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1-50 of 426
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
German actor Christian Oliver worked in the entertainment industry for more than 15 years, with, among others, Steven Soderbergh in The Good German; with Brian Singer and Tom Cruise in Valkyrie; and with the Wachowski sisters in Speed Racer. He also starred in Europe's Number One action series Alarm for Cobra 11 (RTL) for two years and had numerous other TV appearances in the US and Germany.- Actor
- Soundtrack
The star of the Carry On series of films, Sid James originally came to prominence as sidekick to the ground breaking British comedy actor Tony Hancock, on both radio and then television. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and named Solomon Joel Cohen, James arrived in England in 1946, second wife in tow, having served with the South African Army during World War 2. By now an aspiring actor, James claimed to have boxed in his youth, perhaps to explain his craggy features, but was certainly a well respected hairdresser in his native country. Known in the trade as "one take James", he became a very talented and professional actor, constantly in demand for small parts in British post-war cinema. In 1960 James debuted in the fourth of the Carry On films, taking the lead role in Carry on Constable (1960) and went on to appear in a further 18 Carry On films as well as various stage and television spin-offs. Reputed not to have got on with Carry On co-star Kenneth Williams, the two often played adversaries on-screen, notably in the historical parodies Carry on Up the Khyber (1968) and Carry on Don't Lose Your Head (1967). James however was respected and revered by almost everyone he worked with and contrary to popular myth, a true gentleman. An addiction to gambling played a large part in James' workaholic schedule and subsequent heart attack in 1967. He was soon back in action however, playing a hospital patient in Carry on Doctor (1967), able to spend most of the film in bed. He suffered a second and fatal heart attack on stage in Sunderland, England on April 26 1976, leaving behind 3 children and his third wife Valerie who had stuck by him despite his affair with Carry On co-star Barbara Windsor, saying, "He always came home to me".- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Winner was an only child, born in Hampstead, London, England, to Helen (née Zlota) and George Joseph Winner (1910-1975), a company director. His family was Jewish; his mother was Polish and his father of Russian extraction. Following his father's death, Winner's mother gambled recklessly and sold art and furniture worth around £10m at the time, bequeathed to her not only for her life but to Michael thereafter. She died aged 78 in 1984.
He was educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read law and economics. He also edited the university's student newspaper, Varsity (he was the youngest ever editor up to that time, both in age and in terms of his university career, being only in the second term of his second year). Winner had earlier written a newspaper column, 'Michael Winner's Showbiz Gossip,' in the Kensington Post from the age of 14. The first issue of Showgirl Glamour Revue in 1955 has him writing another film and showbusiness gossip column, "Winner's World". Such jobs allowed him to meet and interview several leading film personalities, including James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. He also wrote for the New Musical Express.
He began his screen career as an assistant director of BBC television programmes, cinema shorts, and full-length "B" productions, occasionally writing screenplays. In 1957 he directed his first travelogue, This is Belgium, shot largely on location in East Grinstead. His first on-screen credit was earned as a writer for the crime film Man with a Gun (1958) directed by Montgomery Tully. Winner's first credit on a cinema short was Associate Producer on the film Floating Fortress (1959) produced by Harold Baim. Winner's first project as a lead director involved another story he wrote, Shoot to Kill (1960). He would regularly edit his own movies, using the pseudonym "Arnold Crust". He graduated to first features with Play It Cool (1962), a pop musical starring Billy Fury.
Winner's first significant film was West 11 (1963), a sympathetic study of rootless drifters in the then seedy Notting Hill area of London. Filmed on location (always Winner's preference), with a script by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse, the film remains an interesting contribution to the working-class realism wave of the early 1960s. Following differences with his producer, Daniel Angel, Winner (who had wanted to cast Julie Christie in the main female role) resolved to produce as well as direct his films and set up his own company, Scimitar. The Girl-Getters (1964) and the hectic, dystopian I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967) were paired pieces starring Oliver Reed that continued Winner's exploration of alienated youth adrift in a rising tide of affluence, dreaming of an alternative life they can never achieve. These films and the exuberant 'Swinging London' comedy The Jokers (1967), also starring Reed, were well-suited to Winner's restless, intrusive camera style and staccato editing. They were followed by Hannibal Brooks (1969), a witty Second World War comedy written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, which attracted attention in America and led to Winner pursuing a Hollywood career in the 1970s.
