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Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe, 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969. Career Parker was born in Hastings, Sussex, the second son (and fifth of six children) of German-born Charles August Schwabe, manager of the Albany Hotel, Hastings, and his English wife Kate (née Parker), a church organist. He was educated at St Francis Xavier College, and at Bruges in Belgium.Who's Who in the Theatre by John Parker (11th Edition) (1952) (London) He served with the Royal Sussex Regiment in the First World War, reaching the rank of sergeant. He began his theatrical career in London in 1922, adopting the surname "Parker" from his mother's maiden name. He made his first film appearance in 1933 and subsequently became a familiar face in British and occasionally American films until his death. He appeared less ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west at Senlac Hill in 1066. It later became one of the medieval Cinque Ports. In the 19th century, it was a popular seaside resort, as the railway allowed tourists and visitors to reach the town. Today, Hastings is a fishing port with the UK's largest beach-based fishing fleet. It has an estimated population of 92,855 as of 2018. History Early history The first mention of Hastings is found in the late 8th century in the form ''Hastingas''. This is derived from the Old English tribal name '' Hæstingas'', meaning 'the constituency (followers) of Hæsta'. Symeon of Durham records the victory of Offa in 771 over the ''Hestingorum gens'', that is, "the people of the Hastings tribe." Hastingleigh in Kent was named after that tribe. The place n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dangerous Moonlight
''Dangerous Moonlight'' (US: ''Suicide Squadron'') is a 1941 British film, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Anton Walbrook. Among the costumes, the gowns were designed by Cecil Beaton. The film is best known for its score written by Richard Addinsell, orchestrated by Roy Douglas, which includes the ''Warsaw Concerto''. ''Dangerous Moonlights love-story plot, told mainly in flashbacks, revolves around the fictional composer of the ''Warsaw Concerto'', a piano virtuoso and "shell-shocked" combat pilot, who meets an American war correspondent in Warsaw, and later returns from America to join the RAF in England to continue to fight against the Germans and their occupation of Poland.Jahiel, Edwin"Dangerous Moonlight (UK, 1941)."''Movie Reviews by Edwin Jahiel''. Retrieved: 7 May 2012. Plot During the German invasion of Poland, Polish airman and piano virtuoso Stefan Radecki (Anton Walbrook) meets American reporter Carole Peters (Sally Gray). He volunteers to fly a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morecambe And Wise
Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced". In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, '' The Morecambe and Wise Show'' was placed 14th. In September 2006, they were voted by the general public as number 2 in a poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars. Their early career was the subject of the 2011 television biopic ''Eric and Ernie'', and their 1970s career was the subject of the television biopic ''Eric, Ernie and Me'' in 2017. In 1976, Morecambe and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magnificent Two
''The Magnificent Two'' is a 1967 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Morecambe and Wise in the third and final of their 1960s trio of films. Plot Two British Action Man travelling salesmen are sent to the South American country of Parazuellia to sell their goods. During the train journey, Eric accidentally opens a door leading to the death of the returning British educated Torres who is the figurehead of a revolutionary movement and a government secret policeman arresting him. Upon arrival in the city of Campo Grande, Eric is mistaken by the revolutionaries for Torres, and though they discover the death of the real Torres they pay Eric and Ernie to maintain Eric's impersonation of Torres to lead a revolution to oust a brutal dictator. However, once the revolution is successful Eric gains an inflated opinion of himself. Cast * Eric Morecambe as Eric * Ernie Wise as Ernie * Margit Saad as Carla * Virgilio Teixeira (actor), Virgilio Teixeira as Carillo * Cecil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upper Class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is generally distinguished by immense wealth which is passed on from generation to generation. Prior to the 20th century, the emphasis was on ''aristocracy'', which emphasized generations of inherited noble status, not just recent wealth. Because the upper classes of a society may no longer rule the society in which they are living, they are often referred to as the old upper classes, and they are often culturally distinct from the newly rich middle classes that tend to dominate public life in modern social democracies. According to the latter view held by the traditional upper classes, no amount of individual wealth or fame would make a person from an undistinguished background into a member of the upper class as one must be born into a famil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blithe Spirit (play)
