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- Because of his heavy generically "European" accent and Slavic-sounding surname (not an uncommon one among Czechs or Slovaks), many people assumed Oscar Homolka was Eastern European or Russian. In fact, he was born in Vienna (then Austria-Hungary), the multicultural capital of a large multi-ethnic empire at the time. It was there he began his successful stage career, which eventually led him to Hollywood. Homolka was one of the many Austrian and specifically Viennese actors (many of them Jewish) who fled Europe for the U.S. with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Although often typecast in villainous roles - Communist spies, Soviet-bloc military officers or scientists and the like - he was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Chris in I Remember Mama (1948).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Instantly recognisable, often bearded Liverpudlian character actor who regularly featured on stage and screen in period productions, police dramas, sitcoms and soaps during a career that spanned five decades. Extremely prolific and versatile, he took on just about any type of role, merrily alternating between bellicose, shifty, dependable, bucolic, curmudgeonly or avuncular types. His most prominent headliners included PC Wilmot in the Yorkshire-based sitcom Rosie (1977) and the titular character of the sci-fi comedy Kinvig (1981) penned by Nigel Kneale. Occasional scene-stealing turns in support included the deliriously mad Milo Renfield in Dracula (1979). Among innumerable other worthy supporting roles a list of standouts might include Gridley, the ruined chancery appellant in Bleak House (2005) ; Vic Snow in Where the Heart Is (1997) ; nouveau-riche timber merchant Melbury in The Woodlanders (1997) and the slightly seedy consular chauffeur Fidel Sanchez in Farrington of the F.O. (1986). He also voiced the slow-witted, mercilessly hen-pecked antagonist Mr. Tweedy in Aardman's animated feature Chicken Run (2000).
Before claimed by the stage, Haygarth briefly tried his luck at other fields of employment, including a period as a lifeguard in Torquay and a psychiatric nurse at Sefton Hospital in Liverpool. Having found his chosen vocation in repertory theatre he went from there to more distinguished roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic and the National Theatre. He won the Clarence Derwent Award in 1996 for his part in the play "Simpatico" and in 2003 appeared with Zoë Wanamaker in "His Girl Friday" and alongside Kenneth Branagh in "Edmond". Starting in 2007, he appeared as Alfred Doolittle in Peter Hall's production of "Pygmalion", a performance described by the reviewer of The Daily Telegraph as "delightfully funny" and "scene-stealing". Haygarth was an author writng plays and a book of poetry entitled "God wore Clogs". In 2014, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia which sadly claimed his life three years later at the age of 72.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Richard Marquand was born on 22 September 1937 in Llanishen, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Nowhere to Run (1993) and Jagged Edge (1985). He was married to Carol Bell and Josephine Marquand. He died on 4 September 1987 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.- Duncan Lamont began his career in the 1940's in Waterfront Women (1950) and Quentin Durward (1955) then went to Hollywood for Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). Returning to Britain he went into what he described as one of his happiest roles opposite Margaret Rutherford in Murder at the Gallop (1963). He described himself as a 'heavy with a capacity for light villainy' as he was never really a bad villain. When the film is nearly over there's usually justice to contend with, While sometimes he's was on the right side of the law never the less he always seems to end up dead or defeated. Television work took him to America for appearances in such as The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), Hawaiian Eye (1959), and The Alaskans (1959), while British credits included such as Z Cars (1962), Danger Man (1960), and Dixon of Dock Green (1955).
- Dublin-born stage actor, producer and writer Dermot Walsh was the son of a journalist and educated at Dublin's St. Mary's College and National University, initially focusing on law. He studied drama at the Abbey Theatre School of Acting and built up his reputation performing at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. Some talent scouts in Ireland interested in making some pictures about his homeland happened to spot him in a production and eventually signed him up after he had made a choice move to London to further his career.
His first postwar film role was a bit part as a chauffeur in Bedelia (1946), but after signing with Rank he was groomed immediately for prime parts. In only his second feature he showcased well as the philandering "Wild Johnnie" in Hungry Hill (1947). He became a strong fixture for Rank in plush Gainsborough's Victorian costumers or crime melodramas such as Jassy (1947) and The Mark of Cain (1947), To the Public Danger (1948) and My Sister and I (1948) opposite such lovelies as Margaret Lockwood, Glynis Johns, Sally Ann Howes and Hazel Court, the last mentioned becoming his wife in 1949.
