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Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. She moved to California and worked with improv groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne. Goldberg came to prominence doing an HBO special and a one-woman show as Moms Mabley. She has been known in her prosperous career as a unique and socially conscious talent with articulately liberal views. Among her boyfriends were Ted Danson and Frank Langella. Goldberg was married three times and was once addicted to drugs.
Goldberg had her first big film starring role in The Color Purple (1985). She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result. Subsequent efforts in the late 1980s were, at best, marginal hits. These movies mostly were off-beat to formulaic comedies like Burglar (1987), The Telephone (1988) and Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986). She made her mark as a household name and a mainstay in Hollywood for her Oscar-winning role in the box office smash Ghost (1990). Whoopi Goldberg was at her most famous in the early 1990s, making regular appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). She admitted to being a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series and jumped at the opportunity to star in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Goldberg received another smash hit role in Sister Act (1992). Her fish-out-of-water with some flash seemed to resonate with audiences and it was a box office smash. Whoopi starred in some highly publicized and moderately successful comedies of this time, including Made in America (1993) and Soapdish (1991). Goldberg followed up to her success with Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), which was well-received but did not seem to match up to the first.
As the late 1990s approached, Goldberg seemed to alternate between lead roles in straight comedies such as Eddie (1996) and The Associate (1996), and took supporting parts in more independent minded movies, such as The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998). Goldberg never forgot where she came from, hosting many tributes to other legendary entertainment figures. Her most recent movies include Rat Race (2001) and the quietly received Kingdom Come (2001). Goldberg contributes her voice to many cartoons, including The Pagemaster (1994) and Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990), as Gaia, the voice of the earth. Alternating between big-budget movies, independent movies, tributes, documentaries, and even television movies (including Theodore Rex (1995)).
Whoopi is accredited as a truly unique and visible talent in Hollywood. Perhaps she will always be remembered as well for Comic Relief, playing an integral part in almost every benefit concert they had. Whoopi is also the center square in Hollywood Squares (1998), sometimes hosts the Academy Awards, and is an author, with the book "Book."- Actor
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- Music Department
Frank Welker was born in Colorado. He followed his dream to California, and started a voice acting career which has spanned over five decades and hundreds of credits. Frank has worked with fellow voice actors Casey Kasem, Nicole Jaffe, Don Messick, Heather North, and Stefanianna Christopherson on Hanna-Barbera's iconic Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (1969), voicing Fred Jones, among other Scooby credits over the years. He has also worked with Kurt Russell, Peter Cullen, and Michael Bay.- Animation Department
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Starting as a cel washer, Chuck Jones worked his way up to animator and then director at the animation division of Warner Bros. He is famous for creating such beloved cartoon characters as Wile E. Coyote, Henery Hawk, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Ralph Wolf, Road Runner, Sam Sheepdog, Sniffles, and many others, as well as adding to the development of Warner favorites such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and countless others.
His most famous cartoons tend to have been created with writer Michael Maltese. Jones' autobiography, published by Simon & Schuster "Chuck Amuck"--a pun on his Daffy Duck short Duck Amuck (1953)--gives a very amusing account of his life. It is liberally sprinkled with hundreds of cartoons with some color plates.- Actor
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Francis Alick Howerd, who grew up to become popular British comedian Frankie Howerd, was born in 1917 and first stepped onstage at age 4. As a teen he taught Sunday school; not long after his Army-man father died in 1934, 17-year-old Frankie was invited to audition for RADA. After a poor audition, he knew his calling was as a comedian instead of an actor. At 19 he put together revues for music halls that included monologues, impressions, jokes, and comic songs. This was difficult since he suffered from major stage fright, a life-long debilitation. Following war service, Frankie refocused on his career with radio and theatre appearances. In the 1950s he finally earned his own TV variety show, but his burgeoning reputation, coupled with a lack of self-confidence, led the painfully shy man to suffer severe emotional conflicts with this newfound success. In the 1960s this culminated in a severe nervous breakdown. Prone to melancholia and deep depression, he somehow managed to recover, and he earned high praise for both his musical-comedy performance in the London production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (in the Zero Mostel role) and his work on the popular satire series That Was the Week That Was (1962). Though never a strong film performer, he managed to find work in such films as The Ladykillers (1955), Further Up the Creek (1958), The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), some 'Carry On' appearances, and the lead role in The House in Nightmare Park (1973). Frankie was awarded the OBE in 1977, the year his autobiography, "On My Way I Lost It," was published. In early April 1992 he went to the hospital for respiratory problems; he died of heart failure on April 19. He was buried at St. Gregory's Church in Weare, Somerset.- Actor
- Producer
Kristopher Marshall is an English actor who has been starring in films, on television, and on stage for more than 20 years. He has played Nick Harper in "My Family", Colin Frissell in the 2003 film "Love Actually", Gratiano in "The Merchant of Venice", and Dave in the first series of "Citizen Khan" (2012). Marshall portrays DI Humphrey Goodman across four seasons of "Death In Paradise" (2014-2017) and the spin-off "Beyond Paradise" (2023).- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Peter Hawkins was born on 3 April 1924 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Big Spender (1965), Doctor Who (1963) and The Storyteller (1987). He was married to Rosemary Miller. He died on 8 July 2006 in London, England, UK.- Producer
- Animation Department
- Director
Peter Lord was born on 4 November 1953 in Bristol, England, UK. He is a producer and director, known for The Amazing Adventures of Morph (1980), Chicken Run (2000) and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).- Additional Crew
- Writer
- Art Department
Known as the creator of TV's Basil Brush and for his collaborations (as writer/producer/director/animator) with Oliver Postgate. He and Postgate set up 'Smallfilms' in 1958 and produced such children's classics as Noggin the Nog (1959), Pogle's Wood (1965), The Clangers (1969), Bagpuss (1974) and Ivor the Engine (1976). His daughter Emily Firmin played the part of the little girl Emily in Bagpuss, whilst his wife Joan and another of his six daughters, Charlotte, also made contributions.- Actor
- Writer
- Art Department
William Rushton was born on 18 August 1937 in Chelsea, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Nothing But the Best (1964), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965) and The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968). He was married to Arlene Dorgan. He died on 11 December 1996 in London, England, UK.- Writer
- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
Frank Muir was born on 5 February 1920 in Broadstairs, Kent, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Seven Faces of Jim (1961), The Frost Report (1966) and Bachelor in Paris (1952). He was married to Polly McIrvine. He died on 2 January 1998 in Thorpe, Surrey, England, UK.- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Bill Bailey is known for his sharp wit and classic sense of humor. he is most famous for being in Never Mind The Buzzcocks, celebrity game-show in which he is a team captain. Bill is a stand up comedian, and has also starred in cult comedies such as Spaced and of course Black Books. He was given the award for the "best stand-up" at the British comedy awards.- Actor
- Producer
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Tony Hancock was born in Birmingham, England, the son of John and Lillian Hancock. He was educated at Durlston Court, Swanage, and Bradfield College, Reading. He served in the R.A.F. (ground crew) during the war. In 1942 he was in the R.A.F. Gang Show. He was de-mobbed in 1946. He appeared at the Windmill Theatre, London in 1948. His radio show "Hancock's Half Hour" ran from 1954 - 1959, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson with co-stars Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, Sidney James and Bill Kerr. This popular show was adopted by TV and the shows were re-recorded and broadcast 1956-1960.- Director
- Actor
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Tex Avery was a descendant of Judge Roy Bean and Daniel Boone, but all his grandma ever told him about it was "Don't ever mention you are kin to Roy Bean. He's a no good skunk!!" After graduating from North Dallas High School in 1927, Avery moved to Southern California in 1929 and got a job in the harbor. After showing samples of his artwork he got a job at Walter Lantz Studios in 1929 as animator. His contributions during the years at Walter Lantz Studios were minor. From 1936 to 1941 he worked as supervisor - another word for cartoon director - of some 60 titles in the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes series for Leon Schlesinger at Warner's. From 1942 to 1954 Avery worked as director of cartoons at MGM. He was responsible for practically every MGM Cartoon that did not feature Tom and Jerry. In 1955 he did four cartoons, again for Walter Lantz Studios, before leaving the field for advertising, where, alas, his unique sense of humor went largely unappreciated, but primarily because commercials are not credited for the viewing audience (perhaps his best known commercial work was for Raid bug spray, which always featured the cartoon bugs screaming "Raid!" before getting smashed.)
