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Vampira (1974 Film)
''Vampira'' is a 1974 British comedy horror film directed by Clive Donner, and starring David Niven and Teresa Graves. The spoof of the vampire genre was re-titled ''Old Dracula'' for release in the United States, in an attempt to ride the success of ''Young Frankenstein''. Plot Count Dracula is an old vampire who, because of his advanced age, is forced to host tours of his castle to get new victims. In an attempt to revive his long-lost love, Vampira, Dracula needs to find a victim with a very specific blood group combination to resurrect Vampira by a blood transfusion. So he sets out to collect blood from the bevy of ''Playboy'' Playmates visiting his castle. However, one of the Playmates whose blood is drained is black, turning the revived Vampira into a black woman. Dracula enthralls the hapless Marc to collect blood from three white women in hopes of restoring Vampira's original skin color. Dracula transfuses the blood into her but she is unchanged; however, her bite t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clive Donner
Clive Stanley Donner (21 January 1926 – 6 September 2010)Ronald Berganbr>Obituary: Clive Donner ''The Guardian'', 7 September 2010 was a British film director who was part of the British New Wave, directing films such as ''The Caretaker'', '' Nothing but the Best'', '' What's New Pussycat?'', and '' Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush''. He also directed television movies and commercials through the mid-1990s. Early career Donner was born in West Hampstead, London. His father was a concert violinist and his mother ran a dress shop; his grandparents were Polish-Jewish immigrants. Donner began his filmmaking career while attending Kilburn Polytechnic. He began working in the film industry as a cutting-room assistant at Denham Studios, having gained the job after joining his father, who was at the studio to record the soundtrack for the film ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' (1943). Donner did his eighteen months of National Service with the Royal Army Educational Corp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linda Hayden (actress)
Linda Hayden (born 19 January 1953, Linda M. Higginson) is an English film and television actress. She is best known for her roles in 1970s British horror films and sex comedies. Career Hayden was born in Stanmore, Middlesex. She trained with the Aida Foster stage school in dancing, singing and stage acting before making her film debut at the age of 15 in the controversial ''Baby Love'' (1968), playing a schoolgirl who seduces her adoptive family. She next featured in two horror films; playing Alice Hargood in Hammer's ''Taste the Blood of Dracula'', (1970), followed by a memorable performance as the demonically possessed Angel Blake in ''The Blood on Satan's Claw'' (1970), made by Tigon. ''BritishHorrorFilms.co.uk'' (Retrieved: 16 February 2010) I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Cleveland
Carol Cleveland (born 13 January 1942) is a British-American actress and comedian, particularly known for her work with Monty Python. Early life Born in East Sheen, London, she moved to the United States with her mother and U.S. Air Force stepfather at an early age. She was brought up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lubbock, Texas; and later Pasadena, California, where she attended John Marshall Junior High School and Pasadena High School. She is a former Miss California Navy and appeared as Miss Teen Queen in ''MAD Magazine'' at age 15. Carol was Miss Teen in the August 1958 issue of ''Dig'' magazine. Cleveland returned with her family to London in 1960, and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Career A stage actress and model who had appeared as an extra in ''The Persuaders!'', a secretary in '' The Saint'', and other TV shows and films, she started to appear as an extra in BBC comedy productions, including ''The Two Ronnies'', ''Morecambe and Wise'', and various ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Cranham
Kenneth Cranham (born 12 December 1944) is a Scottish film, television, radio and stage actor. Early life Cranham was born in Dunfermline, Fife, the son of Lochgelly-born Margaret McKay Cranham (née Ferguson) and Ronald Cranham, a London-born civil servant. Career Cranham trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, and at RADA. He starred in the title role in the popular 1980s comedy drama ''Shine on Harvey Moon'', prior to which he had appeared as Charlie Collins in ''A Family at War'' (1971). He also appeared in ''Layer Cake'', ''Gangster No. 1'', ''Rome'', ''Oliver!'' and many other films. Cranham was cast as the deranged Philip Channard and his Cenobitic alter-ego in the Horror film '' Hellbound: Hellraiser II''. Among many stage credits are West End productions of ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'', ''Loot'', '' An Inspector Calls'' (both transferring to Broadway), '' The Ruffian on the Stair'', '' The Birthday Party'' and ''Gaslight'' (at the Old Vic). For his r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick Newell
Patrick David Newell (27 March 1932 – 22 July 1988) was a British actor, known for his large size. Early life and education The second son of Eric Llewellyn Newell, of High Lodge, Hadleigh, Suffolk, an Oxford-educated physician who served as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Newell was educated at Taunton School and completed his National Service, where a fellow recruit was Michael Caine, before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, alongside Albert Finney and Peter O'Toole. Career Newell began to be seen frequently on TV, usually cast as a fat villain or in comic roles. Given his rotund appearance and ability for playing slightly stuffy types, he was a natural stooge in several comedy shows, first for Arthur Askey, in ''Arthur's Treasured Volumes'' (ATV, 1960), then for Jimmy Edwards in ''Faces of Jim'' (BBC, 1962), with Ronnie Barker also supporting. He was originally cast as one of the inept recruits in the first of the '' Carry On'' films, 1958's '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aimi MacDonald