Winner now developed a new reputation as an efficient maker of violent action thrillers, often starring Charles Bronson. The most successful and controversial was Death Wish (1974), with Bronson cast as a liberal architect who embraces vengeance after the murder of his wife and daughter. An intelligent analysis of the deep roots of vigilantism in American society, Death Wish is restrained in its depiction of violence. With his obsessive need to work, Winner accepted many inferior projects, including two weak Death Wish sequels, though occasionally he tried to make more prestigious films, notably The Nightcomers (1971), a prequel to Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, made in Britain with Marlon Brando; and A Chorus of Disapproval (1989), a satisfying version of Alan Ayckbourn's bittersweet comedy.
By the 1990s Winner had become less prolific, and reaped no benefit from the Lottery-prompted rise in genre film-making, which favoured the young and inexperienced. Dirty Weekend (1993), a rape-revenge movie with a female vigilante, aroused considerable controversy, but hardly enhanced Winner's reputation; Parting Shots (1998), a comedy revenge thriller suffused with allusions to Death Wish and restaurant scenes invoking Winner's current incarnation as a food critic, is perhaps his swan song.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Winner said liver specialists had told him in summer 2012 that he had between 18 months and two years to live. He said he had researched assisted suicide offered at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, but found the bureaucracy of the process off-putting. Winner died at his home, Woodland House in Holland Park, on 21 January 2013, aged 77. Winner was buried following a traditional Jewish funeral at Willesden Jewish Cemetery.- Will Kuluva was born on 2 May 1917 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Go Naked in the World (1961), To Trap a Spy (1964) and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). He was married to Jane A. Johnston. He died on 6 November 1990 in Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
David's father was the Rev. W.J. Parradine Frost who died in 1967, his mother Mona, born in 1903, lived in Beccles, Suffolk. He had a sister, Mrs Margaret Bill who lived in Whitby. He owned 'Sweet Briar Cottage in Eastbridge near Theberton, Norfolk, a Georgian town house in Knightsbridge, London and a hotel suite in New York. His marriage to actress Lynne Frederick in 1981 lasted 6 months.- He attended the Duke of Yorks Royal Military School in Dover, Kent from 1963 to 1970 where he achieved both academic and sporting success. He was academically very gifted and was also a gifted sportsman playing Rugby and a good athlete. He achieved good A level results and went to Bristol University.
- John Normington was a distinguished English actor and a veteran of stage and screen. He also trained as an opera singer at the Northern School of Music. He made his theatrical debut in the 1950 production of "The Happiest Days of Your Life". He later became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1962-1966).
Perhaps his most prominent and enduring film role was in the classic British comedy A Private Function (1984), where he holds his own among a heavyweight supporting cast that included Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Richard Griffiths, Alison Steadman, Jim Carter and Pete Postlethwaite. His television appearances were also vast. He is fondly remembered by science fiction fans for his role as the scheming villain Morgus in one of the most popular Doctor Who (1963) serials ever produced, The Caves of Androzani: Part One (1984).
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 but continued working, making his final screen appearance in Atonement (2007), which was released in the UK following his death. Tributes were paid by Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey, National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner and Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Michael Boyd. Normington was gay and was survived by John Anderson, his partner of almost 40 years. - Jean Bell was born in Lifford, county Donegal on the 8th February 1942.
In 1962, he met Gerry Corr at a dance in the Pavilion ballroom in Blackrock, Dundalk (county Louth, Leinster, Ireland). He immortalized the meeting in verse, which he entitled 'Pavilion 62':
'Did angels convene/
To bring me to Jean/
Of wraparound eyes/
In passion of pink/
First dance/
Last dance/
We dance for ever.'
He said in an interview in 2002: "From the first time I met her, I loved her speaking voice. Later, when I heard her sing, my future was sealed! Happily, she liked me too." She sang "... an Irish song called Mo Shean Dun na Gall which she had learned at school in her native Donegal. Jean's is the voice of the Corrs".
Jean and Gerry were married on October 3, 1963 in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dundalk. They had 5 children: Jim Corr, Gerard Corr, Sharon Corr, Caroline Corr and Andrea Corr. Little Gerard died as a child due to a traffic accident.
