed by his brother-in-law Richard Attenborough: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Young Winston (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Gandhi (1982), Cry Freedom (1987), Chaplin (1992) and Shadowlands (1993). After repeated guest roles in such prime time shows as Dixon of Dock Green (1955) and The Avengers (1961), Sim became firmly entrenched in the medium and never looked back. He briefly returned to the stage in 1979 and made one final TV appearance in 2007 in a 25th anniversary special of To the Manor Born (1979). - Actor
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Philip Madoc was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, and attended Twyn School. He became interested in acting when he was a teenager. He studied at the University of Vienna and pursued a theatrical career by attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. During the 1960s, he became a familiar face on British television, often cast in sinister roles due to his dark looks and deep voice. He became particularly familiar to fans of fantasy television, playing five different roles on The Avengers (1961) and four different roles on Doctor Who (1963). Into the 1970s and the guest appearances kept coming, including comedies such as Dad's Army (1968) (as a U-Boat captain in one of the most famous scenes on British TV) and The Good Life (1975). Although widely respected as a versatile actor adept at accents, Madoc never really became a star until 1981, when he portrayed former British prime minister David Lloyd George on an acclaimed television series, The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981). Madoc has not been short of work for the last 40 years, a rare accomplishment for an actor, and has worked on films, radio and on the stage as well as his prolific television career. Madoc died of cancer in 2012.- Actor
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Ronnie Stevens was born on 2 September 1925 in Peckham, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Parent Trap (1998), Brassed Off (1996) and A.J. Wentworth, B.A. (1982). He was married to Ann Bristow. He died on 11 November 2006 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.- Sheila Sim was born on 5 June 1922 in Liverpool, Lancashire [now in Merseyside], England, UK. She was an actress, known for A Canterbury Tale (1944), The Night My Number Came Up (1955) and West of Zanzibar (1954). She was married to Richard Attenborough. She died on 19 January 2016 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- A beloved British comedienne, well known for her work on television and radio, Pat Coombs began her career in the mid 1950s, having formerly worked as a nursery school assistant.
A "foil" for top comedians including Dick Emery, Bob Monkhouse and Peggy Mount she reached the height of her fame in the 1970s in a succession of long-running television series and as a 'celebrity' in numerous game shows.
In the 1990s she joined the cast of EastEnders (1985) as Brown Owl Marge Green and played Pru in Noel's House Party (1991). In the mid 1990s she was diagnosed with the bone disease Osteoporosis but continued to work until the end of her life, recording a final installment of the radio series "Like They've Never Been Gone" (with June Whitfield and Roy Hudd) in February 2002.
A lovable lady, Pat Coombs, who never married (although came close twice), died at Denville Hall, the actor's retirement home, on 25 May 2002. She was 75 years old. - Actress
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Remarkable, unique, unforgettable Betty Marsden was one of Britain's most talented comedy actresses, best known for her multiple roles in the Kenneth Horne shows on BBC radio in the 1960s.
Betty Marsden was born in Liverpool on 24th February 1919, and appeared at Bath Pavilion aged 11 as the First Fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She made her London debut later that year as the Prince in The Windmill Man (Victoria Palace), a fairy play with music.
Gaining a scholarship for six years to the Italia Conti Stage School, she first acted in the West End in Closing at Sunrise (Royalty, 1935).
Other pre-war West End work came in Basil Dean's production of Autumn (1937), Ivor Novello's Comedienne (1938), and J B Priestley's morality play, Johnson Over Jordan (1939).
During the Second World War she entertained the troops with ENSA, and played in the war-torn West End in the American comedy, Junior Miss (1943). In 1947 she won critical praise as the amorous Mrs Corcoran to Alastair Sim's murderous medico in Dr Angelus and in Sacha Guitry's Don't Listen, Ladies! (1948).
Then came 12 years in intimate revue. She started at the tiny Irving Theatre Club in London in 1950-51 and went to the Edinburgh Festival with After The Show. She was in her element, and in the 1950s spent years at the Royal Court in Laurier Lister's Airs on a Shoestring (1953-55) and its successor From Here and There.