Aimi MacDonald (born 27 February 1942) is a Scottish actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as ''"The Lovely" Aimi MacDonald'' in the television sketch comedy show ''At Last the 1948 Show'' (Rediffusion, 1967). Background and early career Aimi MacDonald's Scottish father was a doctor. Her mother was English. She is the youngest of three daughters.''The Oldie'', March 2007 MacDonald went to ballet school and entered showbusiness at 14. She was a dancer, working during her teens in Great Britain and the United States.Theatreprint programme for ''The Mating Game'' (Apollo Theatre, London, 1972) While performing with a troupe in Las Vegas, she met Elvis Presley at the Silver Slipper casino, remarking years later that he would "jam with the rest of them" and on his ability as a jazz guitarist. MacDonald married an American musician at 17 and they had a daughter named Lisa. The marriage did not last and MacDonald returned to Great Britain, appearing during the 1960s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cathie Shirriff
Catherine Shirriff is a Canadian actress. Shirriff was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her notable roles include the horror comedy '' Vampira'' (1974), Bob Fosse's film '' All That Jazz'' (1979), as the Klingon Valkris in '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'' (1984), Olga Denerenko in ''Murder in Space'' (1985), and co-host with Jack Palance of the first season of the ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ... television documentary series '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!''. Personal life Shirriff is married to American financier J. Anthony Forstmann and they have one daughter. Filmography References External links * Living people Canadian television actresses Canadian film actresses Actresses from Toronto 1948 births {{Canada-actor-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Bayliss
Peter Bayliss (27 June 1922 – 29 July 2002) was an English actor. Bayliss was born in Kingston upon Thames and trained at the Italia Conti Academy and the John Gielgud Company. More than six feet tall, with a voice to match, he supplemented it with a barrage of wheezings, croakings, mutterings and, as the opera singer in ''Frontiers of Farce'' (Old Vic, 1977), garglings. In 1956 he appeared on stage in "The Matchmaker" at the Royale Theatre in New York and in 1960 he appeared in "Ross" at the Royal Haymarket Theatre in London. His 20 films ranged from '' The Red Shoes'' (1948) to '' Darling'' (1965). He acted in more than 40 television productions including '' Please Sir!'' (he played the part of Mr Dunstable, Dennis Dunstable's father), ''The Sweeney'', ''Coronation Street'', ''Lovejoy'' and ''The Bill'', plus dramas like ''Bye, Bye Columbus'' (1990), ''Merlin'' (1998) and ''The Arabian Nights'' (1999). On radio he was particularly good in Jacobean adaptations, playing ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 192116 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was known for playing Captain Peacock in ''Are You Being Served?'' and its sequel ''Grace & Favour'' (''Are You Being Served? Again!'') and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Early life Frank Thornton Ball was born in Dulwich, London, the son of Rosina Mary (née Thornton) and William Ernest Ball. His father was an organist at St Stephen's Church, Sydenham Hill, where Frank learned to play the organ for a short while. Music proved too difficult for him, however, and he wanted to act from an early age. His father, who worked in a bank, wanted him to get a "proper" job, so he began working in insurance after leaving Alleyn's School. He soon enrolled at a small acting school, the London School of Dramatic Art, and took evening classes. After two years working at the insurance company, he was invited to become a day student at the acting sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Sandford
Christopher Duke Sandford (born 6 June 1939) is a British actor. He has appeared in more than fifty films since 1956. He also worked in the music business for a spell in the 1960s as a both a singer, and radio DJ, before returning to the acting profession. More recently he is the author of several books on fly-fishing, ''The Best of British Baits: An Identification Guide to Artificial Lures from 1849–1930'' (1997), ''A Wellie Full of Water'' (2008), ''Flytyers' Flies: The Flies That Catch Fish'' (2009), and ''Mayflies and More: A Flytyers' Guide to the Chalkstreams'' (2012). Worldcat.org, accessed 6 March 2020. Selected filmography References External links * *[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for almost sixty years. In theatre, he was best known for originating the role of Sir in ''The Dresser''; in film, he was best known for his role as the showman Bytes in '' The Elephant Man'' (1980); and in television, he was best known for playing Sandy Thomas in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2005 to 2018. Early life Jones was born on 12 September 1927 in Dresden, a suburb of the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, the son of Ida Elizabeth (née Goodwin) and Charles Edward Jones. Charles was a porcelain thrower, Ida a clerk and pub pianist. He worked briefly at Creda, the consumer electrical goods vendors, in Longton before he joined the British Ceramic Research Association in Penkhull, where he worked for ten years. His girlfriend a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minah Bird
Minah Ogbenyealu Bird, (also known as Mynah Bird, 11 March 1950 – July 1995) was a Nigerian model and actress active in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Biography Bird hailed from Aba in Nigeria and was educated in both Nigeria and Finland. After appearing in such films as ''Up Pompeii'' (1971), '' Four Dimensions of Greta'' (1972), ''The Love Box'' (1972), '' Layout for 5 Models'' (1972), ''Percy's Progress'' (1974), '' Vampira'' (1974), '' Alfie Darling'' (1976), '' The Stud'' (1978), '' The London Connection'' (1979) and '' A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square'' (1979). Described as the "only major black starlet in British sex films", she vanished from public view from the late 1970s and was found dead in her London council flat, a few weeks after suffering an apparent heart attack in 1995. Bird was listed as one of the "top black fashion models who paved the way for black women in fashion" alongside Iman and Grace Jones. She appeared on the cover of Oz magazin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |