Al Clark (producer)
Al Clark is an Australian film producer. He is best known for his producer role on ''The'' ''Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' and his executive producer role on the film, '' Chopper''. Clark is also the author of four books. '' Time Flies'' and ''Time Flies Too'' are Clark's memoirs, which merge the early days of punk and new wave popular music with the truncated British film renaissance of the 1980s and the world of international film finance, and later chronicle his move to Australia and his work there. Clark's first book ''Raymond Chandler in Hollywood'' provides an insight into the work of the writer of detective fiction and includes interviews with many of the Hollywood figures who were associated with Raymond Chandler and his films. His second book ''Making Priscilla'', also titled ''The Lavender Bus: How a Hit Movie Was Made and Sold'', is a behind-the-scenes tale outlining the follies of film-making and how ''The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called ''Student''. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972. His Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started the Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997, he founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain, passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the Virgin CrossCountry, InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the Virgin Trains East Coast, InterC ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gothic (film)
''Gothic'' is a 1986 British psychological horror film directed by Ken Russell, starring Gabriel Byrne as Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Natasha Richardson as Mary Shelley, Myriam Cyr as Claire Clairmont (Mary Shelley's stepsister) and Timothy Spall as Dr. John William Polidori. It features a soundtrack by Thomas Dolby, and marks Richardson's and Cyr's film debut. The film is a fictionalized retelling of the Shelleys' visit to Lord Byron in Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, shot in Gaddesden Place. It concerns their competition to write a horror story, which ultimately led to Mary Shelley writing ''Frankenstein'' and John Polidori writing "The Vampyre." The same event has also been portrayed in the films ''Mary Shelley'' (with Elle Fanning as Mary Shelley), ''Haunted Summer'' (1988) (with Alice Krige as Mary Shelley) among others, and alluded to in ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935) (with Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley and the Bride of the Monster). The film's p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Fox
James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor known for his work in film and television. Fox's career began in the 1960s through roles in films such as '' The Servant'' and ''Performance''. He is also known for his roles in '' A Passage to India'' in 1984 and '' The Remains of the Day'' in 1993. In the 1970s, Fox took a break from acting to focus on personal and spiritual matters, returning to acting in the early 1980s. Over time, he built a reputation for playing a variety of roles, including upper-class figures and more serious characters. He is a member of the Fox family of actors. Early life Fox was born on 19 May 1939 in London, the second son of theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. His elder brother is actor Edward Fox and his younger brother is film producer Robert Fox. His maternal grandfather was playwright Frederick Lonsdale. Fox applied successfully to study acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Care ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft have had a great impact on popular music. Bowie studied art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. He released a string of unsuccessful singles with local bands and David Bowie (1967 album), a self-titled solo album (1967) before achieving his first top-five entry on the UK singles chart with "Space Oddity" (1969). After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the alter ego Ziggy Stardust (character), Ziggy Stardust. The success of the single "Starman (song), Starman" and its album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Star ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Julien Temple
Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle'', ''Absolute Beginners (film), Absolute Beginners'' and a documentary film about ''Glastonbury (film), Glastonbury''. Early life Temple was born in Kensington, London, the son of Landon Temple, who organised the travel company Progressive Tours. He was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School (from which he was expelled), William Ellis School, and King's College, Cambridge. He grew up with little interest in film until, when a student at Cambridge, he discovered the works of French anarchist director Jean Vigo. This, along with his interest in the early Punk rock, punk scene in London in 1976, led to his friendship with The Sex Pistols, leading him to document many of their early gigs. Career 1970s Temple's first film was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Absolute Beginners (film)
