British Actors Archives - Page 126 of 138

Pat Kirkwood

Pat Kirkwood was born in Salford in 1921. She appeared in many revues and musicals in England from the 1930’s onwards. She became a very popular concert and recording star during World War Two. She had made her film debut in 1939 in “Save A Little Sunshine for Me”. In 1945 she went to Hollywood to make her only film there “No Leave, No Love” with Van Johnson. When she returned to England she continued her career in musical theatre with occasional films such as “After the Ball” in 1937. Pat Kirkwood died in 2007.

Her “Independent” obituary:

During the 1940s and 1950s, Pat Kirkwood starred in West End musicals and several films and she was first female to have her own television series on the BBC. In 1950, Noël Coward specifically requested that she star in his new musical, Ace Of Clubs, and Cole Porter allowed her to introduce the song “My Heart Belongs To Daddy” to British audiences. Kirkwood herself tired of journalists commenting on her looks and her shapely legs and especially on an alleged affair with the Duke of Edinburgh, which she strenuously denied.

Patricia Kirkwood was born, the daughter of a shipping clerk, in Pendleton, about three miles from Manchester’s city centre, in 1921. Whilst on holiday with her parents in the Isle of Man, she took part in a talent contest and as a result, was asked to sing on the BBC’s Children’s Hour. In 1936, she played variety at the Hippodrome, Salford where she was billed as “The Schoolgirl Songstress”. The following year, she played Dandini in Cinderella in a West End pantomime.

Kirkwood’s potential was obvious to all: she could act, dance and sing; she spoke well; and she had a gorgeous figure. She appeared with success in the films Save A Little Sunshine (1937) and Me And My Pal (1938) and made her first record, “Hurry Home”.

Her first prominent role was in 1939, alongside George Formby in his horse-racing comedy Come On, George! Formby’s possessive and overbearing wife, Beryl, considered Kirkwood a threat and refused to let her sing with him. Kirkwood herself refused to perform a scene in which a wind machine would blow her skirt over her head, a controversial exploit which would have predated Marilyn Monroe’s iconic pose by several years.

With the director Anthony Kimmins exercising little control, Beryl insisted that Kirkwood’s hair be cropped, her make-up minimal, and her clothes dowdy. Even so, her beauty shone through and towards the end of the film, when Beryl was called away for a bogus telephone call, the director got Kirkwood to give Formby a long kiss. “Ayee! What a to-do,” comments Formby, clearly mixing his character with real life.

The comedy duo Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch were happy to allow Kirkwood to sing, look lovely and shine in their film of Band Waggon (1940). It led to her being described as Britain’s Betty Grable but she hated references to her million-pound legs, “It did make me cross. They are simply things to walk around on. I never thought anything more of them than that.”

In 1939, Kirkwood opened to tremendous reviews in the revue Black Velvet at the London Hippodrome; in the show she introduced British audiences to Cole Porter’s “My Heart Belongs To Daddy”. One critic called her personality “as inescapable as sheet lightning” and likened her voice to Deanna Durbin’s.

She was the queen of a new universe in the London Palladium extravaganza Top Of The World in 1940, with Tommy Trinder and the Crazy Gang. The rehearsals took place while the Luftwaffe was bombing London and the director requested an audience of servicemen for the dress rehearsal. Mistakenly, the invitation went to the International YMCA so few of the audience could speak English and hence, laugh at the humour.

The show continued despite falling bombs. One evening Bud Flanagan took a taxi to the theatre, but fear overcame him and he told the cabbie to drive him to Blackpool instead. Kirkwood later recalled standing on the roof of the Palladium one night with buildings burning on all sides.

Kirkwood worked hard during the war. She was involved in making films, records, personal appearances and with her own radio series, A Date With Pat Kirkwood. She also appeared before George VI at a Command Performance at Windsor Castle.

