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Lennard Pearce
Leonard "Lennard" Pearce (31 October 1915 – 15 December 1984) was an English actor who worked in theatre and television. He played Grandad in the BBC television sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' from its first episode in 1981 until his death in December 1984. Early life Born in Paddington as the youngest of five children, Pearce's father Sidney was killed in action during World War I. He trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Career Theatre As a young actor in the 1930s, Pearce joined a performance tour in Germany. According to Nicholas Lyndhurst, one theatrical performance was attended by senior members of the Nazi Party. At the end of the show, party officials came backstage to congratulate the cast, and Pearce shook hands with Adolf Hitler. Lyndhurst claimed that Pearce said that he regretted not taking the opportunity to kill Hitler. During World War II, Pearce performed for the Entertainments National Service Association. In the early 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grandad (Only Fools And Horses)
Edward Kitchener "Ted" Trotter, better known as Grandad, (1905–1985) is a fictional character who was one of the original leads of the BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses''. He appeared in the show's first three series, played by Lennard Pearce. The character is grandfather to Del Boy and Rodney Trotter. Pearce's death in December 1984 was written into the series with the death of Grandad. His place was taken by Uncle Albert ( Buster Merryfield). The character was portrayed by Phil Daniels in the prequel series '' Rock & Chips''. Backstory Grandad was born in 1905 in Peckham, to Jack Trotter and Victoria Trotter. He had three brothers, George, Jack, and Albert. Grandad stated that his earliest memories were of watching soldiers marching off to World War I and witnessing their return after the Armistice in 1918. He later spoke of the horror of these experiences with his description of the wartime government policy ("They promised us homes fit for heroes, they gave us heroe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received numerous List of awards and nominations received by Anthony Hopkins, accolades, including two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award. He has also received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005 and the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2008. He was Knight Bachelor, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama in 1993. After graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1957, Hopkins trained at RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in London. He was then spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in 1965. Productions at the National included ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cathy Come Home
"Cathy Come Home" is a 1966 BBC television play about homelessness. It was written by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach. A 1998 ''Radio Times'' readers' poll voted it the "best single television drama" and a 2000 BFI TV 100, industry poll rated it as the second-best British television programme ever made. Filmed in a gritty, social realism, realistic Docudrama, drama documentary style, it was first broadcast on 16 November 1966 on BBC One, BBC1. The play was shown in the BBC's ''The Wednesday Play'' anthology strand, which often tackled social issues. Plot The play tells the story of a young couple, Cathy (played by Carol White) and Reg (Ray Brooks (actor), Ray Brooks), and their descent into poverty and homelessness. At the start of the film, Cathy leaves her parents' overcrowded rural home and hitchhiking, hitchhikes to the city, where she finds work and meets Reg, a well-paid truck, lorry driver. They fall in love, marry and rent a modern flat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wednesday Play
''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction (and occasionally stage plays) also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen. Some of British television drama's most influential, and controversial, plays were shown in this slot, including ''Up the Junction (The Wednesday Play), Up the Junction'' and ''Cathy Come Home''. The earliest television plays of Dennis Potter were featured in this slot. History Origins and early series The series was suggested to the BBC's Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, by the corporation's director of television Kenneth Adam after his cancellation of the two previous series of single ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced street in the fictional town of Weatherfield in Greater Manchester. The location was itself based on Salford, the hometown of the show's first screenwriter and creator, Tony Warren. Originally broadcast twice weekly, ''Coronation Street'' increased its runtime in later years, currently airing three 60-minute episodes per week. Warren developed the concept for the series, which was initially rejected by Granada's founder Sidney Bernstein, Baron Bernstein, Sidney Bernstein. Producer Harry Elton convinced Bernstein to commission 13 pilot episodes. The show has since become a significant part of British culture and underpinned the success of its producing Granada franchise. Currently produced by ITV Studios, the successor to Granada, the seri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sykes (TV Series)