In 1958 she appeared in a revue by John Cranko, Keep Your Hair On, which was so disastrous that the gallery was filled each night by audiences who wanted to take turns at making their own jokes at the expense of the stage action. The plot hinged on a revolution in London. Many scenes were for some reason set in a Mayfair hairdressers; she made a brave attempt at a song called Crowning Glory.
In the 1960s she was at the peak of her career, appearing on BBC radio's Round the Horne which co-starred Kenneth Williams. She delighted millions of listeners who never knew what she looked like, with her radio characters, such as Daphne Whitethigh, the cookery expert, whose delivery owed something to Fanny Craddock. And there was a regular double-act with Hugh Paddick in the Brief Encounter genre. Much of the dialogue in this spoof would be a low-toned, breathy exchange of the remark "Darling".
Her most famous film role is without doubt the oblivious, guffawing character of Harriet Potter, alongside other comedy heroes Terry Scott and Charles Hawtrey in Carry on Camping (1969). They make an exceptional comedy team throughout the film. In her later years, she appeared in character roles on French and Saunders (1987) and Casualty (1986).
Throughout, the filming of Carry on Camping (1969), Miss Marsden suggested to fellow actress Dilys Laye that she wanted to die with a glass of gin in her hand.
In July 1998, 24 hours after moving into a residential home for old actors, this is exactly what happened. Miss Marsden had been chatting to friends in the home's bar when she collapsed and died. She was 79 and had been recovering from a bout of heart problems and pneumonia.- Distinguished character actor and one time matinée idol Geoffrey Toone appeared in some of London's most famous stage productions of the 20th century. A stalwart of the Old Vic Theatre since the early 1930s, he worked with stars such as Ralph Richardson and Roger Livesey, and went on to appear in John Gielgud's magisterial 1934 production of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet (1935) with Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, and the wartime production of Lady Windemere's Fan (1945) designed by Cecil Beaton.
Toone's striking looks as a young actor made him a favourite with pre-war audiences. One critic who commented on Toone's "sculpted features" said the actor "could have stepped out of a Sargent painting."
In his later career, Toone's powerful stage presence and keen intelligence saw him emerge as a leading character actor, and he became one of television's busiest performers. He was often cast as an aristocrat or military type in series such as The Avengers (1961) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990) and became something of a household name when he played the vengeful Nazi Von Gelb in the cult ITV children's spy series Freewheelers (1968).
Toone had a prolific film career, which included such roles as Sir Edward Ramsay in The King and I (1956), Harold Hubbard in The Entertainer (1960) and several horror films including The Terror of the Tongs (1961) and Dr. Crippen (1963).
His later career was mainly spent working in television both in Britain and in America. He retired to Denville Hall, the actor's rest home in Northwood, Middlesex where he died on June 1, 2005, at 94.
For many years he had shared a house with the actor Frank Middlemass. - John made his acting debut at the Theatre Royal, Bournemouth. After spending a year in various reps. including Hastings, Watford and Eastbourne, he was conscripted into the Devon Yeomanry during the war and served in Italy and Sicily, but contracted hepatitis. He then became a member of the Army Bureau For Current Affairs - Play Unit, touring England, France and Germany. He then spent many years in theatre, before branching out into films and starring alongside David Niven and John Mills. He has also appeared in many TV roles.
- Peter Howell was an English actor born in London to Owen, a solicitor, and his wife Nora, née Mally, on 25 October 1919. He attended Winchester College and began studying Law at Christ Church, Oxford but left when he was called up for wartime service in 1939. Invalided out of the army in 1943 as a result of dysentery he became interested in acting through his sister Gillian, who was training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). At this point of the war RADA was looking for men to act in productions to replace those away on active service.
Howell then joined the Old Vic Company which had relocated to the New Theatre, London following the bombing of it's own location. Whist there he gained valuable experience with small parts alongside the likes of Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Sybil Thorndike. This would provide the foundation for a stage and screen career that would eventually last for over fifty years.
