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Kay Kendall
Justine Kay Kendall McCarthy (21 May 1927 – 6 September 1959) was an English actress and singer. She began her film career in the musical film ''London Town (1946 film), London Town'' (1946), a financial failure. Kendall worked regularly until her appearance in the comedy film ''Genevieve (film), Genevieve'' (1953) brought her widespread recognition. Prolific in British films, Kendall also achieved some popularity with American audiences, and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her role in the musical-comedy film ''Les Girls'' (1957). She began a romantic relationship with actor Rex Harrison after they appeared together in the comedy film ''The Constant Husband'' (1955) and they were married in 1957. Harrison learned from Kendall's doctor that she had been diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukemia, myeloid leukaemia, a fact that was kept from Kendall, who believed she was suffering from an iron deficiency. The actor cared for Kendall ...
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The Adventures Of Quentin Durward
''The Adventures of Quentin Durward'', known also as ''Quentin Durward'', is a 1955 British historical film released by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman. The screenplay was by Robert Ardrey, adapted by George Froeschel from the 1823 novel '' Quentin Durward'' by Sir Walter Scott. It was the third in an unofficial trilogy made by the same director and producer and starring Robert Taylor. The first two were ''Ivanhoe'' (1952) and ''Knights of the Round Table'' (1953). All three were made at MGM's British Studios in Borehamwood, near London. Unlike the earlier films, it was scored by Bronislau Kaper rather than Miklós Rózsa, who was busy on other projects at the time. It was the first big-budget film for the British actress Kay Kendall. Other actors included Robert Morley and George Cole. Plot In 1465, honorable but penniless Scottish knight Quentin Durward agrees to go to France to find out if the beautiful young heiress, Isabelle, ...
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Petula Clark
Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 years. Clark's professional career began during the Second World War as a child entertainer on BBC Radio."War Stories From Petula Clark." ''Weekend Edition Saturday'', 21 December 2013. ''Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/A353945140/OVIC?u=nash87800&sid=primo&xid=58216c1d. Accessed 15 October 2023. In 1954, she charted with "The Little Shoemaker", the first of her big UK hits, and within two years she began recording in French. Her international successes have included "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I, ''Prends mon cœur''", "Sailor (song), Sailor" (a UK number one), "Romeo (Petula Clark song), Romeo", and "I Will Follow Him, Chariot". Hits in German, Italian and Spanish followed. In late 1964, Clark's ...
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Gregory Ratoff
Gregory Ratoff (born Grigory Vasilyevich Ratner; ; April 20, c. 1893 – December 14, 1960) was a Russian-American film director, actor and producer. As an actor, he was best known for his role as producer "Max Fabian" in ''All About Eve'' (1950). Early life Ratoff was born in Samara, Russia, to Jewish parents. His mother was Sophie (née Markison) who claimed to have been born on September 1, 1878, but was married on June 14, 1894, when she would have been 15, to Benjamin Ratner (born 1864),Ancestry Library Edition with whom she had four children, the eldest of whom was Grigory, whose date of birth she gave as April 7, 1895 but later April 20 was cited as Gregory Ratoff's birthdate, and the year given as 1893, 1896 and 1897, variously. Sophie Ratner later adopted her son's stage surname (Ratoff) when she herself became a naturalized United States citizen. Sophie Ratoff died on August 27, 1955. Her date of birth is given as September 13, 1877 in the California Death Index (1940� ...
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Sydney Chaplin (American Actor)
Sydney Earl Chaplin (March 30, 1926 – March 3, 2009) was an American actor. He was the second son of Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey. One of his major roles was in his father's film ''Limelight'' (1952). In theater, Chaplin won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his 1957 performance in '' Bells Are Ringing''. Early years Born in 1926 in Beverly Hills, California, Chaplin was the second son of Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey. His parents had married in November 1924 when Lita became pregnant with Sydney's elder brother Charles. Sydney was born five weeks prematurely, 10 months after the birth of his older brother. He was named for his father's half-brother, Sydney Chaplin. His parents divorced a year after his birth. The boys later had eight half-siblings from their father's fourth marriage to Oona O'Neill. His mother insisted on calling him "Tommy" due to her distaste for his namesake uncle. Sydney and his older brother were brought up mostly by their mat ...