In 1944, she was offered a contract, allegedly worth 250,000, with MGM in Hollywood. She and her mother flew to America shortly after the war ended and she appeared alongside Van Johnson in the romantic No Leave, No Love, (1946) directed by Charles Martin. She sang three songs in the film including “Love on a Greyhound Bus”. The poor reviews plus the strict diet and fitness regime of the studio led to a breakdown and an attempted suicide, and she returned home.

Kirkwood had a West End hit with Starlight Roof in 1947 and some record success with one of its songs, “Make Mine Allegro”. Noël Coward was impressed and wrote to his agent, “I should like to get Pat Kirkwood. You might make discreet enquiries about her.” As a result she appeared in Coward’s 1950 musical Ace Of Clubs, but it was an old-fashioned operetta that was lucky to make 250 performances. Encouraged by Coward, she also played a successful season at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas. She had further West End success in Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town (1955) with Shani Wallis and a musical comedy, Chrysanthemum (1958), which co-starred her then husband Hubert Gregg.

above “Independent” obituary can also be accessed online here.

There was much unwanted publicity when it was suggested that Kirkwood had had an affair with the Duke of Edinburgh. She had met him in 1948 and reporters had seen them dancing and having breakfast. She totally denied any impropriety but said, “He was so full of life and energy. I suspect he felt trapped and rarely got a chance to be himself. I think I got off on the right foot because I made him laugh.”

She became the first female to have her own television series with The Pat Kirkwood Show in 1954 and also appeared in various TV plays. In Our Marie (1953) she played the music hall star Marie Lloyd; she also appeared in Pygmalion (1956) and The Great Little Tilley (1956) as another music hall star, Vesta Tilley, which was directed by Hubert Gregg and subsequently became the film After The Ball (1957). In 1953, she was reunited with George Formby on the panel of What’s My Line but was seen on screen feeding Formby questions to ask the contestants.

In the 1960s, Kirkwood and Gregg moved to Portugal and she told reporters, “I never play my old records or look at my cuttings. I’ve retired.” She was to write her autobiography, The Time Of My Life, in 1999.

Kirkwood made several stage appearances in the 1970s, often in pantomime, and she had success in a revival of Pal Joey at the Edinburgh Festival in 1976 and touring in The Cabinet Minister with Dulcie Gray and Michael Denison in 1978. She married for the fourth time in 1981 and settled down to a life in Yorkshire. Occasionally, she performed her one woman show, An Evening With Pat Kirkwood, and appeared in revivals of Noël Coward and Cole Porter’s works.

Spencer Leigh

The

Kay Callard was a Canadian actress who spent most of her career in Britain. Her films include “Reluctant Bride” in 1955, “Find the Lady” in the following year and “Our Cissy” in 1974. She died in 2008 at the age of 75.

Joan Lorring was born in 1926 in Hong Kong. She made her film debut in “Song of Russia” in 1944. She was Oscar nominated for her role in “The Corn Is Green” with Bette Davis and Mildred Dunnock. Other films incliude “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”, “Three Strangers”and “The Lost Moment”.

Her IMDB entry by Gary Brumburgh:

Joan Lorring was born Mary Magdalene Ellis in Hong Kong on April 17, 1926. She was forced to leave her native country after the outbreak of WWII and, along with her family, arrived in America as a teenager in 1939. After finding radio work in Los Angeles, the Anglo-Russian actress worked her way into films making a minor debut at age 18 in the romantic war drama Song of Russia (1944) and subsequently played the small part of Pepita in the ensemble suspenser The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944).

The following year Joan won the coveted role of the scheming, trampish Bessie oppositeBette Davis in The Corn Is Green (1945), earning a Academy Award nomination for “best supporting actress” in the process. She may have lost the Oscar trophy that year to Anne Revere for National Velvet (1944) but Warner Brothers Studio was more than impressed with the up-and-comer and eagerly signed her up. Joan proved quite able in a number of juicy film noir parts, including Three Strangers (1946) and The Verdict (1946), both opposite the malevolent pairing of Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre.