Since then he played many roles on stage and television, notably in long-running hospital soap 'Emergency Ward 10'. He was also an active member of Equity, the actors' union, and the Labour Party. Married to Susan , who died in 1992, he died on April 20 2015 and is survived by three daughters and a son. - Actress
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British character actress, best known as Fanny La Fan in the long-running sit-com 'Allo 'Allo. She continued to act until her eighties before spending her final years living at Denville Hall, the actors retirement home in Middlesex.- Patsy Smart was born on 14 August 1918 in Chingford, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), The Elephant Man (1980) and Electric Dreams (1984). She died on 6 February 1996 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Catherine Lacey was born on 6 May 1904 in Paddington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Lady Vanishes (1938), Whisky Galore! (1949) and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). She was married to Thomas Anthony S. Wright, Roy Emerton and Geoffrey Clark. She died on 20 September 1979 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Doris Hare was born on 1 March 1905 in Bargoed, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for On the Buses (1969), Second Best (1994) and The Avengers (1961). She was married to John Fraser Roberts. She died on 30 May 2000 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
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Frank Latimore was born on 28 September 1925 in Darien, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for All the President's Men (1976), 13 Rue Madeleine (1947) and Patton (1970). He was married to Sukarno, Rukmini. He died on 29 November 1998 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.- Nicholas Amer was born Thomas Harold Amer in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England in 1923. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the Royal Navy and served as a wireless officer for four years during World War II. He saw plenty of action, serving mainly on Motor Torpedo Boats, at first in North Africa. He was wounded in action during the Allied Invasion of Sicily in 1943.
Following demobilisation in 1945 he became an actor, studying at the Webber-Douglas Academy Drama School from 1946 to 1948 and winning, in his final year, their Best Actor Award, presented to him by Sir Donald Wolfit. Thereafter he devoted himself to the plays of William Shakespeare and performed with The Old Vic Company, The Oxford Playhouse Company and others in 31 different countries, and winning the Best Foreign Actor Award in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Amer's big break came in 1953 when John Gielgud asked him to play 'Green' in his production of Richard II, starring Paul Scofield. After the London run he made his first overseas tour by going with Sir John and the Company to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). His most recent tour overseas was to the USA with the Old Vic Company in 1996, playing Duncan in Macbeth. In between he played many of Shakespeare's juveniles, including Romeo, Laertes (three times), Ferdinand in The Tempest (twice) and finally, in 1958, Hamlet at the Wimbledon Theatre. Other West End appearances include The Wolf with Judi Dench and Leo McKern, Captain Brassbound's Conversion with Penelope Keith, and A Man for All Seasons with Charlton Heston.
In 1960, with The Oxford Playhouse Company, he toured India, Pakistan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) playing Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night. Three years later, in 1963, he formed, along with fellow actors Harold Lang and Greville Hallam, their own company, Voyage Theatre. They produced the play Macbeth in Camera, which they wrote themselves to demonstrate the various techniques that actors use to bring Shakespeare's printed words to life. This they offered to the British Council who liked it so much that they sent them, eventually, on three long world tours.
Nicholas Amer's TV career began in the early days of television with the first medical soap, Emergency-Ward 10 (1957). Among many appearances since then are Messalina's lover Mnester in I, Claudius (1976), The Aedile in The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984) (part of the BBC's complete TV cycle) and Fortunes of War (1987) with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thomson. In 2011 he appeared in an episode of Borgia (2011), filmed in Prague, playing the rich and evil Prospero Santacroce on his death bed trying desperately to persuade Cesare Borgia to grant him absolution, so that, free of his wicked life, he might enter Paradise.
The following year he travelled to Thailand to play the role of returning veteran Jack Jennings in Heroes Return (2012), a TV short directed by John Hillcoat that was part of Camelot UK's campaign to provide Lottery funding to help World War II veterans take part in commemorative visits to mark the anniversary of events that led to the end of the war.
His first film role was as a pot boy in The Mudlark (1950) (uncredited) with Irene Dunne and Alec Guinness. Other films include The Message (1976) with Anthony Quinn, The Prince and the Pauper (1976) with Rex Harrison, Nelson's Touch (1979), in which he played the great Admiral himself, Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), The Whipping Boy (1994) for Disney studios, a remake of A Man for All Seasons (1988) with Charlton Heston and Vanessa Redgrave, Treasure Island (1990), in which he played Ben Gunn, also with Charlton Heston, The Awakening (2011) with Rebecca Hall, Terence Davies's The Deep Blue Sea (2011), as the grandfather in Segment "G is for Grandad" of ABCs of Death 2 (2014) and as Oggie in Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016).
