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George Murcell
Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor. Life and career Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's ''The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956), Murcell went on to develop a career playing snarling villains in both film and television. These could either be stupid, brutish henchmen, as in ''Hell Drivers'' and ''Campbell's Kingdom'' (both 1957), or sophisticated rogues, such as Needle in "You Have Just Been Murdered", an episode of '' The Avengers''. He specialised in playing foreign characters, including Germans, Russians and South Americans. A number of these roles were in ITC adventure TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, such as ''Danger Man'', '' The Baron'', ''The Saint'', ''The Champions'' (Reply Box No.666 episode, 1967) ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', ''The Persuaders!'' and '' Jason King''. His film roles included ''Sea of Sand'' (1958), '' The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964), ''T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Champions
''The Champions'' is a British espionage thriller/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure television series. It was produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company, and consists of 30 episodes broadcast in the UK on ITV during 1968–1969. The series was broadcast in the US on NBC, starting in summer 1968. Plot Agents Craig Stirling, Sharron Macready and Richard Barrett work for a United Nations law enforcement organization called 'Nemesis', based in Geneva. Barrett is a codebreaker, Stirling a pilot, and Macready a recently widowed scientist and doctor. In the pilot episode, the team is escaping by air from a spying mission in China. Their stolen plane, damaged by gunfire during the getaway, crashes in the Himalayas. They are rescued by an advanced civilization living secretly in the mountains of Tibet, who save their lives, granting them enhanced abilities, including extrasensory powers to communicate with one another over distances (telepathy) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danger Man
''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the programme and wrote many of the scripts. ''Danger Man'' was financed by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. Series development The idea for ''Danger Man'' originated with Ralph Smart an associate of Lew Grade, head of ITC Entertainment. Grade was looking for formats that could be exported. Ian Fleming was brought in to collaborate on series development, but left before development was complete. Like James Bond, the main character is a globetrotting British spy (although one who works for NATO rather than MI6), who cleverly extricates himself from life-threatening situations and introduces himself as "Drake...John Drake." Fleming w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Walk With Love And Death
''A Walk with Love and Death'' is a 1969 American adventure drama historical romance war film directed by John Huston and starring Anjelica Huston and Assi Dayan. Plot The story is based on the 1961 novel by Hans Koningsberger, set at the time of the 1358 uprising of the peasants of northern France known as the Jacquerie. Heron of Fois (Assi Dayan), a student from Paris, crosses territory devastated by the upheaval and the ferocious reprisals of the nobility. He meets with Claudia (Anjelica Huston), the aristocratic daughter of a royal official killed by the peasants, and they attempt to reach Calais. In the novel Heron's intended final destination is Oxford University while in the film "the sea" less specifically comes to represent an abstract freedom. While differing in their views of the ''Jacquerie''—Heron sympathises with the exploited peasantry while Claudia sees their rising as mindless savagery—the young couple become lovers. In the end they fail to escape the chaotic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Assassination Bureau
''The Assassination Bureau Limited'' (also known as ''The Assassination Bureau'' in the United States) is a 1969 British Technicolor black comedy adventure film, produced by Michael Relph, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, and Curd Jürgens. It was released in the U.S. by Paramount Pictures and is based on Jack London's unfinished novel, ''The Assassination Bureau, Ltd'', posthumously published in 1963. Unlike the novel, which is set in the United States, the film is set in Europe. ''The Assassination Bureau Limited'' was the penultimate film of Basil Dearden. Plot In London, in 1908, aspiring journalist and women's rights campaigner Sonia Winter (Diana Rigg) uncovers an organisation that specialises in killing for money, the Assassination Bureau Limited. To bring about its destruction, she commissions the assassination of the bureau's own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed) for £20,000 after being bankrolled by her employ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Dandy In Aspic
''A Dandy in Aspic'' is a 1968 neo-noir Technicolor and Panavision British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, and Mia Farrow. Costumes by Pierre Cardin. It was Mann's final film. Set against the backdrop of 1960s Cold War Europe, it is the story of a spy known to his superiors in British Intelligence by his code name, "Eberlin" (Laurence Harvey). Plot Eberlin (Laurence Harvey), a Cold-War British intelligence operative, has a problem. His superiors have ordered him to find and assassinate a KGB agent named Krasnevin, believed to be responsible for the recent murders of British agents. Summoned to a meeting at a country estate, he is presented with film footage of the suspected Krasnevin. He turns out to be Eberlin's go-between with Russian double agents. To accomplish his assignment, Eberlin is partnered with a ruthless, cynical, and sociopathic British agent, Gatiss (Tom Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fixer (1968 Film)
''The Fixer'' is a 1968 British drama film based on the 1966 semi-biographical novel of the same name, written by Bernard Malamud. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and stars Alan Bates. Plot The film is based on Bernard Malamud's novel '' The Fixer'', which in turn was inspired by the 1913 trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Russian Jew who was falsely accused of having ritually murdered a Ukrainian boy named Andrei Yushchinsky, an example of the Blood Libel. Cast Oscar nomination Alan Bates was nominated for an Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ... for Best Actor in a Leading Role. External links * * References British drama films British biographical films 1968 films Films directed by John Frankenheimer Films based on Ame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaleidoscope (1966 Film)