Music was always to the fore throughout their life. She, together with his dear husband founded 'The Sound Affair' in the 1970's and they were to play together in a variety of venues throughout Co Louth for many years. Not surprisingly, this love of music filtered down to their children with the inevitable consequence - The Corrs.
Sadly, Jean died in the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, on 24 November 1999 from a rare lung condition, Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. - Norma Ronald was born on 1 March 1937 in Northumberland, England, UK. She was an actress, known for UFO (1970), The Plane Makers (1963) and The Power Game (1965). She was married to Edward Judd. She died on 20 November 1993 in Clara Vale, Ryton, Tyne and Wear, England, UK.
- Actor
- Music Department
Miodrag Petrovic-Ckalja was born on 1 April 1924 in Krusevac, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for Truckers (1973), Kamiondzije opet voze (1984) and Kamiondzije (1972). He died on 20 October 2003 in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
Paul Pope (1958-2022) was a dynamic force in the Canadian film industry, having produced or worked on hundreds of films. A founding member of the Newfoundland Filmmakers Cooperative (NIFCO), where he served as president for over twenty years, he was instrumental in the development of a vibrant production industry in Newfoundland. A generous mentor, he was a passionate voice for independent production at a national level with a long-standing tradition of supporting Canadian artists and ensuring that Canadian stories are brought to the screen. Paul served as a board member on the Canadian Media Producers Association, Resource Centre for the Arts, NIFCO and was Vice-Chair of the Canadian Media Fund. In addition to his awards and nominations for his projects with Pope Productions, he also received the Arts Achievement Award from ArtsNL, the Douglas James Dales Industry Builder Award, the Legend Award from the City of St. John's, and an honorary Doctorate from Memorial University. Paul received a BAA in Film and Photography from Ryerson. Shortly before he passed away in 2022, Paul's goal of a Film and Television School in Newfoundland was announced by the College of the North Atlantic.- Of all the films that Graham Moffatt worked on, about half were with Will Hay, in his Billy-Bunter style persona. After being dropped by Will Hay, Moffatt (and Moore Marriott) went on to support Edmund Gwenn in Cheer Boys Cheer (1939) and Arthur Askey in Band Waggon (1940). The last film he made with Moore Marriott was in 1943, after which the pair went their separate ways. He left show business to run a pub, but appeared in many more films, up to the age of 44.
- Reinhard Heydrich began his career as an officer in the post-World War I German navy. He was dishonorably discharged after becoming involved in an illicit love affair. The young woman became pregnant, but instead of marrying her, Heydrich met and soon got engaged to Lina von Osten. In 1930 Heydrich, now unemployed, was persuaded by his wife to join Adolf Hitler's National Socialist (Nazi) party, which he did the next year; he also became a member of the SS at that same time. As one of its first officers, Heydrich was tasked by Heinrich Himmler to expand the small organization into an internal security force to monitor the Nazi party. The result was the creation of the SD (Sicherheistdienst [Security Service]), which was combined, in 1934, with the Gestapo (Gestaatspolizei, or state secret police) to form the much feared SS Security Police, which Heydrich--now an SS Brigadier General--commanded. He played a major role in the destruction of the SA, known as the "storm troopers", which was an internal security service set up by Hitler but which he now suspected of plotting against him; the organization was destroyed and many of its officers, including its leader, Ernst Röhm, were murdered in June of 1934. For his services Heydrich was made a Lieutenant-General in the SS.
At the start of World War II Heydrich became commander of the consolidated Reich security forces, which he formed into the Reich Security Central Office of the SS. Also, by this time, Heydrich had become a major figure in the rounding up and planned extermination of Europe's Jews. On his orders, the SS-Einsatzgruppen--Special Groups--were created for the purpose of hunting down, rounding up and exterminating Jews in Poland and Russia. Three years later, in 1942, he chaired the infamous Wannsee Conference, where the decision was made to exterminate all the Jews of Europe. Promoted to SS-General (Obergruppenfuhrer), Heydrich was made the Reich Governor of Czechoslovakia at the start of 1942. Aware of how powerful, cunning and dangerous Heydrich was, British intelligence agents put together an operation designed to kill him, and trained and dispatched three Czech exiles to Prague. The assassination was carried out in May of 1942. Heydrich died a short while later, on June 4th, the same day of the historic Battle of Midway in the Pacific.
