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The Divine Spark
''The Divine Spark'' is a 1935 British musical film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Marta Eggerth, Phillips Holmes, Benita Hume and Donald Calthrop. An Italian-language version '' Casta Diva'' was shot simultaneously. Both films were made at the Tirrenia Studios in Italy. Cast * Marta Eggerth as Maddalena Fumaroli * Phillips Holmes as Vincenzo Bellini * Benita Hume as Giuditta Pasta * Donald Calthrop as Judge Fumaroli * Arthur Margetson as Ernesto Tosi * Edmund Breon as Gioacchino Rossini * Basil Gill as Romanie * Hugh Miller as Niccolo Paganini * Edward Chapman as Saverio Mercadante * John Clements as Fiorino * John Deverell as King * Felix Aylmer as Butler * Peter Gawthorne as Felice Romani Giuseppe Felice Romani (31 January 178828 January 1865) was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist betwe ... References External li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmine Gallone
Carmine Gallone (10 September 1885 – 11 March 1973) was an early Italian film director, screenwriter, and film producer, who was also controversial for his works of pro-Fascist propaganda and historical revisionism. Considered one of Italian cinema's leading early directors, he directed over 120 films in his fifty-year career between 1913 and 1963. Life and career Carmine Gallone was born as Carmelo Camillo Gallone on 10 September 1885 in Taggia (in the province of Imperia), but grew up in Naples. His father was Italian, from Sorrento, and his mother was French, from Nice.G. Martini, ''Patchwork: 100 anni di cinema in Italia : un viaggio attraverso le regioni'', Finzioni, 1997, p. 168 He began writing plays at 15 and in 1911 won first prize at a national drama competition for his drama ''Brittanico''. He later moved to Rome where in 1912 he was hired as a general worker by the Teatro Argentina company, all the while continuing to write plays. In the same year he had his f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giuseppe Verdi "praised the broad curves of Bellini's melody: 'there are extremely long melodies as no-one else had ever made before'." A large amount of what is known about Bellini's life and his activities comes from surviving letters—except for a short period—which were written over his lifetime to his friend Francesco Florimo, whom he had met as a fellow student in Naples and with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. Other sources of information come from correspondence saved by other friends and business acquaintances. Bellini was the quintessential composer of the Italian ''bel canto'' era of the early 19th century, and his work has been summed up by the London critic Tim Ashley as: ... also hugely influential, as much adm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Gawthorne
Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-upon supporting actors during this period. Early life and career He was born in 1884 in Queen's County (now County Laois) in Ireland, but spent most of his career in England. After two years at the ''Academy of Dramatic Art'', Gawthorne began a career on the London stage, eventually running up over twenty years experience there. His debut was in 1906, a walk-on part at His Majesty's Theatre, London. He was featured in the role of Albany Pope, receiving good notices, in the hit musical '' The Boy'' in 1917.Findon, B.W. (ed.) "''The Boy''", ''The Play Pictorial'', No. 186, Vol. XXXI, 1917, pp. 33–35 He also studied singing. He then toured Australia, South Africa and America, making his film debut in Hollywood before returning to Britain, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Aylmer
Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby. Early life Felix Aylmer was born in Corsham, Wiltshire, the son of Lilian (Cookworthy) and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Aylmer Jones. He was educated at King James's Grammar School, Almondbury, near Huddersfield, where he was a boarder from 1897 to 1900, Magdalen College School, and Exeter College, Oxford, where he was a member of Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS). He trained under the Victorian-era actress and director Rosina Filippi before securing his first professional engagement at the London Coliseum in 1911. He appeared in the world premiere of ''The Farmer's Wife'' by Eden Phillpotts at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1917. Between 1917 and 1919 he served as a junior officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (R.N.V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Deverell
John Deverell (30 May 1880 in London, England – 2 March 1965 in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England) was a British actor. Selected filmography * '' John Forrest Finds Himself'' (1920) – The Hon. Vere Blair * '' Children of Chance'' (1930) – Harold *Alibi (1931) – Lord Halliford *A Night in Montmartre (1932) – cast member * '' Monte Carlo Madness'' (1932) – Consul * ''Above Rubies'' (1932) – Lord Middlehurst *The Path of Glory (1934) – Paul * '' The King of Paris'' (1934) – Bertrand *''The Divine Spark'' (1935) – the King *'' Marry the Girl'' (1935) – Judge *'' They Didn't Know'' (1936) – Lord Budmarsh * Get off My Foot (1936) – cast memberBecause of Love(original title-''Everything in Life)'' (1936) – John * ''The Girl in the Taxi'' (1937) – Emile Pomerell * The Street Singer (1937) – James the butler *''Incident in Shanghai'' (1938) – Weepie * I've Got a Horse (1938) – JudgeLarry the Lamb(1947 TV Movie) – The Inventor * The Calendar (1948) – rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Clements (actor)
