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1-31 of 31
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Lancashire-born Warren Clarke was an actor of immense presence and considerable versatility who turned his wide-shouldered, robust appearance and lived-in, hangdog facial features into an asset. For more than two and a half decades he had toiled in a wide variety of supporting roles before finding international success as the often crude, irascible, heavy-drinking Superintendant Andy Dalziel in TV's Dalziel and Pascoe (1996). When the series began, Clarke had summed up Dalziel as 'a beer-swilling chauvinist pig', but the character evolved and became more complex and endearing (in a curmudgeonly sort of way) over the show's eleven-year duration. There were also commonalities between the actor and his creation: impatience, a reputation for not tolerating fools gladly; a humorous, irreverent nature and a shared dislike for political correctness. In private life, Clarke was passionate about football (a lifelong Manchester City supporter) and golf.
The son of a hard-working stained glass maker, Clarke developed his love for the performing arts while in his teens. A frequent visitor to the cinema for Saturday morning and matinée screenings ("Flash Gordon" seemed to have been a particular favourite), he was actively encouraged by his parents to follow his chosen vocation. He performed in amateur theatrics, meanwhile earning his money as a copy boy, running errands for the Manchester Evening News, then working in a fruit and vegetable market before securing his first acting gig with Huddersfield Rep at the age of eighteen. Clarke once recalled his first performance, as an elderly German academic, which was marred by a make-up malfunction when the self-raising flour he had put in his hair to make it appear white mixed with perspiration, turned to dough and ran down his face. He would eventually master the stage (enacting, among other parts, Caligula in John Mortimer's 1972 adaptation of "I, Claudius" and Winston Churchill in "Three Days in May" at the West End, a performance the reviewer of The Guardian described as "utterly persuasive").
From the late 1960's, Clarke found more or less regular television work, at first with Granada in series like The Avengers (1961) and Callan (1967). For years he remained a struggling actor, earning barely enough to make ends meet. He performed on stage at the Royal Court in London, and, to improve his situation, earned a second income as a van driver. He finally attracted attention on the big screen as a violent, bowler-hatted thug in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971). The turning point in Clarke's career was his role as a pig-headed manager of an engineering firm involved in a chalk-and-cheese relationship with a liberal-minded academic in Nice Work (1989). In the years between, his expressive features graced a succession of diverse leading and supporting parts in both comedy and drama: Churchill in ITV's Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974); Quasimodo in the 1976 television version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"; a mutinous Roman soldier in the epic miniseries Masada (1981); a surly East German STASI officer in the uproarious parody Top Secret! (1984); a pig-fixated Regency period industrialist in Blackadder the Third (1987); stalwart, bewhiskered Lawrence Boythorne in BBC's outstanding production of Bleak House (2005); "pathetically nice" market gardener Brian Addis in the first two seasons of Down to Earth (2000). Clarke's guest appearances were prolific: from Elsie Tanner's nephew in Coronation Street (1960) to a querulous diabetic patient in Call the Midwife (2012).
Always a welcome presence in period drama, he had been cast in Poldark (2015), a remake of the popular 1975 miniseries, based on the novels by Winston Graham. Filming had already begun in Bristol and Cornwall when Clarke died in his sleep at the age of 67.- Wendy Hiller, daughter of Frank and Marie Hiller, was born on 15th August 1912 in Bramhall, near Stockport, Cheshire, England. She was educated at Winceby House School, Bexhill then moved on to Manchester Repertory Theatre. She appeared on stage in Sir John Barry's tour of Evensong, then as Sally Hardcastle in Love on the Dole. She toured extensively, playing in London and New York. She took leading parts in Pygmalion and Saint Joan at the Malvern Festival in 1936.
- Director
- Producer
- Editor
Educated at Bristol and London, he studied to be a doctor. During the war he served with the Royal Sussex Regiment in Europe and the Middle East. On being demobbed he joined the film industry as an assistant editor at Denham Studios working on October Man (1947) and Hamlet (1948) then as 1st assistant editor on Madness of the Heart. When he became director and worked on the Carry on films he always had a tight shooting schedule which never exceeded 6 weeks. Despite this he had a great sense of fun often playing tricks on the cast such as filling Joan Sims' glass with gin instead of water in Carry on Regardless and hosing down the beauty contestants in Carry on Girls when they were only expecting a damping down from sprinklers.- Writer
- Actor
Prolific English poet, novelist, essayist G (ilbert) K(eith) Chesterton was born in London on 29 May 1874. He was traditional, extolling the virtues of the 'little man', and the romantic, pre-modern past. He rejected the experimental in art as well as life, and distrusted the state and the modern world. His _Father Brown series of detective novels center around a humble but clever Anglican Catholic priest; Chesterton converted to Catholicism at the age of 48. He was considered somewhat eccentric, idiosyncratic, and was fiercely opinionated. George Bernard Shaw disliked his work, calling him "a freak of French nature", and various men and women of letters disdained the comparative gaudiness of his thought and his work, and his unfashionable political conservatism. Nonetheless he was popular, and beloved by many. He died on 14 June 1936, the same year his autobiography was published.- Thin-lipped, dark-haired British character actress who had a penchant for playing nosy neighbours, snivelling sycophants and acidulous spinsters. She was born Eileen Russell-Gregg, trained at RADA and was primarily active on London's West End stage in plays like "Grand Hotel" (1931) and "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1946), among many others. Over the years, she developed a fondness for comedic interpretations in works by Noël Coward. On Broadway she appeared just once, in "Point Valaine" (1935). Just two years prior she had made her screen debut as Henry VIII's shrewish wife Katherine Parr in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Her two other memorable moments on the screen saw her as the ever-prattling busybody Dolly Messiter in Brief Encounter (1945) and as Sarah Pocket, a fawning relative of Miss Faversham in Great Expectations (1946).
