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The Comedy Man
''The Comedy Man'' is a 1964 British kitchen sink realism drama film directed by Alvin Rakoff and starring Kenneth More, Cecil Parker, Dennis Price and Billie Whitelaw. It depicts the life of a struggling actor in Swinging London. More later said that when he read the script he "was profoundly struck by its relevance to my own life, and to the lives of so many actors I had known." The film was shot in 1962 but not released until two years later. It received limited distribution, being released on a double bill with ''Lord of the Flies'' (1963). Plot Sacked from his job in provincial rep, actor Chick Byrd moves into digs in London with Julian, a fellow actor. Julian's career soars after a successful screen test, but Chick's meets with continued failure. After the suicide of an actor friend, Jack Lavery, Chick is informed by his widow that just after Jack's death he was offered a job by Tommy Morris, an agent. Chick contacts Tommy and takes Jack's job for a TV commercial. Chic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvin Rakoff
Alvin Rakoff (born Abraham Rakoff; February 6, 1927) is a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He has worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner. He gave Sean Connery his first leading role when he was an unknown extra, and gave Alan Rickman his first job when he was a drama student. Other actors he worked with early in their careers include Michael Crawford, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Caine. Early life Rakoff's mother came from Rovno in Ukraine; his father was from Voronezh in Russia. His parents, secular Jews, met in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the third of seven children. His parents had a shop in Kensington Market. After graduation from the University of Toronto, he became a journalist and began writing for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's nascent television service. He was seconded by the CBC to visit "the country where TV first started - Englan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Screen Test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable. The developed film is later evaluated by the relevant production personnel such as the casting director and the director. The actor may be asked to bring a prepared monologue or alternatively, the actor may be given a script to read at sight ("cold reading"). In some cases, the actor may be asked to read a scene, in which another performer reads the lines of another character. Types Screen tests can also be used to judge the suitability of costume, make-up and other details, but these are generally called costume or make-up tests. Different types of actors can have different tasks for each individual test. For example, a lead for a musical theater-type movie could be requested to sing a popular song or lear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naomi Chance
Naomi Chance (born Naomi Freeman, December 1927 – 18 March 2003) was an English film and television actress. Chance was at one time married to the film director Guy Hamilton. She appeared in many television shows, including The Plane Makers, (Joyce Pender); five times in Compact, (Harriet Stone); The Newcomers (Amelia Huntley); once in each of the 1970s television shows, The Sweeney, (Miss. Fay Mayhew); Within These Walls, (Jean Betts); The Hanged Man; (Jane Cowley), and many others, from the 1950s onwards. Filmography Personal life Chance married director Guy Hamilton Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films. Early life Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, wh ... in 1953; they later divorced (Hamilton remarried in 1964).— McFarlane, B. (2020, January 09). Hamilton, (Mervyn Ian) Guy (1922–2016), film director. Oxfo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penny Morrell
Penny Morrell (4 February 1938 – 3 January 2020) was a British actress. She was married to the actor George Cole until his death in 2015. Death Penny Morrell died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Berkshire, England on 3 January 2020, aged 81. She is survived by her children Tara and Toby and her grandchildren Harry, Amelia and Thomas. Selected filmography *'' Reach for the Sky'' (1956) *'' Brothers in Law'' (1957) *''Lucky Jim'' (1957) *''The Bulldog Breed'' (1960) *''Make Mine Mink'' (1960) *'' Too Hot to Handle'' (1960) *'' Out of the Fog'' (1962) *'' Mrs. Gibbons' Boys'' (1962) *''A Matter of Choice'' (1963) *''The Wild Affair'' (1963) *'' A Stitch in Time'' (1963) *''The Comedy Man'' (1964) *'' Smokescreen'' (1964) *''The Early Bird'' (1965) *''The End of the Affair'' (1999) Television credits (partial) *''Minder'' - Daphne Mount *''An Independent Man'' - Mrs Bamford *''EastEnders'' *'' Heartbeat'' - Mrs. Roberts *''ChuckleVision'' - Lettice / Fairy Godmother *''Bramwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Goodwin (English Actor)
Harold Goodwin (22 October 1917 – 3 June 2004) was an English actor born in Wombwell, South Yorkshire, England. Acting career Goodwin trained at RADA and was a stage actor at Liverpool repertory theatre for 3 years. He appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s and 1960s, usually playing 'flat cap'-wearing working class characters from Northern England or low ranks in the military. He had significant parts in the war films '' The Dam Busters'' (playing Guy Gibson's batman, 'Crosby'), ''Bridge on the River Kwai'' and '' The Longest Day.'' He can also be seen in films such as '' The Ladykillers'', ''Sea of Sand'', '' Angels One Five'' and '' The Cruel Sea'' (in which he was the ASDIC operator). Goodwin made hundreds of appearances in British television programmes such as ''Minder'' (as ''Dunning'', episode '' Get Daley!'', 1984)'' and a notable role in '' All Creatures Great and Small''. Goodwin was a 'staple' of the popular 1980s sitcom, '' That's My Boy''. His last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacqueline Hill
