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James Bernard (composer)
James Michael Bernard (20 September 1925 – 12 July 2001) was a British film composer, particularly associated with horror films produced by Hammer Film Productions. Beginning with ''The Quatermass Xperiment'', he scored such films as ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' and ''Dracula''. He also occasionally scored non-Hammer films including '' Windom's Way'' (1957) and '' Torture Garden'' (1967). Early years and World War II Bernard was educated at Wellington College, previously attended by Christopher Lee, who starred in many of the Hammer horror films Bernard scored. In an interview late in his life, Bernard recalled that in his mid-teens three of his favourite books were '' The Devil Rides Out'', ''She'', and '' The Hound of the Baskervilles''. While still a schoolboy, Bernard met Benjamin Britten when the composer came to consult the school's art master, Kenneth Green, about the stage designs for '' Peter Grimes''. Britten took interest in an inter-house music competition, and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Composer
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Scores are written by one or more composers under the guidance of or in collaboration with the film's director or producer and are then most often performed by an ensemble of musicians – usually including an orchestra (most likely a symphony orchestra) or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – known as playback singers – and recorded by a sound engineer. The term is less frequently applied to music written for other media such as live theatre, television and radio programs, and video game, and said music is typically referred to as either the soundtrack or incidental music. Film scores encompass an enormous variety of styles o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Intelligence, Section 6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligence in support of the UK's national security. SIS is one of the British intelligence agencies and the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service ("C") is directly accountable to the Foreign Secretary. Formed in 1909 as the foreign section of the Secret Service Bureau, the section grew greatly during the First World War officially adopting its current name around 1920. The name "MI6" (meaning Military Intelligence, Section 6) originated as a convenient label during the Second World War, when SIS was known by many names. It is still commonly used today. The existence of SIS was not officially acknowledged until 1994. That year the Intelligence Services Act 1994 (ISA) was introduced to Parliament, to place the organisation on a statutory footing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hollingsworth
John Hollingsworth (20 March 191629 December 1963) was a British orchestral conductor prominent in the concert hall, the ballet and opera theatre, and the film studio. He was Sir Malcolm Sargent's assistant conductor at The Proms, where he conducted over 60 times including some world and British premieres. He also conducted at the Royal Opera and Sadlers Wells, and became associated with music for British horror films of the 1950s and early 1960s. Career John Ernest Hollingsworth was born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1916. He was educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire, and the Guildhall School of Music. When he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in 1937, at the age of 21, he was the youngest man up to that time ever to conduct that orchestra. He later set similar records with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra. Still only 23 when World War II broke out, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force and served as assistant conductor of the Royal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seven-year span, the fastest of any performer to accomplish the feat. Scofield received Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play at the 1962 Tony Awards for portraying Sir Thomas More in the Broadway theatre, Broadway production of ''A Man for All Seasons (play), A Man for All Seasons''. Four years later, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor when he reprised the role in the A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), 1966 film adaptation, making him one of nine to receive a Tony and Academy Award for the same role. His Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie was achieved for the 1969 television film ''Male of the Species''. Preferring the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was determined from an early age to become an actress, despite parental opposition. She was working in smaller theatres even before graduating from drama school, and within two years she was starring in the West End. Ashcroft maintained her leading place in British theatre for the next 50 years. Always attracted by the ideals of permanent theatrical ensembles, she did much of her work for the Old Vic in the early 1930s, John Gielgud's companies in the 1930s and 1940s, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and its successor the Royal Shakespeare Company from the 1950s, and the National Theatre from the 1970s. While well regarded in Shakespeare, Ashcroft was also known for her commitment to modern drama, appearing in plays by Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable performance of Hamlet in 1964. He was called "the natural successor to Olivier" by critic Kenneth Tynan. A heavy drinker, Burton's perceived failure to live up to those expectations disappointed some critics and colleagues and added to his image as a great performer who had wasted his talent. Nevertheless, he is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. Burton was nominated for an Academy Award seven times, but never won an Oscar. He was a recipient of BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards for Best Actor. In the mid-1960s, Burton ascended into the ranks of the top box office stars. By the late 1960s, Burton was one of the highest-paid actors in the world, receiving fees of $1 million or more plus a share of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Duchess Of Malfi
