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Waldorf Salad (Fawlty Towers)
"Waldorf Salad" is the third episode of the second series of the BBC sitcom '' Fawlty Towers''. Directed by Bob Spiers, it first aired on 5 March 1979. Plot Dinner is exceptionally busy at the hotel, and the guests complain to Sybil about the quality of the service. However, when Basil checks with the guests, they do not mention their complaints. As service winds down, a new couple arrives, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton; while Mrs. Hamilton is British, her husband is American, and runs a list of complaints about their travels from London compared with the United States. Because of their late arrival, Mr. Hamilton asks Basil to bribe the cook to keep the kitchen open so they can have a meal after they have unpacked. Basil tries to trick Terry the chef with only half of what Mr. Hamilton gave him. Terry agrees, but claims it will cause him to miss a karate class, but then Polly reveals that she, Terry, Manuel, and Terry's Finnish girlfriend were to have a night out. Irritated by Terry's fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fawlty Towers
''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the ''Radio Times''.Mattha Busby, 9 April 2019"Fawlty Towers named greatest ever British TV sitcom" ''The Guardian'', Retrieved 24 May 2019 The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the English Riviera. The plots centre on the tense, rude and put-upon owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese), his bossy wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), the sensible chambermaid Polly (Booth) who often is the peacemaker and voice of reason, and the hapless and English-challenged Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). They show their attempts to run the hotel amidst far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prunella Scales
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a BAFTA award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in '' A Question of Attribution'' (''Screen One'', BBC 1991) by Alan Bennett, and for the documentary series '' Great Canal Journeys'' (2014–2021), travelling on canal barges and narrowboats with her husband, fellow actor Timothy West. Early life Scales was born in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, the daughter of Catherine (''née'' Scales), an actress, and John Richardson Illingworth, a cotton salesman. She attended Moira House Girls' School, Eastbourne. She had a younger brother, Timothy "Timmo" Illingworth (1934–2017). In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Scales's parents moved with their children to Bucks Mill near Bideford in Devon. Scales herself and her brother were evacua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Ellis
June Georgina Ellis Bromly (3 June 1926 – 26 June 2011) was an English film and television actress. She was married to director Alan Bromly (1915–1995). Filmography Film roles * ''The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp'' (1954) - Sally * ''Sky West and Crooked'' (1965) - Mrs. Cheeseman * ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967) - Blonde * ''Ring of Bright Water'' (1969) - Barmaid * ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969) - Bess * ''Frenzy'' (1972) - Maisie - Barmaid (uncredited) * ''Yanks'' (1979) - Mrs. Shenton * ''Hot Moves'' (1985) - Old Lady in Park * '' The Girl in a Swing'' (1988) - Lady at Auction * '' Getting It Right'' (1989) - Mrs. Wagstaffe * ''Younger and Younger'' (1993) - Auntie E Television roles * ''The Prisoner'' (1967) - Number Forty-eight (''A Change of Mind'') * ''Paul Temple'' (1969–1970) - Kate Balfour * ''Porridge'' (1974) - Isobel Fletcher * ''Poldark'' (1977) - Lady Whitworth * '' All Creatures Great and Small'' (1978–1989) - Mrs Mason / Mrs. Bellerby * ''Fawlty T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Boa
Andrew Bruce Boa (10 July 1930 – 17 April 2004) was a Canadian actor, who found success playing the token American in British films and television, usually playing military types. Boa's most recognizable film role is in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) as General Rieekan. On television, his most notable role is probably as the brash and rude American guest, Mr. Harry Hamilton, in the ''Fawlty Towers'' episode "Waldorf Salad". Early life Bruce Boa was born on 10 July 1930 in Calgary, Alberta, the second of three children of Ila (née Phinn) and Andrew Boa, a clergyman. His older sister was Jungian analyst and author Marion Woodman, and his younger brother was Fraser Boa, also a Jungian analyst, who died in 1992. Boa attended the University of Western Ontario, graduating in 1952 with a degree in theology, then spent a brief period playing professional football for the Calgary Stampeders in 1952. After travelling through Europe, he began his acting career in England in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Bird
John George Norman Bird (30 October 1924 – 22 April 2005) was an English character actor. Early life Bird was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, England. A RADA graduate, he made his West End theatre, West End debut in Peter Brook's production of ''The Winter's Tale'' at the Phoenix Theatre in 1951. He was also a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company."Radio and audio book companies", in Lloyd Trott, ed., ''Actors and Performers Yearbook 2016'', pp. 353-354 His first film appearance was as the foreman in ''An Inspector Calls'' (1954). Film career He was a familiar face to British cinema audiences of the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in nearly 50 films such as ''The Angry Silence'' (1960), ''The League of Gentlemen (film), The League of Gentlemen'' (1960), ''Whistle Down the Wind (film), Whistle Down the Wind'' (1961), ''Victim (1961 film), Victim'' (1961) and ''Term of Trial'' (1962) with Laurence Olivier and The Hill (film), The Hill with Sean Connery (1965). Television a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renee Roberts