Among the many cartoon characters Avery created are Daffy Duck, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, George and Junior and Chilly Willy. Tex Avery is also credited with creating the basic personality of Bugs Bunny. He was the one who coined the phrase "What's up, Doc?"- Actor
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Mel Blanc, known as "The Man of Thousand Voices" is regarded as the most prolific actor to ever work in Hollywood with over a thousand screen credits. He developed and performed nearly 400 distinct character voices with precision and a uniquely expressive vocal range. The legendary specialist from radio programs, television series, cartoon shorts and movie was rarely seen by his audience but his voice characterizations were famous around the world.
Blanc under exclusive contract until 1960 to Warner Brothers voiced virtually every major character in the Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies cartoon pantheon. Characters including Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Wile E. Coyote,The Roadrunner, Yosemite Sam, Sam the Sheepdog, Taz the Tazmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé la Pew, Charlie the Dog, Blacque Jacque Shellacque, Pussyfoot, Private Snafu among others were voiced by Blanc.
After 1960, Blanc continued to work for Warner Brothers but began to work for other companies once his exclusive contract ended. He worked for Hanna-Barbera voicing characters including Barney Rubble, Dino the Dinosaur, Cosmo Spacely, Secret Squirrel, Captain Caveman, Speed Buggy, Wally Gator among others. He provided vocal effects for Tom & Jerry in the mid 1960's working with fellow Warner Bros. alum, Chuck Jones at what would become MGM Animation. In the mid 1960's, Blanc originated and voiced Toucan Sam for the Kellogg's Fruit Loops commercials. He would later go to originate and voice Twiki for Buck Rogers and Heathcliff in the late 1970's and early 1980's.- Actor
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Harry H Corbett (he added the "H" to avoid being confused with Sooty's friend) was born in Burma in 1925. His father was an officer in the army. His mother died when he was very young and he moved to England as a child and was brought up in Manchester by an aunt.
After his war service, he joined a repertory company and during the 1950s appeared in many stage productions. At the end of this period he made the move to the big screen and appeared in about twenty movies (mostly 'B' pictures) during the years from 1959 to 1980, including the starring role of Detective Sergeant Bung in Carry on Screaming! (1966), Rattle of a Simple Man (1964) and the two "Steptoe and Son" movies in the early 1970s. He suffered a series of heart attacks between 1979 and 1982, before his premature death aged 57.- Wilfred Pickles was born on 13 October 1904 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Billy Liar (1963), For the Love of Ada (1972) and The Family Way (1966). He was married to Mabel Pickles. He died on 27 March 1978 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Actor
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Wilfrid Brambell was born on 22 March 1912, in Dublin, Ireland. His first acting experience was when he was aged just two, entertaining wounded soldiers returning from action during the First World War. On leaving school he worked part-time as a reporter for The Irish Times and part-time as an actor at the Abbey Theatre. During World War II he joined the British military forces entertainment organisation ENSA. On his return Wilfrid began performing with various repertory companies across the UK in Swansea, Bristol and Chesterfield. It was also during this time that he began breaking into films. His television career began in the 1950s, when he was cast in small roles in the BBC Television productions: "The Quatermass Experiment", "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Quatermass II". These roles earned him a reputation for playing old men, though he was only in his forties at the time. Wilfrid was just 49 when he first played Albert Steptoe. The role immediately launched him to fame and notoriety and made him into a national figure. His film work continued with a role in the 1962 Walt Disney film "In Search of the Castaways" and playing Paul McCartney's granddad in The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night". "Steptoe and Son" finished in 1974 after eight series and two hit spin-off films. Wilfrid and Co-Star Harry H. Corbett continued to revive the characters for special one off performances and events including a 1977 tour of Australia. He continued to take small roles in various television series and films during the late 1970s and 1980s before losing his battle against cancer on 18th January 1985.- Actor
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Jimmy Jewel was born on 4 December 1909 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Avengers (1961), Nearest and Dearest (1972) and Thicker Than Water (1968). He was married to Belle Bluett. He died on 3 December 1995 in London, England, UK.- Actress
Legendary Australian character actress of the British screen, Miss Cannon was without doubt one of the best scene stealing actresses.
Her pixie like looks and extraordinary facial expressions made her a true favourite of many a British movie.
Without her appearances in many a 'Carry On..' film in the 1960s, her career would have probably been forgotten today. Arguably her most famous performance was as the lonely but happy spinster in Carry on Cruising (1962). The bar scene with Dilys Laye where both their characters get hideously drunk, is as legendary as the movie itself.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Margaret Rose Mount in Essex, England, she went to work as a secretary in her early teens after the death of her father, despite her early desire to enter the theatre. It would be almost 15 years before she landed a role with the Hanson Players, when she played the part of an eccentric guest in 'The Sleeping Prince.' She stayed with the company for three years, and became known for her imposing and impressive voice. She originated one of her best known roles, the formidable battleaxe, Emma Hornett, in 'Sailor Beware' with her repertory troupe in 1953, and reprised the role on the West End, the role making her a star. She made her film debut in the screen version a year later: it was known as 'Panic in the Parlor' in the US. In 1958 she appeared in 'The Adventures of Mr. Pastry' on British television, before appearing as another popular harridan role in 'The Larkins' that same year on ITV. In 1960 she tackled Shakespeare at the Old Vic, taking the role of the Nurse in 'Romeo and Juliet' to excellent reviews. For the next two decades she split her time between the stage and various television series which included 'Winning Widows' from 1961 to 1962, the 1966 to 1968 series 'George and the Dragon,' and 'Lollipop Loves Mr Mole' from 1971 to 1972. Additionally she appeared in such films as 'The Naked Truth' in 1957, 'Ladies Who Do' in 1963, and 'Oliver!' in 1968. In the 1980s she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and much of her later work was on stage, although she did appear in the cult television series, 'Doctor Who' in 1988's 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy' episode. In 1996 she was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to her art. In her later years she lost her sight, forcing her retirement, and later suffered a series of strokes. She died at an actors' retirement home in Northwood, Middlesex at the age of 86.- Actor
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The son of Alexander Sim JP and Isabella McIntyre, Alastair Sim was educated in Edinburgh. Always interested in language (especially the spoken word) he became the Fulton Lecturer in Elocution at New College, Edinburgh University from 1925 until 1930. He was invited back and became the Rector of Edinburgh University (1948 - 1951). His first stage appearance was as Messenger in Othello at the Savoy Theatre, London. He went on to create some of the most memorable (usually comedic) roles in British films from 1936 until his death in 1976.- Actress
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Rare is the reference to Margaret Rutherford that doesn't characterize her as either jut-chinned, eccentric, or both. The combination of those most mundane of attributes has led some to suggest that she was made for the role of Agatha Christie's indomitable sleuth, Jane Marple, whom Rutherford portrayed in four films between 1961 and 1964 plus in an uncredited film cameo in The Alphabet Murders (1965). Rutherford began her acting career first as a student at London's Old Vic, debuting on stage in 1925. In 1933, she first appeared in the West End at the not-so-tender age of 41. She had made her screen debut in 1936 portraying Miss Butterby in the Twickenham-Wardour production of Hideout in the Alps (1936).