In 1949 the dark, dashingly handsome actor left Rank and began to freelance in assembly-line programmers such as Paper Gallows (1950), and co-starred with wife Hazel in two of them: Ghost Ship (1952) and Undercover Agent (1953). Keyed in to playing hard-boiled characters in rather murky thrillers, frustration set in when he was unable to extricate himself from his "B" reputation. He later focused on TV work, including the adventure series Richard the Lionheart (1962), and the theatre. Some of his more prominent stage work over the years included "Reluctant Heroes" (1950), "Relations Are Best Apart" (1954), "Mary, Mary" (1963), "Ring of Jackals" (1965), "Lady Frederick" (1970), and "No Sex Please, We're British" (1986), not to mention an abundance of cat-and-mouse whodunnits including "Murder Among Friends" (1978), "Who Killed Agatha Christie?" (1979) and "The Mousetrap" (1980). He also wrote the play "The Murder Line" in 1967 and produced a few of his later endeavors such as "Stage Struck" and "Blithe Spirit" both in 1982.
Walsh was married three times in all -- divorcing twice and surviving his third wife Elisabeth Scott, who died in 1993. He had four children from his three marriages: Sally, Michael, Olivia, and Elisabeth (also an actress). He died on June 26, 2002 at age 77. - Actor
- Production Manager
Len Goodman was born on 25 April 1944 in Farnborough, Kent, England, UK. He was an actor and production manager, known for Dancing with the Stars (2005), The Sword of the Lord (1976) and Love/Loss (2010). He was married to Sue Barrett and Cherry Kingston. He died on 22 April 2023 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.- Actor
- Soundtrack
After his first start in show business he quit because he was only getting about £7 a week and he went into the rag trade. Later a friend asked him to make a two week appearance at a theatre to help him out. In the show he impersonated a woman and found that he had a talent for female impersonation and went on from there. Once he was well established he opened his own night club near the West End which even attracted Royalty. If he was appearing in a West End show or at a theatre not too far away from London he would do that show, which would include the usual two performance on a Saturday then be driven to his club and do a performance there. He would always let the audience know that hidden under the glamorous gowns and make up was a fella by going up to the microphone on his first appearance on stage and in a deep masculine voice say 'whotcha Mates' .- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Singer was born on 4 December 1923 in Hastings, East Sussex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Not So Dusty (1936), The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936) and Fly Away Peter (1948). He died on 7 July 1987 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.- Charles Oliver was born on 21 June 1907 in County Cork, Ireland. He was an actor, known for The Lady Vanishes (1938), Wings Over Africa (1936) and Midnight at the Wax Museum (1936). He was married to Noel Hood. He died on 29 March 1983 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.
- Michael Spice was born on 20 May 1931 in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Hamlet (1961), Doctor Who (1963) and Six Days of Justice (1972). He was married to Polly Murch. He died on 2 November 1983 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.
- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani was born November 15, 1905, in Venice, Italy, the son of a violinist who performed at La Scala under the baton of maestro Arturo Toscanini. Born into a musical household, Mantovani was taught the piano and music theory while a youth. When Mantovani's father was appointed conductor of the orchestra at London's Covent Garden theater in 1912, he moved with his family to England, which became his life-long home.
Following in his father's footsteps, Mantovani switched to violin at the age of 14, though he remained adept at the piano, which he used for composing music. At the age of 16, he made his debut as a professional violinist. As a member of a touring orchestra, he quickly matured as a performer and became a featured soloist. Appointed the conductor of the Hotel Metropole Orchestra in 1925, Mantovani made his first recordings with the group in 1928.
Mantovani's critical reputation as a virtuoso on the violin was established in 1930 and 1931 with a series of recitals. It was at this time, he organized the Tipica Orchestra to make radio broadcasts from London's tony Monseigneur restaurant. The Tipica Orchestra successfully toured England while recording for multiple labels in the period of 1932-1936, winding up on Columbia. Mantovani and the Tipica Orchestra scored major hits in the United States with "Red Sails in the Sunset" and "Serenade to the Night," after which Columbia changed the billing on the records to "Mantovani & His Orchestra." In 1940, Mantovani left Columbia and signed with Decca, which would be his label for the next 33 years.
