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The Weaker Sex
''The Weaker Sex'' is a 1948 British drama film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Ursula Jeans, Cecil Parker and Joan Hopkins. It was one of the most popular films at the British box office in 1948. The film's subject was what ''The New York Times'' described as the "heroics of that valiant legion of women who stood, but did not wait, through the long war years and the now dreary post war years." Plot Set near Portsmouth, one of the main bases for the D-Day invasion fleet, the film portrays life on the British home front during World War II. During the run up to D-Day (1944), widowed Martha Dacre ( Ursula Jeans) tries to keep house and home together for her two daughters and two servicemen billeted on her. Although her two daughters serve as Wrens, and her son is away in the Navy, she has chosen to stay at home as a housewife (although she also participates in fire-watching and works in a canteen). When she learns that her son's ship was damaged during the landings, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Ward Baker
Roy Ward Baker (born Roy Horace Baker; 19 December 1916 – 5 October 2010) was an English film director. His best known film is ''A Night to Remember (1958 film), A Night to Remember'' (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film, Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959. His later career included many horror films and television shows. Early life and career Born in London where his father was a Billingsgate Fish Market, Billingsgate fish merchant, Baker was educated at a Lycée in Rouen, France, and at the City of London School. Career From 1934 to 1939, Baker worked for Gainsborough Pictures, a British film production company based in the Islington district of London. His first jobs were menial, making tea for crew members, for example, but by 1938 he had risen to the level of assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Lady Vanishes (1938 film), The Lady Vanishes'' (1938). He served in the British Army, Army during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France (and later western Europe) and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal, and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days each month wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kynaston Reeves
Philip Arthur Reeves (29 May 18935 December 1971), known professionally as Kynaston Reeves, was an English character actor who appeared in numerous films and many television plays and series. Early life Reeves was born in London on 29 May 1893 and was the first of two sons of Arthur Robert Reeves (born 1855) and Clarissa Mary Kynaston (b. 1864). His brother was John Edward. He was married to the Australian Jewish stage actress Paula Sabina. They had two children, Thomas and Suzanne. Career Philip Arthur Reeves, professionally known as P. Kynaston Reeves or Kynaston Reeves, took his mother's maiden name as a middle name when commencing his film career with a small part in the 1931 film ''Many Waters'', before dispensing with the prefixed initial. He believed that having a name that reminded directors of the famous actor Edward Kynaston would help him to get work. In 1932, he progressed to a supporting role, playing an editor called Bob Mitchell alongside Ivor Novello and Jac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marian Spencer (actress)
Marian Regelia Alexander Spencer (June 28, 1920 – July 9, 2019) was an American politician who served as Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was the first African American woman to be elected to the Council. The granddaughter of a former slave, she was active in the civil rights movement to desegregate schools and end discrimination, and became the first female president of the Cincinnati NAACP chapter. She also served on the University of Cincinnati board of trustees. Personal life Spencer was born Marian Regelia Alexander on June 28, 1920, in Gallipolis, Ohio. Her family, including her parents, her twin sister, Mildred, and two brothers, Harry and Vernon, lived in a home that had been built by her grandfather, a freed slave. Spencer became a member of the NAACP at age 13. She graduated from Gallia Academy High School in 1938 as co-valedictorian with her sister. She was a member of the National Honor Society. She moved to Cincinnati to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Owen (actor)
William John Owen Rowbotham, (14 March 1914 – 12 July 1999) was an English actor and songwriter. He was the father of actor Tom Owen. He is best known for portraying Compo Simmonite in the Yorkshire-based BBC comedy series ''Last of the Summer Wine'' for over a quarter of a century. He died on 12 July 1999, his last appearance on-screen being shown in April 2000. Early life and career Born at Acton Green, London to a working-class family (his father a staunchly left-wing tram-driver), Owen made his first film appearance in 1945, but did not achieve lasting fame until 1973, when he took the co-starring role of William "Compo" Simmonite in the long-running British sitcom ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Compo is a scruffy working-class pensioner, often exploited by the bossy characters played by Michael Bates, Brian Wilde, Michael Aldridge and Frank Thornton for dirty jobs, stunts and escapades, while their indomitably docile friend Norman Clegg, played by Peter Sallis, fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thora Hird
Dame Thora Hird (28 May 1911 – 15 March 2003) was an English actress and comedian, presenter and writer. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 film and television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution. A three-time winner of the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, she won for '' Talking Heads: A Cream Cracker Under the Settee'' (1988), '' Talking Heads: Waiting for the Telegram'' (1998) and '' Lost for Words'' (1999). Her film credits included ''The Love Match'' (1955), '' The Entertainer'' (1960), '' A Kind of Loving'' (1962) and ''The Nightcomers'' (1971). Early life and career Hird was born on 28 May 1911 in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe to James Henry Hird and Jane Mary (née Mayor). Her family background was largely theatrical: her mother had been an actress, while her father managed a number of entertainment venues in Morecambe, including the Royalty Theatre, where Hird made her first appearance, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digby Wolfe