Nicholas Amer has been a teacher at many of the London drama schools, including the Central School in Swiss Cottage, the Webber-Douglas School in South Kensington and also the Rose Bruford School and Drama Centre. In Australia, the Drama Academy N.I.D.A. in Sydney asked him to give classes to their students, and in Egypt too he was asked to do the same. While filming The Message (1976) in Libya, he was delighted when a fellow actor, appearing in a leading part in the Arabic version of the film, surprised him by reminding him that he been taught by Nicholas in Cairo. - Elspeth March was one of a golden generation of Central School of Speech and Drama students trained under the rigorous and inspiring Elsie Fogerty - Laurence Olivier, amongst others, always stressed Fogerty's contribution to the British stage. March also enjoyed the very best years of the British repertory system, with the kind of career denied young actors today, playing an enormous variety of roles in a crucial early period at the Birmingham Rep at one of its highest points.
Later in her career, with her formidable stage presence, commanding eyes and expressively wide-ranging voice, she was much in demand as a valued supporting character actress, playing a good number of battle-axes and dragonesses, often with whiplash comic precision, more than occasionally enlivening some less than effervescent scripts.
Her career never quite flowered as it should have; she never had the luck to play some parts for which she would have been ideal - Lady Bracknell or a number of Restoration comedy's gallery of deluded dowagers - and poor health clouded her later years. At her peak, however, she was one of the most distinctive, stylish actors of her generation.
Born Jean Elspeth Mackenzie into the comfortable world of a military family and given an excellent education at Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset, she gravitated early to the stage, and after her Central School training and a first professional appearance in a tiny part in Jonah and the Whale (Westminster Theatre, 1932) she played a few more minor roles and understudied in the West End until she was offered a season at the Birmingham Rep.
Between 1934 and 1937 she had a glorious run of rewarding leading roles there including the title role in Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan and Elizabeth in Rudolf Besier's 1930s smash-hit The Barretts of Wimpole Street. She also appeared at the Malvern Festivals between 1935 and 1937 when Shaw himself was often in evidence and in charge.
Her attack and vocal variety were supremely suited to Shaw and her many Shavian roles at Malvern included the rarity of Vashti in The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles, the rebellious Hypatia in Misalliance, Miss Brollikins in the political satire On the Rocks, the enormously demanding vocal pyrotechnics and physical agility of Epifania in The Millionairess, and Orinthia the seductive royal mistress in The Apple Cart.
More unexpectedly - although discerning directors had noted her versatility - she had a great personal success as The Widow Quin in Synge's Playboy of the Western World (a Mercury Theatre production, later transferring to the Duchess, in 1939) and she also played the part equally successfully nearly 20 years later for the Irish Players in New York (Tara Theatre, 1958).
While at Birmingham in the mid-1930s March had met fellow actor Stewart Granger. They married in 1938 and the following year performed together in a number of plays in Aberdeen, including Arms and the Man and Hay Fever (Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray performed the juvenile roles).
During the Second World War, rather than join Ensa, March left the stage for nearly five years to serve as a driver for the American Red Cross. Her immediate post-war career was unsettled, with some unrewarding roles and some disappointing London productions, although Noel Coward's large- cast Peace in Our Time (Lyric, 1947), set in a London pub against the background of an imagined 1940-45 Britain under Nazi occupation, gave her a meaty part as a novelist whose son has been killed in the Battle of Britain (Coward admired both her performance and the quality she maintained throughout the run).
She also had a happy return to Shaw with a much-praised Ftateeta in the Olivier/Vivien Leigh production of Caesar and Cleopatra (St James's, 1951) for the Festival of Britain. During the 1950s, good parts continued to be frustratingly sporadic following the break-up of her marriage to Stewart Granger, who had become a major movie star.
Even if some of her later performances were in productions which failed to reach London, March at least occasionally had the consolation - important, to one so well-read herself - of appearing in some work of distinguished pedigree. At the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford in 1966 she played the relatively small but pivotal role of Maria, a handsomely enigmatic woman who enters as the fiancee of a newly enriched Edwardian bachelor gentleman only to become the wife of his recently bereaved brother, in Julian Mitchell's subtle distillation of Ivy Compton-Burnett's lethally mordant portrait of family spites and tensions in A Family and a Fortune.