Unexplicably her film career went into a rapid decline by the end of the decade. As a result she sought work elsewhere and maintained with stage, radio and small screen endeavors into the next decade. On Broadway she made her debut in the prime role of budding college student Marie who sets off the explosive dramatic action in “Come Back, Little Sheba” (1950) starring Shirley Booth and Sidney Blackmer. She continued with strong roles in “The Autumn Garden” (1951), “Dead Pigeon” (1953) and “A Clearing in the Woods” (1957). _Among her many 1950s dramatic showcases on TV was her portrayal of convicted ax-murderess Lizzie Borden’s sister Emma on an Alfred Hitchcock episode. In the 1970s, Joan made a mini comeback in the Burt Lancaster movie The Midnight Man(1974) as Cameron Mitchell‘s wife. She also performed on radio soap operas and appeared for a season on the TV soap Ryan’s Hope (1975) before phasing out her career once again. Long married to New York endocrinologist Dr. Martin Sonenberg, she is the mother of two daughters.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

“LA Times” obituary from May 2014:

Joan Lorring, 88, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the 1945 Bette Davis film “The Corn Is Green,” died Friday, said her daughter, Andrea Sonenberg. Lorring had been ill and died in a hospital in the New York City suburb of Sleepy Hollow.

Davis chose Lorring for the role of the scheming Bessie Watty in the late-19th century drama after reviewing screen tests of several actresses, according to the website of cable channel Turner Classic Movies. It was only the third film for Lorring.

Although Davis was known to speak her mind forceably on movie sets, Lorring said the star was greatly supportive of her. “I have only had one or two teachers in my life about whom I felt as strongly and positively as I did about Bette Davis,” Lorring said, according to the Turner Classic Movie website. Lorring lost the Academy Award for supporting actress to Anne Revere, who was in “National Velvet.”

Lorring went on to juicy parts in “Three Strangers” (1946) and “The Verdict” (1946), both opposite Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, and she was in the 1951 film noir “The Big Night” directed by Joseph Losey.

She had numerous roles in early television series while also appearing on stage. In 1950, Lorring made her Broadway debut in the William Inge drama “Come Back, Little Sheba.” “As the blond and self-centered college girl,” New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote in his review, “Joan Lorring gives a genuine and attractive performance.”

Lorring appeared on TV only a few times in the 1960s and 1970s but returned to play a role in the soap opera “Ryan’s Hope” in 1979. Her final credit was for a 1980 episode of “The Love Boat.”

She was born Madeline Ellis on April 17, 1926, in Hong Kong and moved to the U.S. in 1939. She was married to prominent endocrinologist Martin Sonenberg, who preceded her in death in 2011.

In addition to her daughter Andrea Sonenberg, she is survived by daughter Santha Sonenberg and two grandchildren.

Times staff and wire reports

news.obits@latimes.com

Strangers On The Prowl, poster,(aka IMBARCO A MEZZANOTTE), US poster art, Joan Lorring, Paul Muni, 1952. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

Robert Donat was born in 1905 in Manchester. His stage debut came in 1921 and the following year made his first film “Men of Tomorrow”. He suffered from asthma which restristed his career. Although his film career is not extensive , his films are choise. They include “The Ghost Goes West” in 1935, “The Private Lives of Henry 8th”. He went to Hollywood to make one film “The Count of Monte Cristo” in 1934. He won an Academy Award for his performance opposite Greer Garson in “Goodbye Mr Chips”. His last film was in 1958 in “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” with Ingrid Bergman in 1958. He died the same year at the age of 53.

TCM Overview:

One of Britain’s biggest stars from the Golden Age of movies, handsome Manchester native Robert Donat established himself as a formidable stage performer via one of Britain’s leading Shakespearean companies and made a splash in “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (1933), which also proved to be a major success abroad. A well-respected star in his homeland, Donat also built a following in America, but in the wake of “The Count of Monte Cristo” (1934), he opted to work only in England, which allowed him to continue appearing on the London stage. In between those engagements, he graced some of England’s best films of the 1930s, including Alfred Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” (1935), “Knight Without Armour” (1937), “The Citadel” (1938) and “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1939), which earned him a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Actor. Unfortunately, chronic asthma hindered Donat for much of his life, forcing him to take long periods of convalescence; by the time he appeared in “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” (1958), he was forced to have an oxygen cylinder nearby at all times. Although poor health curtailed his career and forced Donat to turn down a number of potentially interesting roles, he managed to achieve a degree of respect and popularity with British audiences that matched such formidable contemporaries as Laurence Olivier.

