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Maurice Denham
William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Family Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son of Eleanor Winifred (née Lillico) and Norman Denham. He was the third child of four: Norman Keith (1907), Winifred Joan (1908), and Charles (1915). He was educated at Tonbridge School and trained as a lift engineer. Like fellow actor James Robertson Justice, he played amateur rugby for Beckenham RFC. In 1936, he married Elizabeth Dunn, with whom he had two sons and a daughter: Christopher (born 1939), Timothy (born 1946) and Virginia (born 1948). Elizabeth died in 1971. He was awarded the OBE in 1992. He died on 24 July 2002, aged 92 at Denville Hall in North London. Career Denham eventually became an actor in 1934, and appeared in live television broadcasts as early as 1938, continuing to perform in that medium until 1997. Denha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire (later Commonwealth) and the Viceroy of India. Nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most Commonwealth countries ceased recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire when they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Of The Demon
''Night of the Demon'' (in the United States, released as ''Curse of the Demon'') is a 1957 British horror film, produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis, directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. It is adapted from the M. R. James story "Casting the Runes". The film's storyline concerns an American psychologist who travels to England to investigate a satanic cult suspected in more than one death. Turbulent artistic differences arose between producer Hal E. Chester on one side and director Tourneur and writer Charles Bennett on the other. Chester's plan was to show the demon on screen, but Bennett, Tourneur, and lead actor Dana Andrews objected. To accelerate the pace and make the film more commercial, the 96-minute original feature was trimmed down to 82 minutes prior to its release in the United States. This shortened version was retitled ''Curse of the Demon'', playing in June 1958 as the second half of a double feat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Passion Spent
''All Passion Spent'' is a literary fiction novel by Vita Sackville-West. Published in 1931, it is one of Sackville-West's most popular works and has been adapted for television by the BBC. The novel addresses people's, especially women's, control of their own lives, a subject about which Sackville-West was greatly concerned although often pointing out that she did not consider herself a feminist. The title is taken from the final three words of John Milton's ''Samson Agonistes''. Plot introduction ''All Passion Spent'' is written in three parts, primarily from the view of an intimate observer. The first part introduces Lady Slane at the time of her husband's death. She has been the dutiful wife of a “great man” in public life, Viceroy of India and a member of the House of Lords. Her children plan to share her care between them much as they divide up the family property but, completely unexpectedly, Lady Slane makes her own choice, proposing to leave fashionable Kensington f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schalcken The Painter
''Schalcken the Painter'' is a British television horror film based on the 1839 story ''Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter'' by Sheridan Le Fanu, and stars Jeremy Clyde as Godfried Schalcken and Maurice Denham as Gerrit Dou. It aired on the BBC as an episode of ''Omnibus'' on 23 December 1979, following in the tradition of ''A Ghost Story for Christmas''. Plot The painter Godfried Schalcken sees his true love, Rose, the niece of the artist Gerrit Dou, wedded by contract for a large sum of money to Vanderhausen of Rotterdam, a strange and ghostly figure. Filled with dread, Rose begs Schalcken to run off with her to save her from the marriage, but he is cowardly and ambitious and wants to continue his studies with Dou; instead he says he will buy back the marriage contract when he is successful. The marriage goes ahead as agreed, and nothing is heard of Rose until she escapes some time later and returns home distraught and starving and begging for protection, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerrit Dou
Gerrit Dou (7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his ''trompe-l'œil'' "niche" paintings and candlelit night-scenes with strong chiaroscuro. He was a student of Rembrandt. Life Dou was born in Leiden, where his father was a manufacturer of stained-glass.Baer, p.28 He studied drawing under Bartholomeus Dolendo, and then trained in the stained-glass workshop of Pieter Couwenhorn. In February 1628, at the age of fourteen, his father sent him to study painting in the studio of Rembrandt (then aged about 21) who lived nearby. From Rembrandt, with whom he remained for about three years, he acquired his skill in colouring and in the more subtle effects of chiaroscuro, and his master's style is reflected in several of his earlier pictures, notably a self-portrait at the age of 22 in the Bridgewater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward & Mrs Simpson
''Edward & Mrs. Simpson'' is a seven-part British television series that dramatises the events leading to the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII, who gave up his throne to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson. The series, made by Thames Television for ITV, was originally broadcast in 1978. Edward Fox played Edward, and Cynthia Harris portrayed Mrs. Simpson. The series was scripted by Simon Raven, based on Fox's maternal aunt Frances Donaldson's biography of the King, ''Edward VIII''. It was produced by Andrew Brown, overseen by Head of Drama Thames Television Verity Lambert and directed by Waris Hussein. The incidental music was by Ron Grainer. The series, broadcast in the US in 1979 as instalments of the nationally syndicated Mobil Showcase Network, won the 1980 Emmy award for Outstanding Limited Series, and BAFTA Awards in 1979 for Best Actor, Best Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Series or Serial. It has been released on DVD in Region 2 (UK) by Network, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmo Gordon Lang
