Sword Of Freedom
''Sword of Freedom'' was a 1958 drama adventure series for a family audience. Like several of its predecessors (most notably ''The Adventures of Robin Hood''), it was produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and fitted into the same swashbuckler genre as previous productions. It ran for 39 half-hour monochrome episodes. Plot Marco del Monte is a young Republican artist living in sixteenth century Renaissance Florence. The city is ruled by the tyrant Duke de Medici. Marco's girlfriend is Angelica, a beautiful former pickpocket. Sandro is Marco's friend and confidant. Machiavelli is the Duke's advisor, and Captain Rodrigo is the head of the Medici forces. The series depicts the struggles of the Republicans to combat the attempts of the Duke to strengthen his position and make himself a dictator. Cast and characters * Edmund Purdom as Marco del Monte * Adrienne Corri as Angelica * Roland Bartrop as Sandro * Martin Benson as the Duke de Medici * Kenneth Hyde as Machiavel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hannah Weinstein
Hannah Weinstein ( Dorner; June 23, 1911 – March 9, 1984) was an American journalist, publicist and left-wing political activist who moved to Britain and became a television producer. She is best remembered for having produced ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' television series in the mid-to-late 1950s. Early life Born to a Jewish family in New York City, After graduating with a degree in journalism from New York University, Weinstein worked for the '' New York Herald Tribune'' from 1927. In 1937, she left the newspaper to join Fiorello H. La Guardia's mayoral campaign in New York City. She was also involved in the presidential campaigns of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry Wallace. With Ring Lardner Jr., she wrote speeches for Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles during this period. Exile In 1950, Weinstein began her film career in Paris having left the US to avoid the rise of anticommunism, as typified by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In 1952, after settli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir (né Buggy, 3 April 19265 October 1997) was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s. He starred as Professor Bernard Quatermass in Hammer's film version of '' Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967). He also appeared in the big screen version of the ''Doctor Who'' story ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'', ''Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.'' (1966). He originated the role of Thomas Cromwell in Robert Bolt's play '' A Man for All Seasons'' (1960). His obituary in ''The Times'' described him as possessing "considerable range and undeniable distinction." Early life and career Keir was born in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of a coal miner, and had five brothers and one sister. At 14, he left school to work down the coal mine alongside his father. He started acting by chance, whe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ferdy Mayne
Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regime. He resided in the UK for the majority of his professional career. Working almost continuously throughout a 60 year-long career, Mayne was known as a versatile character actor, often playing suave villains and aristocratic eccentrics in films like ''The Fearless Vampire Killers, Where Eagles Dare, Barry Lyndon'', and '' Benefit of the Doubt.'' Early life He was born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel in Mainz, Germany. His German father was the judge of Mainz, while his half-English mother was a singing instructor. Because his family was Jewish, a teenage Mayne was sent to Britain in 1932 to protect him from the Nazis. He stayed with his aunt, Li Osborne (1883-1968), nee Luisa Friedericka Wolf, a well-known German theatre and film portr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Terry Bishop
Terry Bishop (21 October 1912 – 30 October 1981) was a British screenwriter, and television and film director. During the 1950s and 60s he worked extensively in British TV, directing episodes of series such as ''The Adventures of William Tell'', ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'', ''Sword of Freedom'', ''Danger Man'', and ''Sir Francis Drake''. He also made several low budget British films during this time, perhaps the best known of which is '' Cover Girl Killer'' (1959), featuring ''Steptoe and Son'' star Harry H. Corbett as a serial murderer of glamour models. Selected filmography Director * ''Western Isles'' (1941) - Documentary * Steel Goes to Sea' (1941) - Scenario * ''Daybreak in Udi'' (1949) - Oscar Recipient for Best Documentary in 1950 * ''Model for Murder'' (1959) * '' Life in Danger'' (1959) * '' Cover Girl Killer'' (1959) * ''Danger Tomorrow'' (1960) * '' The Unstoppable Man'' (1960) * '' Bomb in the High Street'' (1961) * ''Hair of the Dog "Hair of the dog", short ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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History Of ITV
The history of ITV, the United Kingdom " Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955. Independent Television began as a network of independently-owned regional companies that were both broadcasters and programme makers, beginning with four companies operating six stations in three large regions in 1955–1956, and gradually expanding to 17 stations in 14 regions by 1962. Each regional station was responsible for its own branding, scheduling and advertising, with many peak-time programmes shared simultaneously across the whole network. By 29 February 2016, 12 regions in England and Wales shared national ITV branding and scheduling, and, together with a 13th region UTV in Northern Ireland, were owned by a single company, ITV plc. A further two regions in Scotland carry STV branding and are owned by the STV Group. 1955–1964 Formation The Independent Television network came about as a result of the Television Act 1954, which paved the way for the establishme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roger Delgado
Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was a British actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming best known as the first actor to play the Master in ''Doctor Who'' (1971–73). Early life Delgado was born in Whitechapel, in the East End of London; he often remarked to ''Doctor Who'' co-star and close friend Jon Pertwee that this made him a true Cockney, as he was born within the sound of Bow bells, even though his mother was Belgian and his father was Spanish. He did not live in the East End, but was brought up in Bedford Park in west London. He attended Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, a Roman Catholic secondary school in Holland Park, and the London School of Economics for a brief period but did not complete his degree. He served in the Second World War with both the Leicestershire Regiment and the Royal Corps of Signals, attai ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English actor of Welsh heritage. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 Carry On (franchise), ''Carry On'' films, and appeared in many British television programmes and radio comedies, including series with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne, as well as being a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show ''Just a Minute'' from its second series in 1968 until his death 20 years later. Williams grew up in Central London in a working-class family; he claimed his father spoke cockney. He served in the Royal Engineers during World War II, where he first became interested in becoming an entertainer. After a short spell in repertory theatre as a serious actor, he turned to comedy and achieved national fame in ''Hancock's Half Hour''. He sustained continued success throughout the 1960s and 1970s with his regular app ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction and horror films, and playing the Second Doctor, second incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the long-running British science fiction on television, science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1966 to 1969; he reprised the role in 1972–1973, 1983 and 1985. Although he is most well known for his television career and was loved by audiences for his versatility in roles, many of the productions Troughton performed in between 1947 and 1971 were amongst those either never recorded or Wiping, destroyed by UK broadcasters, most notably his stint on ''Doctor Who''. Many of his appearances, including most of his personal favourites, remain Lost television broadcast, missing to this day. Early life Troughton was born o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brian Nissen
Brian Nissen (20 October 1927 in London – 8 February 2001 in Salisbury, Wiltshire) was a British actor and television continuity announcer. Biography Nissen made an early appearance in Laurence Olivier's film of Shakespeare's ''Henry V'', and made many TV, film and stage appearances, including '' The Dam Busters'' (1955), and the television series ''The New Adventures of Charlie Chan'' and ''Sword of Freedom'' in 1957. But he is probably best-remembered as an in-vision announcer for Southern Television, where his formal style seemed to sum up the company's aesthetic. He joined Southern at its inception in 1958 and stayed until its demise in 1981, and was kept on by the successor company TVS despite its general policy of breaking with Southern's conservatism. He retired from TVS in August 1987. Nissen died on 8 February 2001 in Salisbury, Wiltshire at the age of 73. Selected filmography * ''The Day Will Dawn'' (1942) - Page (uncredited) * ''The Demi-Paradise'' (1943) - George T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Eddington
Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom ''Yes Minister'' (1980–84) and its sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'' (1986–88). Early life Eddington was born at Paddington in London to decorative artist Albert Clark Eddington and Frances Mary (née Roberts); he was raised in St John's Wood. The family were Quakers – Albert Clark Eddington being related to the Somerset shoemaking Clark family and the scientist Sir Arthur EddingtonQuakers and the Arts: "Plain and Fancy" – An Anglo-American Perspective, David Sox, Sessions Book Trust, 2000, p. 65 – and Eddington was brought up by his parents with strict family values. His father had been "emotionally shattered" on his return from the First World War, which led to Eddington being a life-long pacifist. Eddington attended Sibford School, Sibford Ferris, Oxfordshir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Gray (actor)
Charles Gray (born Donald Marshall Gray; 28 August 1928 – 7 March 2000) was an English actor and voice artist who was well known for roles including the arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film '' Diamonds Are Forever''; Dikko Henderson in a previous Bond film, '' You Only Live Twice''; Sherlock Holmes's brother Mycroft Holmes in ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''; and The Criminologist in ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show''. Early life Gray was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, the son of surveyor Donald Gray (died 1975), who had served as a Captain in the Royal Engineers, and Maude Elizabeth (née Marshall). Gray attended Bournemouth School alongside Benny Hill, whose school had been evacuated to the same buildings, during the Second World War. Some of his friends remember that his bedroom walls were plastered with pictures of film stars. Stage career By his mid-twenties, Gray had left his first job as a clerk for an estate agent to become an actor. He b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peter Wyngarde
Peter Paul Wyngarde (born Cyril Goldbert, 23 August 1927 – 15 January 2018) was a British television, stage and film actor from the late 1940s to the mid 1990s. He was best known for portraying the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist turned sleuth, in two television series: '' Department S'' (1969–70) and '' Jason King'' (1971–72). His flamboyant dress sense and stylish performances led to success, and he was considered a style icon in Britain and elsewhere in the early 1970s. Background and early life Peter Wyngarde's birth name was Cyril Goldbert. His full name may have been Cyril Louis Goldbert. According to his own account, he was born on 23 August 1933 to a French mother and a British father at an aunt's home in Marseille, France. Like many actors and other celebrities, Wyngarde changed his name and claimed to be younger than he was. He also cited a false family background by changing his father's name and profession and both his parents' nationalities an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |