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Glen Byam Shaw
Glencairn Alexander "Glen" Byam Shaw, CBE (13 December 1904 – 29 April 1986) was an English actor and theatre director, known for his dramatic productions in the 1950s and his operatic productions in the 1960s and later. In the 1920s and 1930s Byam Shaw was a successful actor, both in romantic leads and in character parts. He worked frequently with his old friend John Gielgud. After working as co-director with Gielgud at the end of the 1930s, he preferred to direct rather than act. He served in the armed forces during the Second World War, and then took leading directorial posts at the Old Vic, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and Sadler's Wells (later known as the English National Opera). Life and career Early years Byam Shaw was born in London, the youngest of five siblings (four sons and one daughter) born to artist John Byam Liston Shaw and his wife, Caroline Evelyn Eunice Pyke-Nott (1870–1959), also an artist.Denison, Michael"Shaw, Glencairn Alexander Byam (1904–1986 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constance Collier
Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She wrote hit plays and films with Ivor Novello and she was the first person to be treated with insulin in Europe. Early life and stage career Born Laura Constance Hardie in Windsor, Berkshire to Auguste Cheetham Hardie and Eliza Georgina Collier, Constance Collier made her stage debut at the age of three, when she played Fairy Peasblossom in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. In 1893, at the age of 15, she joined the Gaiety Girls, the famous dance troupe based at the Gaiety Theatre in London. In 1905, Collier married English actor Julian Boyle (stage name Julian L'Estrange). She soon became so tall that she towered over all the other dancers. In addition, she had an enormous personality and considerable determination. On 27 December 1906, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's extravagant revival of ''Antony and Cleopatra'' opened at His Majesty's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the United Kingdom, British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End theatre, West End success in Noël Coward's ''Private Lives'', and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies
Dame Gwen Lucy Ffrangcon-Davies, (25 January 1891 – 27 January 1992) was a British actress and centenarian. Early life She was born in London of a Welsh family; the name "Ffrangcon" is said to originate from a valley in Snowdonia. Her parents were opera baritone David Ffrangcon-Davies (né David Thomas Davies) and Annie Francis Rayner. Career Ffrangcon-Davies made her stage debut in 1911, as a singer as well as an actress, and received encouragement in her career from Ellen Terry. In 1924, she played Juliet opposite John Gielgud as Romeo, and Gielgud was grateful to her for the rest of his life for the kindness she showed him, casting her as Queen Anne in ''Richard of Bordeaux'' in 1934. In 1925, Ffrangcon-Davies played Tess in a stage version of '' Tess of the d'Urbervilles'', including a special presentation for its author, Thomas Hardy. In 1938, Ffrangcon-Davies appeared with Ivor Novello in a production of ''Henry V'' at Drury Lane. Later the same year, she appeared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josephine Tey
Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by Elizabeth MacKintosh (25 July 1896 – 13 February 1952), a Scottish author. Her novel ''The Daughter of Time'' was a detective work investigating the role of Richard III of England in the death of the Princes in the Tower, and named as the greatest crime novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association. Her first play ''Richard of Bordeaux'', written under another pseudonym, Gordon Daviot, starred John Gielgud in its successful West End run. Life and work MacKintosh was born in Inverness, the oldest of three daughters of Colin MacKintosh, a fruiterer, and Josephine (''née'' Horne). She attended Inverness Royal Academy and then, in 1914, Anstey Physical Training College in Erdington, a suburb of Birmingham. She taught physical training at various schools in England and Scotland and during her vacations worked at a convalescent home in Inverness as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. A youthful romance ended with her soldier friend's deat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Of Bordeaux (play)
''Richard of Bordeaux'' (1932) is a play by "Gordon Daviot", a pseudonym for Elizabeth MacKintosh, best known by another of her pen names, Josephine Tey. The play tells the story of Richard II of England in a romantic fashion, emphasizing the relationship between Richard and his first wife, Queen Anne of Bohemia. The play was a major hit in 1933, playing a significant role in turning its director and leading man John Gielgud into a major star. Audiences found its portrayal of medieval characters speaking like modern people refreshing. Characters (In order of their appearance) *Fair Page, Maudelyn *Dark Page *Richard, King of England *Anne, The Queen *Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester *John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster *Sir Simon Burley *Edmund of Langley, Duke of York *Michael de la Pole, Chancellor of England *Richard, Earl of Arundel *Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury *Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford *Mary, Countess of Derby *Agnes Launcekron, the Queen's waiting-w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard II Of England
Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died in 1376, leaving Richard as heir apparent to his grandfather, King Edward III; upon the latter's death, the 10-year-old Richard succeeded to the throne. During Richard's first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of regency councils, influenced by Richard's uncles John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock. England then faced various problems, most notably the Hundred Years' War. A major challenge of the reign was the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, and the young king played a central part in the successful suppression of this crisis. Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years' War. A firm believer in the royal prerogative, Richard restrained the power of the aristocracy an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonid Massine
Leonid (russian: Леонид ; uk, Леонід ; be, Леанід, Ljeaníd ) is a Slavic version of the given name Leonidas. The French version is Leonide. People with the name include: *Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919), Russian playwright and short-story writer who led the Expressionist movement in the national literature *Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982), leader of the USSR from 1964 to 1982 *Leonid Buryak (b. 1953), USSR/Ukraine-born Olympic-medal-winning soccer player and coach *Leonid Bykov (1928–1979), Soviet and Ukrainian actor, film director, and script writer *Leonid Desyatnikov (b. 1955), Soviet and Russian opera and film composer *Leonid Feodorov (1879–1935), a bishop and Exarch for the Russian Catholic Church, and survivor of the Gulag *Leonid Filatov (1946–2003), Soviet and Russian actor, director, poet, and pamphleteer *Leonid Gaidai, (1923–1993), Soviet comedy film director *Leonid Geishtor (b. 1936), USSR (Belarus)-born Olympic champion Canadian pairs spri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tilly Losch
Ottilie Ethel Leopoldine Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon (''née'' Losch; November 15, 1903 – December 24, 1975), known professionally as Tilly Losch, was an Austrian dancer, choreographer, actress, and painter who lived and worked for most of her life in the United States and United Kingdom. Early life Born in Vienna, Losch studied ballet from childhood at the Vienna Opera, making her debut in 1913 in Louis Frappart's 1885 ''Wiener Walzer''. She became a member of the corps de ballet on March 1, 1918 and a coryphee three years later. Her first solo role was the Chinese Lady Doll in Josef Hassreiter's ''Die Puppenfee''. Ballet master Heinrich Kroeller and the Opera's co-director, composer Richard Strauss, promoted her to soloist on January 1, 1924. She danced prominently in new ballets by Kroeller, Georgi Kyaksht, and Nicola Guerra. Outside the Opera, Losch took modern dance class with Grete Wiesenthal and Mary Wigman, and performed dramatic and movement roles in Viennese the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Diana Cooper
Diana, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrated group of intellectuals known as the Coterie, most of whom were killed in the First World War. She married one of the few survivors, Duff Cooper, later British ambassador to France. After his death, she wrote three volumes of memoirs which reveal much about early 20th-century upper-class life. Birth and youth Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners was born at 23A Bruton Street in Mayfair, London, on 29 August 1892. Her mother, who was a devotee of the author George Meredith, named her daughter after the titular character in Meredith's novel ''Diana of the Crossways''. Officially the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland and his wife, the Duchess of Rutland, Lady Diana's biological father was the writer Harry Cust. As early as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most prominent directors of German-language theatre in the early 20th century. In 1920, he established the Salzburg Festival with the performance of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's ''Jedermann (play), Jedermann''. Life and career Reinhardt was born Maximilian Goldmann in the spa town of Baden bei Wien, Baden near Vienna, the son of Wilhelm Goldmann (1846–1911), a History of the Jews in Austria, Jewish merchant from Stupava, Slovakia, Stupava, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and his wife Rachel Lea Rosi "Rosa" Goldmann (''née'' Wengraf; 1851–1924). Having finished school, he began an apprenticeship at a bank, but already took acting lessons. In 1890, he gave his debut on a private stage in Vienna with the stage name ''Max ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angela Baddeley
Madeleine Angela Clinton-Baddeley, CBE (4 July 1904 – 22 February 1976) was an English stage and television actress, best-remembered for her role as household cook Mrs. Bridges in the period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. Her stage career lasted more than six decades. Early life Madeleine Angela Clinton-Baddeley was born in West Ham, Essex (now London) in 1904 into a wealthy family, she would later base the character of Mrs. Bridges on one of the cooks her family employed. Her younger sister was actress Hermione Baddeley. In 1912, Angela and Hermione enrolled as pupils at Margaret Morris's dancing school in Chelsea. Angela described the school as "a wonderful foundation for all my work on the stage." In the same year, the eight-year old Angela made her stage début at the Dalston Palace of Varieties, Dalston, in a play called ''The Dawn of Happiness''. When she was nine, she auditioned at the Old Vic Theatre. In November 1915 she made her début at the Old Vic in ''Richar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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