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The Demi-Paradise
''The Demi-Paradise'' (also known as ''Adventure for Two'') is a 1943 British comedy film made by Two Cities Films. It stars Laurence Olivier as a Soviet Russian inventor who travels to England to have his revolutionary propeller manufactured, and Penelope Dudley-Ward as the woman who falls in love with him. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald and Filippo Del Giudice from a screenplay by de Grunwald. The music score was by Nicholas Brodszky and the cinematography by Bernard Knowles. The film was shot at Denham Studios with sets designed by the art director Carmen Dillon. The film is a gentle satire on the values the English hold so dear. It was designed to encourage sympathy between Britain and the Soviet Union. The film's title is a reference to John of Gaunt's famous speech in '' Richard II'' which begins: :This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, :This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, :This other Eden, demi-paradise Plot summary ...
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Anthony Asquith
Anthony William Landon Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among other adaptations. His other notable films include ''Pygmalion'' (1938), ''French Without Tears'' (1940), ''The Way to the Stars'' (1945) and a 1952 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest''. Life and career Born in London, he was the son of H. H. Asquith, the Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916, and Margot Asquith, who was responsible for 'Puffin' as his family nickname.Anthony Asquith biography
at BFI Screenonline
He was educated at
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Richard II (play)
''The Life and Death of King Richard the Second'', commonly called ''Richard II'', is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written around 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England (ruled 1377–1399) and chronicles his downfall and the machinations of his nobles. It is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays about Richard's successors: ''Henry IV, Part 1''; '' Henry IV, Part 2''; and ''Henry V''. Although the First Folio (1623) includes the play among the histories, the earlier Quarto edition of 1597 calls it ''The tragedie of King Richard the second''. Characters * King Richard II * John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster – Richard's uncle * Duke of York – Richard's uncle * Duke of Aumerle – York's son * Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk * Queen – Richard's wife (an unnamed composite of his first wife, Anne of Bohemia, and his second, Isabella of Valois, who was still a chil ...
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Miles Malleson
William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969) was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in ''The Brides of Dracula'' as the hypochondriac and fee-hungry local doctor. Malleson was also a writer on many films, including some of those in which he had small parts, such as '' Nell Gwyn'' (1934) and '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940). He also translated and adapted several of Molière's plays (''The Misanthrope'', which he titled ''The Slave of Truth'', ''Tartuffe'' and '' The Imaginary Invalid''). Biography Malleson was born in Avondale Road, South Croydon, Surrey, England, the son of Edmund Taylor Malleson (1859-1909), a manufacturing chemist, and Myrrha Bithynia Frances Borrell (1863-1931), a descendant of the numismatist Henry Perigal Borrell and the inventor Francis Macer ...
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Beatrice Harrison
Beatrice Harrison (9 December 1892 – 10 March 1965) was a British cellist active in the first half of the 20th century. She gave first performances of several important English works, especially those of Frederick Delius, and made the first or standard recordings of others, particularly the first recording of Elgar’s cello concerto in 1920 with the composer conducting. Biography Early training Beatrice Harrison was born in Roorkee, North-West India. The Harrison family moved back to England during her childhood and she studied at the Royal College of Music, London, and afterwards under Hugo Becker, and at the High School of Music in Berlin. In 1910 she won the Mendelssohn Prize, and made her debut in the Bechstein Hall, Berlin. A musical family Beatrice was the sister of May Harrison, violinist, a student of Leopold Auer; Margaret Harrison, a pianist, but perhaps better known as a breeder of Irish Wolfhounds and a dog show judge; and the mezzo-soprano Monica Harrison. Li ...
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Aubrey Mallalieu
Aubrey Mallalieu (8 June 1873 – 28 May 1948) was an English actor with a prolific career in supporting roles in films in the 1930s and 1940s. Mallalieu began life as George William Mallalieu, the son of William Mallalieu (c. 1845–1927), a well-known stage comedian, and his wife Margaret Ellen Smith. He had a sister called Polly who corresponded with Lewis Carroll in the 1890s. He adopted the stage name of Aubrey early in his acting career. Information is scant on Mallalieu's pre-film career, but he is believed to have had a lengthy stage career before making the move into films. Archive sources available in New Zealand indicate that he spent a considerable number of years touring with stage companies in that country and Australia in the 1900s and 1910s. In December 1912 Mallalieu was touring Australia with Leal Douglas in a piece called “Feed the Brute”.Public Notices in ''Townsville Daily Bulletin'', 11 December 1912, p. 1; “Direct from Harry Rickards's Theatres. AU ...
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David Keir
David Keir (1884–1971) was a British film actor, who also appeared on stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta .... Selected filmography References External links * 1884 births 1971 deaths British male stage actors British male film actors 20th-century British male actors {{UK-film-actor-stub ...
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Jack Watling
Jack Stanley Watling (13 January 1923 – 22 May 2001) was an English actor. Life and career The son of a travelling scrap metal dealer, Watling trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts as a child; and made his stage debut in ''Where the Rainbow Ends'' at the Holborn Empire in 1936. He made his first film appearances (all uncredited) in ''Sixty Glorious Years'', ''Housemaster'' (both 1938) and ''Goodbye, Mr Chips'' (1939).Anthony HaywarObituary: Jack Watling ''The Independent'', 24 May 2001. In 1941, he played Bill Hopkins in ''Once a Crook'' in his West End debut. He starred as Flight Lieutenant Teddy Graham in the original 1942 production of Terence Rattigan's ''Flare Path''. Watling had a long career in low-key British films, originally in easy-going boyish roles. His early appearances were in ''Cottage to Let'' (1941). ''We Dive at Dawn'' (1943), ''The Demi-Paradise'' (1943) opposite Laurence Olivier, ''The Way Ahead'' (1944) with David Niven, ''The Winslow Boy' ...
