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The Big Money (film)
''The Big Money'' is a 1958 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Ian Carmichael, Belinda Lee and Kathleen Harrison. Plot Willie is the bad seed of a family of thieves. One day, he steals a briefcase from a dodgy clergyman, which is full of pound notes. Unfortunately, the notes all have the same serial number. The clergyman is actually the leader of a separate criminal gang. Willie is seduced by "the big money" and starts passing the counterfeits, one note at a time. Much of his need for money is to impress Gloria, the pretty barmaid at his local pub. She dreams of the millionaire who will come and give her the good life. Unfortunately, he cannot pass the fake money fast enough to keep up with her wants. When she helps herself to some of the counterfeit money, it gets the attention of the police and the mobsters. It all ends in a free-for-all, between the police, Arabs, and mobsters, in disguise. Finally, she has to decide whether she loves him or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Paddy Carstairs
John Paddy Carstairs (born John Keys; 11 May 1910, in London – 12 December 1970, in London) was a British film director (1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a comic novelist and Painting, painter. Biography The son of actor Nelson Keys, Carstairs changed his name in order to avoid the appearance of nepotism. He directed 37 films in total. He had a long association with the character of Simon Templar (the character's creator, Leslie Charteris, dedicated the 1963 book, ''The Saint in the Sun'' to Carstairs). Aside from directing the 1939 ''Saint'' film, ''The Saint in London'', he also directed two episodes of ''The Saint (TV series), The Saint'' in the 1960s, making him the only individual (other than Charteris himself) to be connected to both the Hollywood film and British series of ''The Saint''. Carstairs directed many British comedies including many of Norman Wisdom's films. Death Carstairs died of heart att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Coulouris
George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. Early life Coulouris was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Abigail (née Redfern) anNicholas Coulouris a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School. He attended London's Central School of Speech and Drama, in the company of fellow students Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft. Early career Coulouris made his stage debut in 1926 with ''Henry V'' at the Old Vic. In 1928 and 1929 he appeared in several productions at the Cambridge Festival Theatre including Eugene O'Niell's ''The Hairy Ape.''. By 1929, he made his first Broadway appearance, followed by his first Hollywood film role in 1933. A major impact on his life was Orson Welles, whom he met in 1936 when they both had roles in the Broadway production of Sidney Kingsley's ''Ten Million Ghosts''. Welles invited Coulouris to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Walker (critic)
Alexander Walker (23 March 1930 – 15 July 2003) was a British film critic who wrote for the London ''Evening Standard'' from 1960 to the end of his life. He wrote 20 books. Life and career Walker was born in Portadown, County Armagh in Northern Ireland, the only son of Alfred, a commercial traveller, and Ethel Walker. He was educated at Portadown Grammar School, Queen's University, Belfast, the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium and the University of Michigan, where he lectured in political philosophy for two years from 1952. He worked for the ''Birmingham Post'' from 1953, where he was noticed by Godfrey Winn, who became a significant influence upon him as well as, later, Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere. The film critic of the London ''Evening Standard'' from 1960, he remained in the role until his death in 2003. His most extended work was a book trilogy on the history of the British film industry: ''Hollywood England'', ''National Heroes'' and ''Icons in the Fire''. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Davis (British Businessman)
} Sir John Henry Harris Davis (10 November 1906 – 27 May 1993) was an English businessman and accountant. He was the managing director, later chairman, of The Rank Organisation Early life John Davis was born in the City of London in 1906 to Sidney Myring Davis and Emily Harris.''England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975'' He was educated at the City of London School. Career Davis became a member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries, and was Secretary to a number of companies before joining Odeon Cinemas, Odeon Theatres in 1938 as an accountant, becoming managing director of the Rank Organisation in 1948. He was largely responsible for Rank consolidating film production at Pinewood Studios. Online at: He steered the company away from a financial crisis in 1949. and into a stronger financial position by diversifying the groups business. He ceased being managing director of the conglomerate in 1962 and became chairman, succeeding J. Arthur Rank in the position aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana Dors
Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was promoted by her first husband, Dennis Hamilton, mostly in sex film-comedies and risqué modelling. After it was revealed that Hamilton had been defrauding her, she continued to play up to her established image, and she made tabloid headlines with the parties reportedly held at her house. Later, she showed talent as a performer on TV, in recordings, and in cabaret, and gained new public popularity as a regular chat-show guest. She also gave well-regarded film performances at different points in her career. According to David Thomson, "Dors represented that period between the end of the war and the coming of Lady Chatterley in paperback, a time when sexuality was naughty, repressed and fit to burst." Early life Diana Mary Fluck was born in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Australian Women's Weekly
''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by the Australian edition of '' Better Homes and Gardens'' in 2014. , ''The Weekly'' has overtaken '' Better Homes and Gardens'' again, coming out on top as Australia's most read magazine. The magazine invested in the 2020 film '' I Am Woman'' about Helen Reddy, singer, feminist icon and activist. Editor-in-chief Nicole Byers told Film Ink "Helen’s story of adversity and triumph is nothing short of inspirational. ''The Weekly'' has been telling stories of iconic Australian women for more than 80 years and we're delighted to be supporting the film production". History and profile The magazine was started in 1933 by Frank Packer and Ted Theodore as a weekly publication. The first editor was George Warnecke and the initial dummy was laid out b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon And Laura
''Simon and Laura'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Peter Finch and Kay Kendall. Play Satirising the early days of BBC Television, ''Simon and Laura'' focuses on an argumentative theatrical couple called Simon and Laura Foster; they've been together for some 20 years and are given a new lease of life when playing a faux-harmonious version of 'themselves' in a daily soap opera filmed in their own home. Presented by H M Tennent Ltd, the play began a provincial tour at the Opera House Manchester on 30 August 1954, subsequently opening at the Strand Theatre in London's West End on 25 November. Directed by Murray Macdonald, it starred Roland Culver, Coral Browne, Ian Carmichael, Dora Bryan, Ernest Thesiger and Esma Cannon, with settings designed by Alan Tagg. According to Frances Stephens, editor of ''Theatre World'', "''Simon and Laura'' has as its amusing central theme the guying of television family serials and the author is well served by the ver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Balfour (actor)
Michael Creighton Balfour (11 February 1918 – 24 October 1997) was an English actor, working mainly in British films and TV, following his TV debut in the BBC's ''The Marvellous History of St Bernard'', in 1938. He was a recognisable face, often in small character parts and supporting roles, in nearly two hundred films and TV shows, from the 1940s to the 1990s, often playing comical villain, heavies or otherwise shady characters notable for their "loud" clothes, sometimes convincingly cast as an American. He worked for a roll call of film directors, including Tony Richardson, Pete Walker (director), Pete Walker, Billy Wilder, Lewis Gilbert, Roman Polanski, Leslie Norman (director), Leslie Norman, Tim Burton, John Frankenheimer, François Truffaut, John Gilling, Stanley Donen, Ken Annakin, Alberto Cavalcanti, Cavalcanti, Lance Comfort, Terence Young (director), Terence Young, Gerald Thomas, Pasolini, John Paddy Carstairs, Terence Fisher, Val Guest, Frank Launder, John Huston, Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digby Wolfe
James Digby Wolfe (4 June 19292 May 2012) was a British actor. After a successful career in the UK and Australia, his later career was based in the US. Early life James Digby Wolfe was born to a father who was an international banker and a mother who was a Vogue magazine artist. His mother named him after a character in ''Beau Geste''. When he was four, his father died after being hit by a golf ball, and he was brought up by his mother in Felixstowe. Film and television career He made his film debut in the 1948 film ''The Weaker Sex''. He began writing and performing in comedy series in England in the 1950s. Together with Jimmy Wilson he wrote a revue, with music by John Pritchett and Norman Dannatt, for the Irving Theatre. He appeared alongside Ronnie Corbett, Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey, in his own television show '' Wolfe at the Door'' before moving to Sydney in 1959, where he made frequent television appearances and was host of the variety shows, ''Revue '61'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Hugh Morton (actor)
Hugh Morton (28 June 1903 – 11 July 1984) was an English actor, best known for his work on BBC Radio for which he made more than 3,000 broadcasts, beginning in the 1920s. His career spanned more than sixty years and also included theatre, cinema and television. Life and career Morton was born in Ivybridge, Devon, the son of a naval officer."Hugh Morton", ''The Times'', 13 July 1984, p. 16 The family was from the upper classes; its members included Morton's first cousin, Anthony Eden, who became British prime minister in the 1950s."Broadcaster and actor", ''The Guardian'', 13 June 1984, p. 2 Morton was educated at Haileybury and Queens' College, Cambridge, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and secured his first professional engagement in a touring company run by Violet and Irene Vanbrugh. According to Morton's obituary in ''The Times'', his cinema career began in the days of silent films. He was frequently cast in supporting roles as judges, bank managers or butl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Berens
Harold Berens (born Isadore Harold Berenbaum; 4 March 1903 – 10 May 1995) was a British comedian and character actor. Biography He was born into a Jewish family in Glasgow, the son of a tailor, and grew up and was educated in Leeds, Harrogate, and Brussels. After his father built up a successful business in Brighton, he moved there, and began performing at show business parties organised by his father. After completing his education he worked as a shirt salesman, primarily to a show business clientele, while developing his own talent for comedy, especially his ability to imitate a wide range of different dialects, at private functions. In the 1930s he opened his own shop in Regent Street, London, where he styled himself as "Shirtmaker to the Stars". One of his customers was Carroll Levis, who thought that Berens was too professional a performer to perform in his regular amateur talent shows, and recommended that he audition for the BBC. He won the support of BBC radi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
