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Constance Cummings, CBE (May 15, 1910 – November 23, 2005) was an American-born British actress, known for her work on both screen and stage.
Born Constance Halverstadt in Seattle, Washington to Dallas Halverstadt and Kate Cummings, she began as a stage actress, landing her first role on Broadway by the age of 18. While appearing on Broadway, she was discovered by Sam Goldwyn, who brought her to Hollywood in 1931.
Between 1931 and 1934, Cummings appeared in 21 films, most notably the Harold Lloyd picture Movie Crazy and American Madness, directed by Frank Capra. She was married to the playwright and screenwriter Benn Levy MBE from 1933 until his death in 1973. Levy went on to write and direct films for Cummings, such as The Jealous God (1939); he also served in the United Kingdom Parliament from 1945-50 as the Labour MP for Eton and Slough. They had a son and a daughter.
Cummings was uncomfortable in Hollywood and moved to England, where she continued acting, both in movies and on the stage. Few of these films became popular in America, although included amongst those that did is Blithe Spirit, adapted from a play by Sir Noël Coward.
In 1974, Cummings, who resided in the UK for many decades, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to the British entertainment industry.
She played Mary Tyrone in the Royal National Theatre's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night opposite Sir Laurence Olivier, to great acclaim. She later recreated the role for a television version. In 1979, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance in the role in the play Wings (written by Arthur Kopit) of Emily Stilson, a former aviator who has suffered a stroke, from which she struggles to recover.
She was a committee member of the Royal Court Theatre and the Arts Council. Despite her truncated career in the U.S., she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6211 Hollywood Blvd.
Constance Cummings Levy died on November 23, 2005 at the age of 95.
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Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical My Fair Lady (1964).
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Sid James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a South African-born English-based actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona. Bruce Forsyth summed up his talent thus: "He was a natural at being natural."
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An engineer's daughter, she had first planned on becoming a ballerina, using her original Christian name Muguette, but abandoned those plans by the age of 17 when she realized that her physique was more in keeping with her other first name, Megs. She trained in Liverpool at the School of Dancing and Dramatic Art and then joined the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1933 before moving to London to appear at the Player's Theatre four years later.
During the 1950's, Megs was busy acting on stage and had considerable critical success in two plays by Emlyn Williams, 'Light of Heart' (1940) and 'The Wind of Heaven' (1945). Against character, she also played the vicious, unstable Alma Winemiller in 'Summer and Smoke' (1951) by Tennessee Williams. In 1956, she was awarded the Clarence Derwent Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the stoic wife of a longshoreman harbouring incestuous feelings for his niece in 'A View from the Bridge' by Arthur Miller. The previous year, she had made her Broadway debut in Chekhov's 'A Day by the Sea' as a supportive governess to an alcoholic physician.
Patric Doonan (b. 18 April 1925, Derby, Derbyshire - d. 10 March 1958, London) was a British stage and screen actor. He featured in films of the time as The Blue Lamp, Train of Events and The Cockleshell Heroes but never played the leads. He was the son of comedian George Doonan and brother of fellow actor Tony Doonan.
In 1956 he appeared in "The Mousetrap" at the Ambassadors Theatre in London.
He committed suicide by gas in 1958. At the time he was engaged to marry actress Ann Firbank, despite the fact that he was already married to actress Aud Johansen.
In 1994 the singer Morrissey referenced Doonan in the song 'Now My Heart Is Full'.
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Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 Aberdeen, Scotland – 29 April 1988 London, England) was a Scottish supporting actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series, Dr Finlay's Casebook, which ran for 191 episodes from 1962 until 1971.
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Colin Gordon (27 April 1911 – 4 October 1972) was a British actor born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford. He made his first West End appearance in 1934 as the hind legs of a horse in a production of “Toad of Toad Hall”. From 1936 to 1939 he was a director with the Fred Melville Repertory Company at Brixton. He served in the army during WWII for six years. His performance in 1948 as Rupert Billings in “The Happiest Days of Your Life” won the Clarence Derwent award.
Gordon had a long career in British cinema and television from the 1940s to the 1970s, often playing government officials. His films include The Pink Panther and Casino Royale although he is probably best known for his portrayal of Number Two in the ITC classic series The Prisoner. Along with Leo McKern, he was one of only two actors to play Number Two more than once. He first played the character in "The General" and later reprised his role in "A. B. and C.". In fact, the episodes were subsequently broadcast in reverse order: when "The General" was in production, "A. B. and C" had not yet been cast.
Gordon was a regular in another ITC production, The Baron playing civil servant Templeton-Green opposite Steve Forrest. He also played the host and occasional narrator of the 1969 London Weekend Television series The Complete and Utter History of Britain, which arose from a pre-Monty Python collaboration between Michael Palin and Terry Jones; and was the Airport Commandant in the 1967 Doctor Who story The Faceless Ones. He was also in Bachelor Father and made a notable guest appearance in The Holiday episode of Steptoe and Son.
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Peter Geoffrey Francis Jones (12 June 1920 - 10 April 2000) was a distinguished British actor and radio personality known for his distinctive voice and narration. He gained recognition for his role as The Book in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," providing the voice of the eponymous guidebook in both the radio series and subsequent adaptations. Jones's soothing and authoritative voice lent a unique charm to the character, guiding audiences through the whimsical and absurd universe created by Douglas Adams. His contributions to the series as the voice of The Book became iconic and memorable for fans of the series.
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (September 8, 1925 – July 24, 1980), known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, for playing three different characters in Dr. Strangelove, as Clare Quilty in Lolita, and as the man-child and TV-addicted Chance the gardener in his penultimate film, Being There. Leading actress Bette Davis once remarked of him, "He isn't an actor—he's a chameleon." Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, American, German, as well as British regional accents), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers' private life was characterized by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and substance abuse. Sellers was married four times, and had three children from the first two marriages.
An enigmatic figure, he often claimed to have no identity outside the roles that he played, but he left his own portrait since, "he obsessively filmed his homes, his family, people he knew, anything that took his fancy right to the end of his life—intimate film that remained undiscovered until long after his death in 1980." The director Peter Hall has said: "Peter had the ability to identify completely with another person, and think his way physically, mentally and emotionally into their skin. Where does that come from? I have no idea. Is it a curse? Often. I think it's not enough though in this business to have talent. You have to have talent to handle the talent. And that I think Peter did not have."
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Katie Johnson (18 November 1878 in Clayton, Sussex, England - 4 May 1957, Elham, Kent), born Bessie Kate Johnson, was an English actress who appeared on stage from the 1890s and on screen from the 1930s to the 1950s. In 1908 she was married to the actor Frank Goodenough Bayley who predeceased her. She first appeared in a film at age 55, in 1932, but never received critical acclaim for her performances until 1955, when she starred, aged 77, in the Ealing Studios comedy The Ladykillers as Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce. The role earned her a British Film Academy award for best British actress. She died less than two years afterwards having only appeared in a single further film. She also appeared in the BBC science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and played a spy in I See a Dark Stranger (1946).
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