Sean Sullivan (December 26, 1921 – June 3, 1985) was a Canadian actor. He is most noted for his stage and television performances in productions of David French's play Of the Fields, Lately, for which he won an ACTRA Award in 1977 as Best Television Actor for the CBC Television film; and his film performances in Springhill, for which he won a Canadian Film Award as Best Actor in a Non-Feature Film in 1972, and The Boy in Blue, for which he received a posthumous Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 7th Genie Awards in 1986.
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, he began his career as an actor when a stage play he appeared in in his 20s, Golden Boy, reached the finals of the Dominion Drama Festival. He soon began appearing in CBC Television productions, including episodes of the drama anthology series Playbill, CBC Summer Theatre, Folio and General Motors Theatre. His film roles included Nobody Waved Good-bye, The Young Ones, Why Rock the Boat?, 125 Rooms of Comfort, One Man, The Silent Partner, Atlantic City and The Grey Fox.
Eric Norman Dodson (1 December 1920 – 13 January 2000) was an English actor born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, who played many roles in films and on television.
After amateur acting he joined the Royal Air Force in 1941. Following training in Canada he served in RAF Coastal Command, flew bombers and was a liaison officer in Yugoslavia. He then returned to acting with a repertory theatre in Edinburgh. He appeared as bar owner Jack Pomeroy in Series Three to Five of Rumpole of the Bailey. He also appeared in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum as a Brigadier, the Doctor Who story The Visitation, in Porridge as Banyard and many other roles. His film appearances included The Dock Brief (1962), Danger by My Side (1962), Strictly for the Birds (1963), Battle of Britain (1969), The Mirror Crack'd (1980), The Masks of Death (1984) and Jekyll & Hyde (1990).
In the late 1980s, Eric and his wife Rosaline made their home in Sherborne, Gloucestershire where he took a hobby repairing and making harpsichords.
He was also asked on many occasions to play the organ at the village church.
He was unable to work for the last five years of his life due to illness and died in 2000 at age 79.
Alan Brown (23 March 1926 – 7 September 1979), known professionally as Alan Browning, was an English actor. Whilst working by day as a reporter for a local paper in Newcastle in the 1950s, he began acting as an amateur at the People's Theatre. He then moved to London to work for a news agency and was sent abroad to Cairo, where he met his first wife (Anne) who was serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens).
On their return to the UK, and following encouragement from Anne, he began to seek work as an actor. Very soon he was cast as King John in a pair of educational films made for Encyclopedia Britannica, and then became a regular 'extra' playing bit parts in TV series such as Z-Cars, The Saint, and The Avengers. He also starred as Chief Officer Steve Rettar in the ABC series Jezebel in 1963.
He became a household name in the UK when he was cast as Ellis Cooper in The Newcomers (1965-1968), but is best remembered for portraying Alan Howard in the television series Coronation Street, a role he played from 1969 to 1973. He was married to his Coronation Street co-star Pat Phoenix from 23 December 1972, until his 1979 death from liver failure as a result of his heavy alcohol intake. Phoenix also played his onscreen wife, Elsie Tanner, in Coronation Street.
The pair left The Street in 1973 and toured the UK and New Zealand with theatrical productions of Gaslight and Night Must Fall, both directed by Browning, before Phoenix rejoined the cast of The Street. Browning also recorded an LP of jazz standards called "Whisky & Milk" (a reference to his preferred drink, being easier on the stomach than neat whisky) with the Tony Hayes Quartet in 1975.
Browning's other television appearances included Interpol Calling (1960), Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962), Maigret (1963), The Plane Makers (1964), The War of Darkie Pilbeam (1968), Big Breadwinner Hog (1969), The Onedin Line (1971), The Fear Is Spreading (an episode of the TV series Thriller, 1975), When the Boat Comes In (1976), and a leading role in The Cedar Tree (1976-77). His final credit was in a 1978 episode of Return of the Saint.
His film credits included Feet of Clay (1960), Fury at Smugglers' Bay (1961), Cleopatra (1963), Guns at Batasi (1964), and Julius Caesar (1970).