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Isn't Life Wonderful!
''Isn't Life Wonderful!'' is a 1953 British technicolor period comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Cecil Parker, Eileen Herlie and Donald Wolfit. The film was shot at the Elstree Studios of Associated British with sets designed by the art director Terence Verity. It was released in the United States as ''Uncle Willie's Bicycle Shop'', the title of Brock Williams original 1948 novel based on his boyhood experiences. Plot In Edwardian England, alcoholic Uncle Willie (Donald Wolfit) is an embarrassment to his family. Head of the household father (Cecil Parker), decides to set Willie up as the manager of a bicycle shop, hoping to impress visiting American heiress Virginia van Stuyden (Dianne Foster). The surprise for everyone comes when Uncle Willie's little shop begins to prosper. Cast * Cecil Parker as Father * Eileen Herlie as Mother * Donald Wolfit as Uncle Willie * Peter Asher as Charles * Eleanor Summerfield as Aunt Kate * Dianne Foster as Virginia va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold French
Harold French (23 April 1897 – 19 October 1997) was an English film director, screenwriter and actor. Biography After training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Italia Conti School, he made his acting debut age 12, in a production of ''The Winter's Tale''. As an actor, most of his roles occurred between 1912 and 1936, not gaining as much attention as later he would as a director. He worked as a screenwriter on three of the four films produced by Marcel Hellman's and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s production company ''Criterion Film Productions'' in the late 1930s, before switching to film direction in 1937, often with Marcel Hellman as producer. From 1940 to 1955, he had several box-office successes as director. This successful period was clouded by the 1941 death of his wife Phyllis in a Luftwaffe bombing raid. Although he did some television work after 1955, he appears to have retired from directing and acting after 1963. He directed the hit West End play ''Out of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Director
Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision of an artistic production. In particular, they are in charge of its overall visual appearance and how it communicates visually, stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to a target audience. The art director makes decisions about visual elements, what artistic style(s) to use, and when to use motion. One of the biggest challenges art directors face is translating desired moods, messages, concepts, and underdeveloped ideas into imagery. In the brainstorming process, art directors, colleagues and clients explore ways the finished piece or scene could look. At times, the art director is responsible for solidifying the vision of the collective imagination while resolving conflicting agendas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Welsh (actor)
John Welsh (7 November 1914 – 21 April 1985) was an Irish actor. Biography Welsh was born in Wexford. After an early stage career in Dublin, he moved into British film and television in the 1950s. His roles included James Forsyte in the 1967 BBC dramatisation of John Galsworthy's '' The Forsyte Saga'' and Sir Pitt Crawley in Thackeray's Vanity Fair, as well as the waiter, Merriman in '' The Duchess of Duke Street'', Sgt. Cuff in '' The Moonstone'' and a brief scene as the barber in ''Brideshead Revisited''. He also appeared in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', '' The Brothers'', ''Prince Regent'', '' To Serve Them All My Days'', 'The Frighteners' ('Bed and Breakfast' episode, 1972), and '' The Citadel'', and played the assistant chief constable in the early series of '' Softly, Softly''. Welsh also appeared in a number of different roles in ''Danger Man'' that included British diplomats and butlers. He died in London. Filmography * ''The Accused'' (1953) - Mr. Tennant * '' The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viola Lyel
Viola Lyel (19 December 1896 – 14 August 1972) was an English actress. In a long stage career she appeared in the West End and on Broadway, for leading directors of the day, including Sir Barry Jackson, and Nigel Playfair. Her roles ranged from Shakespeare and Restoration comedy to melodrama and drawing room comedies. Life and career Early years Viola Mary Watson was born in Hull, Yorkshire, the daughter of Frederick Watson and his wife Elizabeth (née Lyel). She was educated at Hull High School and Kilburn High School, London. She studied for the stage at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and was a student at the Old Vic where she made her first appearance in 1918, playing small parts and understudying.Gaye, pp. 899–901 In 1919 Lyel appeared in William Poel's company in '' The Return from Parnassus'' in London. She toured in Ben Greet's company, and in 1922 went to the Liverpool Repertory Company after which she was a member of Sir Barry Jackson's Birmingham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fabia Drake
Fabia Drake OBE (born Ethel McGlinchy; 20 January 1904 – 28 February 1990) was an English actress whose professional career spanned almost 73 years during the 20th century. Drake was born in Herne Bay, Kent. Her first professional role in a film was in Fred Paul's '' Masks and Faces'' (1917), and her last role was as Madame de Rosemonde in Miloš Forman's ''Valmont'' (1989). Drake was a lifelong friend of Noël Coward and Laurence Olivier. Early life Born Ethel McGlinchy, the actress's Irish father, a caterer, was an actor manqué. She passed an entrance test to the Academy of Dramatic Art (later to become RADA) in December 1913. (It was the high-ups at the ADA who decided McGlinchy was too difficult to pronounce and too hard to remember for a stage name so she changed it, ultimately by deed-poll, to Drake which was the second of her father's Christian names and to Fabia which was the second of her baptismal names, chosen because she was born on St Fabian's Day) (P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Young (actor)
Arthur Young (2 September 1898 – 24 February 1959) was an English actor, notable for roles including Gladstone in the 1951 '' The Lady with a Lamp''. He can be seen as a window cleaner in the film '' Radio Parade of 1935''. He regularly appeared in BBC radio plays and was a member of the Corporation’s Drama Repertory Company in the late 1950s. His stage work encompassed West End revue, as well as Stratford. Personal life Young was born on 2 September 1898 in Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t .... His parents were Henry Young and Elizabeth Wales Young (1876–1972). Filmography References External links * English male stage actors English male film actors Male actors from Bristol 1959 deaths 1898 births 20th-century English male actors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Styles
