|
Private's Progress
''Private's Progress'' is a 1956 British comedy film based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey. Plot During the Second World War, young undergraduate Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael), is conscripted into the British Army. Unlike his friend, Egan ( Peter Jones), Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone Barracks under Sgt. Sutton (William Hartnell) (Author Hackney spent the first year of his National Service at Maidstone Barracks). Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas). Most of the soldiers there are malingerers and drop-outs, with one of them Private Cox (Richard Attenborough) becoming his mentor in escaping work details and riding on the railway without a ticket. Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John And Roy Boulting
John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for their series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s. They produced many of their films through their own production company, Charter Film Productions, which they founded in 1937. Early life The twin brothers were born to Arthur Boulting and his wife Rosetta (Rose) ''née'' Bennett in Bray, Berkshire, England, on 21 December 1913. John was the elder by half an hour. John was named Joseph Edward John Boulting and Roy was named Alfred Fitzroy Clarence Boulting. Their elder brother Sydney Boulting became an actor and stage producer as Peter Cotes; he was the original director of ''The Mousetrap''. A younger brother, Guy, died aged eight. Both twins were educated at Reading School, where they formed a film society. They were extras in Ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invicta Park Barracks
Invicta Park Barracks is a military installation in Maidstone, Kent. History Maidstone Barracks Permanent barracks were first established in Maidstone as part of the British response to the threat of the French Revolution in 1797. Maidstone Barracks was a major cavalry barracks at a stationing point between London and the Kent coast (along which several more cavalry barracks were established in the 1790s). The barracks buildings were constructed of timber for speedy assembly, an approach taken at a number of other such establishments around the country hastily built (for both cavalry and infantry) at the start of the French Revolutionary Wars. At the time of its establishment, Maidstone Barracks served as the army's Cavalry Depot (for inducting and training new recruits). In 1832 the Cavalry Riding Establishment moved there from St John's Wood. The Riding Establishment had been set up in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars to encourage best practice in equitation: standardised regula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David King-Wood
David King-Wood (12 September 1913 – 3 September 2003) was a British actor. He was born in Tehran, Iran (then Persia), the youngest of four children. His father was William King Wood (CIE, CBE), Director of the Indo-European Telegraph Department and his mother was Daisy Adcock, daughter of Sir Hugh Adcock (who was once the physician to the Shah of Persia). He studied at Oxford University and was a keen member of OUDS (Oxford University Dramatic Society) appearing in ''The Radio Times'' in April 1936 whilst appearing as Richard II. David King-Wood (he apparently added the hyphen) appeared in British television and films during the 1950s. His Broadway credits include Friar Francis in ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1959) and Adam Hartley in ''The Hidden River'' (1957). His British theatre credits include ''Measure for Measure'' and ''Richard III'' for ''The Old Vic'', seasons with the ''Birmingham Repertory Company'', the '' Oxford Repertory Company'' and the Worthing Repertory C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sally Miles (actress)
Clarence Paul "Sally" Miles (June 21, 1879 – May 2, 1966) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college administrator. He served as the head football coach at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (VPI)—now known as Virginia Tech—from 1905 to 1906, compiling a record of 14–3–2. Miles also was the head baseball coach at VPI in 1908 and 1913. He served as the school's athletic director from 1920 to 1934. Known as "Mr. VPI," Miles spent nearly 59 years at Virginia Tech in a variety of capacities. His contributions have been recognized by the university by naming a playing field, a football stadium, Miles Stadium, that once stood directly behind the War Memorial Gym (where Payne Hall, Pedrew-Yates Hall, and New Residence Hall East, now stand), a professorship, and a building on the Virginia Tech campus in his honor. Miles died two weeks before the dedication of Clarence P. Miles Hall, a residence hall that houses 217 male ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Malleson
William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969) was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in ''The Brides of Dracula'' as the hypochondriac and fee-hungry local doctor. Malleson was also a writer on many films, including some of those in which he had small parts, such as ''Nell Gwyn'' (1934) and '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940). He also translated and adapted several of Molière's plays ('' The Misanthrope'', which he titled ''The Slave of Truth'', ''Tartuffe'' and ''The Imaginary Invalid''). Biography Malleson was born in Avondale Road, South Croydon, Surrey, England, the son of Edmund Taylor Malleson (1859-1909), a manufacturing chemist, and Myrrha Bithynia Frances Borrell (1863-1931), a descendant of the numismatist Henry Perigal Borrell and the inventor Francis Macero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Adam (actor)
Ronald George Hinings Adams (31 December 1896 – 28 March 1979), known professionally as Ronald Adam, was a British officer of the RFC and RAF, an actor on stage and screen, and a successful theatre manager. Early life Adam was born in Bromyard, Herefordshire on 31 December 1896, the son of Blake Adams and his wife Mona Robin. His parents and grandparents were all in the theatrical profession. He was educated at University College School. First World War When still only 17 years old Adams volunteered to join the British Army on the outbreak of the First World War. On 2 December 1914 he was commissioned as a temporary Second Lieutenant in the 15th (Reserve) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. Adams soon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and served as an observer with No. 18 Squadron in France, before returning home to re-train as a pilot. Once qualified as a pilot, Adams remained in Britain and flew Sopwith Camels with No. 44 Squadron on Home Defence duties. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derrick De Marney
