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Dial 999 (TV Series)
''Dial 999'' is a British television series that ran for one series of 39 episodes from 1958 to 1959. The series was a co-production between ITV contractor ABC Weekend TV, and American television producer Ziv Television Programs. Synopsis Named after the emergency telephone number for the United Kingdom, ''Dial 999'' stars Robert Beatty as Canadian Mountie Mike Maguire, and follows his work fighting crime alongside London's police. Beatty was essentially reprising his role in the 1946 film ''Appointment with Crime'', in which he played Detective Inspector Rogers, a Canadian police officer attached to Scotland Yard. The show contrasted Beatty's muscular brand of policing with that of his British colleagues, but failed to sell to North American markets. Cast * Robert Beatty – Detective Inspector Michael McGuire * Duncan Lamont – Detective Inspector Winter * John Witty – Detective Sargeant West Each episode had a different supporting cast. Notable actors who appeared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITV (TV Network)
ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV (TV channel), STV. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been Legal name, legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4. ITV was, for decades, a network of separate companies that provided regional television services and also shared programmes among themselves to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc, which runs ITV1, the ITV1 cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Tafler
Sydney Tafler (31 July 1916 – 8 November 1979) was an English actor who after having started his career on stage, was best remembered for numerous appearances in films and television from the 1940s to the 1970s. Personal life Tafler was born into a Jewish family, the son of Eva (née Kosky) and Mark Tafler, an antique dealer. His sister, Hylda, married the film director Lewis Gilbert. Another sister, Sheila, was also an actress. He was married to the actress Joy Shelton from 1941 until his death from cancer; they had three children – two sons, Jeremy and Jonathan, and a daughter, Jennifer, who became a child actress. Career After two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Tafler first appeared on stage in London's West End in 1936, with Sir Seymour Hicks in ''The Man in Dress Clothes''. From 1943 to 1946 he played many Shakespearean roles with the Old Vic company at the New Theatre. His other stage roles included the menacing character of Nat Goldberg in a 1975 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Marshall (screenwriter)
Roger Marshall (15 March 1934 – 1 April 2020) was an English television screenwriter known as co-creator of the series '' Public Eye''. Early life Marshall was born in March 1934 in Leicester, England and educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.Gilbert, Pat ''Shut It! The Inside Story of the Sweeney'' Aurum Press 2010 Roger Marshall, television dramatist who created the gritty crime series Public Eye – obituary ''Daily Telegraph''. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2021. Career After leaving university, Marshall embarked on a writing career that included ''[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Yeldham
Peter Alan Yeldham (25 April 1927 – 20 September 2022) was an Australian screenwriter for motion pictures and television, playwright and novelist whose career spanned five decades. Biography Peter Yeldham was born in Gladstone, near Smithtown, New South Wales, in 1927. Leaving Knox Grammar School at 16, Yeldham briefly became a Jackaroo (trainee), jackaroo in Queensland. Then he returned to Sydney to join Radio 2GB, first as a messenger boy and then became junior scriptwriter. He wrote several scripts and a weekly column for the magazine ''The Listener In'' before being called up for the army at 18, going to Japan with the Occupation Force, where he served with the radio unit. After returning to civilian life he married and worked freelance, writing for ''Famous Trials'', ''Medical File'', ''Night Beat'', ''The Golden Cobweb'', ''For The Defence'', and many other programs that he largely originated for Grace Gibson Productions. He also attempted to join the Sydney Morning H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Chaffey
Donald Chaffey (5 August 1917 – 13 November 1990) was a British film director, writer, Film producer, producer, and art director. Chaffey's film career began as an art director in 1947, and his directorial debut was in 1953. He remained active in the industry until his death in 1990 from heart failure. His film ''Charley One-Eye'' (1973) was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival. He is chiefly remembered for his fantasy films, which include ''Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film), Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963), ''The Three Lives of Thomasina'' (1963), ''One Million Years B.C.'' (1966), ''The Viking Queen'' (1967), ''Creatures the World Forgot'' (1971), ''Pete's Dragon (1977 film), Pete's Dragon'' (1977), and ''C.H.O.M.P.S.'' (1979), his final feature film. Concurrent with his theatrically released films, Chaffey directed episodes of numerous British television series, including multiple installments of ''Danger Man'', ''The Prisoner'', and ''The Avengers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Pulman
Jack Pulman (11 July 1925 – 20 May 1979) was a British television screenwriter, most famous for the 1976 BBC television series, '' I, Claudius'', based on the novels ''I, Claudius'' and ''Claudius the God'' by Robert Graves. Biography Born and raised in London, Pulman was renowned as "adaptor-extraordinary," having written teleplays for such literary works as, ''The Portrait of a Lady'', ''Jane Eyre'', ''Crime and Punishment'', ''David Copperfield'', and ''War and Peace''. Pulman married Barbara Young in 1956. Together they had two children, including actress and singer Liza Pulman. He died of a heart attack in London on 20 May 1979. His last screenplay, '' Private Schulz'', went into production after his death. His widow, Barbara Young, collected a posthumous writers award from The Royal Television Society for his work on the show in 1982. He also wrote the screenplays for the 1970 film '' The Executioner'' and the 1971 film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Taylor (scriptwriter)
