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Jack Purvis (actor)
Jack Purvis (13 July 1937 – 21 November 1997) was a British film actor. Purvis had dwarfism, and at was mainly cast in roles requiring actors of short stature. He appeared in three of director Terry Gilliam's early fantasy films, with significant roles in ''Time Bandits'' and ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen''. For twenty years until 1991, Purvis performed as part of a musical comedy double-act with Kenny Baker, billed as the "Mini-Tones". Purvis played the trumpet to Baker's mouth-organ and vibraphone. The duo would attend auditions for ''Star Wars'' in 1976, where Baker was instantly cast as R2-D2. At that time the duo had reached the final on the talent show '' Opportunity Knocks'', and were reluctant to put the Mini-Tones work on hold. After some negotiation, Purvis was also hired to appear in the film, and would go on to play a different alien creature in each film of the original trilogy. In 1991, Purvis became quadriplegic after his neck was broken in a car repair ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as ''Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city#National capitals, Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national Government of the United Kingdom, government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the Counties of England, counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wombling Free
''Wombling Free'' is a 1977 British film adaptation of the children's television series ''The Wombles''. Directed by Lionel Jeffries, it stars The Wombles, David Tomlinson, Frances de la Tour, and Bonnie Langford. Plot Based on the BBC children's series, this film charts the adventures of the Wombles, a colony of small litter-picking creatures who live in Wimbledon Common in 1970s London. Great Uncle Bulgaria Womble recounts the story of how Wombles have always been cleaning up after humans from the very beginning with Adam and Eve, and how Wombles continue to clean up after humans for generations up to the present day all around the world, including the United States, Russia, and India. Only seen by those who believe in them, their work goes largely unnoticed until a young girl, Kim, spots them and their worthwhile purpose. As she invites them to her birthday party, her father is forced to believe as he comes face to face with Orinoco, Tobermory and the others. A public meeting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1997 Deaths
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of the most observed comets of the 20th century; Golden Bauhinia Square, where sovereignty of Hong Kong is handed over from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China; the 1997 Central European flood kills 114 people in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany; Korean Air Flight 801 crashes during heavy rain on Guam, killing 229; Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner land on Mars; flowers left outside Kensington Palace following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200 Titanic (1997 film) rect 200 0 400 200 Harry Potter rect 400 0 600 200 Comet Hale-Bopp rect 0 200 300 400 Death of Diana, Princess of Wales rect 300 200 600 400 Handover of Hong Kong rect 0 400 200 600 Mars Pathfinde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1937 Births
Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into February, leaving 1 million people homeless and 385 people dead. * January 15 – Spanish Civil War: Second Battle of the Corunna Road ends inconclusively. * January 20 – Second inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt: Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first time that the United States presidential inauguration occurs on this date; the change is due to the ratification in 1933 of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution. * January 23 – Moscow Trials: Trial of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center – In the Soviet Union 17 leading Communists go on trial, accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime, and assassinate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Silver Chair (1990 TV Serial)
''The Silver Chair'' is a series shown on BBC television in 1990. It is the third and final series of ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' that ran from 1988 to 1990. Barbara Kellerman returned in a new role as the Green Lady; Barbara had previously played Old Hag and the White Witch in previous seasons. The six-part series followed the 1953 book in great detail and was filmed in various locations including Peak Cavern, Haddon Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire and the Duchy of Lancaster. Cast *David Thwaites as Eustace Scrubb *Camilla Power as Jill Pole *Tat Whalley as Chief Bully * Ailsa Berk and William Todd-Jones (puppet performance) and Ronald Pickup (voice) as Aslan *Geoffrey Russell as King Caspian * Richard Henders as Prince Rilian * Big Mick as Trumpkin * Warwick Davis as Glimfeather and Reepicheep * William Todd-Jones as Centaur *Mike Edmonds as Second Owl *Roy Boyd as Lord Drinian *Barbara Kellerman as Green Lady *Tom Baker as Puddleglum * Ailsa Berk as Dragon * Nick Brimble a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willow (film)