''Kaleidoscope'' is a 1966 British comedy crime film starring Warren Beatty and Susannah York.''Variety'' film review; 7 September 1966, p. 6 The film had its world premiere on 8 September 1966 at the Warner Theatre in the West End of London. Plot After leaving his lover Angel McGinnis behind in London, rich playboy Barney Lincoln breaks into a playing card manufacturer in Geneva to mark the cards, and then proceeds to break the bank at major European casinos. Barney meets up with Angel again in Monte Carlo, where he wins a great deal of money, but her suspicions after he left England caused her to consult her father, a detective from Scotland Yard. He blackmails Barney into helping him catch a drug smuggler named Harry Dominion, who owns a casino and also has a weakness for high stakes poker. Cast Production It was the third film Jack Smight directed for Warners. Smight called the script "terrific... a little hard to believe, but nevertheless a jolly fun premise laced wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Heroes Of Telemark
''The Heroes of Telemark'' is a 1965 British war film directed by Anthony Mann based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during the Second World War from ''Skis Against the Atom'', the memoirs of Norwegian resistance soldier Knut Haukelid. The film stars Kirk Douglas as Dr. Rolf Pedersen and Richard Harris as Knut Straud, along with Ulla Jacobsson as Anna Pederson. It was filmed on location in Norway. Plot The Norwegian resistance sabotage the Vemork Norsk Hydro plant in the town of Rjukan in the county of Telemark, Norway, which the Nazis are using to produce heavy water, which could be used in the manufacture of an atomic bomb. Kirk Douglas plays Rolf Pedersen, a Norwegian physics professor, who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle by local resistance leader Knut Straud (based on Knut Haukelid), portrayed by Richard Harris. They both sneak out of Norway on a passenger steamship to Britain that they hijack so the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fall Of The Roman Empire (film)
''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a 1964 American epic historical drama film directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston, with a screenplay by Ben Barzman, Basilio Franchina and Philip Yordan. The film stars Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer, Mel Ferrer, and Omar Sharif. When filming for ''El Cid'' (1961) had finished, Anthony Mann saw a copy of Edward Gibbon's 1776–1789 six-volume series ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' inside the Hatchards bookshop. He pitched a film adaptation of the book to Samuel Bronston, who then agreed to produce the project. Philip Yordan was enlisted to write the script while Charlton Heston was initially set to star. However, Heston backed out of the film and agreed to star in ''55 Days at Peking'' (1963). Prominent actors were cast to portray multiple roles in the film. The final screenplay was written by Ben Barzman and Basilio Franchina with a prologue written by h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Of Sand
''Sea of Sand'' (released in the US as ''Desert Patrol'') is a 1958 British war film starring Richard Attenborough, John Gregson and Michael Craig (actor), Michael Craig. The film, which was directed by Guy Green (filmmaker), Guy Green, is about a patrol of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) during the North African Campaign in the Second World War. It was shot on location in the Kingdom of Libya. Plot On the eve of the Second Battle of El Alamein, Battle of El Alamein, Captain Tim Cotton leads a patrol on a raid to destroy a German fuel dump located deep behind enemy lines. Captain Williams of the Royal Engineers is posted to Cotton's patrol to deal with a minefield surrounding a German petrol dump. As a regular soldier, Williams takes time to adjust to the non-regulation way the LRDG operates. He finds a girl's torn up picture in Cotton's billet, who dismisses her as "old news". Later on Williams shows Cotton a picture of his son; Cotton says he has everything to live for. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason King (TV Series)
''Jason King'' is a British television series starring Peter Wyngarde as the eponymous character. It was produced by ITC Entertainment and had a single season of 26 one-hour episodes that aired from 1971 to 1972. It was shown internationally as well, and has been released on DVD in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Germany. Overview The series featured the further adventures of the title character who had first appeared in '' Department S'' (1969). In that series he was a dilettante dandy and author of a series of adventure novels, working as part of a team of investigators. In ''Jason King'' he had left that service to concentrate on writing the adventures of Mark Caine, who closely resembled Jason King in looks, manner, style, and personality. None of the other regular characters from ''Department S'' appeared in this series, although Department S itself is occasionally referred to in dialogue. In the course of visiting international locations as part of hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Persuaders!
''The Persuaders!'' is an action-comedy series starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, produced by ITC Entertainment, and initially broadcast on ITV and ABC in 1971. The show has been called 'the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that began 11 years earlier with ''Danger Man'' in 1960', as well as 'the most ambitious and most expensive of Sir Lew Grade's international action adventure series'. ''The Persuaders!'' was filmed in Britain, France, and Italy between May 1970 and June 1971. Despite its focus on the British and American markets, ''The Persuaders!'' became more successful elsewhere.''The Persuaders!'' at Television Heaven It won its highest awards in and S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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