Also at Guildford (1967) she was glittering as the doctor hero's mother in Tennessee Williams's Eccentricities of a Nightingale (a reworking of Summer and Smoke), and she toured in Rodney Ackland's masterpiece maudit The Dark River.
Never one to be fazed by the seesaw vagaries of a theatrical career, she enjoyed her surprisingly long run in Ronald Millar's piece of medieval pish-tushery Abelard and Heloise (Wyndham's, 1970) as a severely wimpled Abbess just as much as her very much shorter run in the same author's sprawling generation-gap flop Parents' Day (Globe, 1972).
One of her most memorable later appearances was in a dire West End comedy written as a vehicle for Maggie Smith's then somewhat baroque comic technique. Snap (originally titled Clap, Vaudeville, 1974) was a kind of modern-day La Ronde set in a Bohemian fashionable London involving most of its characters in a chain of sexually transmitted diseases. Time has mercifully obliterated the memory of most of the details of this hapless piece - directed, amazingly enough, by William Gaskill - but not that of Elspeth March as Maude, a barking vision in heavy tweeds, up in London from her country retreat (nudgingly named Radclyffe Hall) and hilariously aghast at the ways of this new-age Sodom.
Elspeth March also had a long and successful television and film career, starting with Mr. Emmanuel (1944), and helped to enliven the dim musical remake of 'Goodbye, Mr Chips'. A woman of great taste and strong loyalties, she was a genuinely generous personality with a very wide circle of family and friends. - Actor
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Brian Cant was born on 12 July 1933 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Doctor Who (1963), Dixon of Dock Green (1955) and ITV Play of the Week (1955). He was married to Cherry Britton and Sylvia Mary Gibson. He died on 19 June 2017 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.- In the heyday of plays on the wireless, Preston Lockwood's tones were inimitable. Today they would be labelled fruity, but to the playgoer brought up in the dark days of the Second World War by the BBC Repertory Company, Lockwood's voice was a comforting presence. At once confiding and authoritative, warm and reverberative, it took the listener, so to speak, by the lapel and led him wherever the dramatist's imagination chanced to rove. Friendly or menacing, thoughtful or whimsical, it was above all what we used to call "received" English. That is to say, we listeners took it for granted.
It was how all Lockwood's generation of actors, famous or obscure, Cockney-born or Lancashire-bred, spoke. They all (or nearly all) aspired to sound - well, like Preston Lockwood. But in films, television or the theatre? They were another world; and the only one of them to win Lockwood's constant respect was the repertory theatre.
The son of a London Transport driving instructor, Preston Lockwood grew up between the wars when every town or city suburb had two or three theatres - one to receive tours of shows on their way to or from London, one a weekly rep and the third, a variety hall. So there was plenty of work for an aspiring performer. In those days weekly rep was a better training ground than anything available now, and Lockwood treasured it, learning one play in the morning, rehearsing another in the afternoon and performing a third at night.
Were productions a trifle "rough"? They made an actor ready, at any rate. They were exciting days. So was acting for the wireless then.
Before everything was pre-recorded, plays went out "live". Just as actors today will reminisce about the tension of playing in television in the post-war era when every mistake was obvious because there was no recording, Lockwood used to look back with affection to his years with the BBC Repertory Company when everything had to be right first time or somehow covered up.
He would vividly recall the days of Saturday Night Theatre when the cast fled to the basement of Broadcasting House during a Nazi air-raid on London and had to gather round a microphone to continue their performance. Where today's technician governs what is now known as the "input" of the various voices in a broadcast drama, the players then had to judge for themselves as a team.
It was the teamwork of such broadcasts and of weekly rep which Lockwood loved and missed in later years when everything seemed to him to be taken so much more seriously than in his youth. Yet he never gave up. In his late sixties he would still act in those remaining out-of-London reps at, say, Amersham or Maidenhead or Henley. And the plays? Well, East Lynne was among the melodramas.
Like the rest of his breed, Lockwood was ready to tour; and had a minor success for example as the elderly Geoffrey in a national tour of Ronald Harwood's The Dresser, the play about the last days of an old touring Shakespearean.
Lockwood's only recorded Shakespearean performance happened to be his first appearance (as Reginald Lockwood) on the West End stage. He played Margarelon in Michael MacOwan's modern- dress revival of Troilus and Cressida (Westminster Theatre) in 1938.