In summer 1941, Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit opened on the London stage, with Coward himself directing. Appearing as Madame Arcati, the genuine psychic, was Rutherford, in a role in which Coward had earlier envisaged her and which he then especially shaped for her. She would carry her portrayal of Madame Arcati to the screen adaptation, David Lean's Blithe Spirit (1945). Not only would this become one of Rutherford's most memorable screen performances - with her bicycling about the Kentish countryside, cape fluttering behind her - but it would establish the model for portraying that pseudo-soothsayer forever thereafter. Despite Rutherford's appearances in more than 40 films, it is as Madame Arcati and Miss Jane Marple that she will best be remembered.- Actress
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Legendary voice actress June Foray was born June Lucille Forer on September 18, 1917 in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Maurice Forer and Ida Edith Robinson, who wed in Hampden, Massachusetts. Her father, who was Jewish, emigrated from Novgorod, Imperial Russia, while her Massachusetts-born mother was of Lithuanian Jewish and French-Canadian descent. Her mother converted to Judaism to marry, and took the name Sarah.
At age 12, young June was already doing "old lady" voices. She had the good fortune of having a speech teacher who also had a radio program in the Springfield area. This teacher became her mentor, and added June to the cast of her show. Eventually her family moved to Los Angeles, where she continued in radio. By age fifteen, she was writing her own show for children, "Lady Makebelieve", in which she also provided voices. June dabbled in both on-camera acting and voice work, but was particularly talented in voice characterizations, dialects and accents. Just like Daws Butler, one of her later co-stars, she was a "voice magician" and worked steadily in radio from the 1930s into the 1950s.
June branched out from radio and began providing voices for cartoon characters. In the 1940s, she provided the voices for a live-action series of shorts, "Speaking of Animals", in which she dubbed in voices for real on-screen animals, a task she was to repeat many years later in an episode of The Magical World of Disney (1954). In the late 1940s June, Stan Freberg, Daws Butler, Pinto Colvig and many others recorded hundreds of children's and adult albums for Capitol Records. Her female characterizations on these records ran the entire gamut from little girls to middle-aged women, old ladies, dowagers and witches. No one seemed to be able to do these same voices with the warmth, energy and sparkle that June did.
In the 1950s June's star in animation not only began to rise but soared when Walt Disney sought her out and hired her to do the voice of Lucifer the cat in Cinderella (1950). The Disney organization continued to use June many times over, well into the 21st century. Warner Brothers also hired her to replace Bea Benaderet and do all of its "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons. June has done many incidental characters for Warners, but her most famous voice has been that of Granny (in the "Tweety and Sylvester" series). Unfortunately, since Mel Blanc's contract called for exclusive voice credit on these cartoons, June never received credit for all the voices she did. During this time she also appeared on [error].
In 1957, Jay Ward met with June to discuss her voicing the characters of "Rocky the Flying Squirrel" and "Natasha Fatale" in a cartoon series. On November 19, 1959, the show debuted as The Bullwinkle Show (1959), later changing its name to The Bullwinkle Show (1959). June provided many other voices for this show, especially its "side shows" such as "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop and Son". She did fewer voices for the "Peabody's Improbable History" segment, but she did appear in at least three of those episodes. After the show had been successful for a few years, Ward added one of its most popular segments, "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties". June was a regular in this side show as Dudley's girlfriend Nell Fenwick.
Since Ward used June exclusively for nearly all his female voices, he showcased her talents as no other producer had before. June missed out on doing voices for three of the show's "Fractured Fairy Tales" because she could not reschedule some bookings to do recording work with Stan Freberg, so Julie Bennett filled in for her on those occasions. Dorothy Scott--co-producer Bill Scott's wife--also filled in for June a few times for "Peabody's Improbable History". Her collaboration with Ward made her incredibly famous, and "Rocky the Flying Squirrel" became her signature voice. To this day June regularly wears a necklace with the figure of Rocky sculpted by her niece Lauren Marems.
Ward later produced two other cartoon series, Hoppity Hooper (1964) and George of the Jungle (1967). June's appearances on "Hoppity Hooper" were limited to the segments of "Fractured Fairy Tales", "Dudley Do-Right" and "Peabody" that aired during its run. On "Fractured Fairy Tales" June did a whole montage of voices similar to those from her Capitol Records days. Her witch voices were so incredibly funny and magnificently done that Disney and Warner Brothers tapped her to provide that same voice for the character of Witch Hazel. She was once again the lone female voice artist, this time on "George of the Jungle". Included on that show were the "Super Chicken" and "Tom Slick" side shows.
In the 1960s, June lost out to Bea Benaderet when she auditioned for the voice of "Betty Rubble" on The Flintstones (1960). June appeared numerous times during the decade in holiday specials such as Frosty the Snowman (1969) and The Little Drummer Boy (1968)). In the 1960s and 1970s, June dubbed in voices for full-length live-action feature films many times. Jay Ward and Bill Scott also had her dub in dialogue for silent movies in their non-animated series Fractured Flickers (1963).
In the early 1970s, June tried her hand at puppetry. She became the voice of an elephant, an aardvark and a giraffe on Curiosity Shop (1971). Around this time she also recorded various voices for the road shows of "Disney on Parade", which toured the US and Europe for several years.
She acted on-camera occasionally over the years, primarily on talk shows, game shows and documentaries; in the early years of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), she performed a 13-week stint as a little Mexican girl. However, June had said that she prefers to record behind the scenes because she jokingly said "She can earn more money in less time."
June Foray died on July 26, 2017, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. She was ninety nine years old.- Actor
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John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, England, to Muriel Evelyn (Cross) and Reginald Francis Cleese. He was born into a family of modest means, his father being an insurance salesman; but he was nonetheless sent off to private schools to obtain a good education. Here he was often tormented for his height, having reached a height of six feet by the age of twelve, and eventually discovered that being humorous could deflect aggressive behavior in others. He loved humor in and of itself, collected jokes, and, like many young Britons who would grow up to be comedians, was devoted to the radio comedy show, "The Goon Show," starring the legendary Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe.
Cleese did well in both sports and academics, but his real love was comedy. He attended Cambridge to read (study) Law, but devoted a great deal of time to the university's legendary Footlights group, writing and performing in comedy reviews, often in collaboration with future fellow Python Graham Chapman. Several of these comedy reviews met with great success, including one in particular which toured under the name "Cambridge Circus." When Cleese graduated, he went on to write for the BBC, then rejoined Cambridge Circus in 1964, which toured New Zealand and America. He remained in America after leaving Cambridge Circus, performing and doing a little journalism, and here met Terry Gilliam, another future Python.
