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Billy Budd (film)
''Billy Budd'' is a 1962 British historical drama- adventure film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov. Adapted from Louis O. Coxe and Robert H. Chapman's stage play version of Herman Melville's short novel '' Billy Budd'', it stars Terence Stamp as Billy Budd, Robert Ryan as John Claggart, and Ustinov as Captain Vere. In his feature film debut, Stamp was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Male Newcomer. The film was nominated for four BAFTAs. Plot In the year 1797, the British naval vessel HMS ''Avenger'' presses into service a crewman "according to the Rights of War" from the merchant ship ''The Rights of Man''. The new crewman, Billy Budd, is considered naive by his shipmates, and they attempt to indoctrinate him in their cynicism. But Budd's steadfast optimism remains; when asked to critique the horrible stew the crew must eat, he offers "It's hot. And there's a lot of it. I like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Budd
''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'' is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed version was finally published in 1924, it quickly took its place as a classic second only to ''Moby-Dick'' among Melville's works. Billy Budd is a "handsome sailor" who strikes and inadvertently kills his false accuser, Master-at-arms John Claggart. The ship's Captain, Edward Vere, recognizes Billy's lack of intent, but claims that the law of mutiny requires him to sentence Billy to be hanged. Melville began work on the novella in November 1886, revising and expanding it from time to time, but he left the manuscript in disarray. Melville's widow Elizabeth began to edit the manuscript for publication, but was not able to discern her husband's intentions at key points, even as to the book's title. Raymond M. Weaver, Melville's first biographer, was given the manuscript and published t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Chapman (playwright)
Robert Harris Chapman (April 4, 1919 – September 27, 2000) was an American playwright and longtime academic of English literature and drama at Harvard University. He is best remembered for co-authoring the 1951 Broadway play '' Billy Budd'', adapted from Herman Melville's novel of the same name, with Louis O. Coxe. Their play won the Donaldson Award for Best First Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play in 1951. Life and career Born in Highland Park, Illinois, Chapman earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Princeton University in 1941, and an honorary master's degree from Harvard in 1956. During World War II he was stationed in Morocco and Europe while working for United States Navy intelligence with the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he taught briefly on the faculty of Princeton University before accepting a position as an instructor in the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked from 1948 to 1950. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Brown (British Actor)
Robert James Brown (23 July 192111 November 2003) was an English actor, best known for his portrayal of M in the James Bond films from 1983 to 1989, succeeding Bernard Lee, who died in 1981. Brown made his first appearance as M in ''Octopussy'' in 1983. Brown was born in Swanage, Dorset and later died there on November 11, 2003, aged 82. Before appearing in the Bond films, he had a long career as a bit-part actor in films and television. He had a starring role in the 1950s television series ''Ivanhoe'' where he played Gurth, the faithful companion of Ivanhoe, played by Roger Moore. He had previously made an uncredited appearance as a castle guard in the unrelated 1952 film ''Ivanhoe''. He had an uncredited appearance as the galley-master in '' Ben-Hur'' (1959) and as factory worker Bert Harker in the BBC's 1960s soap opera '' The Newcomers''. In ''One Million Years B.C.'' (1966), he played grunting caveman Akhoba, brutal head of the barbaric "Rock tribe". Brown first starte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray McAnally
Ray McAnally (30 March 1926 – 15 June 1989) was an Irish actor. He was the recipient of three BAFTA Awards in the late 1980s: two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor (for ''The Mission'' in 1986 and ''My Left Foot'' in 1989), and a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for ''A Very British Coup'' in 1989. In 2020, he was ranked at number 34 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Background Ray McAnally was born in Buncrana, a seaside town located on the Inishowen peninsula of County Donegal, Ireland and brought up in the nearby town of Moville from the age of three. The son of a bank manager, he was educated at St Eunan's College in Letterkenny where he wrote, produced and staged a musical called ''Madame Screwball'' at the age of 16. He entered Maynooth Seminary at the age of 18 but left after a short time having decided that the priesthood was not his vocation. He joined the Abbey Theatre in 1947 where he met and married actress Ronnie Maste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Heathcote
Thomas Heathcote (9 September 1917 – 5 January 1986) was a British character actor, a former protégé of Laurence Olivier. He was educated at Bradfield College in Bradfield, near Reading in Berkshire, England. His films included '' A Night to Remember'' (1958), '' Village of the Damned'' (1960), ''Billy Budd'' (1962), '' A Man for All Seasons'' (1966), ''Night of the Big Heat'' (1967) and ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967). On television he had notable guest roles in ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Z-Cars'', ''The Onedin Line'' and ''Crossroads''. Heathcote was also a regular actor in BBC radio drama, notably in several series of Paul Temple. Selected filmography * ''Dance Hall'' (1950) - Fred * ''Cloudburst'' (1951) - Jackie * ''Malta Story'' (1953) - Soldier (uncredited) * ''The Sword and the Rose'' (1953) - Wrestling Second * ''The Red Beret'' (1953) - Alf * ''Blood Orange'' (1953) - Detective Sgt. Jessup * ''The Large Rope'' (1953) - James Gore * ''The Seek ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Montague