He had three lines. Encountering the curious and forthright Thersites (Stephen Murray) on the battlefield, Margarelon yells, "Turn, slave, and fight." Thersites: "What art thou?" He answers: "A bastard son of Priam's." When Thersites argues that one bastard should not fight with another, and promptly disappears, Margarelon mutters: "The devil take thee, coward!"
Whether Lockwood spoke his three lines well or ill goes unrecorded but he was soon drawn to the wireless, ever his favourite medium after the repertory theatres.
Apart from his years in broadcast drama, his performance as Dennis the Dachshund in Toytown made him particular popular with young listeners to Children's Hour in the 1950s; and he would pop up now and then on television as, say, a doctor in the Tenko series, the Lord Chancellor in Rumpole, the vicar before Dawn French appeared in The Vicar of Dibley (1994), a butler in a chocolate advertisement or a ghost clutching his severed head in order to "puff" cheap cigars. In his eighties another kind of fame came Lockwood's way, in a Cutting Edge programme as an old golfer at Northwood, Middlesex, describing his attitude to the game, his club and the rights of women players.
He was also seen by the sharp-eyed viewer in Miss Marple, The Power Game, Doctor Who, Keeping Up Appearances (1990) and Inspector Morse. Among his film credits were Julius Caesar, Time Bandits, Great Expectations, The Pirates of Penzance, Dangerous Love, and Lady Caroline Lamb, in which he played a publisher.
Is it perhaps a fact that actors who spend most of their early years before a microphone look a bit resourceless on the stage, because they are not used to acting, so to speak, full-length? Or was the tall, handsome and physically impressive Lockwood simply one of those solid workaday players who loved the work wherever it led him? At all events, he was seldom out of it. - Ebullient Welsh-born character actress Margaret Courtenay was born on November 14, 1923 in Cardiff, Wales. With resounding voice and dominant personality, she was known for The Mirror Crack'd (1980), Duet for One (1986) and Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992).
Courtenay was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. A prolific performer at the London West End, she appeared in anything from Shakespeare and Shaw, to Coward and Sondheim. Her special forte was in comedy-tinged roles as overbearing or snobbish society matrons and impossible mothers-in-law. Her screen career, from 1955, was primarily confined to television.
She was married to Ivan Pinfield. The couple had one son. She died on February 15, 1996 in London, England. - Actress
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Heather Thatcher was born on 3 September 1896 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Gaslight (1944), Beau Geste (1939) and -But the Flesh Is Weak (1932). She died on 15 January 1987 in Hillingdon, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.- Mark Kingston was born on 18 April 1934 in Greenwich, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for United! (1965), Poirot (1989) and Shine on Harvey Moon (1982). He was married to Marigold Sharman. He died on 9 October 2011 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
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Husband and wife writing team Pip and Jane Baker have enjoyed an extensive career as novelists, playwrights and film and television writers since the early sixties. The first film they worked on was "The Alibi" (1961) and from there they wrote episodes of a British-based American series called "The Pursuers" (1961-62). Other films they worked on included "The Break" (1962), "The Painted Smile", (1962) "Night of the Big Heat," (1967) and "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City" (1970). On television they have written for "The Expert" (1976), "Z Cars, Detective" (1968) and "Space: 1999 (1976) as well as three stories for DOCTOR WHO. They later worked on "Watt On Earth (1991-1992) and a German production called "Ruby."- Jeanne Mockford was born on 15 March 1926 in Catford, Lewisham, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Up Pompeii! (1969) and Please Sir! (1968). She died on 16 November 2018 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Born in St. Helens, Lancashire, Pauline Yates knew she wanted to be an actress from an early age. After leaving school, she went straight into Oldham Rep., making her stage debut at 17 as Grace Poole in Jane Eyre. In the late 1960s she landed her first TV role and became a familiar face on programmes such as Crown Court and Armchair Theatre. She was married to actor/writer Donald Churchill and they had two daughters, Jemma and Polly.