Returning to England, he began appearing in a BBC radio series, "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again", based on Cambridge Circus. It ran for several years and also starred future Goodies Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden. He also appeared, briefly, with Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman in At Last the 1948 Show (1967), for television, and a series of collaborations with some of the finest comedy-writing talent in England at the time, some of whom - Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Chapman - eventually joined him in Monty Python. These programs included The Frost Report (1966) and Marty Feldman's program Marty (1968). Eventually, however, the writers were themselves collected to be the talent for their own program, Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969), which displayed a strange and completely absorbing blend of low farce and high-concept absurdist humor, and remains influential to this day.
After three seasons of the intensity of Monty Python, Cleese left the show, though he collaborated with one or more of the other Pythons for decades to come, including the Python movies released in the mid-70s to early 80s - Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982), and The Meaning of Life (1983). Cleese and then-wife Connie Booth collaborated in the legendary television series Fawlty Towers (1975), as the sharp-tongued, rude, bumbling yet somehow lovable proprietor of an English seaside hotel. Cleese based this character on a proprietor he had met while staying with the other Pythons at a hotel in Torquay, England. Only a dozen episodes were made, but each is truly hilarious, and he is still closely associated with the program to this day.
Meanwhile Cleese had established a production company, Video Arts, for clever business training videos in which he generally starred, which were and continue to be enormously successful in the English-speaking world. He continues to act prolifically in movies, including in the hit comedy A Fish Called Wanda (1988), in the Harry Potter series, and in the James Bond series as the new Q, starting with The World Is Not Enough (1999), in which he began as R before graduating to Q. Cleese also supplies his voice to numerous animated and video projects, and frequently does commercials.
Besides the infamous Basil Fawlty character, Cleese's other well-known trademark is his rendition of an English upper-class toff. He has a daughter with Connie Booth and a daughter with his second wife, Barbara Trentham.
Education and learning are important elements of his life - he was Rector of the University of Saint Andrews from 1973 until 1976, and continues to be a professor-at-large of Cornell University in New York. Cleese lives in Santa Barbara, California.- Actor
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Spike was born an 'Army Brat', the son of an Irish Captain in the British Raj in India. Educated in a series of Roman Catholic schools in India and at Lewisham Polytechnic in England, he spent his formative years playing the fool and playing the trumpet in local jazz bands.
He joined the British Army himself (under protest if you believe his auto-biogs) as a conscript at the outbreak of WWII. He served in the Royal Artillery as Gunner Milligan through the North African and Italian campaigns. He got a bit too close to an exploding shell and was hospitalised with shell-shock. On his escape from army life he started his "real" work as an author and humourist.
Most famous for 'The Goon Show' with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe (and originally Michael Bentine), these radio shows are commonly regarded as re-writing the rules of comedy (even before Monty Python). However under the pressure of writing all the scripts he suffered a breakdown and became a clinical manic-depressive.
He was fondly regarded as the last of the great British eccentrics and had written a wealth of comic poetry mainly for children, a few novels and his multi-volume auto-biography. Spike was also a keen (fanatical?) environmental campaigner.- Actress
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Julia McKenzie was born on 17 February 1941 in Enfield, Middlesex, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Notes on a Scandal (2006), Bright Young Things (2003) and Cranford (2007). She was previously married to Jerry Harte.- Director
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Bob Godfrey was born on 27 January 1921 in West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. He was a director and producer, known for Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) (1975), Henry's Cat (1983) and Kama Sutra Rides Again (1971). He was married to Beryl. He died on 21 February 2013.- Actor
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Jimmy Hibbert was born on July 15, 1949 in Windsor, Berkshire, England as James Christian Hibbert. He is an actor and writer, known for Count Duckula (1988), The BFG (1989), Noddy's Toyland Adventures (1992), Frankenstein's Cat (2007) and Little Red Tractor (2003).
James Christian Hibbert was born as the eldest of three children of author Christopher Hibbert and Susan Hibbert, with all three of them growing up in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. His younger brother was the late music journalist Tom Hibbert. After studying drama at the University of Manchester, he met CP Lee and Bob Harding, and the three of them formed the band Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias in 1972, with Hibbert on vocals and bass. The band called it a day in 1982, and Hibbert got his first voice acting role for the Milk Marketing Board, doing an impression of Ian Dury.
As well as voice acting for animation, he has made a few on-screen acting appearances on British TV programmes and films such as Coronation Street, What the Papers Say, Cold Feet, The Grand, Medics, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Prime Suspect, Children's Ward, Wipe Out, Floodtide, Room at the Bottom, The Practice, Teach Yourself Gibberish and Bloody Kids.
In 1977, he appeared on stage at London's Royal Court Theatre and Roundhouse as part of the Albertos' musical play Sleak, playing the lead role of Norman Sleak.- Director
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Tony Collingwood is known for Ruff-Ruff Tweet and Dave (2015), Rarg (1988) and Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! (2001).- Actor
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Stanley Unwin was born on 7 June 1911 in Pretoria, South Africa. He was an actor, known for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Carry on Regardless (1961) and The Secret Service (1969). He was married to Frances Anne Unwin. He died on 12 January 2002 in Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, UK.- Actor
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Born James Jonah Cummings on November 3, 1952, he grew up in Youngstown, Ohio.
Sooner or later, he moved to New Orleans. There, he designed Mardi Gras floats, was a singer, door-to-door salesman, and a Louisiana riverboat deckhand.
Then Cummings moved to Anaheim, California, where he started his career playing Lionel from the program Dumbo's Circus (1985).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Sound Department
Dee Bradley Baker is an American voice actor from Indiana. He first became known for voicing Olmec in Legends of the Hidden Temple before voicing Daffy Duck in Space Jam. He is well-known for voicing Klaus in American Dad, the Clone Troopers in several Star Wars media, Ra's al Ghul in Batman: Arkham City, Momo and Appa in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Perry the Platypus in Phineas & Ferb, Sunny Jim in Lobo, Kevin the Sea Cucumber in SpongeBob SquarePants, Numbuh Four in Codename: Kids Next Door and Gravemind in Halo 2.- Actor
- Producer
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Russell Tovey was born on 14 November 1981 in Billericay Essex, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012), The Good Liar (2019) and Grabbers (2012).- Actor
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English actor Warwick Davis was born in Epsom, Surrey, England, the son of Susan J. (Pain) and Ashley Davis, an insurance broker. Davis was born with the condition spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenital (SED), which caused his dwarfism. He was educated at City of London Freemen's School. When he was 11 years old, his grandmother heard a radio appeal for people under four feet tall to appear in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). A huge Star Wars fan, Davis auditioned successfully and was cast as an extra, playing an Ewok. Kenny Baker was cast as lead Ewok Wicket, but fell ill so George Lucas chose Davis to replace him. The film was a smash hit, and Davis went on to reprise his role as Wicket in further TV projects - The Ewok Adventure (1984) and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985).
Davis next big role came with a part specifically written for him, as the titular hero in Willow (1988). Other successes followed with roles in such projects as Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989) and two distinctly different film series - the 'Harry Potter' and 'Leprechaun' film series. In 2006, he appeared in a cameo role in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's hit sitcom Extras (2005), which led to the pair writing a series specifically for Davis, the comic mockumentary Life's Too Short (2011).
