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Tales Of The Unexpected (TV Series)
''Tales of the Unexpected'' (known as ''Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected'' for the first two series) is a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988. Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending. Every episode of series one, 12 episodes of series two, two episodes of series three, two episodes of series four, and one episode of series nine were based on short stories by Roald Dahl collected in the books '' Tales of the Unexpected'', ''Kiss Kiss'', and '' Someone Like You''. The series was made by Anglia Television for ITV with interior scenes recorded at its Norwich studios, whilst location filming mainly occurred across East Anglia. The theme music for the series was written by composer Ron Grainer. The dancer in the opening titles was Karen Standley. The series has been repeated on Granada Plus, ITV3 and Sky Arts. Format The series originally adapted various stories from Roald Dahl's a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". Dahl was born in Wales to affluent Norwegians, Norwegian immigrant parents, and lived for most of his life in England. He served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He became a fighter pilot and, subsequently, an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children and for adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling authors. His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the Specsavers National Book Awards, British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siân Phillips
Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress from Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Wales. Her early career consisted primarily of stage roles, including the title roles in Ibsen's '' Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan.'' In the 1960s, she started taking on more roles in television and film. She is particularly known for her performance as Livia in the 1976 BBC television series '' I, Claudius,'' for which she was awarded a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society award. She was nominated for a Tony Award and Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Marlene Dietrich in '' Marlene''. Early life Phillips was born on 14 May 1933 in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, South Wales, the daughter of Sally (''née'' Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker who became a policeman. She is a Welsh-speaker: in the first volume of her autobiography ''Private Faces'' (1999) she notes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brad Dourif
Bradford Claude Dourif (; born March 18, 1950) is an American actor. He is known for voicing Chucky in the ''Child's Play'' franchise (1988–present), portraying Gríma Wormtongue in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series, and his Academy Award-nominated role as Billy Bibbit in '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975). Brad Dourif's other film roles include '' Wise Blood'' (1979), ''Ragtime'' (1981), ''Dune'' (1984), '' Blue Velvet'' (1986), '' Mississippi Burning'' (1988), '' The Exorcist III'' (1990), '' Critters 4'' (1992), '' Alien Resurrection'' (1997), and the 2007 remake of ''Halloween'' and its sequel. He also appeared in many television series, notably '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006, 2019), for which he received Primetime Emmy Award and Satellite Award nominations for his portrayal of Amos "Doc" Cochran. Early life Bradford Claude Dourif was born in Huntington, West Virginia, on March 18, 1950, to Joan Mavis Felton (née Bradford), an actress, and Jean Henri Dou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siobhán McKenna
Siobhán McKenna (; 24 May 1922 – 16 November 1986) was an Irish stage and screen actress. Early life She was born Siobhán Giollamhuire Nic Cionnaith in Belfast in the newly created Northern Ireland into a Catholic and nationalist family. She grew up in Galway and in County Monaghan, speaking fluent Irish. Her father Eoghan McKenna (born Millstreet, County Cork, 1892) was Professor of Mathematics at University College, Galway (UCG). She was still in her teens when she became a member of an amateur Gaelic theatre group and made her stage debut at Galway's national Irish language theatre, An Taibhdhearc, in 1940. Career She is remembered for her English language performances at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin where she would eventually star in what many consider her finest role in the George Bernard Shaw play, '' Saint Joan''. While performing at the Abbey Theatre in the 1940s, she met actor Denis O'Dea, whom she married in 1946. Until 1970 they lived in Richmond Street Sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed ( ; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive bushy beard, booming voice, and exuberant personality and performances. He portrayed PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars''; Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of ''I, Claudius (TV series), I, Claudius''; List of Blackadder characters#King Richard IV of England, King Richard IV in the The Black Adder, first series of ''Blackadder''; Prince Vultan in ''Flash Gordon (film), Flash Gordon''; Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Bustopher Jones and Old Deuteronomy in the 1981 original London production of ''Cats (musical), Cats'' at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, New London Theatre; Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, in ''Henry V (1989 film), Henry V''; Boss Nass in ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace''; and the voice of Clayton and the Tarzan yell in Disney's ''Tarzan (1999 film), Tarzan''. In 2016, Blessed was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor. After graduating from RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and beginning his career on the British stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he became a successful and prolific performer on television and in film. He received numerous accolades including two BAFTA Awards and a Tony Award, along with a nomination for an Academy Award. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 Birthday Honours, 1998 for services to drama. Holm won the 21st Tony Awards, 1967 Tony Award for Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in the Harold Pinter play ''The Homecoming''. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role in the 1998 West End (theatre), West End production of ''King Lear''. For his television roles he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for King Lear, and the HBO film ''The Last of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rod Taylor
Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including '' Young Cassidy'' (1965), '' Nobody Runs Forever'' (1968), '' The Train Robbers'' (1973), and '' A Matter of Wife... and Death'' (1975). Taylor was born in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, to a father who was a steel construction contractor and commercial artist and a mother who was a children's author. He began taking art classes in high school, and continued in college. He decided to become an actor after seeing Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic touring production of ''Richard III.'' His first film role was in a re-enactment of Charles Sturt's voyage down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, playing Sturt's offsider, George Macleay. At the time, he was also appearing in a number of theatre productions for Australia's Mercury Theatre. He made his feature film debut in the Australian Lee Robinson film '' King of the Coral Sea'' (1954). He s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 1983, Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been recognised for her philanthropy, particularly her advocacy towards causes relating to children, which has earned her many honours. In 2015, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her charitable services, presented to her by then Prince of Wales. Collins trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She signed to The Rank Organisation at the age of 17 and had small roles in the British films '' Lady Godiva Rides Again'' (1951) and '' The Woman's Angle'' (1952) before taking on a supporting role in '' Judgment Deferred'' (1952). She went under contract to 20th Century Fox in 1955, and in that same year she starred as Evely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor. He appeared in numerous productions on stage and screen, receiving BAFTA awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ''Trading Places'' (1983), '' A Private Function'' (1984) and ''Defence of the Realm'' (1986), and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mr. Emerson in '' A Room with a View'' (1985). He is also known for his performances in '' Alfie'' (1966), ''A Doll's House'' (1973), '' A Bridge Too Far'' (1977), '' Maurice'' (1987), ''September'' (1987), and ''Noises Off'' (1992). He portrayed Marcus Brody in ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981) and ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989). On television, Elliott won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1981 and was nominated for a second for ''Hotel du Lac'' (1986). The American film critic Roger Ebert described Elliott as "the most dependable of all British character actors." ''The New York Times' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wendy Hiller
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller (15 August 1912 – 14 May 2003) was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation ''Rating the Movie Stars'', described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took command of the screen whenever she appeared on film". Despite many notable film performances, Hiller chose to remain primarily a stage actress. Hiller earned the Academy Award nominations for her performances in ''Pygmalion (1938 film), Pygmalion'' (1938), ''Separate Tables (film), Separate Tables'' (1958), and ''A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), A Man for All Seasons'' (1966), winning Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actress for ''Separate Tables''. She also was nominated for two BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Tony Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. Early life Born in Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District, Bramhall, Cheshire, the daughter of Fran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portrayed guileless, wounded war heroes. In 1971, he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in '' Ryan's Daughter''. For his work in film, Mills was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1976. In 2002, he received a BAFTA Fellowship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was named a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Company. Early life John Mills was born on 22 February 1908 in North Elmham, Norfolk, the son of Edith Mills (née Baker), a theatre box office manager, and Lewis Mills, a mathematics teacher. Mills was born at Watts Naval School, where his father was a master. He spent his early years in the village of Belton where his father was the headmaster of the village school. He first felt the thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End theatre, West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31. During the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway theatre, Broadway, appearing in new works and classics. He began a parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Sondheim Theatre, Queen's Theatre, London. He was regarded by many as the finest Prince Hamlet, Hamlet of his era, and was also k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