If ever a truly monstrous and evil man existed, it was Reinhard Heydrich, one of the masterminds of the Holocaust. In a horrific act of revenge, called "Operation Reinhard," Hitler had the entire village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia--near where Heydrich was killed--exterminated. All male inhabitants above the age of 15 were shot; all other residents were sent to concentration camps, and the village itself was physically wiped off the face of the earth. Heydrich was buried with full honors. His grave on the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin is now anonymous in order to prevent any form of remembrance. - Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
- Actor
- Writer
Ljuba Tadic was born on 31 May 1929 in Urosevac, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was an actor and writer, known for Doktor Mladen (1975), Mars na Drinu (1964) and Uka i Bjeshkëve të nemura (1968). He was married to Visnja Djordjevic and Snezana Niksic. He died on 28 October 2005 in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Zivko Nikolic was born on 20 November 1941 in Ozrinici near Niksic, Montenegro, Yugoslavia. He was a director and writer, known for Cudo nevidjeno (1984), Biljeg (1981) and Graditelj (1980). He was married to Vesna Pecanac. He died on 17 August 2001 in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.- Danilo Lazovic was born on 25 November 1951 in Brodarevo near Prijepolje, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for Srecni ljudi (1993), A Holy Place (1990) and Porodicno blago (1998). He was married to Branka Lazovic. He died on 25 March 2006 in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.
- Marina Koljubajeva was born on 2 November 1950 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia. She was an actress, known for Neven (1974), The Girl in the Park (1968) and Sta se zgodi kad se ljubav rodi (1984). She died on 13 March 2004 in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.
- Mladen Nedeljkovic was born on 3 May 1936 in Nis, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for Poslednji krug u Monci (1989), Vrata ostaju otvorena (1959) and Hajde da se volimo (1987). He died on 31 March 2005 in Nis, Serbia and Montenegro.
- Vikki Richards was born on 29 December 1949 in Trinidad, British West Indies [now Trinidad and Tobago]. She was an actress, known for The Love Factor (1969), Black Snake (1973) and The Onedin Line (1971). She died on 6 March 2024 in Valsayn, Trinidad and Tobago.
- Actor
- Writer
Faruk Begolli was the most famous Kosovo Albanian actor and director in Yugoslavia (along with Bekim Fehmiu). He attended high school in Pristina and completed the academy of film in Belgrade (1966). Begolli played in more than 60 films, starting with Veljko Bulajic's Pogled u zenicu Sunca (1966). He cooperated with director Purisa Dordevic in his films Podne (Noon), Jutro (The Morning), and San (The Dream), and his notable roles include Bitka na Neretvi, Cuvar plaze u zimskom periodu and Dervis i Smrt (The Dervish and Death). In the late 1980s, Begolli returned from Belgrade to Kosovo, where he worked at the University of Pristina as a professor at the Faculty of Drama. His last lead role was in Ekrem Kryeziu's Dashuria e Bjeshkeve te Nemuna (Love in the Damned Mountain), and his last piece was Etjet e Kosoves (Kosovo: Desperate Search), where he was also a co-scenarist. He died in 2007, after a long battle with cancer.- Actress
Anna Nicholas was born on 14 September 1947 in Simla, India. She was an actress, known for Cuba (1979), Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and Armchair Thriller (1978). She was married to Graham Smith. She died on 3 February 2014 in Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury, Kent, England, UK.- Alija Isakovic was born on 15 January 1932 in Bitunja near Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Alija was a writer, known for Nastojanje (1982), Hasanaginica (1984) and O udesnosti crvenih krvnih zrnaca (1974). Alija died on 14 March 1997 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- Robert Crewdson was born on 20 January 1927 in Lambeth, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965), Epitaph for a Spy (1963) and Escape (1957). He was married to Lucy Pearson, Pamela Strong and Kathleen Bidmead. He died on 7 February 2023 in Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK.
- Doreen Lawrence was born on 13 July 1919 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The British Greats (1980), This Is Your Life (1955) and Hollywood Greats (1977). She was married to Jack Hawkins and Patrick Harry Grantham Atkinson. She died on 15 June 2013 in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Chelsea, London, England, UK.