Veronica Hurst

Veronica Hurst was born in 1931 in Malta. She starred in such British movies as “Laughter in Paradise” and went to Hollywood in 1953 to make “The Maze”. She did not stay in California but returned to the UK and featured in all the major TV drama series in the late 1950’s, the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Telegraph obituary in 2023:

Veronica Hurst obituary

Elegant actress who dated Peter Ustinov and made her film debut alongside Audrey Hepburn

Saturday November 19 2022, 12.01am GMT, The Times

Theatre

Hurst in The Maze (1953), a horror film that gained a cult followingALAMY

When the teenage Veronica Hurst made her debut in the 1951 comedy Laughter in Paradise, the film’s Italian director Mario Zampi described her as “one of the greatest potential screen stars I have ever seen”.

It was some encomium given that Audrey Hepburn, who was also making one of her first professional appearances, did not get a mention in the director’s appraisal of his cast.

If Hurst never quite fulfilled her early promise and was soon overtaken by Hepburn, she enjoyed an enduring career as an elegant leading lady in a spate of film and television roles in the 1950s and 1960s.

Hurst with Rock Hudson at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, London, in 1952

When she won a scholarship to Rada aged 17, it seemed that the theatrical world was at her feet. Within a year she had been spotted by John Redway, casting director for the Associated British Picture Corporation, who curtailed her studies by offering her a seven-year contract at Elstree Studios at £2,500 a year (£100,000 at today’s value).

In many ways Laughter in Paradise now seems like a dated black-and-white period piece, although the film’s central premise, involving four people abjectly humiliating themselves for money, has a peculiarly contemporary resonance in the era of Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!.

Among the quartet required to perform tasks contrary to their natures, in order to collect the money from an elderly relative’s will, were Alastair Sim and George Cole, both of whom became friends for life. Sim, in particular, became a mentor. “I was just a juvenile actress but he was wonderful to me,” Hurst said. “His entire family became great friends.”

Laughter in Paradise was a box-office hit and the fourth biggest-grossing British picture of the year, but Hurst’s own favourite film came the following year when she was cast in Angels One Five as a young woman working in the operations room of an RAF station during the summer of 1940. Starring Jack Hawkins and Michael Denison, the film took its title from an RAF radio call sign for a radar sighting at 15,000ft and was memorable as the first postwar film made about the Battle of Britain.

Hurst with Richard Carlson in The Maze (1953)

A third notable early appearance came in The Maze, a bizarre 1953 horror film that has since attracted a cult following for its pioneering use of 3D, involving two prints of the film being projected simultaneously and viewed by the audience through special glasses.

That same year she met her first husband, the American actor William Sylvester, on the set at Elstree where they were filming The Yellow Balloon. Set in the bomb-ravaged East End of London in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Sylvester played a killer on the run and Hurst an unsuspecting Sunday school teacher duped into helping him.

Sylvester, whose most famous appearance was to come in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), was a decade older and already married to Sheila Sweet, a Rada graduate. He left her for Hurst and they married in 1955.

Although she acknowledged some happy years together, the marriage ended acrimoniously and in later life she came to regret the relationship. “He abandoned his wife to be with me,” she said in a 2019 interview. “Looking back, I think, ‘You should never have done that and upset that girl. You should have turned him down’. But he was so romantic and had such sex appeal.”

Hurst and Rock Hudson meet the Queen at the Royal Film Performance in Leicester Square, London, 1952

They divorced in 1964 and two years later she married Ian Fordyce, a television producer who worked closely with David Frost and went on to direct the 13-part series The Further Adventures of Oliver Twist. They divorced in 1974.

Both her ex-husbands predeceased her. She is survived by two sons from her first marriage, Mio Sylvester, a retired barrister, and Simon Sylvester, who lives in California; and by one son from her second marriage, Darrell Fordyce, a former soldier turned leadership development consultant. Another son, Reed, from her first marriage, died in a car accident at the age of six.