Grace Jacqueline Hill (17 December 1929 – 18 February 1993)Obituary cuttingsarchive.org; accessed 21 February 2016. was a British actress known for her role as Barbara Wright in the television series ''''. As the history teacher of |
Gerald Campion
Gerald Theron Campion (23 April 1921 – 9 July 2002) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his role as Billy Bunter in a 1950s television adaptation ('' Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School'') of books by Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton). Biography His father Cyril Theron Campion (1894–1961) – a playwright and screenwriter – and Blanche Louise Tunstall née Bear (1890–1933) – a cousin-german of Charlie Chaplin – married in 1920 in London. Campion was born in Bloomsbury, London, an only child. He won a place at RADA at age 15, and appeared in numerous films and television programmes – mostly comedies. In 1937, he appeared in Tavs Neiiendam's radio play ''Inspiration to a Poet'' on the BBC Home Service. His only major success was as Bunter, a juvenile role he played successfully despite being much older than his character (he was 40 when the series ended). Campion later reprised the role (now Lord Bunter of Hove, who had succeeded in betting shops a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Dobie
Alan Russell Dobie (born 2 June 1932) is an English stage, television and film actor and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Early life and career Dobie was born in Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to George Russell and Sarah Kate (née Charlesworth) Dobie. His father was a mining engineer and his mother's family were farmers. After attending Wath Grammar School, Dobie trained at the London Old Vic Theatre School and has performed in more than 117 productions during his 50+ year acting career. Dobie made his stage debut when he played the Page to Paris, in Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' at the Old Vic Theatre, London, in 1952. In 1963 he played both God and Jesus in the open air, mainly amateur-cast York Mystery Plays, produced at that point triennially in the Yorkshire Museum Gardens. He made his Broadway debut as Corporal Hill in ''Chips with Everything'', at the Plymouth Theatre in 1963. Later career Dobie's stage roles in London's West ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''. In 1983, Finlay was directed by Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass in the erotic classic '' The Key'', with Stefania Sandrelli. His first leading television role came in 1971 in ''Casanova''. This led to appearances on '' The Morecambe and Wise Show''. He also appeared in the drama ''Bouquet of Barbed Wire''. Early life Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Josiah Finlay, and Margaret Finlay. He was educated at St Gregory the Great School, but left at 14 to train as a butcher at Toppings, gaining a City and Guilds Diploma in the trade. Stage career Finlay made his first stage appearances at the local Farnworth Little Theatre, in plays that included Peter Blackmore's ''Miranda'' in 1951. The current Little Theatre president, also in the cast of that ''Miranda'' pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Purdom
Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom (19 December 19241 January 2009) was an English actor, voice artist, and director. He worked first on stage in Britain, performing various works by Shakespeare, then in America on Broadway and in Hollywood, and eventually in Italy. He is perhaps best known for his starring role in 1954's historical epic ''The Egyptian''. By taking over important roles exited by Mario Lanza and Marlon Brando, Purdom was known by the mid-1950s as "The Replacement Star". After the failure of his Hollywood career, Purdom returned briefly to the United Kingdom and then settled in Italy, where he spent the remainder of his life appearing in local films. Between the 1970s and 1990s, he was a regular in European genre cinema, working with directors like Juan Piquer Simón, Joe D'Amato, Sergio Martino and Ruggero Deodato. His daughter, Lilan Purdom, became a journalist for French TV Channel TF1. She is the author of the book ''Hollywood Garage'', about her father's career. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angela Douglas
Angela Douglas (born 29 October 1940), born Angela McDonagh, is an English actress. Early life Douglas was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Career Douglas started acting as a teenager, joining the Worthing, West Sussex repertory company, before making her West End theatre debut in 1958. Douglas made an uncredited appearance as an audience member in the 1958 film version of Six-Five Special. She made her (non-speaking) film debut in 1959 in '' The Shakedown'', and then appeared with Tommy Steele in '' It's All Happening''. She is best remembered for her roles in several ''Carry On Films'' in the 1960s, including ''Carry On Cowboy'' (1965) as an all-singing and trigger-happy version of Annie Oakley. She then appeared in ''Carry On Screaming!'' (1966), ''Follow That Camel'' (1967) and ''Carry On Up the Khyber'' (1968). She has, by virtue of this association, appeared on many retrospective and spin-off programmes. Douglas made an appearance in North Wales in September 2005 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Rossington
Norman Rossington (24 December 1928 – 21 May 1999) was an English actor best remembered for his roles in ''The Army Game'', the ''Carry On'' films and the Beatles' film '' A Hard Day's Night''. Early life Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of a publican, Rossington was educated at Sefton Park Elementary School and Liverpool Technical College. He left education at the age of 14. After that he lived a rather aimless adolescent life as messenger, office boy at Liverpool Docks and apprentice joiner.Obituary for Norman Rossington '''', 22 May 1999 He did his |