James Digby Wolfe (4 June 19292 May 2012) was a British actor. After a successful career in the UK and Australia, his later career was based in the US. Early life James Digby Wolfe was born to a father who was an international banker and a mother who was a Vogue magazine artist. His mother named him after a character in ''Beau Geste''. When he was four, his father died after being hit by a golf ball, and he was brought up by his mother in Felixstowe. Film and television career He made his film debut in the 1948 film ''The Weaker Sex''. He began writing and performing in comedy series in England in the 1950s. Together with Jimmy Wilson he wrote a revue, with music by John Pritchett and Norman Dannatt, for the Irving Theatre. He appeared alongside Ronnie Corbett, Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey, in his own television show '' Wolfe at the Door'' before moving to Sydney in 1959, where he made frequent television appearances and was host of the variety shows, ''Revue '61'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Stone (actor)
John Stone (born John Hailstone; 26 May 1924 – 2007) was a Welsh actor. Career Born in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales, Stone was educated at Brighton College. He served in the R.A.F. and began his career as a journalist. Soon he switched to acting and only appeared on the stage until 1945 when he joined the B.B.C. Repertory Company. He made his first West End appearance in ''One Wild Oat'' by Vernon Sylvaine, 1948. Subsequent appearances include the London premiere of Arthur Miller's ''A View from the Bridge'', Comedy Theatre, 1956; ''And Suddenly it's Spring'', Duke of York's Theatre, 1959; ''Signpost to Murder'', Cambridge Theatre, 1962; and the role of Crestwell, the laconic butler, in Noël Coward's ''Relative Values'', Westminster Theatre, 1973. Under contract to Rank, as one of the Sydney Box Company of Youth ("Charm School") in the late 1940s. Film credits include ''The Weaker Sex'' (dir. Roy Baker), 1948; ''The Frightened City'', 1961; ''Masque of the Red Death'' (dir. Rog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lana Morris
Lana Morris, born Avril Maureen Anita Morris (11 March 1930 – 28 May 1998) was a British film, stage and television actress during the 1950s and 1960s. She played the role of Helene Hillmer in the 1967 BBC adaptation of ''The Forsyte Saga'', and appeared in many other television programmes. She worked with Roger Moore in '' The Saint'', appearing on the cover of an early 1960s tie-in reprinting of the novel ''The Saint in New York''. She later became a television panellist. She was also in British films such as '' I Start Counting''. She was married to the BBC executive Ronnie Waldman (1914–1978). She died of a heart attack in Windsor, Berkshire, having been taken ill shortly after the first performance of the Barbara Taylor Bradford Barbara Taylor Bradford (born 10 May 1933) is a best-selling British-American novelist. Her debut novel, '' A Woman of Substance'', was published in 1979 and sold over 30 million copies worldwide. She wrote 39 novels, all bestseller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Bond
Derek William Douglas Bond MC (26 January 1920 – 15 October 2006) was a British actor. He was President of the trade union Equity from 1984 to 1986. Life and career Bond was born on 26 January 1920 in Glasgow, Scotland. He attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hampstead, London.Gavin GaughanObituary: Derek Bond ''The Guardian'', 8 November 2006 Bond enlisted into the Coldstream Guards soon after the outbreak of war where his education marked him out for officer training, and he was duly sent to Sandhurst. Opting to transfer to the Grenadier Guards he was invited, with other hopefuls, to dinner by the Adjutant, Captain E H Goulburn. After being plied with drinks and subjected to a grilling, at which most of the cadets managed to maintain a suitable air of sycophancy, Bond was asked: “So, Bond, you were an actor! Aren’t all actors sh*ts?” After replying “no more than regular soldiers, Sir!” – his future was assured. After the evacuation of Dunkirk in May ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1945 United Kingdom General Election
The 1945 United Kingdom general election was a national election held on 5 July 1945, but polling in some constituencies was delayed by some days, and the counting of votes was delayed until 26 July to provide time for Absentee voting in the United Kingdom, overseas votes to be brought to Britain. The governing Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party sought to maintain its position in Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament but faced challenges from public opinion about the future of the United Kingdom in the post-war period. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill proposed to call for a general election in Parliament, which passed with a majority vote less than two months after the conclusion of the Second World War in Europe. The election's campaigning was focused on leadership of the country and its postwar future. Churchill sought to use his wartime popularity as part of his campaign to keep the Conservatives in power after a C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victory In Europe Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Eastern Front, with the last shots fired on the 11th. Russia and some former Soviet countries celebrate on 9 May. Several countries observe public holidays on the day each year, also called Victory Over Fascism Day, Liberation Day or Victory Day. In the UK it is often abbreviated to VE Day, or V-E Day in the US, a term which existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory. The end of all combat actions was specified as 23:01 Central European Time, which was already 9 May in eastern Europe, and thus several former Soviet bloc countries including Russia and Belarus, as well as some former Yugoslav countries like Serbia, celebrate Victory Day on 9 May. History Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, had committed suicide on 30 April ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