''Willow'' is a 1988 American high fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Howard and produced by Nigel Wooll. The film was executive produced by George Lucas and written by Bob Dolman from a story by Lucas. The film stars Warwick Davis, Joanne Whalley, Val Kilmer, and Jean Marsh. Davis portrays the title character, an aspiring magician who teams up with a disaffected warrior (Kilmer) to protect a baby from an evil queen (Marsh). Lucas conceived the idea for the film in 1972, approaching Howard to direct during the post-production phase of '' Cocoon'' in 1985. Bob Dolman was brought in to write the screenplay, coming up with seven drafts before finishing in late 1986. It was then set up at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and principal photography began in April 1987, finishing the following October. The majority of filming took place in Dinorwic quarry in Wales with some at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, as well as a small section in New Zealand. Industrial Light & Magic created ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labyrinth (1986 Film)
''Labyrinth'' is a 1986 musical fantasy film directed by Jim Henson with George Lucas as executive producer. Based on conceptual designs by Brian Froud, the film was written by Terry Jones, and many of its characters are played by puppets produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The film stars Jennifer Connelly as 16-year-old Sarah and David Bowie as Jareth, The Goblin King. In ''Labyrinth'', Sarah embarks on a quest to reach the center of an enormous, otherworldly maze to rescue her infant half-brother Toby, whom she wished away to Jareth. The film started as a collaboration between Henson and Froud following their previous collaboration '' The Dark Crystal'' (1982). Terry Jones of Monty Python wrote the first draft of the film's script early in 1984, drawing on Froud's sketches for inspiration. Various other scriptwriters rewrote it and added to it, including Laura Phillips, Lucas, Dennis Lee, and Elaine May—although Jones received the film's sole screenwriting credit. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mona Lisa (1986 Film)
''Mona Lisa'' is a 1986 British neo-noir crime drama film about an ex-convict who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class call girl. The film was written by Neil Jordan and David Leland, and directed by Jordan. It was produced by HandMade Films and stars Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, and Michael Caine. The film was nominated for multiple awards, and Bob Hoskins was nominated for several awards for his performance (including the Academy Award for Best Actor), winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Plot George, a low-level working-class gangster recently released after seven years in prison, is given a job in London by his former boss, Denny Mortwell, as the driver and bodyguard for a high-priced prostitute named Simone. Mortwell also wants George to gather information on one of Simone's wealthy customers for blackmail purposes. Simone, who has worked hard to develop high-class manners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brazil (1985 Film)
''Brazil'' is a 1985 dystopian black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard. The film stars Jonathan Pryce and features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm. The film centres on Sam Lowry, a low-ranking bureaucrat trying to find a woman who appears in his dreams while he is working in a mind-numbing job and living in a small apartment, set in a dystopian world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines. ''Brazil''s satire of technocracy, bureaucracy, hyper-surveillance, corporatism and state capitalism is reminiscent of George Orwell's 1949 novel '' Nineteen Eighty-Four'' and has been called Kafkaesque and absurdist. Sarah Street's ''British National Cinema'' (1997) describes the film as a "fantasy/satire on bureaucratic society", and John Scalzi's ''Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies'' (2005) describes it as a "dystopia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teebo
The Ewoks (singular: Ewok) are a fictional species of small, furry, mammaloid, bipeds in the '' Star Wars'' universe. They inhabit the forest moon of Endor and live in arboreal huts and other simple dwellings, being seen as primitive in comparison with other sentient species. Ewoks debuted in the 1983 feature film ''Return of the Jedi'' and have since appeared in two made-for-television films, '' The Ewok Adventure'' (1984) and '' Ewoks: The Battle for Endor'' (1985), as well as a 2D animated series, several books and games, and briefly in the 2019 feature film '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker''. Concept and creation George Lucas created the Ewoks because he wanted ''Return of the Jedi'' to feature a tribe of primitive creatures that bring down the technological Empire. He had originally intended the scenes to be set on the Wookiee home planet, but as the film series evolved, the Wookiees became technologically skilled. Lucas reversed the syllables to designate a new s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Return Of The Jedi
''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who was also the executive producer. The sequel to '' Star Wars'' (1977) and '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), it is the third installment in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, the third film to be produced, and the sixth chronological film in the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and Frank Oz. Set one year after ''The Empire Strikes Back'', the Galactic Empire is constructing a second Death Star to exterminate the Rebel Alliance. With intel that the Emperor will be onboard, the Rebel fleet launches a full-scale attack on the Death Star in hopes of both destroying it and the Emperor. Meanwhile, Rebel hero Luke S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