- David Henry was an actor, known for Flawless (2007), Evita (1996) and The Killing Fields (1984). He died on 9 August 2023 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Vilma Hollingbery was born on 21 July 1932 in West Ham, Essex, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Babylon (1980), Doctor Who (2005) and Funland (2005). She was married to Michael Napier Brown and Raymond J Sleap. She died on 11 September 2021 in Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Visual Effects
Arthur Ibbetson was born on 8 September 1922 in Bishop Auckland, Durham, England, UK. He was a cinematographer, known for The Bounty (1984), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He died on 19 October 1997 in Hillingdon, Greater London, England, UK.- Gabrielle Blunt found theatre and television more productive arenas throughout a career spanning six decades.
She starred in the film Whisky Galore! (1949). In the early 1990s she appeared in a documentary about the film Whisky Galore, which was later included on a DVD release of the original 1949 film. Her small-screen breakthrough came with the 1968 George Cole-starring comedy A Man of Our Times, after which she moved comfortably between comedy and drama. In later years, she was regularly to be found in hit comedies including Shine on Harvey Moon (1982), One Foot in the Grave (1990), Pat and Margaret (1994), The Thin Blue Line (1995), Drop the Dead Donkey, The Fast Show, Harry Enfield's Television Programme and Paul Merton - The Series.
Blunt began her theatre career in regional rep in the early 1940s, and toured Europe with the Entertainments National Service Association in 1945. That same year, she was seen in Vanbrugh's The Confederacy at the York Festival.
Later appearances included Irene Coates' This Space is Mine (Hampstead Theatre, 1969); Mrs Jeffcote in Hindle Wakes (Northampton Rep, 1972); Agatha Christie's Ten Little Niggers (Palace Theatre, Westcliffe, 1975); Under Milk Wood (Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead, 1980), Duchess of Malfi (Oxford Playhouse, 1983); and Ayshe Raif's Fail/Safe (Soho Poly, 1986).
In 1998, Blunt toured the UK and Europe in Out of Joint's premiere of Caryl Churchill's Blue Heart, travelling with it to New York the following year.
Blunt was married and divorced twice and had 3 children. Her second husband adopted her children from her first marriage.
She lived until the age of 95 years and died in Denville Hall in June 2014. - Diana Churchill was born on 21 August 1913 in Wembley, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Scott of the Antarctic (1948), Housemaster (1938) and The History of Mr. Polly (1949). She was married to Mervyn Johns and Barry K. Barnes. She died on 8 October 1994 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
In British films of the 1930s and 1940s, American-born singer Elisabeth Welch made several memorable guest appearances in cabaret sequences, and starred opposite Paul Robeson in two features. Sophisticated, glamorous and charming, her appearances were a refreshing departure from the stereotype of black women perpetuated by Hollywood films of that time. One of her best screen roles was Beulah, the nightclub owner and hostess, in Ealing's Dead of Night (1945). After a long and distinguished career in West End musical theater, Elisabeth returned to the screen in 1979, making a memorable appearance as "A Goddess" in Derek Jarman's The Tempest (1979), singing her theme song, "Stormy Weather".- Stuart Sherwin was born on 16 May 1927 in Weston Coyney, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Brian Rix Presents ... (1960), Are You Being Served? (1972) and Dad's Army (1968). He died on 23 April 2015 in Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, UK.
- Peter Porteous trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama which, when he was there in the 1950s, occupied premises in the Royal Albert Hall. He made his London theatre debut in 1960 at the Aldwich Theatre in Brouhaha, playing opposite Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries and Leo McKern. He played a pygmy, blacked up and wearing a kilt! He played numerous Shakespearian roles and major roles in plays by Tennessee Williams, Arthur Millar, Albert Camus,Harold Pinter and Tom Murphy. His professional film life started when he worked for the great German film director, Otto Preminger, in the film St Joan with Jean Seburg. Sadly, Peter died on 12th August 2005 at Denville Hall, Northwood, Middlesex, the Retirement /Nursing Home for actors run by the Actors' Benevolent Fund.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Robert Harris was born on 28 March 1900 in Weston-super-Mare, England, UK. He was an actor, known for That Lady (1955), Canterbury Tales (1969) and The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff (1959). He died on 18 May 1995 in Hillingdon, London, England, UK.- Aimée Delamain was born on 21 April 1906 in Hillingdon, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for High Spirits (1988), Doctor Who (1963) and Suspense (1962). She died on 18 June 1999 in Denville Hall, Northwood, Hillingdon, London, England, UK.