''Absolute Beginners'' is a 1986 British musical film adapted from Colin MacInnes' book about life in late 1950s London, directed by Julien Temple. The film stars Eddie O' Connell, Patsy Kensit, James Fox, Edward Tudor-Pole, Anita Morris, and David Bowie, with featured appearances by Sade Adu, Ray Davies, and Steven Berkoff. It was screened out of competition at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. It received coverage in the British media but was panned by critics and became a box office failure, although modern reviews have been more favourable. Bowie's theme song was very popular in the UK, spending nine weeks on the charts and peaking at number two. The commercial failure of ''Absolute Beginners'' and two other films is blamed for the collapse of British film studio Goldcrest Films. Plot Taking place in 1958, popular culture in London is transforming from 1950s jazz to a new generation on the verge of the rock and roll 1960s. Young photographer Colin is in love with aspiri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memorable performance as Richard Burton's Hamlet, Hamlet in 1964. He was called "the natural successor to Laurence Olivier, Olivier" by critic Kenneth Tynan. Burton's perceived failure to live up to those expectations disappointed some critics and colleagues; his heavy drinking added to his reputation as a great performer who had wasted his talent. Nevertheless, he is widely regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation. Burton was nominated for an Academy Awards, Academy Award seven times but never won. He was nominated for his performances in ''My Cousin Rachel (1952 film), My Cousin Rachel'' (1952), ''The Robe (1953 film), The Robe'' (1953), ''Becket (1964 film), Becket'' (1964), ''The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (film), The Spy W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Hurt
Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Lynch as "simply the greatest actor in the world". In a List of John Hurt performances, career spanning over five decades, he received numerous accolades including four British Academy Film Awards, BAFTAs and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. He was Knight Bachelor, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2015 for his services to drama. A graduate of RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), he Breakthrough role, came to prominence playing Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, Richard Rich in the film ''A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), A Man for All Seasons'' (1966) and won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for ''The Naked Civil Servant (film), The Naked Civil Servant'' (1975). He played ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michael Radford
Michael James Radford (born 24 February 1946) is an English film director and screenwriter. He began his career as a documentary director and television comedy writer before transitioning into features in the early 1980s. His best-known credits include the 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's '' Nineteen Eighty-Four'' starring John Hurt and Richard Burton (in his final role), the Shakespeare adaptation '' The Merchant of Venice'', the true crime drama '' White Mischief'', and the 1994 Italian-language comedy drama '' Il Postino: The Postman'', for which he won the BAFTA Awards for Best Direction and Best Film Not in the English Language, and earned Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Early life and career Radford was born on 24 February 1946, in New Delhi, India, to a British father and an Austrian Jewish mother. He was educated at Bedford School before attending Worcester College, Oxford. After teaching for a few years, he w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 Film)
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (stylized as ''1984'') is a 1984 dystopian film written and directed by Michael Radford, based upon George Orwell's 1949 novel. Starring John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton and Cyril Cusack, it follows the life of Winston Smith (Hurt), a low-ranking civil servant in a war-torn London ruled by Oceania, a totalitarian superstate. Smith struggles to maintain his sanity and his grip on reality as the regime's overwhelming power and influence persecute individualism and individual thinking on both a political and a personal level. ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' was Burton's last screen appearance; it was released two months after his death and is dedicated to him. It was released in the United Kingdom on 10 October 1984 by Virgin Films. It received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Art Direction, and won two Evening Standard British Film Awards for Best Film and Best Actor. Plot In a dystopian 1984, Winston ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jenny Seagrove
Jennifer Ann Seagrove (born 4 July 1957) is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's '' A Woman of Substance'' (1985) and the film '' Local Hero'' (1983). She starred in the thriller '' Appointment with Death'' (1988) and William Friedkin's horror film ''The Guardian'' (1990). She later played Louisa Gould in '' Another Mother's Son'' (2017). She is known for her role as the character of Jo Mills in the long-running BBC drama series '' Judge John Deed'' (2001–07). Early life Seagrove was born Jennifer Ann Seagrove in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1957, to British parents, Pauline and Derek Seagrove. Her father ran an import-export firm, which afforded the family a privileged lifestyle. When Seagrove was less than a year old, her mother suffered a stroke, and was unable to care for her. Seagrove attended St Hilary's School in Godalmin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |