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The Night We Dropped A Clanger
''The Night We Dropped a Clanger'' is a 1959 black and white British comedy film directed by Darcy Conyers and starring Brian Rix, Cecil Parker, William Hartnell and Leslie Phillips; Andrew Sachs made his screen debut. The title comes from the British expression "to drop a clanger", meaning to say something inappropriate or revealing. It links in the title to the secondary meaning of "clang", the noise of a metallic object hitting the floor. A British secret agent is sent on a secret operation in occupied France during the Second World War but a diversionary tactic turns into a farcical tale of mistaken identity. It was released as ''Make Mine a Double'' in the United States. Although only a minor part, it was the film debut for Andrew Sachs. Plot When mysterious, unpiloted, midget aircraft start landing in southern England during the Second World War, secret agent Wing Commander Blenkinsop, VC and bar, is chosen for a top-secret mission to occupied France to investigate. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darcy Conyers
Darcy Conyers (1919–1973) was a British screenwriter, actor, producer and film director. He is sometimes credited as D'Arcy Conyers. He was the founder and creator of Bistro Vino in South Kensington, London, in 1964 - possibly the first casual dining restaurant in London. He also opened The Reject China Shop in Beauchamp Place, London SW3. Selected filmography Actor * '' Bond Street'' (1948) * ''The Jack of Diamonds'' (1949) * '' Golden Arrow'' (1949) * ''Trottie True'' (1949) * '' Ha'penny Breeze'' (1950) * '' Wings of Danger'' (1952) * '' The Time of His Life'' (1955) * '' The Blue Peter'' (1955) Director * ''The Secret of the Forest'' (1956) * '' The Devil's Pass'' (1957) * ''The Night We Dropped a Clanger'' (1959) * '' The Night We Got the Bird'' (1961) * ''Nothing Barred ''Nothing Barred'' is a 1961 British black and white comedy film directed by Darcy Conyers and starring Brian Rix, Leo Franklyn and Naunton Wayne. Plot Penniless Lord Whitebait (Naunton Wayne) p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medal Bar
A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It most commonly indicates the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the recipient has met the criteria for receiving the medal in multiple theatres. When used in conjunction with decorations for exceptional service, such as gallantry medals, the term "and bar" means that the award has been bestowed multiple times. In the example, "Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO and two bars, DFC", "DSO and two bars" means that the Distinguished Service Order was awarded on three occasions. A British convention is to indicate bars by the use of asterisks; thus, DSO** would denote a DSO and two bars. Bars are also used on long-service medals to indicate the length of service rendered. The two terms are used because terms "bar" and "clasp" both refer to two parts of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheila Mercier
Sheila Betty Mercier ('' née'' Rix; 1 January 1919 – 4 December 2019) was an English actress, of stage and television, best known for playing Annie Sugden in the soap opera ''Emmerdale'' for over 20 years, from the programme's first episode in 1972 until the mid-1990s, with a guest return in 2009. Early life and education Mercier was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Herbert Rix (of J.R. Rix & Sons Ltd) and his wife Fanny. She was their third child and second daughter; her younger brother was the actor and campaigner Brian Rix. After education at the French Convent (Hull) and at Hunmanby Hall (both East Riding of Yorkshire), she trained for the stage at the Stratford-upon-Avon College of Drama under Randle Ayrton. Career Mercier had a long career on stage before her television career. Donald Wolfit had talent spotted her and she toured with Wolfit's own Shakespeare company in 1939. During the Second World War she joined the WAAF division o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Johnston (actor)
Oliver Griffen Johnston (30 April 1888 – 22 December 1966) was an English actor. After training at RADA, his theatre work included the original production of ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' at Malvern (1930) and its subsequent West End transfer (1930-1932). Johnston started his film career in 1938, when he was already 50 years old. Working until shortly before his death, he appeared in nearly 90 film and television productions, where he often portrayed meek or mild-mannered types in supporting roles. Johnston had a rather unremarkable film acting career until he was nearly 70 years, when he was discovered by Charlie Chaplin. He is perhaps best-remembered for his role in Chaplin's ''A King in New York'' (1957), where he played a large supporting role as the "faithful ambassador and solemn-serious straight man" to Chaplin's King. Afterwards he got more acting offers, including the literature adaption ''Kidnapped'' (1960) and fantasy/horror pictures like ''The Three Lives of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Cooney
Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, '' Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 of his plays performed there. Career Cooney began to act in 1946, appearing in many of the Whitehall farces of Brian Rix throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was during this time that he co-wrote his first play, '' One For The Pot''. With Tony Hilton, he co-wrote the screenplay for the British comedy film '' What a Carve Up!'' (1961), which features Sid James and Kenneth Connor. In 1968 and 1969, Cooney adapted Richard Gordon's ''Doctor'' novels for BBC radio, as series starring Richard Briers. He also took parts in them. Cooney has also appeared on TV, (including an uncredited appearance in the ''Dial 999 (TV series)'' ' episode, 'A Mined Area', as a hold-up victim), and in several films, including a film adaptation of his successful t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Brough
