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Paper Orchid
''Paper Orchid'' is a 1949 British crime film directed by Roy Ward Baker, with a script written by Val Guest. It featured Hugh Williams, Hy Hazell and Garry Marsh, and was based on the 1948 Paper Orchid (novel), novel of the same title by Arthur La Bern. It featured an early film appearance by Sid James, who later found success through the Carry On films, Carry On series. It was shot at the Walton Studios just outside London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Bernard Robinson (production designer), Bernard Robinson. Plot Despite feeling that women are unsuited to journalism, Fleet Street newspaper editor Frank McSweeney hires Stella Mason as a reporter at the ''Daily National''. Stella starts a hugely popular gossip column, gaining the nickname 'Paper Orchid'. When her husband dies, Lady Croup becomes the new proprietor of the ''Daily National''. She fires Frank and another journalist, 'Johnny' Johnson - both of whom join rival newspaper the ''World Record''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Ward Baker
Roy Ward Baker (born Roy Horace Baker; 19 December 1916 – 5 October 2010) was an English film director. His best known film is '' A Night to Remember'' (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959. His later career included many horror films and television shows. Early life and career Born in London where his father was a Billingsgate fish merchant, Baker was educated at a Lycée in Rouen, France, and at the City of London School. Career From 1934 to 1939, Baker worked for Gainsborough Pictures, a British film production company based in the Islington district of London. His first jobs were menial, making tea for crew members, for example, but by 1938 he had risen to the level of assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938). He served in the Army during the Second World War, transferring to the Army Kinematograph Unit in 1943 to make better use of his skills as a production manager and director on documentaries. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Robinson (production Designer)
Bernard Robinson (born 1912 in Liverpool, England, died 1970) designed sets for several of Hammer's films in their heyday, including ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957), ''Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas'' (1957), ''Dracula'' (1958), '' Curse of the Werewolf'' (1960), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1962), ''The Gorgon'' (1964) and ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1968). He was known for giving the Hammer films a lavish, expensive look while working on a restricted budget. The association ended with his premature death in 1970. Career Bernard Robinson designed some of Hammer's greatest productions. His widow, the puppeteer Margaret Robinson, also worked on many Hammer films. The knack that Bernard possessed was that he managed to give Hammer's films a very expensive look working from a tiny budget. Both space and materials were extremely limited at Bray Studios. Robinson got over this by ingeniously disguising previously used sets for different films, sometimes even for different s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Sachs
Andreas Siegfried Sachs (7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016), known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor and writer. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in '' Fawlty Towers''. Sachs had a long career in acting and voice-over work for television, film and radio. He was successful well into his eighties, with roles in numerous films such as ''Quartet'', and as Ramsay Clegg in ''Coronation Street''. Early life Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina (née Schrott-Fiecht), a librarian, and Hans Emil Sachs, an insurance broker. His father was Jewish and his mother was Lutheran, with Austrian ancestry. The family moved to Britain in 1938 to escape the Nazis. They settled in north London, and he lived in Kilburn for the rest of his life. In 1960, Sachs married the actress, writer, and fashion designer Melody Lang, who took his surname. He adopted her two s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Oulton
Brian Oulton (11 February 1908 – 13 April 1992) was an English character actor. Biography Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Oulton made his acting debut in 1939 as a lead actor. During the Second World War he served in the British Army, and returned to acting playing character roles in 1946; he made a name for himself playing the same pompous character in numerous films, ranging from '' Last Holiday'' (1950) to '' Young Sherlock Holmes'' (1985). Many of his film roles were in comedies, and he went on to appear in several ''Carry On'' films. In 1969, he appeared as an eccentric psychic medium in '' Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' in the episode " Never Trust a Ghost"; as a hypochondriac GP in '' Doctor at Large''; and in the 1981 hit serial '' Brideshead Revisited''. He was also a stage actor and playwright, writing and starring in productions such as ''Births, Marriages and Deaths'' (1975), and ''For Entertainment Only'' (1976). Brian Oulton's radio credits include the role o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patricia Owens
Patricia Molly Owens (January 17, 1925 – August 31, 2000) was a Canadian-born American actress, working in Hollywood. She appeared in about 40 films and 10 television episodes in a career lasting from 1943 to 1968. Early work Owens moved to England in 1933 with her parents (her Welsh father Arthur Owens was later to become an MI5 double agent), and 10 years later, at age 18, she made her motion-picture debut in the musical comedy '' Miss London Ltd''. The following year, she had a small role in Harold French's social satire '' English Without Tears''. Her career continued in this manner for a few years, Owens getting ever-larger roles in movies. Her career received a boost when she was seen by a 20th Century Fox executive while performing in a stage production of '' Sabrina Fair'', and was offered a screen test. The result was a contract with the studio and a move to Hollywood. Her first American film was '' Island in the Sun'' (1957), followed by ''No Down Payment'', bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Leister