Davis, along with his father-in-law Peter Burroughs, is also the director of an acting agency for very short and tall actors called Willow Management. He is married to Samantha Davis and they have a son and a daughter.- Actor
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One of Britain's most recognizable (and most larger-than-life) character actors, Tom Baker is best known for his record-setting seven-year stint as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963). He was born in 1934 in Liverpool, to Mary Jane (Fleming) and John Stewart Baker. His father was of English and Scottish descent, while his mother's family was originally from Ireland. Tom, along with his younger sister, Lulu, and younger brother, John, was raised in a poor Catholic community by his mother, a house-cleaner and barmaid, who was a devout Catholic, and his father, a sailor, who was rarely at home.
At age fifteen, Baker left school to become a monk with the Brothers of Ploermel on the island of Jersey. Six years later, he abandoned the monastic life and performed his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps., where he became interested in acting. Baker then served on the Queen Mary for seven months as a sailor in the Merchant Navy before attending Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent, England, on scholarship.
Baker acted in repertory theaters around Britain until the late 1960s when he joined up with the National Theatre, where he performed with such respected actors as Maggie Smith, Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Olivier, who helped him get his first prominent film role as Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). His performance in this film earned him two Golden Globe Award nominations, one for best actor in a supporting role and another for best new star of the year. A couple of years earlier, Baker had made his theatrical film debut in The Winter's Tale (1967).
Despite appearances in a spate of films, including The Canterbury Tales (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and The Mutations (1974), Baker found himself in a career lull and working as a labourer at a building site. However, the BBC's Head of Serials, William Slater, who had directed Baker in BBC Play of the Month (1965), recommended him to producer Barry Letts, who was looking for a replacement for Jon Pertwee as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963). Baker's performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) convinced Letts that he was right for it. It brought Baker international fame and popularity. He played the role for seven years, longer than any actor before or since.
After leaving Doctor Who (1963) in 1981, Baker returned to theatre and made occasional television and film appearances, playing Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982), Puddleglum in The Chronicles of Narnia story The Silver Chair (1990) and Hallvarth, Clan Leader of the Hunter Elves, in Dungeons & Dragons (2000).- Actor
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Daws Butler spent the greater part of his career as one of the premier voice-over actors in Hollywood- providing the voices for such well- known characters as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick-Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Jinks the cat, Dixie the mouse, Augie Doggie, Peter Potamus, Wally Gator, Hokey Wolf, Super Snooper, Blabber Mouse, Cogswell Cogs, Elroy Jetson and many others. He also provided the voices for such long-running commercial characters as Snap, diminutive companion of Crackle and Pop of noisy cereal fame, as well as Cap'n Crunch, spokesman for a somewhat quieter breakfast treat.
Butler was born in Toledo, Ohio and spent his formative years in Oak Park, Illinois. Although his initial ambition was to be a cartoonist, he had a talent for vocal humor and mimicry as well. Paradoxically, he was also quite shy. As a sort of self- imposed therapy, he forced himself to address large audiences by entering local amateur contests and performing impersonations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rudy Vallee and a Model T Ford starting on a cold morning (an audience favorite). He found that the laughter and applause he got in response was well worth the effort and it clinched his decision to pursue an acting and performing career. Eschewing the last few months of his senior year in high school, he began appearing in Chicago theaters and nightclubs along with two other impersonators he had met along the way. Because they all maxed out at around five feet, two inches in height and primarily did impressions of radio personalities, they billed themselves as "The Three Short Waves."
After two years in the Navy during World War II, during which he met and married Myrtis Martin of Albemarle, N.C. (whose next-door neighbor provided the inspiration for what would later become the southern drawl of Huckleberry Hound), Butler ferried his wife and son out to Hollywood. He finally broke into radio, performing in dramatic as well as comedy programs and specializing in dialects and a wide range of vocal characterizations.
In 1949, Butler and Stan Freberg were featured in a new television puppet show called "Time for Beany." Butler was the voice of a propeller-capped kid named Beany while Freberg voiced his best pal, Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent. During five years of five shows a week, they were honored with two Emmy awards.
At Capitol Records in the early 1950s, Butler and Freberg co-wrote and co-voiced a comedy record takeoff on the TV show "Dragnet," called "St. George and the Dragonet." Not only was Jack Webb flattered and amused by the record, but it was the first comedy record to sell more than a million copies. Butler's and Freberg's partnership produced several other comedy platters beloved by disc jockeys across the country, even today. Butler was also a part of Freberg's comedy ensemble on the Stan Freberg Radio Show in the summer of 1957 and on a later and very popular comedy single called "Christmas Dragnet."
After lengthy and very productive collaborations with famed animators/directors Tex Avery and Walter Lantz, Butler embarked on yet another inspired partnership, with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at Hanna-Barbera Productions. There, beginning in the late 50s, Butler created his most famous cartoon characterizations, aided and abetted by another gifted voice actor, Don Messick-Boo Boo and Ranger Smith to Butler's Yogi Bear and Pixie the Mouse to his Dixie, among others.
For legendary cartoon producer Jay Ward, Butler, along with fellow actors and friends June Foray and Bill Scott, performed in two animated series, "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop and Son." His long-running Cap'n Crunch character was also a Jay Ward creation.
In his later years, Butler established a popular and respected actors' workshop in his home, training talented students not only in voice- over techniques, but in all areas of acting, including the physical. On that subject, especially, one had only to witness Butler's histrionic physicality when voicing Yogi Bear or his laid- back, sleepy-eyed mien as he became Huckleberry Hound to understand why he considered facial expression and physical movement as essential as sound in producing a living, breathing character. One of Butler's star workshop students was Nancy Cartwright, later the voice of Bart Simpson on "The Simpsons." Daws Butler passed away on May 19, 1988 of a heart attack, having just completed three Yogi Bear films and 15 new half-hour Yogi Bear cartoon shows. He also lived to see the rebirth of The Jetsons for a new generation, voicing 30 of the new shows along with all the members of the original cast. During his longest- standing creative collaboration, the 30-odd years with Hanna-Barbara Productions, Daws Butler performed in the neighborhood of 40 different characters. In the years that followed his death, seven actors were required to replace them all.- Eli Woods was born on 11 January 1923 in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Mr. H Is Late (1988), Little Dorrit (1987) and Spender (1991). He was married to Pamela. He died on 1 May 2014 in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, UK.
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Boisterous British actor Brian Blessed is known for his hearty, king-sized portrayals on film and television. A giant of a man accompanied by an eloquent wit and booming, operatic voice, Brian was born in 1936 and grew up in the mining village of Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire. His father was a miner who wanted a better life for his son; Brian lost three uncles in the pit. At a young age, he displayed an acute talent for acting in school productions, but also had a penchant for boxing, a direction that would be short-lived.
Working various blue-collar jobs from undertaker's assistant to plasterer, Brian managed to attend the Bristol Old Vic and was off and running. He has lent his musical talents to several productions - from playing "Old Deuteronomy" in "Cats" to "The Baron" in the more recent "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". In the 1970s, he began appearing more and more on-camera with both classical and contemporary performances. In costumed television movies, he has played "Porthos" in The Three Musketeers (1966) and The Further Adventures of the Musketeers (1967), "Augustus" in I, Claudius (1976), and "Long John Silver" in Return to Treasure Island (1986) and has been a part of various reenactments including Catherine the Great (1995), Lady Chatterley (1993), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) and Kidnapped (1995).
On film, he has appeared in robust support in several William Shakespeare adaptations, including Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Macbeth (1997) and the title role in King Lear (1999), which he also directed.
More recently, he appeared in Oliver Stone's epic-scale Alexander (2004) and in Kenneth Branagh's film version of William Shakespeare's As You Like It (2006).