Derrick Raoul Edouard Alfred De Marney (21 September 1906 – 18 February 1978) was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry. Actor The son of Violet Eileen Concanen and Arthur De Marney, and the grandson of noted Victorian lithographer Alfred Concanen, he appeared on the London stage from 1922 and films from 1928. It was his performance in the lead role of the play ''Young Mr Disraeli'' at the Kingsway and Piccadilly theatres that brought him the offer of a long term film contract from Alexander Korda. He is perhaps best remembered for his starring role as Robert Tisdall, falsely accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Young and Innocent'' (1937). Other early film roles include Benjamin Disraeli, this time in '' Victoria the Great'' (1937) and its sequel, '' Sixty Glorious Years'' (1938). After ''Young and Innocent'', he alternated between leading roles and supporting parts in films. He was cast in the title role of '' Uncle Silas'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Coulouris
George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. Early life Coulouris was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Abigail (née Redfern) anNicholas Coulouris a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School. He attended London's Central School of Speech and Drama, in the company of fellow students Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft. Early career Coulouris made his stage debut in 1926 with '' Henry V'' at the Old Vic. In 1928 and 1929 he appeared in several productions at the Cambridge Festival Theatre including Eugene O'Niell's ''The Hairy Ape.''. By 1929, he made his first Broadway appearance, followed by his first Hollywood film role in 1933. A major impact on his life was Orson Welles, whom he met in 1936 when they both had roles in the Broadway production of Sidney Kingsley's ''Ten Million Ghosts''. Welles invited C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Griffith
Kenneth Griffith (born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths, 12 October 1921 – 25 June 2006) was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker. His outspoken views made him a controversial figure, especially when presenting documentaries which have been called "among the most brilliant, and controversial, ever made in Britain". Early life He was born Kenneth Griffiths in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. His parents separated and left Tenby six months after his birth, leaving him with his paternal grandparents, Emily and Ernest, who adopted him. His grandparents were staunch Wesleyan Methodists who taught him to question everything; he attended the local Wesleyan Methodist chapel three times every Sunday, and became a lively rugby union scrum-half. He passed the 11-plus and attended Greenhill Grammar School in Tenby, where he met English literature teacher Evelyn Ward, who recognised his writing and acting talent. Before Kenneth left school, his headmaster J. T. Griffith suggested that he d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Maddern
Victor Jack Maddern (16 March 1928 – 22 June 1993) was an English actor. He was described by '' The Telegraph'' as having "one of the most distinctive and eloquent faces in post-war British cinema." Life and career Born in Seven Kings, Ilford, Essex, Maddern attended Beal Grammar Boys school and afterwards joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 15 and served in the Second World War from 1943 until its end and was medically discharged in 1946. He subsequently trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He made his first screen appearance in '' Seven Days to Noon'' in 1950, playing a reluctant soldier obliged to shoot a psychotic scientist. One of his earliest stage roles was as Sam Weller in ''The Trial of Mr Pickwick'' (1952). Appearing as Helicon in a production of Albert Camus' play ''Caligula'' (1964), Maddern was singled out for critical praise, and in ''My Darling Daisy'' (1970) portrayed the notorious Frank Harris. He also did two stints in the highly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Bannen
Ian Edmund Bannen (29 June 1928 – 3 November 1999) was a Scottish actor with a long career in film, on stage, and on television. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in '' The Flight of the Phoenix'' (1965), the first Scottish actor to receive the honour, as well as two BAFTA Film Awards for his performances in Sidney Lumet's ''The Offence'' (1973) and John Boorman's '' Hope and Glory'' (1987). On stage, he was renowned for his interpretations of William Shakespeare and Eugene O'Neill, and was an original member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He won the 1981 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Brian Friel's ''Translations''. Early life Bannen was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, the son of Clare (née Galloway) and John James Bannen, a lawyer. After attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, Bannen served in Egypt as a corporal in the British Army. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jill Adams
Jill Adams (22 July 1930 – 13 May 2008) was an English actress, artist and fashion model. She featured or starred in over 25 films during the 1950s and 1960s. Life Jill Adams was born Jill Siggins in London in 1930, the daughter of the silent-screen actress Molly Adair (real name Mary Marguerite Potter). Jill's New Zealand-born father, Arthur James Siggins, had met the Irish-American Adair when she was on location filming '' The Blue Lagoon'' (1923). Siggins, a former member of the British South Africa Police and an expert animal handler, worked on the film '' The Four Feathers'' (1921), and later wrote a book about the experience, ''Shooting with Rifle and Camera''. Jill was one of four children. When she was six years old, Jill moved to Wales where she continued her education, after which she worked for four years on a farm. Her ambition was to become an artist, and she moved to London to pursue that career, taking work as a sales assistant, secretary, and window dress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