Frederick Leister (1 December 1885 – 24 August 1970), was an English actor. He began his career in musical comedy and after serving in the First World War he played character roles in modern West End plays and in classic drama. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1922 and 1961. Life and career Leister was born in London, the son of George Leister Holloway and his wife Mary Ann King Holloway, ''née'' Le Capelain. He was educated at Dulwich and Worthing Grammar School. He was intended for a career as a lawyer and served his time as an articled clerk to a solicitor's firm. He made his stage debut at the Crown Theatre, Peckham, in 1906 in the chorus of '' A Country Girl'' and spent the next six years touring in musical comedies. He made his London debut at the Prince's Theatre in February 1913 and appeared in supporting roles at the Lyceum and the Duke of York's until 1915, when he joined the army. He served as a lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery, entering France ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vida Hope
Vida Hope (16 December 1910 – 23 December 1963) was a British stage and film actress, who also directed stage productions. Life and career Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, to theatrical parents, she travelled widely as a child.Some of the Company – Vida Hope (autobiographical note). In : ''Late Joys at The Players' Theatre''. T V Boardman & Co Ltd, London, New York, 1943., p83 She was "forbidden to go on the stage", so at age 16, became a typist in an advertising office, going on to write copy. At this time, however, she took every chance she got to take part in amateur dramatics, managing to get the lead roles in plays by Shaw, Ibsen, and Chekhov. Following the role of the Fairy Wish-Fulfilment in the pantomime ''The Babes in the Wood'' at the Unity Theatre, London, she was, in 1939, offered a role by Herbert Farjeon in ''The Little Revue'' and worked in his revues for over three years. In 1940, she gave much support to and formed a strong friendship with Dirk Bogarde, in hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hughie Green
Hugh Hughes Green (2 February 1920 – 3 May 1997) was an English radio and television presenter, game show host and actor. Early life Green was born in Marylebone, London, to a Scottish father, Hugh Aitchison Green, a former British Army officer from Glasgow who made his fortune supplying canned fish to the Allied forces in the First World War, and an English mother, Violet Elenore (née Price), from Surrey, the daughter of an Irish gardener. The family had a home in Meopham, Kent, where the children lived with their mother, who took frequent lovers, while their father did business from the Savoy Hotel, and often stayed there. Green attended Arnold House School, a boys' prep school, in the St John's Wood district of Westminster, Greater London. Career Child performer After the family business went bankrupt, Green's father encouraged his stage-obsessed son into performance, and by the age of 14 Hughie Green had his own BBC Radio show and created and toured with his own all-ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ella Retford
Elinor Maud Dawe ( Flanagan, 2 July 1885 – 29 June 1962), who used the stage name Ella Retford, was an English music hall comedian, singer and dancer, and later a stage and film actress. Biography She was born in Sunderland (not Ireland, as some sources suggest), and around 1900 moved to London where she performed in music hall shows, initially as a dancer. By 1906, she was established as a performer in revues and pantomimes, often playing the part of principal boy. Theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope called her "probably the best 'Aladdin' ever seen in pantomime... She was sparkle and grace personified and her dancing was a joy..". "Ella Retford (1886–1962)", ''Fred Godfrey Songs'' Retrieved 20 July 2020 The '' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Hudd
Walter Hudd (20 February 1897 – 20 January 1963) was a British actor and director. Stage career Hudd made his stage debut in ''The Manxman'' in 1919, and later toured as part of the Fred Terry Company; first attracting serious attention playing Guildenstern in a 1925 modern dress ''Hamlet''. He also later directed plays at Stratford-on-Avon, including ''Richard II'', ''Twelfth Night'' (also appearing as Malvolio) and '' Doctor Faustus'' (all 1947). His West End appearances included ''The Way Things Happen'' (Ambassadors Theatre 1923), '' The Ghost Train'' (Prince of Wales Theatre 1925), ''The Grain of Mustard Seed'' (Ambassadors Theatre 1930), ''Geneva'' (Saville Theatre 1938), '' Thunder Rock'' (St Martin's Theatre 1941), '' A Month in the Country'' (New Theatre 1949), ''The Waltz of the Toreadors'' (Criterion Theatre 1956) and '' The Potting Shed'' (Globe Theatre 1958). He made his sole Broadway appearance in the Theatre Guild revival of '' You Never Can Tell'' (Martin B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivor Barnard
Ivor Barnard (13 June 1887 – 30 June 1953) was an English stage, radio and film actor. He was an original member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, where he was a notable Shylock and Caliban. He was the original Water Rat in the first London production of A. A. Milne's "Toad of Toad Hall". In 1929 he appeared on stage as Blanquet, in "Bird in Hand" at the Morosco Theatre in New York, after a successful run in London's West End (Laurence Olivier was the juvenile). The part had been specially written for him by John Drinkwater. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1921 and 1953. He appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock film '' The 39 Steps'' in 1935. In 1943, he played the stationmaster in the Ealing war film ''Undercover''. He also appeared as Wemmick in David Lean's ''Great Expectations'' (1946), and as the Chairman of the Workhouse, in Lean's film ''Oliver Twist'' (1948). One of his last film appearances was as the murderer Major Jack Ross in John Huston's '' Beat th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Cruickshank
Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire29 April 1988 in London) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series '' Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', which ran for 191 episodes from 1962 until 1971. Life and career Andrew Cruickshank (Junior) was born to Andrew and Annie Cruickshank (Cadger),Stage performances (1930–1987) and other biography: ''Filmreference.com'' website. and was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School. He was to have entered the profession of |