''Sykes'' is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1972 to 1979. Starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques, it was written by Sykes, who had previously starred with Jacques in '' Sykes and a...'' (1960–1965) and '' Sykes and a Big, Big Show'' (1971). Forty-three of the 1970s colour episodes were remakes of scripts for the 1960s black and white series, such as "Bus" based on "Sykes and a Following" from 1964 and the episode "Stranger" with Peter Sellers based on "Sykes and a Stranger" from 1961. ''Sykes'' had the same premise as ''Sykes and a...'' with Sykes, Jacques, Richard Wattis and Deryck Guyler reprising their former identical roles. The series was brought to an end by the death of Hattie Jacques of a heart attack on 6 October 1980. Cast *Eric Sykes – Himself * Hattie Jacques – Harriet (Hat) Sykes *Richard Wattis – Charles Fulbright-Brown (series 1–3) *Deryck Guyler – PC Corky Turnbull * Joy Harington – Melody Rumbelow *Joan Sims – Madge Kettlewell Plot W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dixon Of Dock Green
''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 to 1976. The central character, George Dixon, first appeared in the film ''The Blue Lamp'' (1950). Dixon is a mature and sympathetic police constable, who was played by Jack Warner (actor), Jack Warner in all of the 432 episodes. Dixon is the supposed embodiment of a typical "bobby" who would be familiar with the area in which he patrolled and its residents and often lived there himself. The series contrasted with later programmes such as ''Z-Cars'', which more realistically reflected a more aggressive policing culture. It retained a faithful following throughout its run and was voted second-most popular programme on British television in 1961. Character and name origins The character of Police Constable George Dixon was based on an old- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally. The company's home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has redeveloped its Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatre (Stratford), Swan theatres as part of a £112.8-million "Transformation" project. The theatres re-opened in November 2010, having closed in 2007. As well as the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the RSC produces new work from living artists. Company history The early years There have been theatrical performances in Stratford-upon-Avon since at least Shakespeare's day, though the first recorded performance of a play written by Shakespeare himself was in 1746 when Parson Joseph Greene, master of Stratford Grammar School, organise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Theatre
The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster. History The structure on the site was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, by William Dodd with money from his wife Mary Perkins. Through Peter Richard Hoare it came into the hands of the family owning Hoare's Bank, and was called St Peter's Chapel. It was altered and given a new frontage, by John Stanley Coombe Beard for use as a cinema, St James's Picture Theatre, opened in 1924. The conversion was by a group with court connections including Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood. The film shown at the opening was '' Rob Roy''. The Picture Theatre then became a venue for live drama in 1931 after radical alterations, at the hands of Alderson Burrell Horne (1863–1953). Horne was known in the theatrical world as Anmer Hall, and also used the stage name Waldo Wright. In the mid 1930s Kathleen Mary Robinson came from Australia to study theatre production and she helped the produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsenic And Old Lace (play)
''Arsenic and Old Lace'' is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the 1944 film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was produced by Lindsay and Crouse and directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the play moved to the Hudson Theatre, closing there on June 17, 1944, having played 1,444 performances. The West End production – directed by Marcel Varnel and produced at London's Strand Theatre – enjoyed a similarly long run. Opening on December 23, 1942, and closing on March 2, 1946, it totalled 1,337 performances. Of the 12 plays written by Kesselring, ''Arsenic and Old Lace'' was by far the most successful. According to the opening night review in ''The New York Times'', the play was "so funny that none of us will ever forget it." Plot The play is a farcical black comedy revolving around the Brews ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix Theatre (London)
The Phoenix Theatre is a West End theatre in the London Borough of Camden, located in Charing Cross Road (on the corner of Flitcroft Street). The entrances are on Phoenix Street and Charing Cross Road. The Phoenix Theatre was built on the site of a former factory and then music hall Alcazar before. Description Built for Sidney Bernstein, Baron Bernstein, the theatre was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crewe and Cecil Massey. It has a restrained neoclassical exterior, but an interior designed in an Italianate style by director and designer Theodore Komisarjevsky. Vladimir Polunin copied works by Tintoretto, Titian, Pinturicchio, and Giorgione. It has a safety curtain that holds Jacopo del Sellaio's ''The Triumph of Love''. There are golden engravings in the auditorium, and red seats, carpets and curtains. This look is based on traditional Italian theatres. There are decorated ceilings and sculpted wooden doors throughout the building. It opened on 24 Septe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winnie The Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London's ''The Evening News (London newspaper), Evening News'' for Christmas Eve 1925. The character is inspired by a stuffed toy that Milne had bought for his son Christopher Robin Milne, Christopher Robin in Harrods department store, and a bear they had viewed at London Zoo. The first collection of stories about the character is the book ''Winnie-the-Pooh (book), Winnie-the-Pooh'' (1926), and this was followed by ''The House at Pooh Corner'' (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book ''When We Were Very Young'' (1924) and many more in ''Now We Are Six'' (1927). All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. The stories are set in Hundred Acre Wood, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