Mantovani & His Orchestra were extremely popular in England during the early 1940s. During World War II, Mantovani served as musical director for a number of theatrical productions, but after the end of the war, Mantovani turned away from live performance and concentrated on recording. With arranger Ronald Binge, the former accordion-player for the Tipica Orchestra, Mantovania developed the lush sound he became famous for: the "cascading strings" (also known as "tumbling strings" effect. This emphasis on the string section that was his signature became a hallmark of "easy listening" music (also known as "light orchestral" music). The cascading strings effect (which was used frequently in movie and television scores for a generation afterwards by Mantovani imitators) was first employed on the 1951 single "Charmaine." The single sold over 1 million copies and opened the U.S. market to Mantovani's music for the first time since the mid-1930's.
Mantovani became a hit machine, releasing a plethora of hit singles in the early to mid-1950s, including "Song from Moulin Rouge," a #1 platter in 1953. Mantovani co-wrote and arranged (and backed with his orchestra) David Whitfield on his own #1 British smash "Cara Mia" in 1954, which cracked the U.S. Top Ten. He began recording long-playing records for Decca and its London subsidiary in 1954, and although the change-over of popular music to rock 'n roll limited his success on the singles chart, his albums sold millions, particularly in the U.S.
Over 40 Mantovani albums registered on the U.S. pop charts from 1955 to 1972, with 27 reaching the Top 40 and 11 scaling the heights into the Top Ten. His biggest hits were linked to the movies: "Film Encores," which went #1 in 1957 (his sole chart-topping LP), and "Mantovani Plays Music From 'Exodus' and Other Great Themes," a #2 hit in 1961. The "Exodus" LP moved over 1 million copies and remained on the charts for almost a year.
As the 1960s wore on, Mantovani's brand of pleasant, easy listening music increasingly diverged from mainstream tastes (and began to be seen as old-fashioned, something that belonged to the pre-rock 1950s along with round-screened, B+W TV sets). HIs LPs placed lower and lower on the charts, until they no longer charted at all after 1972's eponymous "Annunzio Paolo Mantovani." When the Decca label was dissolved and absorbed into MCA in 1973, his recording career came to an end. In all, he had recorded over 50 albums of his distinct brand of light orchestral music since the early 1950s.
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani died on March 30, 1980 at his country home in Tunbridge Wells, England. He was 74 years old.- Cecile Chevreau was born on 1 April 1917 in Wandsworth, Surrey, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Monkey (1978), Spaceways (1953) and Melba (1953). She was married to Jacques B. Brunius. She died in 1993 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.
- David Rose was born on 16 February 1931 in Hamnish, Herefordshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Gamble for a Throne (1961), Chain (1990) and Kipps (1960). He was married to Pamela Barrie. He died on 26 June 2004 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.
- Actress
- Director
- Producer
The beautiful English brunette star of the silent screen Peggy Hyland born in Birmingham in 1884. Educated in England and in convents in Europe. Began working on stage in 1910. Peggy starred in more than 45 movies in both Britain and Hollywood, making her film debut in Percy Nash's 'In the Rank' starring Gregory Scott for the Neptune Film Co in 1914, between 1916 and 1920 she was based in America working for Fox, Vitagraph and Famous Players, perhaps her best known film was 'The Merry-Go-Round' with Jack Mulhall for the Fox Film Co in 1919. Peggy returned to England where she acted in Mr. Pim Passes By for the Samuelson Film Co in 1921. In 1922 she wrote, produced, directed and starred in 'With Father's Help' and in 1923 starred in the US Production, 'Shifting Sands' directed by her husband Fred Leroy Granville whom she later divorced, the following year she directed and starred in 'The Haunted Pearls', she was last seen on screen in 'Forbidden Cargoes' in 1925. Beside from acting Peggy also directed some short comedies in England in the early 1920's. She died in 1973 age 88.- Music Department
- Actor
- Writer
Jack Payne was born on 22 August 1899 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Say It with Music (1932), Jamboree! (1957) and Pantomania, or It Was Never Like This (1955). He was married to Peggy Cochrane. He died on 4 December 1969 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.- Actor
- Stunts
Fred Tuttle was born on 18 July 1919 in Tunbridge, Vermont, USA. He was an actor, known for Man with a Plan (1996), Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997) and Pressure Point (1997). He was married to Dorothy Louise Savage. He died on 4 October 2003 in Tunbridge, Vermont, USA.- Roger Hargreaves was born on 9 May 1935 in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Mr. Men (1974), Mr. Men and Mr. Men and Little Miss (1995). He died on 11 September 1988 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.