She was born Patricia Veronica Wilmshurst in Malta in 1931, the daughter of Alfred Wilmshurst, a sailor in the Royal Navy, and his wife, Esther. He later ran a pub in London, where Veronica grew up in Tooting. She was evacuated to Devon during the war.

Back in London she took evening classes and joined an amateur drama group. At Rada she was classmates with Joan Collins and for a while was Peter Ustinov’s girlfriend. She also made a pass at Rock Hudson when they shared a limousine to a screening on his first visit to Britain. It was only years later that she realised why she had been rebuffed.

Hurst in the 1970s TV series The Flaxton Boys

After time off while she started a family, her later films included the 1963 rock’n’roll cult picture Live It Up! in which she appeared alongside David Hemmings and the soon-to-be music stars Steve Marriott, co-founder of Small Faces, and Dave Clark, leader and drummer of the Dave Clark Five.

Two years later came the James Bond imitation film Licensed to Kill. Retitled The 2nd Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World on its release in America, Hurst starred as the love interest of the surrogate 007, played by Tom Adams.

As the 1960s went on, television came to provide most of her work, including appearances in The Troubleshooters, Coronation Street and Dixon of Dock Green. Into the 1970s she played the widowed Lady Jane Flaxton in Yorkshire Television’s historical drama The Flaxton Boys and appeared in the British version of General Hospital.

When film and TV work dried up in the 1980s she took to the stage, often appearing at the Wimbledon Theatre, and touring Canada with Leslie Phillips (obituary, November 8, 2022) and Andrew Sachs in a Ray Cooney farce.

An enthusiastic bridge player and a fine golfer who scored a hole in one at Roehampton and captained the ladies team of The Stage Golfing Society, Hurst spent her final years in the actors’ retirement home Denville Hall.

Veronica Hurst, actress, was born on November 11, 1931. She died on November 15, 2022, aged 91

Finola Hughes was born in 1959 in London. She has carved out a niche in long running television series in the U.S. such as “All My Children” and “General Hospital”. She starred opposite Joan Collins and Carol White in “Nutcracker” and John Travolta in the movie “Staying Alive” in 1983.

TCM overview:

Starting as a dancer, the British-born Finola Hughes originated the role of Victoria in “Cats” and then made the leap to Hollywood as Laura, the icy Broadway dance diva opposite John Travolta in the sequel “Stayin’ Alive” (1983). She achieved her greatest fame on “General Hospital” (ABC, 1963- ) as superspy Anna Devane, who became a longtime fan favorite and earned the actress a Daytime Emmy as well as a fun cameo in “Soapdish” (1991). Although she notched many non-soap credits, including notable stints as the English stepmother of “Blossom” (NBC, 1990-95) and the spirit of the dead mother of the witchy sisters of “Charmed” (The WB, 1998-2006), Hughes grabbed her biggest headlines when she jumped to “All My Children” (ABC, 1970-2011) as Dr. Alex Devane Marick, twin sister to the beloved Anna Devane, whom she subsequently reprised. She briefly hosted the makeover show “How Do I Look?” (Style Network, 2004- ), wrote a juicy novel about soap operas, and returned repeatedly for a series of guest spots as Anna on “General Hospital.” Although she was most widely known for her soap stardom, Finola Hughes managed to maintain a loyal fanbase and to carve out an interesting and enviable career.

Born Oct. 29, 1959 in London, England, Finola Hughes began her dance training from an early age, joining the Northern Ballet Company after winning the Markova award. After a few small dancing appearances in films, Hughes’s talents caught the eye of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who cast her as the original Victoria the White Cat in the London production of the global smash musical “Cats.” Hollywood took notice, and Hughes booked the female lead in the Sylvester Stallone-helmed “Stayin’ Alive” (1983), the sequel to the blockbuster “Saturday Night Fever” (1977). As Laura, the haughty star dancer in the Broadway musical “Satan’s Alley,” Hughes sparred with star John Travolta as Tony Manero, memorably dismissing him after a one-night stand with an icy “Everybody uses everybody.” Although critics hated nearly every aspect of the film and she herself earned two Razzie nominations, Hughes emerged relatively unscathed and was rewarded with a juicy role on the most popular daytime soap in the history of the genre.