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Abdulla The Great
''Abdulla the Great'' (also known as ''Abdullah's Harem'') is a 1955 comedy film. It was directed and produced by Gregory Ratoff who also stars in the title role from a screenplay by Boris Ingster and George St. George, based on the novel ''My Kingdom for a Woman'' by Ismet Regeila. The music score was by Georges Auric and the cinematography by Lee Garmes. The film stars Gregory Ratoff, Kay Kendall, Sydney Chaplin, Alexander D'Arcy and Marina Berti. Ratoff denied that the story was a thinly veiled parody of the life of King Farouk of Egypt and the events preceding his overthrow in 1952. Plot The film is set in Bandaria, a Middle Eastern country whose absolute ruler, Abdullah, lives a life of great luxury, surrounded by lovely women. When Ronnie, a beautiful English model, arrives, Abdullah falls for her and offers her great riches. She resists his advances as she is more interested in Ahmed, an officer in the King's army. While this is going on, Abdullah is unaware of the ...
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Peter Finch
Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia at the age of ten and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville and radio before becoming a star of Australian films. Joining the Old Vic Company after World War II, he achieved widespread critical success in Britain for both stage and screen performances. One of British cinema's most celebrated leading men of the time, Finch won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role five times, and won a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of crazed television anchorman Howard Beale in the 1976 film '' Network''. According to the British Film Institute, "it is arguable that no other actor ever chalked up such a rewarding CV in British films, and he accumulated the awards to bolster this view". He died only two months before the 49th Academy Awards, making him the first person to ...
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Simon And Laura
''Simon and Laura'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Peter Finch and Kay Kendall. Play Satirising the early days of BBC Television, ''Simon and Laura'' focuses on an argumentative theatrical couple called Simon and Laura Foster; they've been together for some 20 years and are given a new lease of life when playing a faux-harmonious version of 'themselves' in a daily soap opera filmed in their own home. Presented by H M Tennent Ltd, the play began a provincial tour at the Opera House Manchester on 30 August 1954, subsequently opening at the Strand Theatre in London's West End on 25 November. Directed by Murray Macdonald, it starred Roland Culver, Coral Browne, Ian Carmichael, Dora Bryan, Ernest Thesiger and Esma Cannon, with settings designed by Alan Tagg. According to Frances Stephens, editor of ''Theatre World'', "''Simon and Laura'' has as its amusing central theme the guying of television family serials and the author is well served by th ...
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Doctor At Sea (film)
''Doctor at Sea'' is a 1955 British comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas, produced by Betty E. Box, and based on Richard Gordon's 1953 novel of the same name. This was the second of seven films in the ''Doctor'' series, following the hugely popular ''Doctor in the House'' from the previous year. Once again, Richard Gordon participated in the screenwriting, together with Nicholas Phipps and Jack Davies, and once again Dirk Bogarde played the lead character Dr Simon Sparrow. The cast also includes James Robertson Justice and Joan Sims from the first film, but this time playing different characters. This was Brigitte Bardot's first English-speaking film. Plot To escape his employers' daughter, who has amorous designs on him, Dr. Simon Sparrow (Bogarde) signs on as medical officer on a cargo ship, the SS ''Lotus''. The ship is commanded by the hot-tempered and authoritarian Captain Wentworth Hogg. Sparrow overcomes initial seasickness and settles into life on board. After arrivi ...
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Value For Money
In economics, economic value is a measure of the benefit provided by a good or service to an economic agent, and value for money represents an assessment of whether financial or other resources are being used effectively in order to secure such benefit. Economic value is generally measured through units of currency, and the interpretation is therefore "what is the maximum amount of money a person is willing and able to pay for a good or service?” Value for money is often expressed in comparative terms, such as "better", or "best value for money", but may also be expressed in absolute terms, such as where a deal does, or does not, offer value for money. Among the competing schools of economic theory there are differing theories of value. Economic value is ''not'' the same as market price, nor is economic value the same thing as market value. If a consumer is willing to buy a good, it implies that the customer places a higher value on the good than the market price. The differ ...
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Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribution, and exhibition facilities as well as manufacturing projection equipment and chairs. It diversified into the manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of Rank Xerox). The company name lasted until February 1996, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured Rank Group plc. The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and was renamed XRO Limited in 1997. The company's logo, the Gongman, first used in 1935 by the group's distribution company General Film Distributors
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Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House (film), Doctor in the House'' (1954) for the Rank Organisation, he later acted in Art film, art house films, evolving from "heartthrob to icon of edginess". In a second career, Bogarde wrote seven best-selling volumes of memoirs, six novels, and a volume of collected journalism, mainly from articles in ''The Daily Telegraph''. He saw active military duty during World War II, and over the course of five years reached the rank of major and was awarded seven medals. His poetry has been published in war anthologies, and a grey ink brush drawing, "Tents in Orchard. 1944", is in the collection of the British Museum. Having come to prominence in films including ''The Blue Lamp'' in the early 1950s, Bogarde starred in the successful ''Doctor (film series), Doctor'' film s ...
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