A former burglar trying to go straight joins a rehabilitation scheme using much the same methods as AA. Through the process, he takes work as a department store Santa, where the endless parade of goods and money, not to mention the pretty young shop hands have him like a moth to a flame in no time flat.
03-31-1962
1h 28m
THIS
HELLA
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Ken Annakin
Writers:
Ken Annakin, Jack Davies
Production:
Independent Artists
Key Crew
Still Photographer:
David James
Original Music Composer:
George Martin
Original Music Composer:
Muir Mathieson
Locations and Languages
Country:
US; GB
Filming:
GB
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips CBE (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor, director, producer and author. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. He appeared in the Carry On and Doctor in the House film series as well as the long-running BBC radio comedy series The Navy Lark. In his later career, Phillips took on dramatic parts including a BAFTA-nominated role alongside Peter O'Toole in Venus (2006). He provided the voice of the Sorting Hat in several of the Harry Potter films.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Leslie Phillips, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1941) is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England where she attended boarding school. In 1961, she began her acting career in a BBC television series, and the following year, she had her first major film role in a romantic comedy. In 1965, she became known to international audiences as the model "Diana Scott" in the film Darling. That same year she played the part of "Lara" in David Lean's Doctor Zhivago. A pop icon of the "swinging London" era of the 1960s, she has won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Description above from the Wikipedia article James Robertson Justice, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
John Robertson Hare, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by modern audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, All Gas and Gaiters.
Short in stature and of unheroic appearance, Hare made his stage career in character roles. From his early days as an actor he was cast as older men. One of his favourite parts, which he played in the provinces before achieving West End success, was "Grumpy", a retired lawyer, in which he toured before the First World War.
After war service in the army, Hare got his big break. He was cast in a long-running farce with Ralph Lynn and Tom Walls. His meek and put-upon character was repeated in various incarnations in the eleven Aldwych farces presented by Walls between 1923 and 1933. He also appeared in film versions of most of the farces. After the Aldwych series came to an end, Hare continued to be cast in similar roles in new plays by Ben Travers and many others.
Occasionally Hare took a break from farce, appearing in revue with Benny Hill and in a musical with Frankie Howerd. His final major role was on television in the late 1960s, as the Archdeacon of St Ogg's in the BBC comedy series All Gas and Gaiters.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs as the pragmatic family solicitor Sir Geoffrey Dillon, and other television shows, such as the Wodehouse Playhouse, ('Romance at Droitwich Spa'), in 1975.
Born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire (now a suburb of Birmingham) in 1904, Huntley made his stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922, in A Woman Killed with Kindness. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, in As Far as Thought can Reach.
He subsequently inherited the role of Count Dracula from Edmund Blake in Hamilton Deane's touring adaptation of Dracula, which arrived at London's Little Theatre on 14 February 1927, subsequently transferring to the larger Duke of York's Theatre. Later that year he was offered the chance to reprise the role on Broadway (in a script streamlined by John L. Balderston); when he declined, the part was taken by Bela Lugosi instead. Huntley did, however, appear in a US touring production of the Deane/Balderston play, covering the east coast and midwest, from 1928-30. "I have always considered the role of Count Dracula to have been an indiscretion of my youth" he recalled in 1989.
After Dracula, he made his Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on 23 February 1931, in The Venetian Glass Nephew. On returning to the UK, his many West End appearances included The Farmer's Wife (Queen's Theatre 1932), Cornelius (Duchess Theatre 1935), Bees on the Boat Deck (Lyric Theatre 1936) Time and the Conways (Duchess Theatre 1937), When We Are Married (St Martin's Theatre 1940), Rebecca (Queen's Theatre 1940; Strand Theatre 1942), They Came to a City (Globe Theatre 1943), The Late Edwina Black (Ambassadors Theatre 1948), And This Was Odd (Criterion Theatre 1951), Double Image (Savoy Theatre 1956), Any Other Business (Westminster Theatre 1958), Caught Napping (Piccadilly Theatre 1959), Difference of Opinion (Garrick Theatre 1963), An Ideal Husband (Garrick Theatre 1966), Getting Married (Strand Theatre 1967), Soldiers (New Theatre 1968) and Separate Tables (Apollo Theatre 1977). He also starred opposite Flora Robson in the Broadway production of Black Chiffon (48th Street Theatre 1950).
Often cast as a supercilious bureaucrat or other authority figure, Huntley was also a staple figure in British films, his many appearances including The Way Ahead, I See a Dark Stranger, Passport to Pimlico and The Dam Busters. In his later years, he became well-known on television as Sir Geoffrey Dillon, the family solicitor to the Bellamys in LWT's popular 1970s drama series Upstairs, Downstairs.
Huntley died in Westminster Hospital, London in 1990. In his obituary, the New York Times wrote, "During his long career the actor played judges, bank managers, churchmen, bureaucrats and other figures of authority. He could play them straight if necessary, but in comedy his natural dryness of delivery was exaggerated to the point where the character he was playing invited mockery as a pompous humbug."