Kenneth Heywood Taylor FRSA (10 November 1922, in Bolton, Lancashire – 17 April 2011, in CornwallTim Piggott-SmitObituary: Ken Taylor ''The Guardian'', 27 April 2011) was an English screenwriter. Life The son of a cotton mill owner from Bolton, Lancashire, Taylor was educated at Gresham's School, Holt.''International Who's Who 2004''p. 1658at books.google.com, accessed 10 January 2009 Under the name Ken Taylor, he wrote scripts for television drama in a career spanning more than four decades. In 1964 ''The Devil and John Brown'' received the Best Original Teleplay Award of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. In the same year, Taylor was named Writer of the Year by the Guild of Television Writers and Directors (later BAFTA) for his trilogy of television plays ''The Seekers''. '' The Jewel in the Crown'', adapted from Paul Scott's ''Raj Quartet'' novels as a fifteen-hour mini-series, earned Ken Taylor an Emmy nomination in 1984 along with the award as Writer of the Year from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher (23 February 1904 – 18 June 1980) was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Films. He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, while mild by modern standards, were unprecedented in his day. His first major gothic horror film was ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957), which launched Hammer's association with the genre and made British actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee leading horror stars of the era. He went on to film several adaptations of classic horror subjects, including ''Dracula (1958 film), Dracula'' (1958), ''The Mummy (1959 film), The Mummy'' (1959), and ''The Curse of the Werewolf'' (1961). Given their subject matter and lurid approach, Fisher's films, though commercially successful, were largely dismissed by critics during his career. It is only in recent years that Fisher has become recognised as an ''auteur'' in his own r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brock Williams (screenwriter)
Brock Williams (8 July 1894 – 19 February 1964) was a prolific English screenwriter with over 100 films to his credit between 1930 and 1962. He also had a brief directorial career, and later also worked in television. Two of his novels ''The Earl of Chicago'' and '' Uncle Willie and the Bicycle Shop'' were both adapted into films. Career A native of Cornwall, in 1930 Williams joined Teddington Studios, the British arm of Warner Brothers, where he would spend the next 15 years. The 1930s was the golden age of the quota quickie, when Teddington was churning out quickly and cheaply shot films by the week, so work was plentiful. With few exceptions, these films were deemed of ephemeral value, with no worthwhile life after their first cinema run. The unfortunate result for modern film historians is that a good proportion are now classed as lost films, while those that have survived did so more by chance than intention. Films on which Williams worked included three early M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Knowles
Bernard Knowles (20 February 1900 – 12 February 1975) was an English film director, producer, cinematographer and screenwriter. Born in Manchester, Knowles worked with Alfred Hitchcock on numerous occasions before the director emigrated to Hollywood. Knowles later graduated as a director and screenwriter, directing a number of high-profile films, including the 1946 Gainsborough Melodrama '' The Magic Bow''. He worked a great deal on television shows, including ''Fabian of the Yard'', '' Dial 999'', ''Ivanhoe'' and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood''. Career Cinematographer Knowle's credits include '' Mumsie'' (1927) and ''Dawn'' (1928) for ''Herbert Wilcox'', '' Love's Option'' (1928), '' The Broken Melody'' (1929), '' The Silver King'' (1929), ''Auld Lang Syne'' (1929), '' Rookery Nook'' (1930), '' The Nipper'' (1930), '' French Leave'' (1930), ''School for Scandal'' (1930), '' Canaries Sometimes Sing'' (1930), '' The Calendar'' (1931), ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1931 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Clemens
Brian Horace Clemens (30 July 1931 – 10 January 2015) was an English screenwriter and television producer. He worked on the British TV series '' The Avengers'' and created '' The New Avengers'' and '' The Professionals''. Early life Clemens was born in Croydon, Surrey, to Suzanna (née O'Grady) and Albert, an engineer, who worked in music halls. Clemens said he was related to Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), and reflected this in the naming of his two sons, Samuel Joshua Twain Clemens and George Langhorne Clemens. He left school aged 14. Following national service in the British Army at Aldershot, where he was a weapons training instructor in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Clemens wanted to be a journalist but decided he did not have any qualifications. He was offered a job with a private detective agency, but this involved taking a training course in the city of Leeds and, as he had been away from home in London for two years, he decided he did not want to go away ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvin Rakoff
Alvin Rakoff (February 6, 1927 – October 12, 2024) was a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner. Rakoff awarded Sean Connery his first leading role, and gave Alan Rickman his first job when he was a drama student. Other actors he worked with early in their careers include Michael Crawford, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Caine. Early life Rakoff was born on February 6, 1927. He was the third of seven children. His parents had a shop in Kensington Market. When Rakoff was 16, after facing anti-Semitism, he changed his first name from Abraham to Alvin, inspired by Alvin York and the film ''Sergeant York (film), Sergeant York''. After graduation from the University of Toronto, he became a journalist and began writing for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's nascent television service. Career A BBC adaptation in 1953 o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
