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Kay Walsh
Kathleen "Kay" Walsh (15 November 1911 – 16 April 2005) was an English actress, dancer, and screenwriter. Her film career prospered after she met her future husband film director David Lean, with whom she worked on prestige productions such as ''In Which We Serve'' and ''Oliver Twist''. Early life and career Walsh was born on 15 November 1911 in Chelsea, London. She was raised in Pimlico by her grandmother. She began her career as a dancer in West End music halls, and at the age of 17 she began going out with Pownoll Pellew (later 9th Viscount Exmouth), and they shared an interest in sports cars.Dave Cox, ''Ave Atque Vale'', p 15 She made her film debut in ''How's Chances?'' (1934) in a small part, and had a larger role in ''Get Your Man'', another 1934 film. She continued to act in "quota quickies" films for several years. Walsh first met David Lean, then a film editor, in 1936, during the filming of ''Secret of Stamboul''. They began a relationship, and Walsh broke her enga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lease Of Life
''Lease of Life'' is a 1954 British drama film made by Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Frend. The film was designed as a star-vehicle for Robert Donat, representing his return to the screen after an absence of over three years during which he had been battling the chronic asthma which plagued his life and career. It was a prestige production which was generally respectfully, if not over-enthusiastically, received and gained Donat a nomination as 'Best British Actor' at the 1955 British Academy Film Awards. In common with a number of other Ealing films of the era, ''Lease of Life'' focuses on a specific English milieu – in this case a Yorkshire village and its nearby cathedral city – and examines the nuances, quirks and foibles of its day-to-day life. The film is unique in the Ealing canon in having religion as its dominant theme. It bears several parallels to the 1952 Japanese film Ikiru ("to live") but with a much lighter tone. Plot Rev William Thorne ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Todd
Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in 1945's ''The Seventh Veil''. From 1949 to 1957 she was married to David Lean who directed her in 1949's ''The Passionate Friends'', 1950's ''Madeleine'' and 1952's ''The Sound Barrier''. She was a member of The Old Vic theatre company and in 1957 starred in a Broadway play. In her later years she wrote, produced and directed travel documentaries. Early years Todd was born in Hartford, Cheshire. Although latterly claiming to be born in 1909, 1911 census records show her born in 1907 and christened in March 1907. Her Scottish-born father Thomas was a salesman, and her London-born mother Constance a housewife. She had a younger brother Harold Brooke (who took their mother's maiden name), who became a screenwriter of light comedies. After the family moved to London, Todd was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne, Sussex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chelsea And Westminster Hospital
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is a 430-bed teaching hospital located in Chelsea, London. Although the hospital has been at its present site since only 1993, the hospital has a rich history in that it serves as the new site for the Westminster Hospital. It is operated by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and has close ties with Imperial College London. Many of the hospital's employees hold research contracts with Imperial College London, and the hospital plays an integral role in teaching students at Imperial College London. History The first hospital on the site was conceived in 1876 and officially opened as the St George's Union Infirmary in February 1878. This facility became St Stephen's Hospital in 1925 and, after it had joined the National Health Service in 1948, continued in service until it closed in 1989. Part of the old hospital survives as an HIV unit known as "St Stephen's Centre". The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which was designed by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Crossing
''Night Crossing'' is a 1982 British-American drama film starring John Hurt, Jane Alexander and Beau Bridges. The film is based on the true story of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families, who on September 16, 1979, attempted to escape from East Germany to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon, during the days of the Inner German border-era, when immigration to West Germany was strictly prohibited by the East German government. It was the final theatrical film directed by Delbert Mann, and the last film, too, in which Kay Walsh appeared, before retiring. Plot The film opens with a brief summary of 1961's then-current conditions in East Germany and nature of the border zone, featuring stock footage such as Conrad Schumann's jump over barbed wire in Berlin as the Berlin Wall is being built. In April 1978, in the small town of Pößneck, Thuringia, a teenager, Lukas Keller, attempts to escape East Germany by riding a bulldozer through the Inner German Border Zone. However, he is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nap Hand (play)
''Nap Hand'' is a 1940 comedy play by Vernon Sylvaine and Guy Bolton. The title refers to the sporting term, a nap hand. The farce revolves around quintuplets. After premiering at the Manchester Opera House, it ran for 83 performances at the Aldwych Theatre in London between 2 March and 11 May 1940. The cast included Ralph Lynn, Kay Walsh, William Hartnell, Marjorie Corbett, Francis de Wolff, Frederick Piper and Bertha Belmore Bertha Belmore (22 December 1882 – 14 December 1953) was an English stage and film actress. Part of the Belmore family of British actors through her marriage to actor Herbert Belmore, she began her career as a child actress in British pantomim .... It was produced by Austin Melford.Wearing p.9 References Bibliography * Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1940-1949: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 1940 plays Comedy plays West End plays Plays set in England Plays by Vernon Sylvaine Plays by Gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Lynn
