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Crooks Anonymous
''Crooks Anonymous'' is a British comedy film from 1962. Directed by Ken Annakin, it stars Leslie Phillips and Stanley Baxter and is notably the feature film debut of Julie Christie. Plot Captain "Dandy Forsdyke" (Leslie Phillips) is a habitual criminal who can't resist a tempting robbery. His gifts are for pickpocketing and safecracking. He never uses his real name, of which he's ashamed. However, he is engaged to Babette (Julie Christie), a stripper who wants him to go straight before they marry. In love with Babette, he desperately wants to quit, but is always lured back into another crime by his associates. Babette comes across a society known as Crooks Anonymous which helps hardened thieves go straight. Founded by Mr Montague (Wilfrid Hyde-White), and funded by a generous legacy, they have an excellent track record. Babette agrees to help them cure Forsdyke. Forsdyke is picked up during a robbery by a Crooks Anonymous man, Brother Widdowes ( Stanley Baxter), who is dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Annakin
Kenneth Cooper Annakin, Order of the British Empire, OBE (10 August 1914 – 22 April 2009) was an England, English film director. His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 2002, and in the 1960s he was noticed by critics with large-scale adventure epic and comedies films, like ''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'', ''Battle of the Bulge (1965 film), Battle of the Bulge'', ''The Biggest Bundle of Them All'' and ''Monte Carlo or Bust!''. During his career, Annakin directed nearly 50 pictures. Biography Annakin was born in and grew up in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire where he attended the local Beverley Grammar School, grammar school. After leaving school he became a trainee income tax inspector in the city of Hull. Annakin subsequently decided to emigrate to New Zealand, and travelled around the world in a variety of jobs. He was Compere (host), compere and stage manager of Eugene permanent wave, Permanent Waving Company's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Father Christmas
Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrelated English folklore, English folkloric tradition. The recognisably modern figure of the English Father Christmas developed in the late Victorian era, Victorian period, but Christmas had been personified for centuries before then. English personifications of Christmas were first recorded in the 15th century, with Father Christmas himself first appearing in the mid 17th century in the aftermath of the English Civil War. The Puritans, Puritan-controlled English government had legislated to abolish Christmas, considering it papist, and had outlawed its traditional customs. Cavalier, Royalist political pamphleteers, linking the old traditions with their cause, adopted Old Father Christmas as the symbol of 'the good old days' of feasting and g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Goodwin (English Actor)
Harold Goodwin (22 October 1917 – 3 June 2004) was an English actor born in Wombwell, South Yorkshire, England. Acting career Goodwin trained at RADA and was a stage actor at Liverpool repertory theatre for 3 years. He appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s and 1960s, usually playing 'flat cap'-wearing working class characters from Northern England or low ranks in the military. He had significant parts in the war films '' The Dam Busters'' (playing Guy Gibson's batman, 'Crosby'), ''Bridge on the River Kwai'' and '' The Longest Day.'' He can also be seen in films such as '' The Ladykillers'', ''Sea of Sand'', '' Angels One Five'' and '' The Cruel Sea'' (in which he was the ASDIC operator). Goodwin made hundreds of appearances in British television programmes such as ''Minder'' (as ''Dunning'', episode '' Get Daley!'', 1984)'' and a notable role in '' All Creatures Great and Small''. Goodwin was a 'staple' of the popular 1980s sitcom, '' That's My Boy''. His last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Lloyd-Pack
Charles Lloyd-Pack (10 October 1902 – 22 December 1983) was a British film, television and stage actor. Life and career Lloyd-Pack was born at Wapping, East London, to working-class parents. He was seen in several horror films produced by the Hammer Studios including '' Dracula'', ''The Man Who Could Cheat Death'', ''The Revenge of Frankenstein'', ''The Terror of the Tongs'' and ''Quatermass 2'', the film version of the 1955 BBC TV serial. In 1970 he appeared as Claud Nau at the Chichester Festival Theatre in Robert Bolt's play, '' Vivat! Vivat Regina!''. His best known role was Professor Marks in the British television series ''Strange Report'' but he is also known from other television appearances in '' The Avengers'', ''Man in a Suitcase'', '' Randall & Hopkirk'', ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'', ''The Prisoner'' and the mini-series ''Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill'' (1974). Personal life and death Lloyd-Pack married Viennese Jewish refugee Ulrike Elisabeth Pulay (25 A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Fowler
Henry James Fowler, MBE (10 December 1926 – 4 January 2012) was an English character actor in film and television. Over a career lasting more than six decades, he made nearly 200 appearances on screen. Personal life Fowler was born in Lambeth, South London, on 10 December 1926. As a "near illiterate newspaper boy" making eight shillings a week, he told film historian Brian McFarlane, he was invited on to radio to speak about his life in wartime London. In 1951, Fowler married actress Joan Dowling, who committed suicide in 1954. In 1960, he married Catherine Palmer, who survived him.The Independent 9 Jan 2012 Harry Fowler: Prolific screen actor known for his 'cheerful cockney' characters Fowler died on 4 January 2012. He had no ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Rossington