Arthur Brough (born Frederick Arthur Baker; 26 February 1905 – 28 May 1978) was a British actor and theatre founder, producer and director best known for portraying the character of bumbling senior menswear salesman Ernest Grainger on the BBC sitcom ''Are You Being Served?'' Biography Early life The diminutive actor () originally wanted to become a teacher, but failed to gain such employment, and worked in a solicitor's office. He found this job too mundane and he began to take an interest in the theatre. After indulging in amateur theatricals, Brough attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the mid-1920s. After graduating, he joined a Shakespearean theatrical troupe, where he met his wife-to-be, actress Elizabeth Addyman. After they married, they used their wedding dowry as collateral to rent the Leas Pavilion, a repertory theatre in Folkestone, Kent. They had one daughter, Joanna, who was educated at Ashford School for Girls. Theatre impresario Having used the name T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-nonsense characters, but was also a prolific television and radio performer. Jacques started her career in 1944 with an appearance at the Players' Theatre in London, but came to national prominence through her appearances on three highly popular radio series on the BBC: with Tommy Handley on ''It's That Man Again''; with ventriloquist Peter Brough on ''Educating Archie''; and then with Tony Hancock on ''Hancock's Half Hour''. After the Second World War Jacques made her cinematic debut in '' Green for Danger'' (1946), in which she had a brief, uncredited role. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in 14 ''Carry On'' films, playing various roles including the formidable hospital matron. On television she had a long professional partnership with Eric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irene Handl
Irene Handl (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British author and character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films. Life Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Austria-born father -- who came to England via Switzerland and started as a bank clerk working his way up into the stock exchange as a stockbroker, then became a private banker -- Friedrich (later Frederick) Handl (1874–1961), who became a naturalised British subject. Her German mother, Marie ( Schiepp or Schuepp; 1875–before 1924), was also a naturalised British subject. Theirs was a comfortable middle-class life, with a German cook and housekeeper living in the family home. From 1907 to 1915, Irene attended the Paddington and Maida Vale High School. In the 1920s, Handl travelled several times to New York with her father, with the ship's log listing her on each occasion as having no occupation and residing in the family home. Handl studied at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Branch
Sarah Branch (7 January 1938 – 10 November 2007) was an English film actress and model. Life Before appearing in films Sarah Branch modelled wedding gowns at fashion shows.''Daily Mirror'' Obituary, 21 April 2007 She acted in two Hammer Film productions. She played Maid Marian, opposite Richard Greene as Robin Hood, in ''Sword of Sherwood Forest''. Before that she had a small role as a deaf mute girl in Hammer's Noir-like crime drama ''Hell Is A City''. She went to the progressive co-educational St. Mary's Town and Country School. She married a stockbroker John Grant Lithiby in 1961, and they had three children. She died of a terminal illness in 2007. Filmography * ''The Night We Dropped a Clanger'', released in the US as ''Make Mine a Double'' (1959) * ''Hell Is a City ''Hell Is a City'' is a 1960 British crime thriller film based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Maurice Procter. Written and directed by Val Guest, it was made by British studio Hammer Film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vera Pearce
Annie Vera Pearce (27 May 1895 – 18 January 1966) was an Australian stage and film actress. Her lengthy career was carried out in both her home country and in England. Biography Born in Broken Hill (New South Wales), Pearce spent much of her youth in Adelaide, and made her stage debut there at age five with the World's Entertainers She went on to train as a juvenile performer in pantomimes and musical comedies produced by J. C. Williamson Ltd, and in 1910 scored much acclaim for her role in the Firm's hit production ''Our Miss Gibbs'' (1910). After making her film debut in '' The Shepherd of the Southern Cross'' (1914), Pearce went to England with the aim of carving out a career there but was induced to return to Australia shortly afterwards by Hugh D. McIntosh, General Manager of Harry Rickards Tivoli Theatres Ltd. Pearce made her return to the Australian stage in November 1914 as one of the stars of the ''Tivoli Follies'' revue, and remained with the show throughou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liz Fraser
Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018), known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles. Early life Fraser was born in Southwark, London. Her year of birth was usually cited as 1933, which she gave when auditioning for her role in '' I'm All Right Jack'', because the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part. In fact she was three years older, as she confirmed in her autobiography, ''Liz Fraser ... and Other Characters'', published by Signum Books in 2012. Her father was a travelling salesman for a brewery and her mother owned a corner shop just off the New Kent Road. Their family life was disrupted by the Second World War, when she was evacuated, initially to Westerham in Kent and then, when that was deemed still too vulnerable to bombing, to Chudleigh, a village in Devon. Her father died in May 1942, aged 40, when she was 11. She went to St Saviour's and St Olave's Gramm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Welsh (actor)
John Welsh (7 November 1914 – 21 April 1985) was an Irish actor. Biography Welsh was born in Wexford. After an early stage career in Dublin, he moved into British film and television in the 1950s. His roles included James Forsyte in the 1967 BBC dramatisation of John Galsworthy's ''The Forsyte Saga'' and Sir Pitt Crawley in Thackeray's Vanity Fair, as well as the waiter, Merriman in ''The Duchess of Duke Street'', Sgt. Cuff in ''The Moonstone'' and a brief scene as the barber in ''Brideshead Revisited''. He also appeared in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', '' The Brothers'', ''Prince Regent'', ''To Serve Them All My Days'', 'The Frighteners' ('Bed and Breakfast' episode, 1972), and ''The Citadel'', and played the assistant chief constable in the early series of '' Softly, Softly''. Welsh also appeared in a number of different roles in ''Danger Man'' that included British diplomats and butlers. He died in London. Filmography * ''The Accused'' (1953) - Mr. Tennant * '' The Clue of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