Lee Montague (born Leonard Goldberg; 16 October 1927) is an English actor noted for his roles in film and television, usually playing tough guys. Montague was a student of the Old Vic School. Montague's film credits include ''The Camp on Blood Island'', '' Billy Budd'', ''The Secret of Blood Island'', ''Deadlier Than the Male'', ''Brother Sun, Sister Moon'', ''Jesus of Nazareth'', ''Mahler'' and ''The Legacy''. His theatre credits include: ''Who Saw Him Die'' by Tudor Gates staged in 1974 at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket in which he played the part of John Rawlings, the nemesis of former police Superintendent Pratt played by Stratford Johns. On Broadway, he portrayed Gregory Hawke in ''The Climate of Eden'' (1952), and Ed in ''Entertaining Mr. Sloane'' (1965). Montague's television credits include: '' Somerset Maugham TV Theatre'', ''Espionage'', '' The Four Just Men'', ''Danger Man'', '' The Baron'', ''The Troubleshooters'', '' Department S'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Lewis (actor)
Ronald Glasfryn Lewis (11 December 1928 – 11 January 1982), was an actor, best known for his appearances in British films of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life and career Lewis was born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, the son of an accountant. He moved with his family to London when he was seven. During the war he was evacuated back to south Wales, where he attended Bridgend Grammar School. There he played Bassanio in the school production of ''The Merchant of Venice''. He decided to become an actor after seeing George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan'' at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cardiff. He studied at RADA, graduating in 1953. Early roles Lewis's first professional role was in Oscar Wilde's ''An Ideal Husband'' (1950) in repertory at Worthing. He was in ''The Square Ring'' at Hammersmith. Lewis had an uncredited bit part in ''Valley of Song'', set in Wales. He was credited for the film version of ''The Square Ring'' (1953), for Ealing; '' The Beachcomber'' (1954), as a native is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David McCallum
David Keith McCallum Jr. (born 19 September 1933) is a Scottish actor and musician. He first gained recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E''. In recent years, McCallum has gained renewed international recognition and popularity for his role as NCIS medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the American television series '' NCIS''. With John Leyton and William Russell, he is one of the last living actors from the 1963 classic '' The Great Escape''. Early life McCallum was born 19 September 1933, in Maryhill, Glasgow, the second of two sons of orchestral violinist David McCallum Sr. and Dorothy (née Dorman), a cellist. When he was three, his family moved to London for his father to play as the leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Early in the Second World War, he was evacuated back to Scotland, where he lived with his mother at Gartocharn by Loch Lomond. McCallum won a scholarship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Neville (actor)
John Reginald Neville, CM, OBE (2 May 1925 – 19 November 2011) was an English theatre and film actor who moved to Canada in 1972. He enjoyed a resurgence of international attention in the 1980s as a result of his starring role in Terry Gilliam's ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' (1988). Early life and education Neville was born in Willesden, London, the son of Mabel Lillian (''née'' Fry) and Reginald Daniel Neville, a lorry driver. He was educated at Willesden and Chiswick County Schools for Boys and, after service in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting his professional career as a member of the Trent Players.Hayward, Anthon"John Neville: Shakespearean actor and director who became a theatrical force in Canada " ''The Independent'', 26 November 2011 Career United Kingdom Neville was a West End star of the 1950s, hailed as "one of the most potent classical actors of the Richard Burto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Rogers (actor)
Paul Rogers (22 March 1917 – 6 October 2013) was an English actor of film, stage and television. He was the first winner of the BAFTA TV Award Best Actor in 1955 and won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for ''The Homecoming'' in 1967. Early life and career Paul Rogers was born in Plympton, Devon, and attended Newton Abbot Grammar School. He later trained at the Michael Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall. From 1940 to 1946 he served in the Royal Navy during World War II, before returning to acting at the Bristol Old Vic. He went on to appear in many West End and Broadway productions, and won the Tony for Best Actor for his role in Harold Pinter's play ''The Homecoming'' in 1967. He played the role of Sir in the first Broadway production of Ronald Harwood's play ''The Dresser''. Later career Rogers was a long-serving member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His most notable performances with the Company included Nick Bottom in ''A Midsu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain regardless of rank; * Commander (Royal Navy), Commanders, who received the title of captain as a courtesy, whether they currently had a command or not (e.g. the fictional Captain Jack Aubrey in ''Aubrey-Maturin series#Master and Commander, Master and Commander'' or the fictional Captain Horatio Hornblower in ''Hornblower and the Hotspur''); this custom is now defunct. In the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries, an officer might be promoted from commander to captain, but not have a command. Until the officer obtained a command, he was "on the beach" and on half-pay. An officer "took post" or was "made post" when he was first commissioned to command a vessel. Usually this was a rating system of the Royal Navy, ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Figurehead (object)
A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the bow of ships, generally of a design related to the name or role of a ship. They were predominant between the 16th and 20th centuries, and modern ships' badges fulfill a similar role. History Although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation (e.g. the eyes painted on the bows of Greek and Phoenician galleys, the Roman practice of putting carvings of their deities on the bows of their galleys, and the Viking ships of ca. A.D. 800–1100), the general practice was introduced with the galleons of the 16th century, as the figurehead as such could not come to be until ships had an actual stemhead structure on which to place it. The menacing appearance of toothy and bug-eyed figureheads on Viking ships were considered a form of apotropaic magic, serving the function of warding off evil spirits. The Egyptians placed figures of holy birds on the prow while the Phoenicians used horses representing speed. The Ancie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