In recent years, the octogenarian has been heard more than seen with voice work in video games, documentaries and such animated TV programs as Kika & Bob (2007) (as Bob); The Amazing World of Gumball (2011) (as Santa Claus); Wizards vs. Aliens (2012) (as the Necross King); Henry Hugglemonster (2013) (as Eduardo Enormomonster); and Peppa Pig (2004) as Grampy Rabbit.
He is married to British actress Hildegard Neil, who made an appearance with him in Macbeth (1997).- Actor
- Producer
Lee Boardman was born on 2 July 1972 in Manchester, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Memory (2022), Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) and Enola Holmes 2 (2022). He has been married to Jennifer James since 12 May 2001.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Soundtrack
An out-of-wedlock child, Eartha Kitt was born in the cotton fields of South Carolina. Kitt's mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. Her father's identity is unknown. Given away by her mother, she arrived in Harlem at age nine. At 15, she quit high school to work in a Brooklyn factory. As a teenager, Kitt lived in friends' homes and in the subways. However, by the 1950s, she had sung and danced her way out of poverty and into the spotlight: performing with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe on a European tour, soloing at a Paris nightclub and becoming the toast of the Continent. Orson Welles called her "the most exciting girl in the world". She also spoke out on hard issues. She took over the role of Catwoman for the third and final season of the television series Batman (1966), replacing Julie Newmar. Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer in her home in Weston, Connecticut, on Christmas Day 2008.- Actor
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Christopher Lloyd is an American actor with a relatively long career. His better known roles include drug-using taxicab driver Jim Ignatowski in the sitcom Taxi (1978), Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), inventor Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990), the evil Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and deranged Uncle Fester in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993).
Lloyd was born on October 22, 1938 in Stamford, Connecticut. His parents were lawyer Samuel R. Lloyd and singer Ruth Lapham (1896-1984). His maternal uncle was politician Roger Lapham, Mayor of San Francisco (1883-1966, term 1944-1948). His maternal grandfather was businessman Lewis Henry Lapham (1858-1934), co-founder of Texaco Oil Company. Lloyd is a distant descendant of indentured servant John Howland (c. 1592-1673), one of the passengers of the ship Mayflower and signers of the Mayflower Compact.
Lloyd was raised in the town Westport, Connecticut, which changed from a community of farmers to a suburban development during the 20th century. Many artists and writers from New York City settled in the town. Lloyd was educated at Staples High School. He was a co-founder of the Staples Players, the school's theatre company. Lloyd was interested in an acting career, and served as an apprentice at summer theaters in Mount Kisco, New York and Hyannis, Massachusetts. In 1957, he started pursuing acting classes in New York City. He took lessons at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, a full-time professional conservatory for actors. His acting teacher was Sanford Meisner (1905-1997), eponymous creator of the Meisner technique.
Lloyd made his New York theatrical debut in a 1961 production of the play "And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers" by Fernando Arrabal (1932-). He was reportedly a replacement for another actor. He made his Broadway debut in a 1969 performance of Red, White and Maddox (1969). Until the mid-1970s, Lloyd was primarily a theatrical actor. He performed both on Off-Broadway shows and in Broadway. Lloyd made his film debut in the role of psychiatric patient Max Taber in the drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). His first major role in television was drug-using taxicab driver Jim Ignatowski in the sitcom Taxi (1978). His character was an aging hippie, son of an affluent Boston family , and former student of Harvard University. Ignatowski was one of the sitcom's most colorful characters and Lloyd won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Lloyd played most of his most notable film roles. Lloyd was first nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in Back to the Future (1985). The award was instead won by rival actor Roddy McDowall (1928-1998). He was nominated for the same award for his role as the evil Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). The award was instead won by rival actor Robert Loggia (1930-2015). Lloyd also performed as a voice actor, voicing the evil sorcerer Merlock in DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) and historical figure Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) in Anastasia (1997). Lloyd had another notable television role when cast in the role of villain Sebastian Jackal in the sci-fi series Deadly Games (1995). He also played the character Dr. Jordan Kenneth Lloyd, the despised father of the series' protagonist Dr. Gus Lloyd (played by James Calvert).
Lloyd's last notable film role in the 1990s was playing the Martian Uncle Martin in My Favorite Martian (1999). The film was an adaptation of the classic sitcom My Favorite Martian (1963), and the character was previously played by Ray Walston (1914-2001). The film under-performed at the box office. In the 2000s, Lloyd played the role of recurring character Cletus Poffenberger in the comic sci-fi series Tremors (2003), and recurring character Professor Harold March in the sitcom Stacked (2005). As March, Lloyd played a retired rocket scientist who was a regular customer of the bookstore which served as the series' setting. In the 2010s, Lloyd returned to the role of Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in cameo appearances in A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) and Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016), and as the protagonist of the short film Back to the Future: Doc Brown Saves the World (2015). By 2020, Lloyd has never retired from acting and continues to appear in various roles.- Actor
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Character player Alan Reed was a strong, gruff, burly presence on '40s and '50s film and TV but he would be best remembered for his equally strong, gruff, distinctive voice on radio and TV. In 1960, he gave vocal life to the bombastic prehistoric cartoon character Fred Flintstone on the prime-time TV series The Flintstones (1960), the character being inspired by the Ralph Cramden husband on the popular earlier sitcom The Honeymooners (1955). It is this direct association that continues to keep his name alive today. Reed himself thought up and introduced the Flintstonian catchphrase "Yabba dabba doo!" (improvised from a script calling for Fred to say "Yahoo!") for his beloved animated character to the delight of children everywhere.
Born Herbert Theodore Bergman on August 20, 1907 in New York City, to Jewish parents of Lithuanian/Ukrainian descent, he received his early education at Washington High School and studied theatre at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After majoring in journalism at Columbia University, he decided to pursue to acting at such places as Provincetown Playhouse and toured in vaudeville shows. He supplemented his income operating a candy factory and worked as a social director at a country club.
A master of over 22 foreign dialects, Reed also worked steadily on Broadway with the Theatre Guild. His vocal talents were well suited for radio, becoming a prime announcer for that medium. In addition to billing himself as Teddy Bergman, he sometimes was credited under the moniker Alan Reed for more dramatic parts, eventually settling in on the Reed name. Reed was featured on the best radio shows of the time including "The Shadow," "Crime Doctor," "Abie's Irish Rose," "The Life of Riley," "The Fred Allen Show," "Life with Luigi" (which he later took to TV), and "My Friend Irma."
Once in Hollywood, Reed deserted the Bergman name completely. Sporting a comic Runyonesque appeal, he played in such fare as The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951), Emergency Wedding (1950), and Here Comes the Groom (1951). His more dramatic roles came with The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and The Desperate Hours (1955). One of his most unusual parts was his portrayal of Pancho Villa in Viva Zapata! (1952) starring Marlon Brando. He also supplied the voice of "Boris" in Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955). Featured in many TV shows, the popular prehistoric cartoon and its various offshoots made up most of Reed's later work after The Flintstones (1960) premiered.
