The Dresser
In a touring Shakespearean theater group, a backstage hand - the dresser, is devoted to the brilliant but tyrannical head of the company. He struggles to support the deteriorating star as the company struggles to carry on during the London blitz. The pathos of his backstage efforts rival the pathos in the story of Lear and the Fool that is being presented on-stage, as the situation comes to a crisis.
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Main Cast
Albert Finney
Albert Finney (May 9, 1936 – February 7, 2019) was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960), directed by Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in the theatre. He maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television. He is known for his roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (also 1960), Tom Jones (1963), Two for the Road (1967), Scrooge (1970), Annie (1982), The Dresser (1983), Miller's Crossing (1990), A Man of No Importance (1994), Erin Brockovich (2000), Big Fish (2003), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), The Bourne Legacy (2012), and the James Bond film Skyfall (2012). A recipient of BAFTA , Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild awards, Finney was nominated for an Academy Award five times, as Best Actor four times, for Tom Jones (1963), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984), and as Best Supporting Actor for Erin Brockovich (2000). He received several awards for his performance as Winston Churchill in the 2002 BBC–HBO television biographical film The Gathering Storm. Description above from the Wikipedia article Albert Finney, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Tom Courtenay
An English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Billy Liar (1963), and Dr. Zhivago (1965). Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre. Courtenay received a knighthood in February 2001 for forty years' service to cinema and theatre. Courtenay is the President of Hull City A.F.C.'s Official Supporters Club. In 1999, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hull University. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Courtenay, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Edward Fox
Edward Charles Morice Fox (born 13 April 1937) is an English stage, film and television actor. He is the older brother of actor James Fox. He played the part of the professional assassin who is hired to assassinate the French president Charles de Gaulle in the film The Day of the Jackal (1973). He is also known for his roles in Battle of Britain (1969), The Go-Between (1971), for which he won a BAFTA award, and The Bounty (1984). He also collaborated with director Richard Attenborough, appearing in his films Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), A Bridge Too Far (1977), and Gandhi (1982). He portrayed Edward VIII in the British television drama series Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978) and appeared in the historical series Taboo (2017). In addition to film and television work, he has also garnered acclaim as a stage actor. In 2003, Fox was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to Drama. Description above from the Wikipedia article Edward Fox (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Eileen Atkins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born 16 June 1934) is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. Description above from the Wikipedia article Eileen Atkins, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Michael Gough
Francis Michael Gough (23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was an English character actor who made over 150 film and television appearances, known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958 and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in all four films of the Tim Burton / Joel Schumacher Batman series.
Known For
Cathryn Harrison
Cathryn Mary Lee Harrison (born 29 May 1959) was an English actress. Cathryn was baptised on 27 September 1959 at St.John's Church,Hampstead,London,England. She is the daughter of the actor and singer Noel Harrison and Sara Lee Eberts and also the grand daughter of legendary actor Sir Rex Harrison.Her brother Simon Harrison is also an actor as well as her sister Harriet Harrison. She has a brother Will and a sister Chloe from her father's second marriage, and an older sister Zoe from her mother's first marriage to Carleton John Richard Tufnell. In May 1996 she married Paul Laing the son of Ronald David Laing and uses that name since then. Her most notable performances include Lily in Black Moon as well as many made-for-television movies including Portrait of a Marriage where she plays Violet Trefusis, Vita Sackville West's lesbian lover. She began her career in Robert Altman's Images and after two decades of low roles, started a career in British television and radio dramas. She appeared in Love on a Branch Line and an 1977 Australian film called Blue Fire Lady. She also appeared as Major Tom Cadman's wife in the ITV series Soldier Soldier, and played wardrobe assistant Irenie in the film version of Ronald Harwood's The Dresser. She died in 2018.
Known For
Sheila Reid
Sheila Reid (born 1937) is a Scottish actress, best known for her performance as Madge Barron in Benidorm. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sheila Reid, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Unknown Actor
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Unknown Actor
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Kevin Stoney
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Ann Way
Ann Way (14 November 1915 – 13 March 1993) was an English film and television character actress. Born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, she began her career in repertory in Birmingham in the 1950s moving from there to the Dundee Rep. Her petite build and deep-set eyes saw her frequently typecast as a stereotypically dotty or timid and mouse-like spinster. She nonetheless appeared in a wide range of roles, including the television series Dr Finlay's Casebook, Emmerdale Farm where she played an aunt of publican and newspaper correspondent Amos Brearly, Fawlty Towers (where she memorably played the Colonel's wife inadvertently served the raw red mullet in "Gourmet Night") and Rumpole of the Bailey as Dodo Mackintosh. She played the vicar's wife in Last of the Summer Wine. She also read the Mrs. Pepperpot books on the children's series Jackanory. Film roles included Carry On Loving (1970), Endless Night (1972) and Clockwise (1986) (in which she sang the Vivian Ellis standard This is my Lovely Day on the soundtrack and made comic use of the repeated line "Aren't we all such lucky people") and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) (where she played the headmistress's secretary, Miss Gaunt). A more unusual role was the 1987 short film Unusual Ground Floor Conversion in which she played an old lady gradually driving her downstairs neighbour mad by throwing water out of her window every few minutes. Way died in London, England on 13 March 1993.
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John Sharp
John Sharp was a Bradford born British actor of a heavyset physicality, often cast in curmudgeonly roles. In a career stretching from 1949 to 1991, he made more than 100 appearances in television and film.
Known For
Unknown Actor
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Mary Reilly
1996
The Family Way
1966
A Kind of Loving
1962
Roger Avon
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Unknown Actor
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Unknown Actor
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Joe Belcher
He was an actor, known for An American Werewolf in London (1981), The Practice (1985) and Village Hall (1974).
Known For
Alan Starkey
Alan Starkey was born on March 24, 1931 in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010), A Sort of Innocence (1986) and Open All Hours (1976). He died on November 3, 2003 in Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, France.
Known For
Unknown Actor
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The Keep
1983
Sixty Six
2006
S.O.S. Titanic
1980
Movie Details
Production Info
- Director:
- Peter Yates
- Production:
- Columbia Pictures
Key Crew
- Boom Operator:
- John Chandler
- Screenplay:
- Ronald Harwood
- Associate Producer:
- Nigel Wooll
- Theatre Play:
- Ronald Harwood
- Production Design:
- Stephen B. Grimes
Locations and Languages
- Country:
- US; GB
- Filming:
- GB
- Languages:
- en