- Lucille Lisle, the Australian born film actress who enjoyed a career as a leading lady in somewhat incoherent movies during the early 1930s, was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and educated at St. Vincents College, Sydney. Her mother put her on the stage when still a child in the pantomime of `Dick Whittington' 1916 at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne. After she had grown up Lisle appeared in several productions under the management of J.C. Williamson limited, notably as Phyllis in `Old English' and as Anne Hall in `Cradle Snatchers' in which she toured for a year. She then appeared opposite Maurice Moscovitch in `The Silent House', followed by roles in `Saturday's Children' and Baby Cyclone' under the direction of Sir Benjamin Fuller. In 1930, she travelled to America making her debut there at the Empire theatre on October 6th as Bertina Farmer in `Stepdaughters of War'. Two years later she arrived in London after a short run in a play off Broadway. Lisle succeeded Edna Best as Stella Hallam at the Lyric in `Another Language'. In 1933, she went on stage in Liverpool in `The Late Christopher Bean', not before she held up proceedings for an hour while she signed autograph books for fans that waited patiently in the rain. Where her stage career flourished her work in motion pictures faltered, poor writing and bad directing all too often the blame for poor reviews. Anthony Havelock-Allen producer her debut feature, an incoherent thriller in which she played the wife of Leslie Perrins. In 1936, after playing in the films `Twice Branded' a prison melodrama starring James Mason and `Midnight at the Wax Museum' one of director Edward Pearson's final credits, Lisle replaced Jessica Tandy as Anna in `Anthony and Anna'. The play ran for two years. `The Minstrel Boy' 1937 was a poor attempt to launch Lisle as a sizzling romantic leading lady. She was joined by Fred Conyngham and Chili Bouchier, the scenario written by Joan Morgan, a child sensation in British pictures during the 1910s. It was Lisle's final film. Undaunted she struggled on comforted by the fact that theatre was offering her so much more than her endeavours on screen. Lisle won the praise of the critics as "the most exquisite and believable" Maria in `Twelfth Night' 1938. She joined the BBC repertory company in 1940 with which she continued for five years. After W.W.II she returned to the BBC as a regular broadcaster retiring in 1952.
- Evelyn Roberts was born on 28 August 1886 in Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Sorrell and Son (1933), The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937) and Sing As We Go! (1934). He was married to Daisy Cordell. He died on 30 November 1962 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Leon Goossens was born on 12 June 1897 in Liverpool, England, UK. He is known for Girl with Green Eyes (1964), Clean Slate (1994) and Alice in Wonderland (1966). He was married to Leslie Burrowes and Fay Yeatman. He died on 12 February 1988 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Charlie Richardson was born on 18 January 1934 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Charlie (2004), The Eleventh Hour (1982) and The Richardsons by Fred Dinenage (2012). He was married to Ronnie Richardson and Margaret ?. He died on 19 September 2012 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.- Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, GCB, GCVO, CMG (24 April 1882 - 15 February 1970) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally credited with playing a crucial role in Britain's defense, and hence, the defeat of Adolf Hitler's plan to invade Britain.
- Vernon Joyner was born on 16 December 1930 in East Stonehouse, Devon, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Anna Karenina (1977), Softly Softly (1966) and Undermind (1965). He died on 14 May 2002 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Michael Boultbee was born in 1933 in Marylebone, London, England, UK. Michael was a cinematographer, known for Woman and the Hunter (1957), Sex and the Other Woman (1972) and Top Gear (1972). Michael was married to Dorinda Stevens. Michael died in 2005 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.- Patricia Rossborough was born on 2 April 1900 in Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress, known for Song-copation (1929) and Musical Medley (1929). She died on 9 October 1992 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK.