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The Highest Honor
''The Highest Honour'' is a 1982 Australian/Japanese co-production about Operation Jaywick and Operation Rimau by Z Special Unit during World War II. The same story inspired the TV mini-series ''The Heroes (mini-series), Heroes'' (1988) and ''Heroes II: The Return'' (1991). Plot During World War II, a team of Australian soldiers from Z Special Unit, including Ivan Lyon and Robert Page, successfully lead an expedition to destroy ships in Singapore harbour, Operation Jaywick. An attempt to duplicate this success, Operation Rimau, ends in disaster, with the team either killed or captured. These soldiers are interrogated by the Japanese in Singapore, with Page forming a friendship with Minoru Tamiya. Eventually all the Australians are convicted of war crimes and executed. Cast *John Howard (Australian actor), John Howard as Capt. Robert Page (soldier), Robert Page *Atsuo Nakamura as Minoru Tamiya *Stuart Wilson (actor), Stuart Wilson as Lt. Col. Ivan Lyon *Steve Bisley as A.B. W.G. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Maxwell
Peter Maxwell (23 January 1921 – 5 April 2013) born as Peter Magitai, was a British, and later Australian film director, director and screenwriter of television and film. Biography He was born in Vienna, Austria, to newspaper journalist Leo Magatai and wife Johanna, his family fled Vienna in the 1930s, and he changed his surname to enter the British Army, and after having been posted to India, returned to Britain to work as an assistant director to Alexander Korda in 1949, he worked briefly in Australia in the early 1960s, before returning to England. In 1967 he emigrated to Australia permanently, where he directed such films as ''Country Town'' and television series including ''Bellbird (TV series), Bellbird'', ''Riptide (Australian TV series), Rip Tide'' and ''A Country Practice''. Selected filmography * ''Blind Spot (1958 film), Blind Spot'' (1958) * ''The Desperate Man'' (1959) * ''The Ghost Train Murder'' (1959) * ''The Long Shadow (1961 film), The Long Shadow'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Heroes (mini-series)
''The Heroes'' is a 1989 British/Australian mini-series on Operation Jaywick, a World War II special forces raid on Japanese shipping in Singapore harbour by the Australian Z Special Unit, based on Ronald McKie's 1960 book ''The Heroes''. Plot A British Army officer, Ivan Lyon, who is promoted to major and decorated for his bravery has the eccentric idea of commandeering a dilapidated old fishing boat and with a hand-picked team of commandos, sail it into Singapore and destroy the Japanese warships in the harbour. When Lyon receives the awful news that his wife and young son have been killed on board a ship bombed by the Japanese, his superiors feel that he is unhinged and refuse to consider his foolhardy plan. He eventually wins them over and the dangerous mission is put into action. "The Heroes" tells the absorbing true story of Operation Jaywick. Part One When the Japanese invade Singapore, Captain Ivan Lyon formerly of the Gordon Highlanders and currently working for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Cassell
Alan Louis Cassell (16 February 1932 – 30 August 2017) was an English Australian actor, on stage, film and television. Personal life Alan Cassell was born in Manchester, England but grew up in Birmingham. Cassell was of a young age when his mother was admitted to the Rubery Lunatic Asylum after she suffered brain damage following a visit to a dentist. It is believed the dentist had left the gas on for too long which caused the brain damage. Cassell worked as a motor trimmer in an Austin Motor Company car factory in Birmingham during the 1950s. He also did national service, although a senior officer convinced him not to enlist in the Korean War. After meeting a woman called Rosina, they married and in 1957 emigrated to Perth in Western Australia as "Ten Pound Poms", where he continued his work as a motor trimmer before moving to the sales department. From 1983, Cassell lived in Victoria. He was a prominent member of the Save Albert Park movement, after it was first propose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slim DeGrey
Clifford Frank de Grey (20 May 1918 – 16 March 2007), better known as Slim De Grey, was an English-Australian actor, compere, musician, lyricist, composer and comedian. He served in the Australian Army during World War II, seeing action in the Malayan campaign with the 2/10th Field Ambulance, part of the 8th Division of the Second Australian Imperial Force. He became a POW at the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 and was imprisoned in Changi Prison until the end of the war. While at Changi he composed, presented and produced shows. His television roles included ''Young Ramsay'', '' Bellamy'' and '' Skippy the Bush Kangaroo''. He was married to Christina de Grey and they had two sons: Calvin, an actor (1957-2008); and Darrell. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Mo Awards. Select film credits *''They're a Weird Mob'' (1966) *''Wake in Fright'' (1971) *''Stone'' (1974) *''Newsfront'' (1978) *''Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles'' (2001) * ''Changi'' (2001-TV mini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garry Waddell
Gary Waddell is an Australian actor. He was nominated for the 2012 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in ''The King is Dead!'' and for an AFI award for his role in 1975 film ''Pure Shit''. Filmography TV *'' Old School'' (2014) TV series - Ken (1 episode) *'' Killing Time'' (2011) TV series - Anthony Farrell (1 episode) *''City Homicide'' (2011) TV series - Bruno Lilley (1 episode) *'' Rake'' (2010–16) TV series - Epis / Harley (3 episodes) *'' A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne'' (2009) TV movie - Mick Bruvette *'' Scorched'' (2008) TV movie - Nick *''Home and Away'' (2007–09) TV series - Terry Mitchell (4 episodes) *''Chandon Pictures'' (2007) TV series - Dean (2 episodes) *'' Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback'' (2007) TV movie - Vince *''Two Twisted'' (2006) TV mini series - Jimmy Kitchen (1 episode) *''Bad Cop, Bad Cop'' (2002) TV series - Steve McClure (2 episodes) *'' All Saints'' (2001) TV series - Macca (1 episode) *''SeaChange'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Hopkins (actor)
Harold Douglas Hopkins (6 March 194411 December 2011) was an Australian film and television actor. Early life Hopkins was born in 1944 in Toowoomba, Queensland. He attended Toowoomba Grammar School as a day boy in 1958 and 1959. During the 1960s, he worked as an apprentice carpenter, and was exposed to asbestos fibres without protective masks or clothing. He and his twin brother John enrolled at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney, with Harold graduating in 1967. Harold Hopkins married twice. His second marriage was to Sue Collie, an actress he met in Melbourne in 1977, while starring in the original stage production of David Williamson's '' The Club'' at the MTC. Career Hopkins appeared in 16 films over the course of his career, including classic Australian films ''Don's Party'', ''The Picture Show Man'' and ''Gallipoli''. He was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award in 1981 for his supporting role in '' The Club''. Hopkins also appeared in more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Ley (actor)
John Ley (4 February 1583 – 16 May 1662) was an English clergyman and member of the Westminster Assembly. Life He was born in Warwick and received his early education at the free school in that town. On 12 February 1602, he entered Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated B.A. (23 October 1605) and M.A. (30 May 1606). Taking holy orders he was presented to the vicarage of Great Budworth, Cheshire, in 1616. He subsequently became sub-dean of Chester and Friday lecturer in St. Peter's Church in the same city, and in 1627 was made a prebendary of Chester Cathedral. At the outbreak of the First English Civil War between Charles I and the parliament he sided with the latter, came to occupy an important place in their ecclesiastical arrangements, and was an energetic pamphleteer. In 1643 he took the solemn league and covenant, was appointed a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and regularly attended its sessions. He was made examiner in Latin to the Assembly, and chairman of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Bonner
Anthony Frederick Bonner (born 23 November 1943) is an Australian television, film and stage actor and singer. Bonner became famous in the 1960s children's television series '' Skippy the Bush Kangaroo'', later moving on to lead roles in the dramas ''Cop Shop'' and ''Skyways''. Early life Bonner was born in Manly, a northern beach suburb of Sydney. His grandfather, James Bonner, was a former Mayor of Manly and founding President of the Manly Life Saving Club. His father, Frederick Bonner, was a musical comedy actor at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney. After leaving school he started work for a company supplying mannequins and other equipment for window dressing. He also worked part-time in his father's theatre as a wardrobe attendant, fostering his interest in acting. Career Acting Bonner's first professional stage acting job was in 1961, aged 18. His first major role was as helicopter pilot Jerry King on the television series '' Skippy''. Bonner went on to appear in many Cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Mallaby (actor)
George Mallaby (4 November 1939 – 12 July 2004) was an English-born actor and screenwriter, best known for his roles in television in Australia and in his latter career in his native England. Life Mallaby was born in Hartlepool, United Kingdom, and moved to Australia with his parents when he was 16. His father was a policeman. Mallaby's first jobs were signwriting and crayfishing. He was married to Ruth Bass in 1968 and they divorced in 1975. He suffered a stroke in 1994, and subsequently used a wheelchair. He died of congestive heart failure in 2004. He was survived by his widow Lenice, sons Guy and Luke, and daughter Kirsti from his first marriage. Career Mallaby made his acting debut at the Adelaide Festival of Arts, but soon obtained TV roles in Melbourne. He played Detective Peter Barnes in the crime series ''Homicide'' in episodes 131 to 395 from 1967 to 1973, representing more than half the series run.Juddery (2004) p. 40) Along with Alwyn Kurts, Leonard Teale and N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Aitkens
Michael Aitkens (born 1947) is a British actor and writer of drama scripts for movies, television and stage. His BBC situation comedy '' Waiting for God'', first shown in 1990, was BAFTA nominated. Michael Aitkens was educated at Haileybury in England. He then lived in Australia for ten years and Los Angeles, United States, for two years, graduating from the AFI Conservatory (Los Angeles) in 1981. In the mid-1980s, Aitkens featured in the Australian children's television series ''The Henderson Kids'' as Walter Mullens, the long lost father of Tam and Steve Henderson. More than 150 of his scripts have been produced in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. He now lives in London, where he works as a writer/producer, mainly of his own original series, and formed an independent production company, DAISYLU. He is also an occasional humorous newspaper columnist. He has been a core writer for ''Midsomer Murders'' since 2006. Filmography Film * ''The Man Who Shot the Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivan Lyon
Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon, (17 August 1915 – 16 October 1944) was a British soldier and military intelligence agent during the Second World War. As a member of Z Special Unit Lyon took part in a number of commando operations against the Japanese and was killed during Operation Rimau while attempting to infiltrate Singapore harbour and destroy Japanese shipping there in 1944. Early life Born on 17 August 1915, Lyon was the second son of Brigadier General Francis Lyon, Royal Artillery, a senior British Army general staff officer during the First World War and the grandson of Colonel Francis Lyon, Royal Horse Artillery, who had fought in the Indian Mutiny. He was educated at Harrow and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and in 1935 was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders before being posted to Singapore in 1936. While there, Lyon spent much of his spare time sailing around South East Asia. In 1939, he married Gabrielle Bouvier, the daughter of a French official in Fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart Wilson (actor)
Stuart Conan Wilson (born 25 December 1946) is an English actor of film, television, and stage who is best known for his villainous and supporting roles in popular films like ''Lethal Weapon 3, The Age of Innocence, No Escape, Death and the Maiden, The Mask of Zorro, Enemy of the State'', and ''Hot Fuzz''. Early life Wilson was born in Guildford, Surrey, to an RAF family, and consequently had a varied educational history, spending much of his early childhood in Rhodesia where his father worked as a mining engineer. Having moved to London, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After leaving RADA he played in theatres during the 1960s and 1970s. He has played major roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre, London's West End, regional, touring and many Fringe productions, most particularly at London's Bush Theatre. Career Wilson's first break was when he was chosen for the leading role of Johann Strauss II in the 1972 ITV costume drama ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