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE (25 April 1910 – 6 April 1988) was a British actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film. Biography Theatre career Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge. He made his first professional appearance on the stage in 1930, then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. In 1935 Clements founded the Intimate Theatre, a combined repertory and try-out venue, at Palmers Green. He appeared in almost 200 plays and also presented a number of plays in the West End as actor-manager-producer. Clements married the actress Kay Hammond and together they had a critical success with their West End revival of Noël Coward's play ''Private Lives'' in 1945. In 1952 they both appeared in Clements's own play ''The Happy Marriage'', an adaptation of Jean Bernard-Luc's '. Clements starred as Edward Moulton Barrett in the musical ''Robert and Elizabeth'', a successful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as prolific a number of works as either; and his development of operatic structures, melodic styles and orchestration contributed significantly to the foundations upon which Giuseppe Verdi built his dramatic technique. Biography Early years Mercadante was born illegitimate in Altamura, near Bari in Apulia; his precise date of birth has not been recorded, but he was baptised on 17 September 1795. Mercadante studied flute, violin and composition at the conservatory in Naples, and organized concerts among his compatriots.Michael Rose, "Mercadante: Flute Concertos", booklet accompanying the 2004 RCA CD recording with James Galway and I Solisti Veneti under Claudio Scimone. The opera composer Gioachino Rossini sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Chapman (actor)
Edward Chapman (13 October 1901 – 9 August 1977) was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. William Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s. Life and career Chapman was born in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire, and was the uncle of actor/screenwriter John Chapman and actor Paul Chapman. On leaving school he became a bank clerk, but later began his stage career with the Ben Greet Players in June 1924 at the Nottingham Repertory Theatre, playing Gecko in George du Maurier's ''Trilby''. He made his first London stage appearance at the Court Theatre in August 1925 playing the Rev Septimus Tudor in ''The Farmer's Wife''. Among dozens of stage roles that followed, he played Bonaparte to Margaret Rawlings's Josephine in ''Napoleon'' at the Embassy Theatre in September 1934. In 1928 he attracted the attention of Alfr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Miller (actor)
Hugh Miller (22 May 18891 November 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He was instrumental in founding the original LondoFilm Societyin 1925, but left soon afterwards to work in America. He found success on Broadway, as Mr. Jingle in '' Pickwick'' in 1927; and in Hollywood, in the Gloria Swanson film ''The Love of Sunya'', that same year. Miller was cast as dialogue coach for ''Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962), and was mentor to actor Peter O'Toole from early in his career, and recommended Miller to Lean. Miller, who was one of several members of a David Lean film crew to be given bit parts, was hired again as dialogue coach in ''Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), his last screen effort before his death in 1976. Miller married Olga Katzin, a satirical poet who published under the name Sagittarius, in 1921; they had three children. Filmography * ''In His Grip'' (1921) as Alec Vicars (film debut) * ''The Puppet Man'' (1921) as Alcide le Beau * ''Darkness'' (1923) as Keever * ''Bonnie Prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Gill
Basil Gill (10 March 1877 – 23 April 1955) was a British stage actor and film actor. His stage career included many roles in plays of Shakespeare. Life He was a son of the Rev. John Gill, of Cambridge.Obituary, ''The Glasgow Herald'', page 9, 25 April 1955. His first stage appearance, in Bury, Lancashire in 1897, was in '' The Sign of the Cross'' (Wilson Barrett's most successful play); the following year he appeared in this play in London. He then toured Australia and the USA with ''The Sign of the Cross'' and '' Ben-Hur''. In 1903 he joined Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company at His Majesty's Theatre, London, and appeared in plays of Shakespeare, playing several important roles. He left the company in 1907. He continued to perform, into the 1930s, in Shakespeare's plays during his career. As well as being a Shakespearean actor, he was regarded as a matinée idol and played romantic parts in modern plays. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity. Born in Pesaro to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother a singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of 12 and was educated at music school in Bologna. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823 he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, Ferrara, Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an almost formulaic approach for some components (such as overtures) and a certain amount of self-borrowing. Durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