As the glamorous spy Anna Devane, Hughes created a sensation day one of her arrival on “General Hospital” (ABC, 1963- ). Viewers adored the character’s complicated love affairs and intrigue Anna coolly navigated, including tumultuous marriages to fellow spy Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) and mobster Duke Lavery (Ian Buchanan). A soap superstar, Hughes also found time to film guest spots on “L.A. Law” (NBC, 1986-1994) and to parody her overly dramatic persona in a juicy “Soapdish” (1991) cameo. That same year, Hughes won a Daytime Emmy for her “General Hospital” work, and she would also collect several Soap Opera Digest Awards and nominations. Surprisingly, Hughes was fired by the soap’s producer Gloria Monty in 1991, and briefly replaced by another actress. But fans would have none of it and the stage was set for a return by popular demand.

In the meantime, Hughes played a waitress on “Jack’s Place” (ABC, 1992-93) and continued to lens a steady stream of guest spots and supporting roles, including a lengthy stint as a sympathetic stepmother to “Blossom” (NBC, 1990-95) and an appearance as the evil comic book psychic Emma Frost, the White Queen, on “Generation X” (Fox, 1996). She played a seemingly perfect wife on the verge of collapse on the short-lived series “Pacific Palisades” (Fox, 1997) and contributed voices to “Superman: The Animated Series” (The WB, 1996-2000), “Life with Louie” (Fox, 1994-98) and “Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World” (1998). Her soap opera roots came calling, however, and strangely, she joined “All My Children” (ABC, 1970-2011) as neurologist Dr. Alexandra “Alex” Devane Marick, who was revealed to be the twin sister of Anna Devane of the network’s “General Hospital.” Thankfully for “GH” fans, Alex located and rescued her sister, then conveniently left Pine Valley to return to Port Charles so Hughes could solely focus on breathing life back into Anna, who quickly reclaimed her fan favorite mantle, embarking on a slew of new adventures.

Hughes kept her other options open, however, making a string of guest appearances as Patty Halliwell, the deceased matriarch of the Halliwell clan on “Charmed” (The WB, 1998-2006), appearing to provide support, advice and love to her witch daughters (Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and eventually Rose McGowan). Hughes proved quite the popular figure despite the inherent limitations of playing a spirit, and recurred throughout the hit show’s run. After briefly hosting the makeover show “How Do I Look?” (Style Network, 2004- ), she was eventually replaced. Her fans remained loyal however, and Hughes’ much trumpeted return to “General Hospital” as part of the 2006 May sweeps earned excellent ratings, opening the door for Hughes to continue to make special appearances over the next few years and to pop up on “General Hospital: Night Shift” (SOAPnet, 2007-08). She branched out into writing when, along with Digby Diehl, Hughes penned a successful soap opera-themed novel Soapsuds, which offered up enough bitchy bon mots and over-the-top events to delight readers. The actress continued to earn credits on a variety of projects as varied as the procedural “CSI: NY” (CBS, 2004- ), the gymnastics teen drama “Make It or Break It” (ABC Family, 2009- ) and the well-reviewed romance “Like Crazy” (2011) which also featured Jennifer Lawrence.

By Jonathan Riggs

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Glyn Houston obituary in “The Guardian” in 2019

Glyn Houston, who has died aged 93, was never quite as famous as his older brother, Donald, but he enjoyed a film career as a supporting actor, often playing sailors, soldiers or police officers, before television became a natural home to his acting skills.

He took the roles of the miners’ union leader Davy Morgan in the BBC’s 1960 serialisation of How Green Was My Valley and the news editor, Mike Grieves, throughout the newspaper drama Deadline Midnight (1961) before being seen intermittently as Detective Superintendent Arthur Jones in Softly Softly between 1966 and 1969.

Then came one of his best performances, as Bunter – Lord Peter Wimsey’s valet – in three serials adapted from Dorothy L Sayers stories starring Ian Carmichael as the aristocratic sleuth, Clouds of Witness (1972), The Nine Tailors (1974) and Five Red Herrings (1975).