Ralph Clifford Lynn (8 March 1882 – 8 August 1962) was an English actor who had a 60-year career, and is best remembered for playing comedy parts in the Aldwych farces first on stage and then in film. Lynn became an actor at the age of 18 and very soon began to be cast in knut or "silly ass" roles. He played such parts as a supporting actor for more than two decades until 1922, when he was cast in the lead of a new West End farce, '' Tons of Money'', in which he achieved immediate stardom. After the success of this play, its co-producer, the actor-manager Tom Walls, leased the Aldwych Theatre in London, where for the next ten years he and Lynn co-starred in a series of successful farces, most of which were written for them by Ben Travers. Many of the Aldwych farces were made into films starring Lynn and Walls, and the two were ranked among the most popular British film actors of the 1930s. He continued his stage career during and after the Second World War, scoring anothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death On The Table
''Death on the Table'' is a 1938 thriller play by the writers Michael Pertwee and Guy Beauchamp. The plot revolves around American gangsters, Harley Street doctors and a murder that takes place on the operating table. It premiered at Richmond Theatre before transferring to the West End where it ran for 93 performances between 9 March and 7 May 1938, initially at the Strand Theatre then moving to the New Theatre. The original London cast included Kay Walsh, Peter Coke, Walter Fitzgerald, Hartley Power, Hugh McDermott, Bill Shine and Ellis Irving. Produced by Basil Dean, the sets were designed by the art director Edward Carrick. It was staged on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in ... under the alternative title ''Come Across'', but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Coke
Peter John Coke ( "cook"; 3 April 1913 – 30 July 2008) was an English people, English actor, playwright and artist. Early life Peter John Coke was born in Southsea, Hampshire on 3 April 1913.Tribute to Peter Coke, memorial ''Lasting Tribute''. URL last accessed 2008-08-01. His father was a commander in the Royal Navy, who took his family to Kenya to run a linen plantation, however, this venture failed and he began to run a coffee plantation. Coke was educated at Stowe School and later lived with his maternal grandmother in Menton, France.Obituary in ''The Telegraph'' Coke returned to England and took acting lessons from an elderly actress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Dean
Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unofficial entertainments for his comrades in the army, he was appointed do so officially. After the war he produced and directed mostly in the West End. He staged premieres of plays by writers including J. M. Barrie, Noël Coward, John Galsworthy, Harley Granville-Barker and Somerset Maugham. He produced nearly 40 films, and directed 16, mainly in the 1930s, with stars including Gracie Fields. Together with Leslie Henson, Dean set up and ran the Entertainments National Service Association, or ENSA, in 1939 to provide a wide range of entertainment for British armed forces personnel during the Second World War. After the war he resumed his West End career successfully but without regaining his pre-war dominance. Life and career Early years D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels. History Origins The theatre was constructed in the newly built Aldwych as a pair with the Waldorf Theatre, now known as the Novello Theatre. Both buildings were designed in the Edwardian Baroque style by W. G. R. Sprague. The Aldwych Theatre was funded by Seymour Hicks in association with the American impresario Charles Frohman, and built by Walter Wallis of Balham. The theatre opened on 23 December 1905 with a production of ''Blue Bell'', a new version of Hicks's popular pantomime ''Bluebell in Fairyland''. In 1906, Hicks's ''The Beauty of Bath'', followed in 1907 by '' The Gay Gordons'', played at the theatre. In February 1913, the theatre was used by Serge Diaghilev and Vaslav Nijinsky for the first rehearsals of '' Le Sacre du Printemps'' before its première in Paris during May. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster. It was known as the Strand Theatre between 1913 and 2005. History The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of The Waldorf Hilton, London, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre was opened by The Shubert Organization as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was renamed the Strand Theatre, in 1909. It was again renamed as the Whitney Theatre in 1911, before again becoming the Strand Theatre in 1913. In 2005, the theatre was renamed by its owners ( Delfont Mackintosh Theatres) the Novello Theatre in honour of Ivor Novello, who lived in a flat above the theatre from 1913 to 1951. The black comedy '' Arsenic and Old Lace'' had a run of 1337 performances here in the 1940s, and '' Sailor Beware!'' ran for 1231 performances from 1955. Stephen Sondheim's musical ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' opened here in 1963, running for near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949), in which he played nine different characters, '' The Lavender Hill Mob'' (1951), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination, and '' The Ladykillers'' (1955). He collaborated six times with director David Lean: Herbert Pocket in '' Great Expectations'' (1946), Fagin in '' Oliver Twist'' (1948), Col. Nicholson in ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, Prince Faisal in ''Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962), General Yevgraf Zhivago in ''Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), and Professor Godbole in '' A Passage to India'' (1984). In 1970 he played Jacob Marley's ghost in Ronald Neame's '' Scrooge''. He also portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