Irene Roberts (24 September 1908 – 6 February 1996) better known by her professional name Renee Roberts was an English actress who is best remembered for her portrayal of Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby, Miss Ursula Gatsby in ''Fawlty Towers'' in both series in 1975 and 1979. She made numerous television appearances in Britain, starting in the 1960s. Personal life She was married to the actor Ronald Frankau. Her daughter, Rosemary Frankau, was also an actress. References External links * 1908 births 1996 deaths English television actresses 20th-century British actresses British comedy actresses 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Frankau family {{England-tv-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miss Tibbs & Miss Gatsby
''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the ''Radio Times''.Mattha Busby, 9 April 2019"Fawlty Towers named greatest ever British TV sitcom" ''The Guardian'', Retrieved 24 May 2019 The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the English Riviera. The plots centre on the tense, rude and put-upon owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese), his bossy wife Sybil ( Prunella Scales), the sensible chambermaid Polly (Booth) who often is the peacemaker and voice of reason, and the hapless and English-challenged Spanish waiter Manuel ( Andrew Sachs). They show their attempts to run the hotel amidst far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilly Flower
Gilly Flower (26 August 1908 – 17 February 2001) was an English actress and model, best remembered as the elderly Miss Abitha Tibbs in the BBC sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Flower played Miss Tibbs in all twelve episodes of the show, which was produced in two six-episode series separated by a three-and-a-half-year interval. A native of London, Flower had her first film role in 1932 and, with the advent of television in Britain, she found a new outlet for her talents, continuing to appear in such programmes as ''Z-Cars'', ''Steptoe and Son'' and ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' is a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role. It is based on a series of novels written by David Nobbs and produced from 1976 to 1979. Nobbs adapted the screenplay for the first series ...''. Early in her career, Flower was also a model and seven portrait photographs taken by Bassano, in which she is modelling hats from Kembray, may to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Hall (actor)
Brian Charles Hall (20 November 1937 – 17 September 1997) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his role as hotel chef Terry Hughes in the British sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Career Hall played many hard-boiled tough guy Cockney roles: his role as the amiable chef Terry in ''Fawlty Towers'' was a casting against type. He played leading roles in police drama '' Softly, Softly: Taskforce'' (1971–72), crime drama '' McVicar'' (1980), and sitcom ''You Must Be The Husband'' (1987). He also had several guest-starring roles in '' The Professionals'', ''The Long Good Friday'', ''The Bill'', '' London's Burning'', '' The Sweeney'' and ''Minder'' in Series 1 episode ''You Gotta Have Friends''. He also played the Dad in Billy Webb's Amazing Story by Steve Attridge (1991 BBC)Billy Webb's Amazing Story, BBC Drama, by Steve Attridge Personal life Hall became friends with John Cleese when they appeared together in ''Fawlty Towers''. Some years after the series had finished, Clees ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Gowen
''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the ''Radio Times''.Mattha Busby, 9 April 2019"Fawlty Towers named greatest ever British TV sitcom" ''The Guardian'', Retrieved 24 May 2019 The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the English Riviera. The plots centre on the tense, rude and put-upon owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese), his bossy wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), the sensible chambermaid Polly (Booth) who often is the peacemaker and voice of reason, and the hapless and English-challenged Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). They show their attempts to run the hotel amidst farcic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballard Berkeley
Ballard Blascheck (6 August 1904 – 16 January 1988), known professionally as Ballard Berkeley, was an English actor of stage and screen. He is best remembered for playing Major Gowen in the British television sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Life and career The son of Joseph and Beatrice Blascheck, he was born in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He married Dorothy Long in 1929. During the 1930s he performed regularly in the so-called "quota quickies". One of his earliest roles was as the heroic lead in the 1937 film ''The Last Adventurers''. He served as a special constable with the Metropolitan Police during the Second World War, witnessing the Blitz at first hand, including the bombing of the Café de Paris nightclub. For his service he received the Defence Medal and the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal. He appeared in the film ''In Which We Serve'' (1942) and in the Hitchcock film ''Stage Fright'' (1950). He featured as Detective Inspector Berkeley in two episodes of Edgar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polly Sherman
Polly Sherman is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Played by Connie Booth, she is Fawlty Towers' long-suffering waitress and maid, hotel maid. Personality Polly is the hotel waitress during the series, and one of only four staff members seen there, the others being Manuel, Terry and short lived chef Kurt. Although she at one point claims to be employed part-time, she is shown working there as a maid, and is occasionally saddled with more duties than this, which she will often go along with for the extra money. Polly is, by far, the most sensible character in the series, and often stands as the voice of sanity during Basil's frequent escapades. However, she frequently finds herself embroiled in ridiculous masquerades (such as pretending to be the voice of Mr. Stubbs' secretary in "The Builders" or pretending that money Basil won on a horse was hers in "Communication Problems") owing to her immense loyalty towards Basil. She will usually take his side ove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