''Blithe Spirit'' is a comic play by Noël Coward, described by the author as "an improbable farce in three acts". The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric Mediumship, medium and clairvoyant Madame Arcati to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his wilful and temperamental first wife, Elvira, after the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost. The play was first seen in the West End theatre, West End in 1941 and ran for 1,997 performances, a new record for a non-musical play in London. It also did well on Broadway theatre, Broadway later that year, running for 657 performances. The play was Blithe Spirit (1945 film), adapted for the cinema in 1945; a Blithe Spirit (2020 film), second film version followed in 2020. Coward directed a musical theatre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"."Noel Coward at 70" ''Time'', 26 December 1969, p. 46 Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as '' |
I Believe In You (film)
''I Believe in You'' is a 1952 British drama film directed by Michael Relph and Basil Dearden. It stars Celia Johnson and Cecil Parker and is based on the book ''Court Circular'' by Sewell Stokes. Inspired by the recently successful ''The Blue Lamp'', Relph and Dearden used a semi-documentary approach in telling the story of the lives of probation officers and their charges. Plot Henry Phipps, a retired Colonial Serviceman, takes on the job of a probation officer, and finds it a challenge. Various characters' lives are examined as Phipps and his colleagues attempt to reform (amongst others), a hardened criminal and a juvenile delinquent. Cast * Celia Johnson as Matty Matheson * Cecil Parker as Henry Phipps *Godfrey Tearle as Judge Pyke *Harry Fowler as Charlie Hooker *George Relph as Mr. Dove *Joan Collins as Norma Hart *Laurence Harvey as Jordie Bennett *Ernest Jay as Judge Quayle *Ursula Howells as Hon Ursula *Sid James as Sergeant Body * Katie Johnson as Miss Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indiscreet (1958 Film)
''Indiscreet'' is a 1958 British romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. The film is based on the play '' Kind Sir'' written by Norman Krasna. This was Grant's and Bergman's second film together, after Alfred Hitchcock's '' Notorious'' (1946), and was one of the first films to popularise artistic use of the technique of split screens. The film was remade for television in 1988 starring Robert Wagner and Lesley-Anne Down. Plot Anna Kalman is an accomplished London-based theatre actress who has given up her hopes of finding the man of her dreams. Through her brother-in-law, Alfred Munson, she meets a handsome economist, Philip Adams. She is instantly captivated by him and expresses visible interest in him. At the end of their first meeting, she makes a pass at him to go on a date sometime later to which he politely states that he is married. He further adds that he is separated and unable to get a divorce from his wife. An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Court Jester
''The Court Jester'' is a 1955 musical-comedy, medieval romance, costume drama film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury and Cecil Parker. The movie was written, produced, and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama for Paramount Pictures. It was released in Technicolor and the VistaVision widescreen format. The film centers on Hubert Hawkins, a carnival entertainer working with the Black Fox's band of rebels (a parody of Robin Hood and his Merry Men) to guard the true infant King of Medieval England from a usurper. A strange chance causes Hawkins to become a spy in the guise of a court jester in the usurping King's castle, where there are many people who wish to make use of the Jester for their own villainous ends. The film contains three songs (all sung by Kaye), makes heavy use of slapstick comedy and quick-witted wordplay, and is best remembered for the tongue twister "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man In The White Suit
''The Man in the White Suit'' is a 1951 British satirical science fiction comedy film made by Ealing Studios. It stars Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker and was directed by Alexander Mackendrick. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing (Screenplay) for Roger MacDougall, John Dighton and Alexander Mackendrick. It followed a common Ealing Studios theme of the "common man" against the Establishment. In this instance the hero falls foul of both trade unions and the wealthy mill owners who attempt to suppress his invention. Mandy Miller (aged only 6) made her first film appearance in this film. Plot Sidney Stratton, a brilliant young research chemist and former Cambridge scholarship recipient, has been dismissed from jobs at several textile mills in the north of England because of his demands for expensive facilities and his obsession with inventing an everlasting fibre. Whilst working as a labourer at the Birnley Mills, he accidentally becomes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ladykillers (1955 Film)
''The Ladykillers'' is a 1955 British black comedy crime film directed by Alexander Mackendrick for Ealing Studios. It stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner, and Katie Johnson as the old lady, Mrs. Wilberforce. William Rose wrote the screenplay, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay. He claimed to have dreamt the entire film and merely had to remember the details when he awoke. Plot Mrs Wilberforce is a sweet and eccentric old widow who lives alone with her raucous parrots in a gradually subsiding lopsided house, built over the entrance to a railway tunnel in Kings Cross, London. With nothing to occupy her time and an active imagination, she is a frequent visitor to the local police station where she reports fanciful suspicions regarding neighbourhood activities. Having led wild-goose chases in the past, she is humoured by the offi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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