''The Duchess of Malfi'' (originally published as ''The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy'') is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by English dramatist John Webster in 1612–1613. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then later to a larger audience at The Globe, in 1613–1614. Published in 1623, the play is loosely based on events that occurred between 1508 and 1513 surrounding Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi (d. 1511), whose father, Enrico d'Aragona, Marquis of Gerace, was an illegitimate son of Ferdinand I of Naples. As in the play, she secretly married Antonio Beccadelli di Bologna after the death of her first husband Alfonso I Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi. The play begins as a love story, when the Duchess marries beneath her class, and ends as a nightmarish tragedy as her two brothers undertake their revenge, destroying themselves in the process. Jacobean drama continued the trend of stage violence and horror set by Elizabethan trag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imogen Holst
Imogen Clare Holst (; 12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and festival administrator. The only child of the composer Gustav Holst, she is particularly known for her educational work at Dartington Hall in the 1940s, and for her 20 years as joint artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival. In addition to composing music, she wrote composer biographies, much educational material, and several books on the life and works of her father. From a young age, Holst showed precocious talent in composing and performance. After attending Eothen School and St Paul's Girls' School, she entered the Royal College of Music, where she developed her skills as a conductor and won several prizes for composing. Unable to follow her initial ambitions to be a pianist or a dancer due to health reasons, Holst spent most of the 1930s teaching, and as a full-time organiser for the English Folk Dance and Song Society. These duties reduced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patric Dickinson
Patric Thomas Dickinson (26 December 1914 – 28 January 1994) was a British poet, translator from the Greek and Latin classics, and playwright. He also worked for the BBC, from 1942 to 1948. His verse play ''Theseus and the Minotaur'' was broadcast by the BBC in July 1945 and published by Jonathan Cape the following year, along with a selection of his poems. He wrote full-time from 1948 and edited (with Sheila Shannon) Personal Portraits, a series of short biographies published by Max Parrish Ltd. and Adprint, London. He was born in Nasirabad, India. He studied at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. An autobiography ''The Good Minute'' was published in 1965. He received the Cholmondeley Award in 1973. Poetry books published include the following, all in the Phoenix Living Poets series: *''The World I See'' (1960) *''This Cold Universe'' (1964) *''More than Time'' (1970) *''A Wintering Tree'' (1973) *''The Bearing Beast'' (1976) *''Our Living John'' (1979) *''A Rift in Time'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven Days To Noon
''Seven Days to Noon'' is a 1950 British drama/thriller film directed by John and Roy Boulting. Paul Dehn and James Bernard won the Academy Award for Best Story for their work on the film. Plot In 1950, the British Prime Minister receives a letter from a man who says he has stolen a nuclear weapon and will destroy the centre of London next Sunday at noon, unless the British government declares that the country is going to stop making such devices. The letter is signed "Professor Willingdon", which is the name of the senior researcher at Britain's atomic weapons development facility, the Wallingford Research Centre, so, on Monday, Detective Superintendent Folland of Scotland Yard's Special Branch is charged with investigating whether the letter is a fraud or represents a genuine threat. At the Research Centre, Folland finds that Willingdon has gone missing, as has a UR12 nuclear bomb, which is small enough and light enough for an individual to carry. He recruits Stephen Lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulting Brothers
John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for their series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s. They produced many of their films through their own production company, Charter Film Productions, which they founded in 1937. Early life The twin brothers were born to Arthur Boulting and his wife Rosetta (Rose) ''née'' Bennett in Bray, Berkshire, England, on 21 December 1913. John was the elder by half an hour. John was named Joseph Edward John Boulting and Roy was named Alfred Fitzroy Clarence Boulting. Their elder brother Sydney Boulting became an actor and stage producer as Peter Cotes; he was the original director of ''The Mousetrap''. A younger brother, Guy, died aged eight. Both twins were educated at Reading School, where they formed a film society. They were extras in Ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Budd (opera)
''Billy Budd'', Op. 50, is an opera by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by the English novelist E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, based on the short novel '' Billy Budd'' by Herman Melville. Originally in four acts, the opera received its premiere at the Royal Opera House (ROH), London, on 1 December 1951. Britten later revised the work into a two-act opera, with a prologue and an epilogue. The revised version received its first performance at the ROH, Covent Garden, London, on 9 January 1964. Composition history E. M. Forster had an interest in the novella, which he discussed in his Clark lectures at Cambridge University. Forster had admired Britten's music since 1937 when he attended a performance of the play '' The Ascent of F6'' (for which Britten wrote incidental music). Forster met Britten in October 1942, when he heard Peter Pears and Britten perform Britten's ''Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo'' at the National Gallery. In 1948, Britten and Forster discussed whether Fors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
