|
Serious Charge
''Serious Charge'' (also known in US release as ''A Touch of Hell'') is a 1959 British film, directed by Terence Young, produced and co-written by Mickey Delamar (with Guy Elmes). It was adapted from a stage play written by Philip King. The film is notable for the screen acting debut of pop singer Cliff Richard in a minor supporting role. Plot An unmarried vicar, the Reverend Howard Phillips ( Anthony Quayle), newly arrived in the parish, attempts to get local 19-year-old thug and petty criminal Larry Thompson ( Andrew Ray) to face up to his responsibilities to Mary Williams ( Leigh Madison), the naive young girl he has made pregnant. When Howard threatens to tell his coffee-bar friends, Larry trashes the room and fakes a struggle. As a dishevelled Larry leaves, Hester Peters ( Sarah Churchill) arrives, and he tells her that Howard "interfered" with him. Hester is the daughter of the parish’s previous clergyman and has become infatuated with the athletic and handsome new vic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Young (director)
Shaun Terence Young (20 June 1915 – 7 September 1994) was an Irish film director and screenwriter who worked in the United Kingdom, Europe and Hollywood. He is best known for directing three James Bond films, including the first two films in the series, '' Dr. No'' (1962) and '' From Russia with Love'' (1963), as well as '' Thunderball'' (1965). His other films include the Audrey Hepburn thrillers '' Wait Until Dark'' (1967) and ''Bloodline'' (1979), the historical drama ''Mayerling'' (1968), the infamous Korean War epic '' Inchon'' (1981), and the Charles Bronson films ''Cold Sweat'' (1970), ''Red Sun'' (1971), and ''The Valachi Papers'' (1972). Early life and education Of Irish descent, Young was born in Shanghai, China, the son of a police commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police. His family moved back to England when he was young, and he was educated at Harrow School in London. He read oriental history at St Catharine's College at the University of Cambr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Living Doll (song)
"Living Doll" is a song written by Lionel Bart made popular by Cliff Richard and the Shadows (then still 'the Drifters') in 1959. It was the top selling single in the UK in 1959. It has topped the UK charts twice: in its original version in 1959 (their first number 1 single) and a new version recorded in 1986 in aid of Comic Relief. It is one of the few songs released by an English singer to chart on the American Billboard charts before the British Invasion occurred. Worldwide sales *1959 version: 1.86 million *1986 version: 1.50 million Background and composition "Living Doll" was written for the film ''Serious Charge''. Lionel Bart had been approached by film producer Mickey Delamar to write songs for the film. The idea for the song came on a Sunday morning in October 1958 while reading a newspaper and seeing an advert for a child's doll. The doll was said to "kneel, walk, sit and sing". Bart recounted, "I was looking at the back pages and there was a small advert for a doll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Devereux
Marie Devereux (27 November 194030 December 2019) was a British model and film actress. She was born Patricia Sutcliffe on 27 November 1940 in Edmonton, London. Marie Devereux became a regular and very popular nude model in magazines during the 1950s. She was photographed by George Harrison Marks. She had a brief career in cinema, starting in late 1950s usually as a sexy girl in comedies, dramas and horror films, but under the direction of distinguished filmmakers. After appearing in Terence Young’s "Serious Charge" and Stanley Donen's " Surprise Package", Devereux was seen to good advantage in three Hammer Film Productions: first, for genre master Terence Fisher, she played a follower of goddess Kali in “ The Stranglers of Bombay” (1959), and was one of " The Brides of Dracula" (1960); followed in 1962 by John Gilling's " The Pirates of Blood River", in which she played a married woman who is having an affair with a sailor, played by Kerwin Mathews. She was also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Lowrie
Colin Philip Lowrie (born 20 June 1936) is an English former stage and television actor, best known for playing Dennis Tanner in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', from the programme's inception in 1960–1968, and again from 2011 to 2014. Early life Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, Lowrie was the son of Philip Lowrie, a foreman in a paper mill, and Bertha Lowrie (née Collins). Lowrie had a stammer so attended elocution lessons at Miss Atherton's Elocution. When he left secondary school, his mother managed to save enough money to pay his fees at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he studied for three years. Career At the age of 24, Lowrie appeared in the opening episode of the new Granada Television drama serial ''Coronation Street'' as Dennis Tanner, the son of Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) and sister of Linda Cheveski (Anne Cunningham). Lowrie remained with the show as a regular character until 1968. During this period, he recorded a po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilfred Pickles
Wilfred Pickles, OBE (13 October 1904 – 27 March 1978) was an English actor and radio presenter. Early life and personal life Pickles was born in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He moved to Southport, Lancashire, with his family in 1929, and worked with his father as a builder. He joined an amateur dramatic society, and in a local production there met Mabel Cecilia Myerscough (1906–1989), all of whose family had been connected with the stage. He remained a proud Yorkshireman, and having been selected by the BBC as an announcer for its North Regional radio service, he went on to be an occasional newsreader on the BBC Home Service during the Second World War. He was the first newsreader to speak in an accent other than Received Pronunciation, "a deliberate attempt to make it more difficult for Nazis to impersonate BBC broadcasters", and caused some comment by wishing his fellow northerners "Good neet". Early career His first professional appearance was as an extr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olive Sloane
Olive Sloane (16 December 1896 – 28 June 1963) was an English actress whose film career spanned over 40 years from the silent era through to her death. Sloane's career trajectory was unusual in that for most of her professional life she was essentially an anonymous bit part actress, and her best, most substantial roles did not come until relatively late in her career when she was in her 50s. Her most famous film appearance is the 1950 production '' Seven Days to Noon''. Career 1920s-1940s Born in London in 1896, Sloane's first screen credit came in a 1921 silent film ''The Door That Has No Key'' produced by Frank Hall Crane, and there were five further appearances in silents up to 1925, including 1922's ''Trapped by the Mormons'', a film which many decades later became a cult favourite with midnight film aficionados due to its unintentionally ludicrous hilarity, and received a DVD release in the US in 2006. After 1925, there would be no further film appearance for Sloane u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilfrid Brambell
Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor, best remembered for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'' (1962–65, 1970–74). He achieved international recognition in 1964 for his appearance alongside the Beatles in '' A Hard Day's Night'', playing the fictional grandfather of Paul McCartney. Early life Brambell was born in Dublin, the youngest of three sons born to Henry Lytton Brambell (1870–1937), a cashier at the Guinness Brewery, and his wife, Edith Marks (1879–1965), a former opera singer. The family surname was changed from "Bramble" by Wilfrid's grandfather Frederick William Brambell. His two older brothers were Frederick Edward Brambell (1905–1980) and James Christopher Marks "Jim" Brambell (1907–1992). His first appearance was as a child, entertaining the wounded troops during the First World War. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Cadell
Jean Dunlop Cadell (13 September 1884 – 29 September 1967) was a Scottish character actress. Although her married name was Jean Dunlop Perceval-Clark she retained her maiden name in the context of acting. Life and career She was born at 4 Buckingham Terrace in Edinburgh, the daughter of Dr Francis Cadell (1844-1909), a wealthy surgeon, and his wife, Mary Hamilton Boileau (1853-1907). The family moved to 22 Ainslie Place, a huge Georgian house on the Moray Estate, in her youth. She performed in the cinema and on the stage. Among her best-known cinema roles was in the Ealing Studios comedy '' Whisky Galore!'' (1949), as well as '' Pygmalion'' (1938) and ''I Know Where I'm Going!'' (1945). She once performed opposite W.C. Fields in Hollywood, cast as Mrs. Micawber to his Wilkins Micawber in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1935 production of ''David Copperfield''. Although Cadell remains in the released version of the film, her biggest scene (when the Micawber family prepare to emigr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judith Furse
Judith Furse (4 March 1912 – 29 August 1974) was an English actress. Career A member of the Furse family, her father was Lieutenant-General Sir William Furse and mother Jean Adelaide Furse. Her brother, Roger, became a stage designer and painter who also worked in films. She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School and studied theatre at the Old Vic in the early 1930s. By the end of that decade, she became a stage actress. One of Judith Furse's earliest film roles was as Sister Briony in '' Black Narcissus'' (1947). She was known for her heavy-set, somewhat masculine looks, and was often cast as overbearing types such as the villainous Doctor Crow in '' Carry On Spying'' (1964). Other films included '' The Man in the White Suit'' (1951), '' Mother Riley Meets the Vampire'' (1952), '' Blue Murder at St Trinian's'' (1957), ''Carry On Regardless'' (1961), '' Live Now, Pay Later'' (1962) and '' Carry On Cabby'' (1963). One of her more sympathetic roles was as Flora, Greer Gars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wensley Pithey
Wensley Ivan William Frederick Pithey (21 June 1914 – 10 November 1993) was a South African character actor who had a long stage and film career in Britain. Biography Pithey was born in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the University of Cape Town where he studied music and drama, he travelled to Britain in 1947. He appeared in various Shakespearean roles in his long career (memorably as Sir Toby Belch) as well as appearing in Eugene O'Neill's '' Anna Christie''. He also directed and produced plays in the West End and appeared in a range of roles on television including the 1976 drama '' Edward and Mrs Simpson'' (as Winston Churchill – a role he also played in the miniseries '' Ike'') as well as '' Special Branch'' and '' Poldark''. His British television appearances included '' Danger Man'' (1961) among others. He also played the title role Detective Superintendent Charlesworth in a number of BBC series including ''Charlesworth at Large'' (1958) and its seq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noel Howlett
Noel Howlett (22 December 1902 – 26 October 1984) was an English actor, principally remembered as the incompetent headmaster, Morris Cromwell, in the ITV 1970s cult television programme '' Please Sir!'' He was the subject of infatuation by Deputy Head Doris Ewell, played by Joan Sanderson. Howlett was born in Bexley, Kent, and began his career as Richard Greatham in Noël Coward's ''Hay Fever''. At Northampton Repertory Theatre in 1930 he played Sherlock Holmes. He also appeared as Mr Williams in the 1948 film '' The Winslow Boy'', starring Robert Donat. At Stratford-on-Avon in 1953, he played Old Gobbo (father to Donald Pleasence's Launcelot Gobbo) in ''The Merchant of Venice'', Edward IV (brother to Marius Goring's Richard III), Baptista in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and Gloucester in ''King Lear''. An early TV role was portraying a vicar in the 1958/59 BBC series ''Quatermass and the Pit''. He appeared as Professor Rushton in a one-off 1967 edition ("Mission Highly Im ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