Robert Donat was born Friedrich Robert Donat in Withington, Manchester, England on March 18, 1905. Intrigued by the prospect of being either a stage or screen actor, Donat first needed to overcome a pronounced stammer, which he was able to eventually do with the assistance of an elocutionist, who also helped him adopt a more neutral accent. In the wake of this speech therapy, Donat was revealed to possess a superb speaking voice and he left Central High School for Boys at age 15 in order to pursue an acting career. He made his stage debut a year later in a production of “Julius Caesar” and Donat’s proficiency with the Bard’s writings helped to establish him as an up-and-coming stage performer. He spent 1924 through 1928 as a member of Sir Frank Benson’s Company, appearing in such Shakespeare standards as “Merchant of Venice,” “King Lear” and “Hamlet.”

After honing his craft for several years with the Benson players and the Venner Repertory Company, Donat began to perform regularly in London. He soon acquired a positive reputation, but sought to appear in movies in order to help support himself and his wife. Donat first graced the silver screen in the crime drama “That Night in London” (1932), with his first notable part coming in “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (1933) as Thomas Culpeper. The picture was a notable critical and financial success, particularly in the United States, which led to an invitation from Hollywood for him to star in “The Count of Monte Cristo” (1934). As the unjustly besmirched Edmund Dantes, Donat made for a dashing, charismatic hero and the film proved to be a rousing and visually pleasing adaptation that satisfied both critics and the public.

Although he seemed on the verge of making a big splash in America, and was considered for the title role in “Captain Blood” (1935) that eventually went to Errol Flynn, Donat decided that he preferred working in England and returned home, where he was recruited to star in one of his most famous films, Alfred Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” (1935). Playing a man unjustly suspected of murder, Donat exuded great charm in his scenes with female lead Madeleine Carroll and added greatly to the movie, considered to be among its director’s best early efforts. Donat essayed a dual part in the delightful fantasy-comedy “The Ghost Goes West” (1935), as both an American businessman and his ancestral ghost, whom he unknowingly brought back home with him after moving the family’s castle in Scotland across the ocean. Critics were less impressed than ticket buyers, but it went on to be the top grossing British motion picture upon its general release the following year. Donat also displayed excellent chemistry with Marlene Dietrich in “Knight without Armour” (1937), a lavish tale of espionage set during the Russian Revolution. In the wake of these hits, he was put under contract by the British arm of the prestigious Hollywood studio, MGM.

Donat’s career was progressing wonderfully. He had become extremely popular with movie audiences, while also being able to continue his stage work in plays like “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Devil’s Disciple.” Unfortunately, these successes were dampened by a continuing problem with asthma attacks, which first began to afflict him earlier in the decade and caused production of “Knight Without Armour” to be halted for a month. His initial film for MGM was “The Citadel” (1938) and Donat received an Oscar nomination for his turn as a doctor who selflessly devotes himself to treating the poor, but has his ideals tested upon relocating to London and being exposed to the upper class. He was honored with a Best Actor Academy Award statue for “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1939), in which Donat portrayed a beloved English schoolmaster from age 25 through 83. In one his best remembered performances, Donat demonstrated remarkable range, beautifully conveying the breadth of the character’s life with both subtlety and dignity.

It would be three years before Donat returned to movies by essaying the title role in “The Young Mr. Pitt” (1942), with the historical biopic about the 19th century leader designed as a morale booster for war-weary English viewers. “The Adventures of Tartu” (1943) was a WWII thriller in the same vein, with Donat cast as a British soldier ordered to destroy a poison gas plant in occupied Czechoslovakia. That year, he also took over management of the Westminster Theatre, where he staged “The Cure for Love” and worked on radio. Donat was well matched with the lovely Deborah Kerr for the wartime romance “Perfect Strangers” (1945), though his real-life marriage to first wife Ella Annesley Voysey came to an end the following year. He appeared briefly as famous Irish politician Charles Parnell in “Captain Boycott” (1947) and enjoyed one of his best latter career parts in “The Winslow Boy” (1948), a superb adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s play concerning a naval cadet falsely accused of theft.

Donat expanded his motion picture credentials via the film version of “The Cure for Love” (1949), which he also wrote, produced and directed. Audiences adored the Lancashire-set comedy, but it was too local in nature to earn much international release and would be largely forgotten in later years. Remembered somewhat more widely, “The Magic Box” (1951) found Donat playing William Friese-Greene, the purported inventor of the movie camera and projector. The production’s claim of Britain deserving said honor was widely disputed, but Donat’s compelling performance more than compensated. By that point, Donat’s asthma issues (which he felt were psychosomatic) had hindered his career to an even greater degree, but he forged ahead. In 1953, the actor wed his second wife, actress Renée Asherson, and appeared at the Old Vic in “Murder in the Cathedral,” his final stage turn. Donat’s talents provided the best reason to watch the drama “Lease of Life” (1954), his first feature after a three-year absence, but by the late 1950s, Donat’s health had disintegrated to the point where he required steady access to an oxygen tank and the shooting of “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” (1958) proved to be a difficult ordeal. He died on June 9, 1958, a brief time after the movie wrapped. His acting in “Sixth Happiness” took on an extra level of poignancy as Donat’s character was also on the verge of death. He was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

By John Charles

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

The Ghost Goes West, poster, Robert Donat, 1935. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

Peter Arne was born in Kuala Lumpar, Malaya in 1930 to a Swiss-Franch mother and an American father. His first film in 1944 was “Fot Those in Peirl”. Among his film credits are “The Purple Plain”, “The Moonraker”, “High Tide at Noon” and “Conspiracy of Hearts” in 1959. Sadly he was murdred in his apartment in Knightsbridge in London in 1983.

IMDB mini biography:

Peter Arne was for a short time the perfect villain in British film. After a couple of roles in war movies (The Purple Plain (1954) and The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)) and a Tarzan movie (Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957)) he became a villain in Strangers’ Meeting(1957). From than on he continued to play sinister types in The Moonraker (1958), Intent to Kill (1958), Breakout (1959), Conspiracy of Hearts (1960), The Hellfire Club (1961) andThe Secret of Monte Cristo (1961). He was very convincing as a Cromwell officer, an Italian camp commander or a Nazi officer. Several times he had sword fights as a devious count. In 1962 he was a pirate sidekick of Christopher Lee in The Pirates of Blood River(1962), but a new kid on the block by the name of Oliver Reed challenged him and killed him halfway through the picture. It seemed like a symbolic fight because for a while Oliver Reed played the roles in Hammer Pictures that Peter Arne could have played and Arne moved to TV roles. His days as a leading actor were over and he continued work in TV and in bit parts in features. Sometimes directors he worked with before brought him back for a little role. In 1972 he got a nice break with “The Stallion”, a TV movie in which he starred with a horse. He was also in a couple of Blake Edwards movies. He became an antique dealer with his sister as a sideline. He died at the age of 63.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Thys Ockersen

Julia Foster. TCM Overview

Julia Foster was born in 1943 in Lewes in Sussex. Among her film credits are “The Bargee” with Harry H. Corbett in 1964 followed two years later by “Alfie” with Michael Caine. She was the lading lady to Tommy Steele in the film of the musical “Half A Sixpence” in 1967. Still makes occasional television appearances. Is the mother of television broadcaster Ben Fogle.

TCM Overview:

Julia Foster was an actress with a strong presence in film throughout her career. Foster started off her career in film with roles in “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” (1962), the dramatic adaptation “One Way Pendulum” (1964) with Eric Sykes and the dramatic adaptation “Alfie” (1965) with Michael Caine. She then acted in “Half a Sixpence” (1968), “Percy” (1970) and the Spike Milligan comedy “The Great McGonagall” (1974). She also appeared in “F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood” (ABC, 1975-76). More recently, Foster acted in “Flick” (2010) with Faye Dunaway.

Article in “Sussex Life” in 2010:

TV presenter, writer and adventurer Ben Fogle believes he inherited his performance gene from his mother, Lewes-born actress Julia Foster, who made her name in the 1960s films Alfie and Half a Sixpence. Ben, who spent his childhood weekends at his parents holiday cottage in Horsham, reflects on the debt he owes her Ben Fogle has always been close to his mum. A shy and introverted child, he often felt overwhelmed by his louder, more extrovert sisters, and clung tenaciously to his mothers apron strings.

When his parents sent him to board at Bryanston in Dorset, he stood in the middle of the drive with tears pouring down his cheeks, pleading with them not to leave him. It was no different at nursery school. Its not that I dont like it here, he told his mother. Its just that Id rather be with you. These days, of course, Ben is a very different animal a bubbly and outgoing TV personality and daring adventurer, who has tested the limits of his physical and mental endurance while trekking across some of the planets toughest terrain. But he and his mother remain close to this day.

Were very similar in many ways, he says thoughtfully. Were both sensitive to criticism, and its ironic that we ended up in careers where it can be frequently directed at you. Mummy always said that she never read her reviews, but we knew she did really. And Im just the same. I have a very thin skin.

Ben grew up with histwo sisters, Emily and Tamara, in a large house near Marble Arch in the centre of London, where his father, the TV vet Bruce Fogle, ran a veterinary clinic. Every day after school, he would walk through his dads clinic full of dogs and snakes up to their flat, where his mother, then a big name on stage and screen, would invariably be posing for a photoshoot. There were usually lights and photographic umbrellas everywhere, and that was my childhood animals and cameras, he says. Mummy was very much the performer when I was growing up. And now its me that does it.

Well-known actors such as Tommy Steele or Michael Caine would often call in, but the young Ben was singularly unimpressed to him they were just Mummys friends. Fittingly, given his future career, he was much more interested in BBC TV Centre, where his mum would often take him after school. Each day shed turn up at the school gates in a different wig, depending on the character she was playing, he grins. Id sit in her dressing room doing my homework, while she did her performance. The smell of the greasepaint must have rubbed off because as soon as he completed his schooling Ben determined to become an actor with disastrous consequences. I think Mummy was quietly proud that Id chosen to follow her, but when I applied to all the drama schools I couldnt get into any of them and I was utterly distraught. My abiding memory is of Mummy saying to me: Ben, if you become an actor, you will have to put up with rejection every day of your life. That was a big wake-up call and it made me realise what my mother had had to deal with. Shed been one of the biggest stars of the 1960s, and had then had to sit round and watch younger actresses fill her shoes.

He says his mother made a lot of career sacrifices, even turning down work in America so that she could be there for him while he prepared for his O-levels. I really admire the dignified way she stepped back when the acting work dried up and built up her own antique furniture business. Im very proud that she was able to build a new career and sad as well because I know how much acting meant to her. Im sure if the right job came up, shed love to have another go at it. And nothing would give me more pride than to see my mother treading the boards again.

Ben, who still lives near his parents in West London (though the family also have a second home in Ford, West Sussex), sees his mother most days and they frequently walk their dogs together. Sometimes Ill ask for her advice particularly if Ive been offered a big TV series because I value her perspective on things. But the media world has changed a lot since the 1960s and I dont think she quite understands how it works now. Shes sometimes surprised at how much of yourself you have to give away.

Ben recently became a father himself and hopes that he can be as good a parent to his son Ludo. My mother was always incredibly supportive when I was growing up, never questioning whether my decisions were a good idea. There was always a lot of optimism in our household and it gave me a lot of confidence, he says. My mum is one of the most generous people I know and Id like to pass on her qualities to my own children.