Edwin Styles (13 January 1899 – 20 December 1960) was a British stage comedian, pantomime actor, radio and TV performer and film actor. Partial filmography * ''Hell Below'' (1933) - Herbert Standish - Flight Comdr. * '' On the Air'' (1934) - Edwin Styles * '' Road House'' (1934) - Archie Hamble * '' Patricia Gets Her Man'' (1937) - Brian Maxwell * '' The Five Pound Man'' (1937) - Richard Fordyce * '' Adam and Evelyne'' (1949) - Bill Murray * '' The Lady with a Lamp'' (1951) - Mr. Nightingale * '' Derby Day'' (1952) - Sir George Forbes * '' Penny Princess'' (1952) - Chancellor - Cobbler * ''Top Secret'' (1952) - Barworth Superintendent * ''The Accused'' (1953) - Solicitor * '' The Weak and the Wicked'' (1954) - Seymour * '' For Better, for Worse'' (1954) - Anne's Boss * '' Isn't Life Wonderful!'' (1954) - Bamboula * '' The Dam Busters'' (1955) - Observer At Trials * ''Up in the World'' (1956) - Conjuror * ''The Full Treatment ''The Full Treatment'' (released in the US as ''St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Stainton
Philip Stainton (9 April 1908 – 1 August 1961) was an English actor. Stainton appeared in several Ealing comedies and major international movies. He specialized in playing friendly or exasperated uniformed policemen, but also appeared in other comic and straight roles in British and Australian productions. After beginning in repertory, in the postwar years he worked steadily in bit and featured parts in theatrical films; twice being directed by John Ford and once by John Huston when they shot on European or overseas locations. He first visited Australia as part of a touring company presenting Agatha Christie’s play '' Witness for the Prosecution''. Stainton and his actress wife immigrated to Australia in the late 1950s to appear in a series of live television plays as the medium was beginning in that country. From 1957 to 1959 he had the distinction to headline the first Australian sitcom ''Take That'' which was broadcast in Melbourne by HSV-7. He also adapted and prod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cecil Trouncer
Cecil Stallard Trouncer (5 April 1898 – 15 December 1953) was an English actor. His daughter Ruth Trouncer also took up acting. Early life Cecil Trouncer was born in Southport on 5 April 1898 and was educated at Clifton College. During the First World War he served in the 3rd Battalion, of the Dorset Regiment.Obituary in ''The Times'', 16 December 1953, Page 8 Filmography * '' Pygmalion'' (1938) * ''While the Sun Shines'' (1947) * ''London Belongs to Me'' (1948) * ''Saraband for Dead Lovers'' (1948) * '' The Guinea Pig'' (1948) * '' The Lady with a Lamp'' (1951) * ''The Magic Box'' (1951) * ''The Pickwick Papers'' (1952) * ''Isn't Life Wonderful!'' (1953) * ''The Weak and the Wicked ''The Weak and the Wicked'' (U.S. title: ''Young and Willing'') is a 1954 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Glynis Johns and Diana Dors. It was written by Anne Burnaby, Thompson and Joan Henry, based on the 1952 au ...'' (1954) References External links * {{ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Waters
Russell Waters (10 June 1908 – 19 August 1982) was a British film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then appeared in repertory theatre, at the Old Vic and in the West End. On screen Waters generally found himself playing mild mannered characters. Waters played the leading man in Richard Massingham's amusing instructional short subjects, among them ''Tell Me If It Hurts'' (1936), ''And So Work'' (1937), ''The Daily Round'' (1947) and ''What a Life!'' (1948). In feature films, Waters played secondary roles such as Craggs in '' The Blue Lagoon'' (1949), Mr. West in '' The Happiest Days of Your Life'', Palmer in '' Chance of a Lifetime'' and "Wings" Cameron in '' The Wooden Horse'' (all three in 1950). In later years, Waters was briefly seen as the Harbour master in '' The Wicker Man'' (1973), and his final film role was as Dr. Jones in Ken Loach' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Urquhart (actor)
Robert Urquhart (16 October 1922 – 21 March 1995) was a Scottish character actor who worked on the stage, for British television, and in film. His breakthrough role was Paul Krempe in ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' in 1957, along with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Early life Urquhart was born in Ullapool, Scotland. His father was a sailor with the Merchant Navy. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. After school, he entered the Merchant Navy and went to Australia, New Zealand, South America, and South Africa as an apprentice before earning third mate's papers. He continued his service during World War II. In 1942, he left the Merchant Navy after his ship was torpedoed three times and worked in Glasgow's docklands. He won an ex-serviceman's scholarship that allowed him to train at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Career Stage Urquhart made his stage debut in 1947 at the Park Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. That same year, he was cast in Tyrone Guth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dianne Foster
Dianne Foster (born Olga Helen Laruska; October 31, 1928 – July 27, 2019) was a Canadian actress of Ukrainian descent. Early life Foster was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She began her career at the age of 13 in a stage adaptation of James Barrie's ''What Every Woman Knows (play), What Every Woman Knows''. In London in 1951, she appeared on stage in Agatha Christie's ''The Hollow (play), The Hollow'' and Orson Welles's ''Othello''. At 14, she began a radio career, subsequently moved to Toronto, and became one of Canada's top radio stars, working with Andrew Allan (radio executive), Andrew Allan, drama supervisor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on productions such as ''Stage '49''. She appeared on Radio Luxembourg in a broadcast of ''The Adventures of Harry Lime, The Lives of Harry Lime''. She became a Walter Thornton model and also taught modeling at the Thornton school. She married Andrew Allan in 1951. Film In March 1952, her husband returned to Canada, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
