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Sally Ann Howes
Sally Ann Howes (20 July 1930 – 19 December 2021) was an English actress and singer. Her career on screen, stage and television spanned six decades. She is best known for the role of Truly Scrumptious in the 1968 musical film '' Chitty Chitty Bang Bang''. In 1963, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in '' Brigadoon''. Childhood and early film career Family Howes was born on 20 July 1930 in St John's Wood, London, the daughter of British comedian/actor/singer/variety star Bobby Howes (1895–1972) and actress/singer Patricia Malone (1899–1971). She was the granddaughter of Capt. J.A.E. Malone (died 1928), London theatrical director of musicals, and she had an older brother, Peter Howes, a professional musician and music professor. Her great-grandfather, Captain Joseph Malone, was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1854 at the Charge of the Light Brigade. Her uncle, Pat Malone, was an actor on stage, films, and television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from Regent's Park and Primrose Hill to Edgware Road, with the Swiss Cottage area of Hampstead to the north and Lisson Grove to the south. The area is best known for Lord's Cricket Ground, home of Marylebone Cricket Club and Middlesex CCC, and is a regular international test cricket venue. It also includes Abbey Road Studios, well known through its association with the Beatles. Origin The area was once part of the Forest of Middlesex, an area with extensive woodland, though it was not the predominant land use. The area's name originates, in the Manor of Lileston, one of the two manors (the other the Manor of Tyburn) served by the Parish of Marylebone. The Manor was taken from the Knights Templar on their suppression in 1312 an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge, (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End theatre, West End by the age of 16, and was quickly promoted from minor to major roles in his Edwardian musical comedies. After the outbreak of the First World War, her father had a series of failures and temporarily withdrew from production. No other producers offered the young Courtneidge leading roles in musical comedies, and she turned instead to the music hall, learning her craft as a comedian. In 1916 she married the actor and dancer Jack Hulbert, with whom she formed a professional as well as a matrimonial partnership that lasted until his death 62 years later. They acted together on stage and screen, initially in a series of revues, with Hulbert frequently producing as well as performing. Courtneidge appeared in 12 British film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities. It also diversified into the manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of Rank Xerox). The company name lasted until February 1996, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured Rank Group plc. The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and was renamed XRO Limited in 1997. The company logo, the Gongman, first used in 1935 by the group's distribution company General Film DistributorsThe Independent July 16, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film), ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End theatre, West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, Tony Award for her work in the Broadway theatre, Broadway musical version of ''Tovarich (musical), Tovarich'' (1963). Although her career had periods of inactivity, in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Leigh as AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, the 16th greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progressed to the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Karenina (1948 Film)
''Anna Karenina'' is a 1948 British film based on the 1877 novel of the same title by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. The film was directed by Julien Duvivier, and starred Vivien Leigh in the title role. It was produced by Alexander Korda (with Herbert Mason as associate producer) for his company, London Films, and distributed in the United States by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was by Jean Anouilh, Julien Duvivier and Guy Morgan, music by Constant Lambert, decors by André Andrejew and deep focus cinematography by Henri Alekan. Plot Anna Karenina (Vivien Leigh) is married to Alexei Karenin (Ralph Richardson), a cold government official in St Petersburg who is apparently more interested in his career than in satisfying the emotional needs of his wife. Called to Moscow by her brother Stepan Oblonsky (Hugh Dempster), a reprobate who has been unfaithful to his trusting wife Dolly (Mary Kerridge) once too often, Anna meets Countess Vronsky (Helen Haye) on the night train. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Sister And I (1948 Film)
''My Sister and I'' is a 1948 British drama film directed by Harold Huth and starring Sally Ann Howes, Dermot Walsh and Martita Hunt. The screenplay concerns a woman who comes under suspicion when an elderly lady she lodges with dies and leaves her all her money. It is based on the novel ''High Pavement'' by Emery Bonett. Plot summary A young woman who acts in a small theatre comes under suspicion of murder when the elderly lady she lodges with dies and leaves her all her money. Cast * Sally Ann Howes as Robina Adams * Dermot Walsh as Graham Forbes * Martita Hunt as Mrs. Camelot * Barbara Mullen as Hypatia Foley * Patrick Holt as Roger Crisp * Hazel Court as Helena Forsythe * Joan Rees as Ardath Bondage * Jane Hylton as Elsie * Michael Medwin as Charlie * Rory MacDermot as Michael Marsh * Hugh Miller as Hubert Bondage * Ian Wilson as Horsnell * Niall Lawlor as Harry * Elizabeth Sydney as Phyllis * Jack Vyvian as Pomfret * Helen Goss as Mrs. Pomfret * Stewart Rome as Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby (1947 Film)