Ben grew up with his two sisters, Emily and Tamara, in a large house near Marble Arch in the centre of London, where his father, the TV vet Bruce Fogle, ran a veterinary clinic. Every day after school, he would walk through his dads clinic full of dogs and snakes up to their flat, where his mother, then a big name on stage and screen, would invariably be posing for a photoshoot. There were usually lights and photographic umbrellas everywhere, and that was my childhood animals and cameras, he says. Mummy was very much the performer when I was growing up. And now its me that does it.

This “Sussex Life” article can also be accessed online here.

Ralf Little

Ralf Little is fondly remembered as Antony the son in the classic TV series “The Royle Family”. This show is without doubt one of the very best television series ever. Antony always seemed to be fetching and carrying for his lazy family who were glued to the sofa, watching rubbish on television and making innane comments on all and sundry, yet the love they had for each other seemed to shine through. Ralf Little was born in 1980 in Oldham in Manchester. His films include “24 Hour POarty People” and “The Waiting Room”. His other television series include “Two Pints of Lage and a Packet of Crisps” and “Paradise Heights”.

Article in “The Guardian” in 2013 :

would describe my face as angular and pale, with a big, wonky nose. My eyes are brown – dull brown. I am completely scruffy. My appearance is something that I never take much pride in because, the way I see it, when you haven’t got that much raw material to work with, you just don’t bother. Neither my mum nor my dad has a particularly big nose, so I don’t know where that comes from. It also got broken when I was 17, which didn’t help.

I am 33 now. I feel just as childish as I always have, so I don’t mind getting older. I haven’t started losing my hair, but I reckon that’s on the way. Both grandads were bald and my dad started losing his hair around about 35, so I reckon I’ve got two years left before it starts to disappear. Perhaps I should dye it pink while I still have the chance?

I am 6ft and I eat whatever I want. I am lucky enough to have a high metabolism, so I never have to give it a second thought, and that makes me an enemy of many people. People keep saying to me, “I can’t wait till you turn 40-45 and start piling weight on, because then you are going to be a lot less smug.” I do run around a lot, though, and I play football, so that helps.

I was going to say that my left foot is my best feature, because of the football. My ex used to say that my big, bent nose was. She thought it made me look like a French film star, but I don’t think that’s true.

The above “Guardian” article can also be accessed online here.

Norman Bird seemed to have cornered the market in British films as nervous fusspots or hen-pecked husbands. Life always seemed such a worry to him. He was born in 1920 in Coalville, England. He made his West End debut in Peter Brook’s “A Winter’s Tale” in 1951. His many film credits include “The Angry Silence”, “Whistle Down the Wind”, “Victim” and “Term of Trial”. He made over 200 film appearances, the last been “Shadowlands” with Anthony Hopkins in 1993. Norman Bird died in 2005.

Tom Vallance’s obituary on Norman Bird in “The Independent”:

Norman Bird, actor: born Coalville, Leicestershire 30 October 1920; married 1954 Nona Blair (two daughters); died Wolverhampton, West Midlands 22 April 2005.

One of the British cinema’s most reliable character actors, Norman Bird was a moustached, anxious-looking, doleful figure who once described himself as “the man with the cardigan”. He excelled at playing working-class men, such as minor officials, sales clerks or henpecked husbands, a body of work succinctly described by Brian McFarlane’s Encyclopedia of British Film as “a wonderful gallery of under-achievers.”

Two of his best roles were those of factory workers – as a striker in Guy Green’s The Angry Silence (1960), and as shop steward Sid Stubbins in the television series Up The Workers (1973). He was memorably effective as the shifty farm labourer in Bryan Forbes’s beautiful study of childhood faith, Whistle Down the Wind (1961), and he will also be remembered as Mr Braithwaite (with Megs Jenkins as his wife) in the popular television series Worzel Gummidge (1979/80).