Norman Rossington (24 December 1928 – 21 May 1999) was an English actor best remembered for his roles in ''The Army Game'', the ''Carry On'' films and the Beatles' film '' A Hard Day's Night''. Early life Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of a publican, Rossington was educated at Sefton Park Elementary School and Liverpool Technical College. He left education at the age of 14. After that he lived a rather aimless adolescent life as messenger, office boy at Liverpool Docks and apprentice joiner.Obituary for Norman Rossington '''', 22 May 1999 He did his |
Dermot Kelly (actor)
''Dermot Kelly'' (1918–1980) was an Irish actor often in comic roles, in films and on TV. He achieved popularity as a recurring tramp character, sidekick to Arthur Haynes's vagrant, in TV's The Arthur Haynes Show in the early 1960s. Previously on stage with Dublin's Abbey Theatre, he was in the original stage and film versions of Brendan Behan's ''The Quare Fellow'', in 1954 and 1962, respectively. Filmography * ''Another Shore'' (1948) as Boxer * ''Home is the Hero'' (1959) as 2nd Pub Customer * ''Sally's Irish Rogue'' (1959) as McKeefry * ''Broth of a Boy'' (1959) as Tim * '' Breakout'' as O'Quinn * ''Devil's Bait'' (1959) as Mr. Love * '' Cover Girl Killer'' (1959) as Pop * ''Crooks Anonymous'' (1962) as Stanley * ''The Quare Fellow'' (1962) as Donnelly * ''The Wrong Arm of the Law'' (1963) as Misery Martin * ''Panic'' (1963) as Murphy * ''The Yellow Rolls-Royce'' (1965) as Marquess of Frinton's Jockey (uncredited) * ''Cup Fever'' (1965) as Bodger the Bootmender * '' The P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Huntley
Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' as the pragmatic family solicitor Sir Geoffrey Dillon, and other television shows, such as the ''Wodehouse Playhouse'', ('Romance at Droitwich Spa'), in 1975.. Life and career Huntley was born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire (now a suburb of Birmingham) in 1904. He made his stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922, in ''A Woman Killed with Kindness''. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, in ''As Far as Thought can Reach''. He subsequently inherited the role of Count Dracula from Edmund Blake in Hamilton Deane's touring adaptation of ''Dracula'', which arrived at London's Little Theatre on 14 February 1927, subsequently transferring to the larger Duke of York's Theatre. Later that year he was offered the chance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robertson Hare
John Robertson Hare, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, ''All Gas and Gaiters''. Short in stature and of unheroic appearance, Hare made his stage career in character roles. From his early days as an actor he was cast as older men. One of his favourite parts, which he played in the provinces before achieving West End success, was "Grumpy", a retired lawyer, in which he toured before the First World War. After war service in the army, Hare got his big break. He was cast in a long-running farce with Ralph Lynn and Tom Walls. His meek and put-upon character was repeated in various incarnations in the eleven Aldwych farces presented by Walls between 1923 and 1933. He also appeared in film versions of most of the farces. After the Aldwych series came to an end, Hare continued to be cast in similar roles in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pauline Jameson
'Pauline Jameson' (5 June 1920 - 8 April 2007) was an English actress whose work encompassed stage and screen. ''The Times'' called her 'one of the most distinguished classical actresses of her generation.' After starting in Repertory_theatre#Weekly_rep, weekly rep at Colwyn Bay in 1937, she graduated from RADA in 1940, and made her West End theatre, West End debut as Lucy in ''The Rivals'' at the Criterion Theatre in 1945. She joined the The Old Vic, Old Vic Company for the 1948-49 season, with roles including Maria in ''Twelfth Night'', Marwood in ''The Way of the World'' and Dunyasha in ''The Cherry Orchard''. Other distinguished theatre work followed, including as Regan in Peter Brook's production of ''King Lear'' with Paul Scofield for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962. She also worked in the West End and at the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre. Jameson received the Clarence_Derwent_Awards#1950s, Clarence Derwent Award for her role as Mrs. Prest in the London st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Medwin
Michael Hugh Medwin, OBE (18 July 1923 – 26 February 2020) was an English actor and film producer. Life and career Medwin was born in London. He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, and the Institute Fischer, Montreux, Switzerland. He first appeared on stage in 1940. Medwin's West End theatre credits include ''Man and Superman'', ''The Rivals'', ''Love for Love'', ''Duckers and Lovers'', ''Alfie'', ''St Joan of the Stockyards'', and '' What the Butler Saw''.Biographical note for Michael Medwin, from programme for ''Noises Off'', Savoy Theatre, December 1984. At the National Theatre he played a season which included ''Weapons of Happiness'' (Ralph Makepeace), ''Volpone'' (Corvino) and ''The Madras House''. He appeared in ''Black Ball Game'' at the Lyric Hammersmith. He also played Lloyd Dallas in one of the casts of the long-running production of ''Noises Off'' in the early 1980s. He is probably best known for his role as radio boss Don Satchley in the BBC television d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in several adventure movies, notably '' The Guns of Navarone''. Born in south-east London, he exaggerated his Scottish roots but was prominent in Scottish public life, helping to launch Scottish Television (STV) and serving as Rector of the University of Edinburgh. Biography The son of Aberdeen-born mining engineer James Norval Justice and Edith (née Burgess), James Robertson Justice was born James Norval Harald Justice in Lee, a suburb of Lewisham in South East London, in 1907. Educated at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, Justice studied science at University College London, but left after a year and became a geology student at the University of Bonn, where he again left after just a year. He spoke many languages (possibly up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
