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John Standing
Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements. Early life Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherine Standing), an actress, and Sir Ronald George Leon, 3rd Baronet; a stockbroker descended from Sir Herbert Leon, the builder of Bletchley Park. He succeeded his father as the 4th baronet in 1964, but does not use the title. The Leon family were, until 1937, owners of Bletchley Park, the country house in Buckinghamshire used in the Second World War as a code-breaking centre. He was educated at Eton College and Millfield School, Somerset, later serving in the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a second lieutenant, before going to study at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. Career He began his career in Peter Brook's 1955 production of ''Titus Andronicus'' starring Laurence Olivier and wife Vivien Leigh and later played leading parts in Osca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Standing
Jack Standing (10 February 1886 – 25 October 1917) was an English born American actor. Biography The son of stage actor Herbert Standing and brother of Wyndham Standing (1880–1963), who also was a famous actor in the early days of film, Jack Standing first appeared in Broadway musicals such as '' The Belle of New York'' and ''Florodora'' before he went to the Biograph Company in 1909. Because he was a handsome young man, he was quickly offered many roles and signed a contract with Sigmund Lubin in 1911. Like many others from the silent film, Standing was asked to play quite everything from passionate lovers to villains or old men. In 1915, he told the ''Moving Picture World'' magazine, "Spare me from being a one-type actor!" He appeared in more than fifty films. An incomplete print of 1915 Mary Pickford vehicle ''Fanchon the Cricket'', in which Standing co-starred, has recently been found. The teenage Fred and Adele Astaire allegedly made their screen debuts in this film. St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century. Titus Andronicus (character), Titus, a Legatus, general in the Roman army, presents Tamora, Queen of the Goths, as a slave to the new Roman emperor, Saturninus. Saturninus takes her as his wife. From this position, Tamora vows revenge against Titus for killing her son. Titus and his family retaliate. ''Titus Andronicus'' was initially very popular, but by the later 17th century it was not well esteemed. The Victorian era disapproved of it, largely because of its graphic violence. Its reputation began to improve around the middle of the 20th century,Massai (2001: xxi) but it is stil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walk, Don't Run
''Walk, Don't Run'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, and Jim Hutton. The film, which was Grant's last film role, is set during the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It is a remake of the 1943 film ''The More the Merrier''. The title stems from the basic rule of racewalking, racewalking: that competitors must not run at any point (both feet leaving the ground). Plot In 1964, important British businessman Sir William Rutland arrives two days early in Tokyo and encounters a housing shortage caused by the 1964 Summer Olympics. While at the British Embassy seeking help, he spots an advertisement for a roommate and soon finds himself at the residence of Christine Easton, who insists it would be improper to take him in as a housemate. Easton had forgotten to advertise that she wanted to sublet to a woman, but eventually, lets Rutland stay. Rutland then sublets half of his space to American Olympic competitor Steve Davis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Rat (film)
''King Rat'' is a 1965 American war film written and directed by Bryan Forbes and starring George Segal and James Fox. They play Corporal King and Flight Lieutenant Marlowe, respectively, two World War II prisoners of war in a squalid camp in Singapore. Among the supporting cast are John Mills and Tom Courtenay. The film was adapted from James Clavell's novel '' King Rat'' (1962), which in turn is partly based on Clavell's experiences as a POW at Changi Prison in Singapore in the latter part of the Second World War. Plot Corporal King is an anomaly in the Japanese prison camp. One of only a handful of Americans amongst the British and Australian inmates, he thrives through his conniving and black market enterprises, while others, nearly all of higher rank, struggle to survive sickness and starvation while trying to retain their civilized standards. King recruits upper class British RAF officer Flight Lieutenant Peter Marlowe to act as a translator. As they become acquainted, Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wild And The Willing