Long married to a former Broadway actress, Finette Walker, one of their three children, actor/producer Alan Reed Jr., entered show business as a teenager. Reed started billing himself as Alan Reed, Sr. to avoid any confusion. Working up until his death, Reed died in Los Angeles from heart disease and emphysema at age 69 on June 14, 1977. Reed's incomplete autobiography was extensively used to publish his son's own biographical tribute: Yabba Dabba Doo: The Alan Reed Story.- Music Artist
- Actor
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One of the pioneers of heavy metal and one of its most commercially successful and iconic artists, Ozzy Osbourne was born in Birmingham, England, as John Michael Osbourne. After leaving school and having many odd jobs, he ended up in a band with Geezer Butler. This group then split, leading Ozzy and Geezer to join Tony Iommi and Bill Ward in a new band that went under several names (including Earth) that ended up being called Black Sabbath after a song of the same name that appeared on their first album (released 1969/70). He recorded several more albums with Sabbath despite the decline of his relationship with Tony Iommi, which after several break ups led to him leaving/being fired from the band in 1979. After a short time he launched a solo career with a line up behind him that varied immensely from album to album and tour to tour. During the 80's he was treated several times for alcoholism and was sued twice for the suicides of some of his young fans (cleared completely). Following his No More Tears album he declared he would tour for the last time. In 1991, on his last date he reformed briefly on stage with Black Sabbath for three songs. However a much talked about reformation tour fell through and Ozzy seemed to go into retirement, his bassist (Mike Inez) joined Alice in Chains and the guitarist (Zakk Wylde) formed his own band, Pride and Glory. Now however he is recording a new album and has said he intends to tour again. The album should be out in the summer of 1995 and the tour should be shortly after. Geezer Butler has now quit Sabbath (again) and rejoined Ozzy (he played bass for him on tour during the mid to late 80's) and should play on the new album.- Animation Department
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Bill Melendez was born on 15 November 1916 in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. He was a producer and actor, known for A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968). He was married to Helen Antionette Huhn. He died on 2 September 2008 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Nicholas Jones was born on 3 April 1946 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for In the Heart of the Sea (2015), Flawless (2007) and Darkest Hour (2017).
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Jamie Foreman was born on 25 May 1958 in Bermondsey, London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Layer Cake (2004), Oliver Twist (2005) and Inkheart (2008).- Actor
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Mark Wingett's first stand out role was Dave in the cult hit Quadrophenia (1979), the film version of The Who's hit album. Mark acted alongside Phil Daniels, Sting, Phil Davis, Toyah Willcox, Trevor Laird, Ray Winstone and a host of other names. Quadrophenia (1979) has gone on to be one of the classics of British cinema. Wingett also appeared in other films including; Breaking Glass (1980) with Hazel O'Connor and Jonathan Pryce. He is also a regular on the British stage both as actor and director, he appeared in a number of productions at The Royal Court Theatre, including Edward Bond's "Saved" and "The Pope's Wedding" alongside Gary Oldman and Joanne Whalley. A well-known face on television, with regular roles on The Bill (1984) and EastEnders (1985), he has since returned to the silver screen to appear in Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) (with Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart), Franklyn (with Eva Green and Ryan Phillippe) and Intruders (with Clive Owen).- Maggie Jones was born on 21 June 1934 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Coronation Street (1960), The Forsyte Saga (1967) and Sense and Sensibility (1971). She was married to John Oliver Stansfield. She died on 2 December 2009 in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK.
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Joe Gladwin was born on 22 January 1906 in Salford, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Last of the Summer Wine (1973), Nearest and Dearest (1972) and Nearest and Dearest (1968). He was married to Lily Anne Wynne. He died on 11 March 1987 in Manchester, England, UK.- Actor
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- Cinematographer
Coming from a theatrical family (although not related to the famous Edwardian actor Sir Charles Hawtrey, he did "borrow" his last name), Charles Hawtrey made his stage debut at age 11 after having spent several years in a prestigious acting school. A string of stage roles followed, and by 1929 his success led him to move into radio. His success in that medium led to his entry into films, often working alongside noted comedian Will Hay. He continued his stage, radio and film work, although he scored more success on stage.
In 1958 he began work in the series for which he would achieve his greatest fame, the "Carry On" comedies. His stringy build, birdlike features, what has been described as his "outrageously posh" voice and his somewhat fey character's eccentricities made him one of the most popular of the "Carry On" gang. However, that very popularity indirectly led to his exit from the series. He believed that his character's prominence, and the fact that he had more experience in the business than most of his co-stars, entitled him to receive a higher billing in the series than he was getting. The producers didn't see it that way, and after Carry on Abroad (1972), he departed the series. Hawtrey was, by most accounts, almost as eccentric in real life as his character in the "Carry On" series was; one of his characteristics was to speak in an unintelligible language of his own making, which was only understood by a few of his closest friends. After he left the series he semi-retired from the business, making an occasional appearance in a movie or TV show. He had suffered from arthritis for a long time, and by 1988 his doctors told him that the condition had become so serious that his legs would have to be amputated in order to save his life. He refused, and died almost a month later. He was 73.- Actress
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Joan Sims, the "First Lady of Carry On", was born Irene Joan Marion Sims on 9 May 1930. The daughter of an Essex railway station master, Joan was interested in pursuing show-business, and soon became a familiar face in a growing number of amateur productions. In 1946, Joan first applied to RADA, her audition was unsuccessful. She did succeed in being admitted to the academy's preparatory school, and finally, on her fourth attempt, trained at RADA. She graduated in 1950 at the age of nineteen.
A cameo appearance in Doctor in the House (1954) as the sexually repressed Nurse Rigor Mortis led to Joan being first spotted by Peter Rogers; Rogers' wife Betty E. Box was the producer of the Doctor series, in which Joan herself became a regular.
A few years later, in 1958, Joan received another script from Peter Rogers, it was Carry on Nurse (1959). The film had been a huge success at the box office and in the autumn of that year Rogers and Gerald Thomas began planning a follow up. She went on to appear in 24 of the films, making her the longest serving female member of the team.
She first starred in the following three Carry On films: Carry on Teacher (1959), Carry on Constable (1960) and Carry on Regardless (1961), before taking a break from the next four films to concentrate on stage work. She rejoined the team with Carry on Cleo (1964) and remained all the way through to Carry on Emmannuelle (1978) in 1978.
Ironically, she was never proclaimed Queen of Carry On. This title went to saucy Barbara Windsor, even though she had only appeared in nine Carry On films.
One could argue that her final performances in the Carry On films were rather sentimental, as though she knew that the series was coming to an end and two scenes come to mind. The scene in which she plays cards with Peter Butterworth in Carry on Behind (1975) in his caravan late at night, and also in the launderette where she dances with an early Carry Oner Victor Maddern in Carry on Emmannuelle (1978). Both of these are memorable sentimental film scene stealers.
With the end of the Carry On series in 1978, Joan went on to become a familiar face on TV screens, with ongoing roles in a number of highly successful sitcoms On the Up (1990) and As Time Goes By (1992) and the BBC's prestigious classic drama adaptations such as Martin Chuzzlewit (1994).
Joan's autobiography, High Spirits, was released in 2000. She complains in the last few pages of her book at the lack of information on her on the IMDB trivia page, something that was only significantly expanded after her death.
In her later years she became a cult figure and something of a British National Institution as the only surviving major Carry On star from early days. However, years of heavy drinking took their toll and she suffered in her later years with ill health. She was admitted to Hospital in Chelsea in London in mid 2001 and slipped into a coma. She died on 28 June 2001, with her lifelong friend and Carry On Norah Holland holding her hand.
Following her death, surviving Carry On stars celebrated her achievement in the Carry On films. Barbara Windsor, said at the time of her death, "To me she was the last of the great Carry Ons, she was there at the beginning. Her talent was wonderful, she could do any accent, dialect, she could dance, sing, play dowdy and glam. We laughed all the time and giggled a lot. I will sorely miss her." That quote is so true, throughout her whole Carry On career she alone stands apart as the most versatile actress in the whole series. She was never typecast in the films like the other actors and actresses.
