Venus Observed
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Venus Observed
''Venus Observed'' is a play in blank verse by the English dramatist and poet Christopher Fry. The play concerns a Duke who decides to remarry for a third time. He gets his son Edgar to pick the bride. The Duke likes Perpetua but Edgar wants her for himself. Productions It was first performed on 18 January 1950 at the St James's Theatre, London, and ran for 229 performances with the following cast: *The Duke of Altair – Laurence Olivier *Edgar, his son – Denholm Elliott *Herbert Reedbeck, his agent – George Relph *Dominic, Reedbeck's son – Robert Beaumont *Rosabel Fleming – Valerie Taylor *Jessie Dill – Brenda de Banzie *Captain Fox Reddleman, the Duke's butler – Fred Johnson *Bates, the Duke's footman – Thomas Heathcote *Hilda Taylor-Snell – Rachel Kempson *Perpetua, Reedbeck's daughter – Heather Stannard *Director – Laurence Olivier *Set designer – Roger Furse *Composer – Herbert Menges *Costume designer – Margaret Furse Scenes: *Th ...
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Blank Verse
Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Paul Fussell has estimated that "about three quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse". The first known use of blank verse in English was by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in his translation of the '' Æneid'' (composed c. 1540; published posthumously, 1554–1557). He may have been inspired by the Latin original since classical Latin verse did not use rhyme, or possibly he was inspired by Ancient Greek verse or the Italian verse form of '' versi sciolti'', both of which also did not use rhyme. The play ''Arden of Faversham'' (around 1590 by an unknown author) is a notable example of end-stopped blank verse. History of English blank verse The 1561 play '' Gorboduc'' by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville was the first English pla ...
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Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play ''French Without Tears'', in what was his breakthrough role. He won his first Tony Award for his performance as Henry VIII in the play ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' in 1949. He won his second Tony for the role of Professor Henry Higgins in the stage production of ''My Fair Lady'' in 1957. In addition to his stage career, Harrison also appeared in numerous films. His first starring role was opposite Vivien Leigh in the romantic comedy '' Storm in a Teacup'' (1937). Receiving critical acclaim for his performance in ''Major Barbara'' (1941), which was shot in London during the Blitz, his roles since then included '' Blithe Spirit'' (1945), '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1946), ''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'' (1947), ''Cleopatra'' (1963), ''My Fair Lady'' (1964), reprising his ...
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IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical reviews. IMDb began as a fan-operated movie database on the Usenet group "rec.arts.movies" in 1990, and moved to the Web in 1993. It is now owned and operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon. the database contained some million titles (including television episodes) and million person records. Additionally, the site had 83 million registered users. The site's message boards were disabled in February 2017. Features The title and talent ''pages'' of IMDb are accessible to all users, but only registered and logged-in users can submit new material and suggest edits to existing entries. Most of the site's data has been provided by these volunteers. Registered users with a prov ...
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The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia and "the most widely-read masthead in the country." The newspaper is published in compact print form from Monday to Saturday as ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and on Sunday as its sister newspaper, '' The Sun-Herald'' and digitally as an online site and app, seven days a week. It is considered a newspaper of record for Australia. The print edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' is available for purchase from many retail outlets throughout the Sydney metropolitan area, most parts of regional New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland. Overview ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' publishes a variety of supplements, including the magazines ''Good Weekend'' (included in the Saturday edition of ''Th ...
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Gwen Plumb
Gwendoline Jean Plumb AM BEM (2 August 1912 – 5 June 2002), was an Australian performer of international appeal, actress and comedian active in literally every form of the art genre, (except circus) including revue, pantomime, vaudeville, interviewing, stage, radio, game shows, live appearances, television soap opera and mini-series and made-for-TV film. She was considered the Grand Dame of Australian entertainment, best known to local and international audiences in serial ''The Young Doctors'' as gossip Ada Simmonds, the ill-fated '' Richmond Hill'' as Mum Foote and the pilot of ''Home and Away'' as Doris Peters. Career Gwen started her career in 1930, with the Gwen Meredith drama club, she had her first well-known role as Emmie in the longest-running Australian radio serial '' Blue Hills'', and hosted a radio program on Australia's Macquarie Radio Network from 1945 to 1974. She also had a radio show in Sydney opposite Gordon Chater. She was well known for her celebrity i ...
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Walter Sullivan (actor)
Walter Sullivan was an Australian actor, journalist and reviewer who worked extensively in radio, film, TV and theatre, over a career spanning 6 decades, he's stage and screen career spanning from 1948 and 1997 Select Credits *''The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day'' (1960) *'' Venus Observed'' (1960) *'' Stormy Petrel'' (1960) *'' Ballad for One Gun'' (1963) *'' A Dead Secret'' (1963) *''Scobie Malone'' (1975) *''Cop Shop'' *''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1988, voice) References External linksWalter Sullivanat IMDbWalter Sullivanat Ausstage AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ... Australian male actors {{Australia-actor-stub ...
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The Argus (Melbourne)
''The Argus'' was an Australian daily morning newspaper in Melbourne from 2 June 1846 to 19 January 1957, and was considered to be the general Australian newspaper of record for this period. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left-leaning approach from 1949. ''The Argus''s main competitor was David Syme's more liberal-minded newspaper, ''The Age''. History The newspaper was originally owned by William Kerr, who was also Melbourne's town clerk from 1851–1856 and had been a journalist at the ''Sydney Gazette'' before moving to Melbourne in 1839 to work on John Pascoe Fawkner's newspaper, the '' Port Phillip Patriot''. The first edition was published on 2 June 1846. The paper soon became known for its scurrilous abuse and sarcasm, and by 1853, after he had lost a series of libel lawsuits, Kerr was forced to sell the paper's ownership to avoid financial ruin. The paper was then published by Edward Wilson. By 1855, it had a daily c ...
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The Canberra Times
''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1926 by Thomas Shakespeare along with his oldest son Arthur Shakespeare and two younger sons Christopher and James. The newspaper's headquarters were originally located in the Civic retail precinct, in Cooyong Street and Mort Street, in blocks bought by Thomas Shakespeare in the first sale of Canberra leases in 1924. The newspaper's first issue was published on 3 September 1926. It was the second paper to be printed in the city, the first being ''The Federal Capital Pioneer''. Between September 1926 and February 1928, the newspaper was a weekly issue. The first daily issue was 28 February 1928. In June 1956, ''The Canberra Times'' converted from broadsheet to tabloid format. Arthur Shakespeare sold the paper to John Fairfax Lt ...
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Alan Burke (director)
Alan Burke (18 November 1923 – 28 August 2007) was an Australian writer and film director and producer. His credits include the musical ''Lola Montez''. Biography Burke was born in the Hawthorn suburb of Melbourne, Victoria in 1923. Burke was interested in theatre from a young age and began writing plays. One of them ''Follow Suit'' debuted in 1941. According to ''The Argus'' "Alan is aged only 17 years, but has been turning out plays so prolifically for the past 4 or 5 years that he must now be reckoned a veteran playwright. Most surprising of all is that there's nothing "youthful" in his writings. Most of his efforts have had all the sophistication and wit of a Coward." He served in the army from 1941 until 1946. He did a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne where he was heavily involved in the dramatic society. In 1948 he became a member of the Old Vic Company when they were touring Australia. He worked with the Melbourne Little Theatre, notably with Frank Th ...
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Fanny Rowe
Frances Rowe (26 June 1913 – 31 August 1988) was an English stage, film and television actress. Early years Rowe was born in Preston, Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, the daughter of a parson, and educated at Channing School For Girls in Highgate and then went on to study at Newnham College, Cambridge, Newnham College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge. Stage Rowe's acting career started in the Marlowe Society, University of Cambridge, Cambridge. She then worked in repertory theatre at Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle, Coventry, Harrogate, Worthing, Dundee and Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor. She appeared in many theatrical productions both in London's West End theatre, West End and also in the USA. Her American stage debut was in ''Man and Superman''. In 1951 she was awarded the Clarence Derwent Award (her real name Frances Rowe is listed). She played the part of Alex Cornwall in ''Who Goes There! (play), Who Goes There!''. In 1955 she starred in the J.B. Priestley play ''Mr. ...
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John Robinson (English Actor)
John Robinson (11 November 1908 – 6 March 1979) was an English actor, who was particularly active in the theatre.Pixley, p. 18. Mostly cast in minor and supporting roles in film and television, he is best remembered for being the second actor to play the famous television science-fiction role of Professor Bernard Quatermass, in the 1955 BBC Television serial '' Quatermass II''. Biography Robinson was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. His first professional appearance came in his home city in 1929, at the Liverpool Playhouse. He appeared in a variety of stage productions in London throughout the 1930s. These included ''Black Limelight'' by Gordon Sherry at the Q Theatre in 1937, where his role as Peter Charrington was described by ''The Times'' newspaper's critic as "a skilful, reticent sketch". In 1939 he played Fortinbras in John Gielgud's production of ''Hamlet'', the final play to be performed at the Lyceum Theatre before its closure. He made his film debut in ...
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ITV Play Of The Week
''Play of the Week'' is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television. Synopsis From 1955 to 1967 approximately 500 episodes aired on ITV. The first production was ''Ten Minute Alibi'', produced by Associated-Rediffusion on 14 May 1956 while the earliest to survive is ''There Was a Young Lady'', transmitted on 23 July 1956 and was telerecorded (film recorded). The first production not to be transmitted live was Henrik Ibsen's ''The Wild Duck'' which was also film recorded. The first to be pre-recorded on videotape was ''Mary Broome'', a Granada production broadcast on 3 September 1958. Subsequently, only one play was transmitted live, Associated-Rediffusion's ''Search Party'' on 26 July 1960. The recording of ''The Liberty Man'', a Granada production broadcast on 1 October 1958, contains the original advertisements during the first commercial break. ''The Viole ...
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