William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth, (31 October 1864 – 5 December 1945) was a Scottish Anglican prelate who served as Archbishop of York (1908–1928) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942). His elevation to Archbishop of York, within 18 years of his ordination, was the most rapid in modern Church of England history. As Archbishop of Canterbury during the abdication crisis of 1936, he took a strong moral stance, his comments in a subsequent broadcast being widely condemned as uncharitable towards the departed king. The son of a Scots Presbyterian minister, Lang abandoned the prospect of a legal and political career to train for the Anglican priesthood. Beginning in 1890, his early ministry was served in slum parishes in Leeds and Portsmouth, except for brief service as Vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford. In 1901 he was appointed suffragan Bishop of Stepney in London, where he continued his work among the poor. He also serve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lotus Eaters (TV Series)
''The Lotus Eaters'' is a BBC television drama first broadcast in 1972 and 1973. The series, written by Michael J. Bird, dealt with the lives of British expats living on the island of Crete, and their reasons for being there. Plot The central characters were a married couple, Erik (Ian Hendry) and Ann Shepherd (Wanda Ventham), who ran a tavern called "Shepherd's Bar". Ann is revealed in the first episode to be a sleeper agent of British Intelligence, Erik having been a broken-down drunk whom she was made to marry as part of her cover story. Other episodes dealt with the other expats who frequented the bar. The most intriguing character in both series is the Greek police captain, Michael Krasakis ( Stefan Gryff). In the second series the British Intelligence aspect is developed, until a clash with Soviet and Chinese agents results in both Ann and Erik having to leave Crete. In the final scene, about to board a plane leaving Heraklion airport, they have a partial reconciliation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
84 Charing Cross Road (film)
''84 Charing Cross Road'' is a 1987 British-American drama film directed by David Jones, and starring Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, and Mercedes Ruehl. It is produced by Bancroft's husband, Mel Brooks. The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore is based on a play by James Roose-Evans, which itself is an adaptation of the 1970 epistolary memoir of the same name by Helene Hanff — a compilation of letters between Hanff and Frank Doel dating from 1949 to 1968. Several characters who are not in the play were added for the film, including Hanff's Manhattan friends and Doel's wife Nora. The film garnered mainly positive reviews from critics, as well as receiving numerous industry awards and nominations. Bancroft won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Hanff. Additionally, Dench was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Whitemore for Best Adapted Screenplay. Dench has said that 84 Charing Cross Road is one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minder On The Orient Express
''Minder on the Orient Express'' is a comedy/thriller television film made in 1985 as a spin-off from the successful television series ''Minder''. It was first broadcast on Christmas Day 1985, as the highlight of that year's ITV Christmas schedule. Plot When Nikki South (Amanda Pays) inherits the contents of a bank strongbox left by her father shortly before his death in 1975, former gangland boss Jack South, she realises that the contents form a clue to the number of a Swiss bank account used to stash her father's ill-gotten gains - an idea possibly derived from the money supposedly left in a secret account by Diana Dors. Nikki is waylaid on her way to her birthday party. The masked attackers try to wrest the clues, kept in an envelope, from her, but she is rescued by Terry (Dennis Waterman), who is working as a temporary doorman at the club where the party is to be held. She later thanks him by presenting him with two return tickets for the Orient Express to Venice. Terry, not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Day Of The Jackal (film)
''The Day of the Jackal'' is a 1973 political thriller film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Edward Fox (actor), Edward Fox and Michael Lonsdale. Based on the 1971 The Day of the Jackal, novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth, the film is about a professional assassin known only as the Jackal (The Day of the Jackal), "Jackal" who is hired to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle in the summer of 1962. ''The Day of the Jackal'' received positive reviews and went on to win the BAFTA Award for Best Editing (Ralph Kemplen), five additional BAFTA Award nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Academy Awards, Oscar nomination. The film grossed U.S. Dollars, $16,056,255 at the box office, and earned an additional $8,525,000 in North American rentals. The British Film Institute ranked it the BFI Top 100 British films, 74th greatest British film of the 20th century. Plot On 22 August 1962, the militant underground organisation Organisation armée se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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