''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (also known simply as ''Nicholas Nickleby'') is a 1947 British drama film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and starring Cedric Hardwicke. The screenplay by John Dighton is based on the Charles Dickens novel ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (1839). This first sound screen adaptation of the book followed silent films released in 1903 and 1912. Plot After the father of a family dies, leaving the wife and children with no source of income, Nicholas Nickleby, with his mother and his younger sister Kate, travel to London to seek help from their wealthy but cold-hearted uncle Ralph, a money-lender. Ralph arranges for Nicholas to be hired as a tutor, and finds Kate work as a seamstress. Nicholas meets his new employer Mr. Squeers just as he concludes his daily business with Mr. Snawley, who is "boarding" his two unwanted stepsons. Nicholas is horrified to discover that his employers, the sadistic Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, run ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pink String And Sealing Wax
''Pink String and Sealing Wax'' is a 1945 British drama film directed by Robert Hamer and starring Mervyn Johns. It is based on a play with the same name by Roland Pertwee. It was the first feature film Robert Hamer directed on his own. The title derives from the practice of pharmacists in the Victorian and Edwardian age of wrapping drugs in a package sealed with pink string and sealing wax to show the package had not been tampered with. Plot The film is set in Brighton around 1880. The editor of the '' Brighton Herald'' newspaper dictates a story to his secretary regarding a local murder, which is to be the first to be investigated by the new public analyst, pharmacist Mr Sutton. He will be giving evidence at the trial. Mr Sutton is then seen giving a woman a neat package of pills, sealed with pink string and sealing wax. A judge dons his black cap and sentences the woman who was seen in the pharmacy to be hanged until dead. Mr Sutton ( Mervyn Johns) is cheered by this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Mourning Becomes Electra'' (1947), as well as two BAFTA nominations for Best British Actor for his performances in '' The Night My Number Came Up'' (1955) and '' Time Without Pity'' (1957). At the 4th Cannes Film Festival, he won Best Actor for his performance in '' The Browning Version'' (1951). Youth and education Redgrave was born in Bristol, England, the son of actress Margaret Scudamore and the silent film actor Roy Redgrave. Roy left when Redgrave was six months old to pursue a career in Australia. He died when Redgrave was 14. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter. Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather. He studied at Clifton College and Magdalene College, Cambridge. Clifton College Theatre was opened in 1966 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dead Of Night
''Dead of Night'' is a 1945 black and white British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Redgrave. The film is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Redgrave and an insane ventriloquist's malevolent dummy. ''Dead of Night'' is a rare British horror film of the 1940s; horror films were banned from production in Britain during the war. It had an influence on subsequent British films in the genre. Both of John Baines' stories were reused for later films and the ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted into the pilot episode of the long-running CBS radio series '' Escape''. While primarily in the horror genre, the film has shades of the comedy that would make the studio's name. Plot Walter Craig arrives at a country cottage in Kent, where he is greeted by his host Elliot Foley. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since. It is the oldest continuously working studio facility for film production in the world, and the current stages were opened for the use of sound in 1931. It is best known for a series of classic films produced in the post-WWII years, including '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949), '' Passport to Pimlico'' (1949), '' The Lavender Hill Mob'' (1951), and '' The Ladykillers'' (1955). The BBC owned and filmed at the Studios for forty years from 1955 until 1995. Since 2000, Ealing Studios has resumed releasing films under its own name, including the revived '' St Trinian's'' franchise. In more recent times, films shot here include ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (2002) and '' Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), as well as '' The Theory o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Balcon
Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in West London from 1938 to 1955. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film studios of the day. In an industry short of Hollywood-style moguls, Balcon emerged as a key figure, and an obdurately British one too, in his benevolent, somewhat headmasterly approach to the running of a creative organization. He is known for his leadership, and his guidance of young Alfred Hitchcock. Balcon had earlier co-founded Gainsborough Pictures with Victor Saville in 1923, later working with Gaumont British, which absorbed their studio. Later still he worked with MGM-British. In 1956 he founded a production company known as Ealing Films, and later headed British Lion Films. He served as chairman of the British Film Institute production board to help fund and encourage new work. Balcon was described in his obituary in ''The Tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