“Mr Houston had everything right,” wrote a New York Times critic. “The lower-class look combined with upper-class hauteur, absorbed over the years from his master; an accent in limbo, not quite upstairs but not downright down; assurance of his own competence in his own station combined with deference to Wimsey’s more exalted place and special talents; and impeccable service in all contingencies, whether mixing the perfect cocktail, reciting railway timetables … or acting as a sounding board during trips in one of the master’s sports cars.”

Later Houston appeared in the sitcom Keep It in the Family (1980-83) as Duncan Thomas, the literary agent for a cartoonist, Dudley Rush (played by Robert Gillespie). He was at the top of the cast for Robert Pugh’s TV play Better Days (1988), in which he was Edgar, a widowed former miner leaving his community in the South Wales valleys to live with his son, a barrister. The modest star’s moving performance won him a best actor award at the 1989 Monte-Carlo television festival.

Houston was born in the valleys himself, in Tonypandy, Glamorgan, the second of three children of Elsie (nee Jones) and Alex Houston. His father was a Scottish professional footballer who finished his career at Mid Rhondda United after playing for Dundee United and Portsmouth.

When Mid Rhondda went bust in 1928 as South Wales was hit by recession and unemployment, Glyn’s parents moved to London to find work. They could not afford to take all the children, so Glyn was left behind to be raised by his maternal grandmother, Gwenllian. When his mother died three years later, all three children were reunited under Gwenllian’s care.

Glyn left Llwynypia elementary school in Tonypandy at the age of 14 to work on his grandmother’s milk round while Donald – two years his senior – started an acting career. Glyn briefly worked for the Bristol Aeroplane Company before serving in the second world war, from 1944, as an air gunner in the Fleet Air Arm and with the Royal Corps of Signals in Singapore, where he entertained the troops with shows as a stand-up comedian. He then toured India with a Combined Services Entertainment group that included Jimmy Perry, the future writer of Dad’s Army and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.

On demob in 1947, Glyn harboured ambitions to continue performing comedy, but failed an audition at the Windmill theatre in London. Instead, Donald eventually helped him to get a job as an assistant stage manager with Guildford repertory company in 1949. The following year he made his film debut as a barrow boy in The Blue Lamp (1950), memorable for constantly being told by police to “move on”.

Supporting roles followed in several dozen movies during the 50s, as a sailor in Gift Horse (1952, alongside Trevor Howard), and in The Cruel Sea (1953, with Jack Hawkins), as Joan Collins’s boyfriend in Turn the Key Softly (1953), an army corporal in Private’s Progress (1956, with Carmichael), and a detective in Tiger Bay (1959, with John and Hayley Mills).

A talented footballer and rugby player at school, he was catapulted into a leading role as the star player in The Great Game (1952), a football drama, and enjoyed returning to comedy to act as a foil to Norman Wisdom in Follow a Star (1959), There Was a Crooked Man (1960), The Bulldog Breed (1960) and A Stitch in Time (1963). On radio Houston played two characters – Arthur Evans (1962) and Joe Higgins (1963-66) – in the soap opera The Dales.

Thereafter, apart from joining Donald in the 1980 wartime drama The Sea Wolves, his career was consumed by television roles. They included Bob Berris, Leslie Crowther’s darts partner, in the last two series (1972-73) of the sitcom My Good Woman, and Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, in Thatcher: The Final Days (1991).

He had made his West End stage debut in The Happy Family at the Duchess theatre in London in 1951, but turned down various Shakespearean roles, something that may well have restricted his career on the boards. “I always worried about learning the lines,” he said. “My one regret is that I didn’t become a leading classical actor. I think it’s what you have to do, like Anthony Hopkins. He never liked working in theatre, but he did all those Shakespeare roles.”

He won a Bafta Cymru lifetime achievement award in 2008. A year later his autobiography, A Black & White Actor, was published.

In 1956 he married the actor and model Shirley Lawrence. She died in 2016. He is survived by their two daughters, Leigh and Karen.