Born in 1920 (some sources say 1924) in Leicestershire, he did office work briefly before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He spent the war years in the RAF, then worked in repertory, where he met his wife, Nona Blair, later to be the voice of Joan Hood on The Archers. In 1950 he joined John Gielgud’s company to be an understudy in Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not for Burning, and he toured the United States with the play. The following year he made his London stage début in The Winter’s Tale, directed by Peter Brook.

He made his first appearance on screen in Guy Hamilton’s An Inspector Calls (1954), playing a factory foreman in this adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s play starring Alastair Sim. It was the first of over 60 film roles, and he was even more prolific on television, claiming to have made over 200 appearances.

While at Rada, he had formed a lifelong friendship with Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes, and his second film was their production League of Gentlemen (1959), directed by Basil Dearden. In this delightful caper movie (the sixth biggest UK box-office hit of its year) he was the former bomb disposal officer who was responsible for the deaths of four men in his unit while drunk on duty. Now living with a nagging wife who dotes on her senile father, a TV soap-opera addict, he is a willing recruit into a team of former military men who apply their wartime skills to bring off an elaborate heist.

Next came The Angry Silence (1960), the first film to be made by Beaver Films, a production company formed by Attenborough and Forbes, and Bird played in several other films directed by Forbes, including Whistle Down the Wind, The Wrong Box (1966), The Raging Moon (1970) and The Slipper and the Rose (1976). He was also in Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) and Young Winston (1972) and his last screen role was that of a taxi-driver in Attenborough’s Shadowlands (1993).

Other notable roles included a closet homosexual being blackmailed in Basil Dearden’s ground-breaking drama Victim (1961), the commandant of a military stockade in Sidney Lumet’s The Hill (1965), and he was the voice of Bilbo Baggins in Ralph Bakshi’s animated version of Lord of the Rings (1978).

His television roles included Z Cars, The Saint, The Avengers (a 1966 episode titled “Silent Dust”), Dixon of Dock Green, Steptoe and Son, Coronation Street (the role of Joe Hibbert in 1978), Yes, Minister (as another trade union official), and Boon. His last television role was that of a grandfather in the political drama, Crossing the Floor (1996).

In 1992 Bird and his wife, who lived in Middlesex, moved to Bridgnorth, Shropshire, to be near their two daughters and five grandchildren.

Tom Vallance

The above “Independent” obituary can be also accessed online here.

Dorothy Alison

Dorothy Alison was a lovely Australian actress who featured in some fine British films in the 1950’s. She was born in Broken Hill in New South Wales. Her first film was “Sons of Matthew” in 1949 in her home country. Her first British film was “Mandy” in 1952. It is one of Alison’s most fondly remembered film performance as the sympathetic teacher of the hearing-impaired who finally gets a young girl to utter sounds in Alexander Mackendrick’s “Mandy” (1952). She gave warm and winning performances in “The Maggie”, “The Long Arm. “Reach for the Sky” and she was especially touching in “The Nun’s Story” in 1959. She played Meryl Streep’s mother in “A Cry in the Dark” in 1988. She died in London in 1992 at the age of 66.

Dorothy Alison was born on April 4, 1925 in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia as Dorothy Dickson. She was an actress, known for See No Evil (1971), A Town Like Alice(1981) and The Nun’s Story (1959). She was married to Leslie Linder. She died on January 17, 1992 in London, England.

“Encyclopedia of British Film” by Brian McFarlane:

“Incisive but sympathetic, Alison was one of the most reliable character players in 1950s British cinema. After two Australian films, “The Sons of Matthew” (1949) and “Eureka Stockade” (1949), she attracted favourable critical notice as the teacher of the deaf in Ealing’s “Mandy” (1952), as ‘Nurse Brace’ in the Douglas Bader biopic “Reach for the Sky” (1956) and as the young housewife who rescues a deranged Richard Attenborough in “The Man Upstairs” (1958) among others. She returned to ASustralian TV and films in the early 1980s, notable as Meryl Streep’s mother in “”Evil Angels” in 1988″