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Everley Gregg
Everley Gregg (26 October 1903, in Bishopstoke, Hampshire – 9 June 1959, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire) was an English actress. Early in her career, she became associated especially with plays of Noël Coward. She began making films in the 1930s and added television roles in her last decade; she acted until her last year. Life and career Gregg was the daughter of Richard Russell Gregg and his wife Gertrude Everley, ''née'' Pope. She was educated at Badminton School, Bristol, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Parker, pp. 710–711 She made her professional stage debut as the maid in Noël Coward's '' Easy Virtue'' at the Duke of York's Theatre, London. Engagements in minor parts followed in ''The Constant Nymph,'' tours in ''Easy Virtue'' and ''Hit the Deck,'' and a repertory season at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham. In the West End in 1929, she succeeded Phyllis Konstam as Val Power in ''The Matriarch''. Her association with the plays of Coward was renewed at ...
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Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Irene Grenfell OBE (''née'' Phipps; 10 February 1910 – 30 November 1979) was an English diseuse, singer, actress and writer. She was known for the songs and monologues she wrote and performed, at first in revues and later in her solo shows. She never appeared as a stage actress, but had roles, mostly comic, in many films, including Miss Gossage in '' The Happiest Days of Your Life'' (1950) and Police Sergeant Ruby Gates in the St Trinian's series (from 1954). She was a well-known broadcaster on radio and television. As a writer, she was the first radio critic for ''The Observer'', contributed to ''Punch'' and published a volume of memoirs. Born to an affluent Anglo-American family, Grenfell had abandoned early hopes of becoming an actress when she was invited to perform a comic monologue in a West End revue in 1939. Its success led to a career as an entertainer, giving her creations in theatres in five continents between 1940 and 1969. Life and career Early years Born ...
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Muriel Aked
Muriel Aked (9 November 1883 – 21 March 1955) was an English film actress. Early life, family and education Aked was born in Bingley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England to George Henry Aked and his wife Emma (née Bairstow). She was a student at Liverpool Repertory Theatre for six months but due to World War I left to perform war work. Career Aked made her screen debut in 1920 in ''A Sister to Assist 'Er''. She also appeared in ''Can You Hear Me, Mother?'', ''Public Nuisance No.1'', ''Autumn Crocus'' (1934), ''Royal Eagle'', ''Fame'' and ''Don't Rush Me "Don't Rush Me" is a song written by Alexandra Forbes and Jeff Franzel and performed by American singer Taylor Dayne. It was released in the late summer of 1988 as the fourth single from Dayne's debut album '' Tell it to My Heart''. Reception a ...''. Filmography Film Television References External links * 1880s births 1955 deaths English film actresses Actresses from Yorkshire People from Bingley 20th- ...
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Edie Martin
Edie Martin (1 January 1880 – 22 February 1964) was a British actress. She was a ubiquitous performer, on stage from 1886, playing generally small parts but in high demand, appearing in scores of British films (although often uncredited). She frequently appeared in memorable Ealing comedies as their resident ”little old lady.” Selected filmography * ''M'Blimey'' (1931) * ''Late Extra'' (1935) - Apartment Resident (uncredited) * ''Broken Blossoms'' (1936) - Woman in West End Party Visit (uncredited) * '' Educated Evans'' (1936) - Bit Part (uncredited) * '' The Big Noise'' (1936) - Old Lady * ''Feather Your Nest'' (1937) - Blanche (uncredited) * '' Return of a Stranger'' (1937) - Mrs. Stevens (uncredited) * ''Farewell Again'' (1937) - Mrs. Bulger * '' Under the Red Robe'' (1937) - Maria * '' St. Martin's Lane'' (1938) - Libby's Dresser (uncredited) * '' Bad Boy'' (1938) - Mrs. Bryan * ''A Spot of Bother'' (1938) - An Occasional Bar-Lady (uncredited) * ''Old Mother Riley ...
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Michael Shepley
Arthur Michael Shepley-Smith (29 September 1907 – 28 September 1961), known professionally as Michael Shepley, was a British actor, appearing in theatre, film and some television between 1929 and 1961. He was born in Plymouth, Devon. Shepley made his screen début in the 1931 Twickenham Studios film '' Black Coffee''. He went on to appear in more than sixty films, the last of which was ''Don't Bother to Knock'' in 1961, the year of his death. Filmography * '' Black Coffee'' (1931) - Raynor * '' A Shot in the Dark'' (1933) - Vivien Waugh * '' Bella Donna'' (1934) - Dr, Baring-Hartley * '' Tangled Evidence'' (1934) - Gilbert Morfield * ''Lord Edgware Dies'' (1934) - Captain Roland Marsh * ''Are You a Mason?'' (1934) - Ernest Monison * ''The Green Pack'' (1934) - Mark Elliott * '' Open All Night'' (1934) - Hilary * '' The Rocks of Valpre'' (1935) - Trevor Mordaunt * '' Lazybones'' (1935) - Hildebrand Pope * ''The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes'' (1935) - Cecil Barker * ''The Lad' ...
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