• Glyn (Glyndwr Desmond) Houston, actor, born 23 October 1925; died 30 June 2019

Naomi Chance was born in Bath, Somerset in 1930. After a short period in repertory and on tour she obtained a small screen part and followed this with some starring roles in films opposite some American stars appearing in British films. She became well-known on British TV for her appearances as Amelia Huntley in “The Newcomers” (1965). Hrt first husband was the film director Guy Hamilton. Her second husband was a retired naval surgeon, with whom she lived in Devon for many years. Her final appearance was in 1976 in the TV series “Within These Walls”.. Her movies include “Wings of Danger” in 1852, “The Gambler and the Lady” and “Blood Orange”. She died in 2003.

IMDB entry:

Naomi Chance attended Central School of Drama. After a short period in repertory and on tour she obtained a small screen part and followed this with some starring roles in films opposite some American stars appearing in British films. She became well-known on British TV for her appearances as Amelia Huntley in The Newcomers (1965). Her second husband was a retired naval surgeon, with whom she lived in Devon for many years. Her final appearance was in 1976. She still had friends in the business in London. She frequently went to visit them and wanted to act again, but they told her to forget it.Anthony Hinds, who produced some of her early films, said of her, “She is very talented, but her trouble is she won’t sell herself.”

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Sophie Okonedo was born in London in 1968. She was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in “Hotel Rwanda”. On television she has starred in “Oliver Twist” and “Mayday”.

TCM overview:

Born in London to a Nigerian father and British mother, Sophie Okonedo never considered being an actress when she grew up, let alone an international star. A voracious reader all her life-a government official visiting the family’s home marveled at the large bookcase stocked with books-Okonedo got her start through a writing workshop she took with renowned novelist and playwright, Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic). Though she had no desire to be a writer, Okonedo took the course because it was something interesting to do at night. She soon realized, however, that she was no good as a writer. But she was very good at reading other people’s work aloud, which eventually led to her involvement with the Royal Court Theatre. From there she got a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she got her true start as an actress.

After a series of theatrical roles, including Shahrazad in “The Arabian Nights” and Anippe in Christopher Marlowe’s “Tamburlaine the Great”, Okonedo broke through with an acclaimed performance as Cressida in “Troilus and Cressida,” staged by famed theatrical director Trevor Nunn for the National Theatre. Though the only Shakespeare role of her career, Okonedo earned high praise for her ability to project a tense ambiguity between love and passion. The success of her Cressida led the actress to British television: she appeared in episode 5 of “Clocking Off” (BBC-1, 2000), a six-part drama series about the secret lives of every day people; in “Never Never” (2000), she earned a Royal Television Society Award nomination for playing a single mom; and she appeared on “Spooks” (BBC-1, 2002- ), a popular series about Britain’s domestic security agency that was presented across the Atlantic as “MI5” (A&E, 2004- ).

From British television, Okonedo made a quick jump to film. Though she had several thankless parts in major features, including two lines as a princess in “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” (1995), and as a nameless Jamaican Girl in “The Jackal” (1997), she made a deep impression with her characterization of a prostitute living in a rundown West London hotel in Stephen Frears’ “Dirty Pretty Things” (2003).

She was then cast in her highest profile role to date as Tatiana Rusesabagina, the wife of a hotel manager (Don Cheadle), who houses 1200 Tutsi refugees fleeing the 1994 genocide in “Hotel Rwanda” (2004). Acclaim for both the film and its performances was bestowed by critics, as Okonedo received nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress. To prepare for the challenging role, Okonedo read Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey, by Fergal Keane, then went to Brussels to meet the real-life Tatiana. The topic of the genocide was avoided-Okonedo asked about her relationship with Paul and what she liked to eat. The cultural leap of transforming herself from a London woman to a Rwandan refugee turned out to be her biggest challenge on the film, though two weeks of torrential rain and a sudden loss of financing were also on the list.

After “Hotel Rwanda,” Okonedo returned to the Hollywood system and was cast in the long-awaited film version of the popular MTV series, “Aeon Flux” (2005)-the movie proved to be a disappointing failure on all fronts. But Okonedo rebounded with a moving performance in “Tsunami, the Aftermath” (HBO, 2006), an ensemble drama that depicted various stories involving the devastating 2004 tidal wave that destroyed large portions of Thailand and other parts of South Asia. Okonedo played a mother searching frantically with her husband (Chiwetel Ejiofor) for their 6-year-old daughter after the tsunami literally ripped her from their arms. She earned a nomination for a 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Margot Grahame was a British actress who had lead roles in Hollywood movies of the 1930’s but continued her career in the UK from the 1950’s on. She was born in 1911 in Canterbury. She made her film debut in 1930 in the British film “Rookery Nook”. By 1935 she was in Hollywood where she made “The Informer” for John Ford and “The Buckaneer” for Cecil B. De Mille. She died in 1982 in London.

IMDB entry:

Perhaps best remembered as the prostitute inamorata of Gypo Nolan (in that AA-winning performance by Victor McLaglen) in John Ford‘s The Informer (1935).

Britain’s answer to Jean Harlow was dubbed the “Aluminum Blonde” during her peak; however, she turned into a redhead when she returned to films in the post-war years.

She developed a drinking problem in the early 1970s following the death of her third husband and became a recluse.

The highest-paid actress in England during the 1930s, she suffered from camera fright.

Married three times, she had no children.

Reared and stage-trained in South Africa, this statuesque blonde appeared in several UK films of the early 1930s before going to Hollywood, where she performed in a number of films of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.

Spent her childhood in South Africa where she was educated at Ladies College Durban. She first appeared on stage there in 1926 with a touring company under Dennis Neilson-Terry and accompanied them to London the following year. She made her film debut in 1929.

Esmond Knight was born in East Sheen, Surrey in 1906. An accomplished stage actor, he was injured during World War Two but continued to act. His movies include “Holiday Camp” in 1947 and “Sink the Bismarck” in 1960. He died in 1987. His daughter is the actress Rosalind Knight.

IMDB entry:

A stage actor from 1925, Esmond made his first film appearance in 77 Park Lane (1931) for Michael Powell for whom he eventually made 11 films. Esmond served in the Royal Navy during WWII and lost one eye and was almost totally blinded in the other during an engagement against The Bismarck. This didn’t stop him later portraying a Royal Naval officer in Sink the Bismarck! (1960).

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>


A sulky, handsome young man with a mane of black hair and magnetic eyes, almost too romantically handsome to be true. Then one day I saw him giggling with one of the sound engineers and I realised that it was all a pose and he had a sense of humour.”

Cousin of Jean Knight.

Nephew of C.W.R. Knight.

Father of Rosalind Knight.

Esmond Knight played the captain of the Prince of Wales in the film Sink the Bismarck!(1960). Ironically, it was while serving aboard the real Prince of Wales during her fight with the Bismarck that he suffered his injuries.

It is often reported that he died in Cairo, Egypt. In fact (as his daughter confirms), he came back from working in Egypt and died the next day in his flat in Chelsea.

Remained close friends with his first wife Frances Clare after their divorce. Frances in fact attended his funeral alongside wife Nora Swinburne.

Suffered from a stuttering problem, which he continually had to overcome with speech exercises, and usually suffered from a huge case of stage fright just before going on.

Father-in-law of Michael Elliott.

Grandfather of Su Elliot and Marianne Elliott.

Elvi Hale was born in 1931 in Essex, England as Patricia Elvira Hake. She is an actress, known for True as a Turtle (1957), The Heroes of Telemark (1965) and The Navy Lark(1959).

Collection of Classic Brittish Actors

Veronica Hurst

Telegraph obituary in 2023:

Veronica Hurst obituary

Finola Hughes

Glyn Houston

Glyn Houston obituary in “The Guardian” in 2019

Aisling Bea

Naomi Chance

Sophie Okonedo

Margot Grahame

Esmond Knight

Elvi Hale

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