Others also paid tribute, even ex-Government Cabinet Ministers. Her agent Richard Hatton said, "It's wonderful to be able to say that she really did have all the qualities that her many fans would have wished. A great sense of humour, a sympathetic and endearing personality, terrific talent and consideration for others.
"Over and above this, she discovered a new side of herself when she wrote her autobiography last year, which was untypical for the genre - honest, frank and intelligent. Everyone who knew her is going to remember her forever."- Actor
- Soundtrack
The star of the Carry On series of films, Sid James originally came to prominence as sidekick to the ground breaking British comedy actor Tony Hancock, on both radio and then television. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and named Solomon Joel Cohen, James arrived in England in 1946, second wife in tow, having served with the South African Army during World War 2. By now an aspiring actor, James claimed to have boxed in his youth, perhaps to explain his craggy features, but was certainly a well respected hairdresser in his native country. Known in the trade as "one take James", he became a very talented and professional actor, constantly in demand for small parts in British post-war cinema. In 1960 James debuted in the fourth of the Carry On films, taking the lead role in Carry on Constable (1960) and went on to appear in a further 18 Carry On films as well as various stage and television spin-offs. Reputed not to have got on with Carry On co-star Kenneth Williams, the two often played adversaries on-screen, notably in the historical parodies Carry on Up the Khyber (1968) and Carry on Don't Lose Your Head (1967). James however was respected and revered by almost everyone he worked with and contrary to popular myth, a true gentleman. An addiction to gambling played a large part in James' workaholic schedule and subsequent heart attack in 1967. He was soon back in action however, playing a hospital patient in Carry on Doctor (1967), able to spend most of the film in bed. He suffered a second and fatal heart attack on stage in Sunderland, England on April 26 1976, leaving behind 3 children and his third wife Valerie who had stuck by him despite his affair with Carry On co-star Barbara Windsor, saying, "He always came home to me".- Actress
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Legendary EastEnders actress and Carry On star Barbara Windsor was born Barbara Ann Deeks in Stepney, London, the daughter of Rose (Ellis), a dressmaker, and John Deeks, a costermonger. She was a bright pupil at school and her parents wanted her to go to university, but after her first taste of show business, when her grandmother took her backstage at a theatre, she decided acting was what she wanted to do.
Her mother spent all her savings on a place at the Aida Foster Acting School, where Barbara made her stage debut in Aida's 1950s pantomime at the Golders Green Hippodrome. Aida's tutors tried to iron out her Cockney accent but luckily they didn't succeed. In 1952, she was cast as one of the orphans in the musical "Love from Judy", which opened at London's Saville Theatre. With the show's star, she made her television debut in "Variety Parade". Two years later in 1954, she made her film debut as a school girl extra in "The Belles of St. Trinians", and by 1957, she was performing at London's Winston's Club with Amanda Barrie. The producer Joan Littlewood, who was committed to working class theatre, spotted her at an audition and in 1960 gave her the role which changed her life - Rose in "Fings Ain't What They Used to Be" at London's Garrick Theatre where it ran for two and a half years, during which she appeared in the sitcom The Rag Trade (1961).
As a result of the success of "Fings", Littlewood cast her in the film Sparrows Can't Sing (1963), which was seen by producer Peter Rogers who offered her roles in "Carry On" films, the first of which was Carry on Spying (1964). In 1964, She appeared in Joan's stage version of 'Oh! What a Lovely War' on Broadway and toured America with it. On her return, she was cast in the West End production of Lionel Bart's ill fated musical "Twang", which closed after a short run allowing her to take a role in "Come Spy with Me" with Danny La Rue at London's Whitehall Theatre. During the run, she had a complete change in playing one of the Ripper's victims in the film A Study in Terror (1965), then it was back to lighthearted roles in such films as Carry on Doctor (1967) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and in 1968, a British tour with Frankie Howerd in "The Wind in the Sasafras Tree". In late 1969, Ned Sherrin cast her as the music hall legend Marie Lloyd in "Sing a Rude Song" which opened at the Greenwich Theatre before transferring to the West End's Garrick Theatre.
Windsor did become well known in the London theatrical scene, but it was the "Carry On" comedies that made her a star. Although she appeared in only nine films in the long-running series (she left because she thought they were getting too risqué), she made such an impression as the basically good-hearted but dizzy sexpot that many of the series' fans believe she was in many more than she actually was. She almost didn't get the role originally, as she and series regular Kenneth Williams took an instant dislike to each other, but that was soon overcome and they became lifelong friends.
After she left the series, she continued her stage and film work, and became a regular in a long-running British soap opera, EastEnders (1985) as the matriarch of The Queen Victoria - Peggy Mitchell, which she played in over 1,500 episodes. She wrote two autobiographies, "Barbara - the Laughter and Tears of a Cockney Sparrow" and "All of Me - My Extraordinary Life". She was awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2000 Queen's New Years Honours for her services to entertainment. She was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Queen's New Years Honours for her services to entertainment and to charity.
Dame Barbara Windsor died of Alzheimer's disease on December 10, 2020, in London. She is survived by husband Scott Mitchell.- British television, film and stage actor Peter Guinness was born on May 3 1950 in Whitstable, a small English seaside town famous for its oysters. At school he revealed a talent for drawing and painting, a talent that subsequently led him to study art and qualify as an art teacher. But it was while working in a south London comprehensive, he became interested in theatre and in 1973 he auditioned for the Central School of Speech and Drama where he met his future spouse, Roberta Taylor. Graduating from Central in 1976, Guinness has been a ubiquitous presence on stage and screen ever since.
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- Soundtrack
John Challis is an accomplished character actor, personality and raconteur whose wide-ranging career has gone from classical roles on the stage to heavies in television drama, a multitude of policemen, sitcom stardom, pantomime performances and even a one-man show.
He wanted to act from a young age but was encouraged to get a "proper" job, so he worked as a trainee estate agent for a short time. He also had a job delivering groceries. He got into acting through a travelling children's theatre and never attended drama school. Performances in regional repertory theatre followed. He ended up in the Royal Shakespeare Company during the 1960s and made his television debut in The Newcomers (1965). His imposing physical stature helped him gain roles as police officers in Softly Softly (1966) and Crown Court (1972). He was also cast in a recurring role in the BBC's long-running police drama Z Cars (1962) as Sergeant Culshaw. He then played heavies in The Sweeney (1975) and Doctor Who (1963) (both for director Douglas Camfield, who would also later cast him in Beau Geste (1982)).
He worked with David Jason for the first time in the sitcom Open All Hours (1976). In 1980, he landed a guest role (as another policeman) in Citizen Smith (1977). His performance impressed the writer, John Sullivan, so much that he promised he would find another part for him. This led to him being cast as Boycie, the second-hand car salesman, in the first series of Only Fools and Horses (1981). It would go on to become one of the longest-running and most popular sitcoms of all time and Challis would be a regular in it. In 2005, Challis began starring in a spin-off, The Green Green Grass (2005). In 2011, he released his autobiography, "Being Boycie", which was followed by "Boycie & Beyond" in 2012. These led to Challis entertaining audiences by touring a one-man show, "Only Fools and Boycie".- Freddie Davies was born on 21 July 1937 in Brixton, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Sensitive Skin (2005) and Funny Bones (1995).