Source: Article "Raymond Huntley" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Norman Rossington (December 24, 1928 - May 21, 1999) was an English actor best remembered for his roles in The Army Game, the Carry On films and the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night.
Harold Goodwin was an English character actor, trained at RADA. He started in repertory in Liverpool. By 1949, he appeared on the West End stage. Goodwin never lost his Barnsley accent, and tended to specialize in playing working-class men, such as cabbies, stewards, or non-commissioned officers.
Harry Locke was born on December 10, 1912 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Town on Trial (1957), Passport to Pimlico (1949) and Comedy Playhouse (1961). He was married to Cordelia Mary Vashti Saleeby. He died on September 7, 1987 in London, England, UK.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Colin Gordon, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Dennis Waterman was an English actor and singer, best known for his tough-guy roles in television series such as The Sweeney, Minder and New Tricks.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Dennis Waterman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple. As well as portraying Miss Marple on television, Hickson also narrated a number of Miss Marple stories on audio books.
Born in Kingsthorpe, Northampton, Hickson was a daughter of Edith Mary (née Bogle) and Alfred Harold Hickson, a shoe manufacturer. Boarding at Oldfield School at Swanage in Dorset she went on to train at RADA in London. Making her stage debut in 1927, she worked for several years throughout the United Kingdom and achieved success playing comedic, often eccentric characters in London's West End, including the role of the cockney maid Ida in the original production of See How They Run, at the Q Theatre in 1944, and then at the Comedy Theatre in January 1945.
She made her first film appearance in 1934. The numerous supporting roles of her career included several Carry On films including Sister in Carry On Nurse and Mrs May in Carry On Constable.
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From Wikipedia
Dandy Nichols (21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress most noted for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the racially bigoted and misogynistic character Alf Garnett in the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part.
She appeared in numerous films, which included Carry On Doctor, Ladies Who Do, The Holly and the Ivy, The Vikings, the Beatles' film Help!, Georgy Girl, Doctor in Clover, The Birthday Party, The Bed Sitting Room, O Lucky Man!, Confessions of a Window Cleaner and Britannia Hospital amongst others.
After finding fame in Till Death Do Us Part, Nichols found work in television, notably playing opposite Alastair Sim in William Trevor's production of The Generals Day. She made appearances in Flint, The Tea Ladies and Bergerac. Onstage, she appeared in Ben Travers's comedy Plunder, as well as playing alongside Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud in David Storey's Home, in both London and on Broadway.
The accomplished character actress Marianne Stone had the distinction of being the most prolific actress in the UK, appearing in over 200 films, an achievement that earned her a place in the latest Guinness Book of World Records as "the actress with the most screen credits". She has also been hailed in the book English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema for her contribution to the horror movies that flourished in the Sixties, but most of her screen roles were as working-class characters. In two of her earliest films she was respectively a shop assistant in When the Bough Breaks (1947), and a sluggish waitress in Brighton Rock (1947).
John Bennett was educated at Bradfield College in Berkshire, then trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, followed by a wide repertory theatre experience including Bromley, Bristol Old Vic, Dundee, the Edinburgh Festival and Watford before going to London's West End.
Often cast as a villain, Bennett had many roles on television including Market in Honey Lane, Porridge, Survivors, The Avengers, Strange Report, Bergerac, The Professionals and four episodes of The Saint. Description above from the Wikipedia article Terence Alexander, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Orchard was educated at Shrewsbury School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He appeared as the flamboyant Duke of Montague, a cousin of Prince Edward, in the Cinderella film, The Slipper and the Rose (1976). He had a regular slot on Spike Milligan's The World of Beachcomber, a TV version of the "Beachcomber" pieces by J. B. Morton, appearing as the poet Roland Milk. His customary role was that of a gangling and effete – and sometimes effeminate – dandy.
He played Snodgrass in the TV musical Pickwick for the BBC in 1969, and appeared in several of the comedy Carry On films and the sex comedy Adventures of a Private Eye (1977).[3]
He appeared on BBC television as the "Minister for the Arts" in the episode of The Goodies entitled "Culture for the Masses"; and as one of the "mechanicals" in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
He played teacher Mr Oliver Pettigrew in the TV series Whack-O! in 1971 (the role having been created by Arthur Howard in 1956–60).
He played Cornelius Button in the 1971 London Weekend Television children's serial Grasshopper Island as an eccentric grasshopper expert who had lived on Grasshopper Island for many years.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Alfred Burke (28 February 1918 – 16 February 2011) was a British actor, best known for his portrayal of Frank Marker in the drama series Public Eye, which ran on television for ten years.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Alfred Burke, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Jerold Wells (8 August 1908 - 19 July 1999) was an English actor. He appeared primarily in British comedies. Some of his best-known roles were in Time Bandits, where he played Benson, a mentally disturbed follower to Evil, and in Jabberwocky, where he played a footless man known as Wat Dabney. He also had a career in television, where he appeared in The Two Ronnies, The Old Curiosity Shop, and The Benny Hill Show. He was born in Wallington, Hampshire and died in Bath, Somerset.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jerold Wells, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.