- Writer
- Director
Ronald Gow was born on 1 November 1897 in Heaton Moor, Stockport, England, UK. He was a writer and director, known for The Glittering Sword (1929), Lancashire Luck (1937) and Love on the Dole (1941). He was married to Wendy Hiller. He died on 27 April 1993 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Virginia Clay was born on 30 January 1898 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She was an actress, known for The Avengers (1961), A Town Like Alice (1956) and The Saint (1962). She died on 3 February 1997 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Janet Green was born on 4 July 1908 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Sapphire (1959), Victim (1961) and The Clouded Yellow (1950). She died on 30 March 1993 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Carolyn Hudson was born on 21 January 1936 in Edmonton, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Big Brother (1970), The Carnforth Practice (1974) and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973). She was married to Ivor Sears. She died on 15 October 2015 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Art Director
- Production Designer
- Art Department
William C. Andrews was born on 21 July 1901 in London, England, UK. He was an art director and production designer, known for Lolita (1962), Escape to Danger (1943) and Maytime in Mayfair (1949). He died in 1986 in Chiltern & Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Corinne Cartier was born in 1955 in Paddington, London, England, UK. She was a producer, known for Empire of the Sun (1987), An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1982) and Code Name: Emerald (1985). She died in 2015 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Arthur Machen was born on 3 March 1863 in Caerleon, Monmouthshire, Wales. Arthur died on 15 December 1947 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England.
- Production Manager
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gordon Scott was born on 3 January 1920 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was a production manager and producer, known for The Avengers (1961), The Franchise Affair (1951) and Voices (1973). He died on 2 April 1991 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Billy Mayerl was born on 31 May 1902 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Over She Goes (1937), Champagne Charlie (1944) and The Deputy Drummer (1935). He died on 25 March 1959 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Richard Carleton was born on 11 July 1943 in Bowral, New South Wales, Australia. He died on 7 May 2006 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia.
- Ken Aldred was born on 1 August 1945 in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was married to Margaret Mary (Margie) Panton. He died on 17 April 2016 in Beaconsfield Upper, Victoria, Australia.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Bert Weedon was born on 10 May 1920 in East Ham, London, England, UK. He was a composer and actor, known for Looper (2012), Your Money or Your Wife (1960) and BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950). He was married to Maggie Weedon and Doris Weedon. He died on 20 April 2012 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- John Ciaccia was born on 4 March 1933 in Jelsi, Campobasso, Italy. He was a writer, known for Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis (2007), Napagunnaqullusi: So That You Can Stand (2015) and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993). He died on 7 August 2018 in Beaconsfield, Québec, Canada.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Henry Geehl was born on 28 September 1881 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Jassy (1947) and The Magic Bow (1946). He died on 14 January 1961 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Producer
- Writer
- Production Manager
Hugh Perceval was born on 18 February 1908. He was a producer and writer, known for The Third Man (1949), Raising a Riot (1955) and I Married a Spy (1937). He died in July 1987 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Special Effects
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Les Ostinelli was born on 31 August 1918 in Pancras, London, England, UK. He is known for Swiss Honeymoon (1947), The Silver Darlings (1947) and Revolution (1985). He died on 4 October 2008 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Additional Crew
- Writer
Alan Dent was born on 7 January 1905 in Ayrshire, Scotland, UK. He was a writer, known for Hamlet (1948), The First 400 Years (1964) and Henry V (1944). He died on 19 December 1978 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Lambert Williamson was born on 28 April 1907 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The Circus (1928), The Innocents (1961) and Beat the Devil (1953). He died on 13 November 1975 in Chiltern & Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Rosemary Shires was born in December 1929 in Marylebone, London, England, UK. She died on 9 February 2015 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
- Godfrey Mitchell was born on 31 October 1891 in Peckham, London, England, UK. He died on 9 December 1982 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.