''The Wild and the Willing'' is a 1962 British romantic drama film, directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Virginia Maskell, Paul Rogers, and Samantha Eggar. It is the film debuts of Ian McShane, John Hurt, and Samantha Eggar. It depicts a group of students at university. It was filmed on location in Lincoln, with Lincoln Castle doubling as the university. Plot A group of young men at university enjoy students' life – dancing, drinking, meeting girls. Harry (Ian McShane), a somewhat rebellious young man, is going out with Josie (Samantha Eggar). His roommate, Phil (John Hurt), is a quiet outsider. Harry feels very protective towards Phil for some reason. Phil loves Sarah ( Katherine Woodville), but she has jilted him for a new boyfriend, who is in her opinion more suitable. As the plot develops, Harry gets involved with Professor Chown's ( Paul Rogers) unhappy wife, Virginia ( Virginia Maskell). The professor acts very aloofly towards her but doesn't want a divorce because h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (born 28 December 1934) is an English actress. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the mid-1950s, Smith has appeared in more than sixty films and seventy plays. She is one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having received highest achievement for film, television and theatre, winning two Academy Awards, a Tony Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards. Hailed as one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 for contributions to the Arts, and a Companion of Honour in 2014 for services to Drama. Smith began her career on stage as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in ''New Faces of '56''. Over the following decades, Smith established herself alongside Judi Dench as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Lives
''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for each other. Its second act love scene was nearly censored in Britain as too risqué. Coward wrote one of his most popular songs, "Some Day I'll Find You", for the play. After touring the British provinces, the play opened the new Phoenix Theatre in London in 1930, starring Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Adrianne Allen and Laurence Olivier. A Broadway production followed in 1931, and the play has been revived at least a half dozen times each in the West End and on Broadway. The leading roles have attracted a wide range of actors; among those who have succeeded Coward as Elyot are Robert Stephens, Richard Burton, Alan Rickman and Matthew Macfadyen, and successors to Lawrenc ... [...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 '' |
John Osborne
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his prose that criticized established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play ''Look Back in Anger'' transformed English theatre. Osborne was notorious for his violent language, not only on behalf of the political causes he supported but also against his own family, including his wives and children. Osborne was one of the first writers to address Britain's purpose in the post-imperial age. Early life Osborne was born on 12 December 1929 in London, the son of Thomas Godfrey Osborne, a commercial artist and advertising copywriter of South Welsh ancestry, and Nellie Beatrice Grove, a Cockney barmaid. In 1935 the family moved to the north Surrey suburb of Stoneleigh, near Ewell, in search of a better life, though Osborne would regard it as a cultural desert – a school friend declared subsequently that "he thought ewere a lot of dull, u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ring Round The Moon
''Ring Round the Moon'' is a 1950 adaptation by the English dramatist Christopher Fry of Jean Anouilh's ''Invitation to the Castle'' (1947). Peter Brook commissioned Fry to adapt the play and the first production of ''Ring Round the Moon'' was given at the Globe Theatre. The production starred Paul Scofield, Claire Bloom and Margaret Rutherford. Notable productions * A West End production of ''Ring Round the Moon'' was given at the Theatre Royal Haymarket starring John Standing as the twins and Angela Thorne as Diana in 1967. * A production was given in 1975 at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, directed by Joseph Hardy and starring: :* Glynis Johns - Madam Desmermortes :* Michael York - Hugo/Frédéric :* Kitty Winn - Isabelle * Steven Pimlott directed a production at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in 1983. * The play was revived on Broadway in 1999 and starred Toby Stephens. * The most recent West End production opened on 19 February 2008 at the Playhouse Theatre. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 – 30 June 2005) was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially ''The Lady's Not for Burning'', which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Early life Fry was born as Arthur Hammond Harris in Bristol, the son of Charles John Harris, a master builder who retired early to work full-time as a licensed Lay Reader in the Church of England, and his wife Emma Marguerite Fry Hammond Harris. While still young, he took his mother's maiden name because, on very tenuous grounds, he believed her to be related to the 19th-century Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry. He adopted Elizabeth Fry's faith, and became a Quaker. After attending Bedford Modern School, where he wrote amateur plays, he became a schoolteacher, working at the Bedford Froebel Kindergarten and Hazelwood School in Limpsfield, Surrey. In the 1920s, he met the writer Robert Gittings, who became a lifelong friend. Caree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Importance Of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian morality, Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' Wilde's most enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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