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1-11 of 11
- John Laurie was a Scotsman who would play many character roles in his long career - a lot of Scotsmen to be sure - but an enthusiastic and skilled actor in nearly 120 screen roles. He was the son of a mill worker, and studied for a career in architecture which he indeed began. But with World War I he left his position to join the British army. After the war he set his sights in a different direction, training to become an actor by attending the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. His first stage play was in 1921. He honed his skills thereafter (from 1922 to 1939) principally as a Shakespearian actor at the Old Vic in London or at Stratford-upon-Avon - and later the Open Air in Regent's Park. But by 1930 he was giving time to films as well. His first movie was the Sean O'Casey play Juno and the Paycock (1929), one of Alfred Hitchcock's early sound efforts. With his craggy profile and arcing bulbous nose, and rather stern visage (though it could as quickly break into a broad smile), he was right for many a memorable character. Hitchcock made sure of that first off by calling on him again to play the dour, suspicious, and miserly farmer, John Crofter, in The 39 Steps (1935). Laurie became a good friend of another Shakespearean, Laurence Olivier, and the two, Olivier as a lead, were in Hungarian director/producer Paul Czinner's As You Like It (1936). The year 1937 was a busy one, with six films, the most important giving him one of his few leading roles. This was director/screen writer Michael Powell's intriguing The Edge of the World (1937), doubly important in that it was the film that sold Powell to producers like Alexander Korda. The film was shot on location on the remote Shetland isle of Foula, the furthest point of Britain. It dealt with the impact of the modern world on the lives of the inhabitants of an economically decaying island. Into 1938 and 1939 Laurie was involved in British experimental TV movies, that medium to be revisit later frequently. In 1939 he was taped by Alexander Korda for his classic film production of The Four Feathers (1939) in which Laurie, who could fit his Scots voice to any part, played the zealous Mahdi (the Khalifa). He is hardly to be recognized in character.
During the war Olivier was planning one of the important morale movies of World War II; his Henry V (1944), and Laurie was asked to play a memorable Capt. Jamie. Olivier also called on him for his two other Shakespeare ventures: Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). As any good character actor, Laurie could play comedy as well and set a number of roles to that end into the 1940s. He and Roger Livesey were cast in Emeric Pressburger and Powell's first color film, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). And Laurie was a jubilant John Campbell in the Powell/Pressburger wonderful and thoughtful comedy of more insular Scots life, I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) with a delightful young Wendy Hiller and worldly-wise Livesey.
Through the remainder of the decade and into the 1950s, Laurie's face showed up in a variety of films - with greater frequency as assorted Scotsmen-comedic and otherwise - and further down the credits list of supporting actors. He was familiar in the decade invasion to the UK of American co-productions, such as Disney's Treasure Island (1950) and Kidnapped (1960). And he even trod the uncertain path of a few sci-fi films - that shall remain nameless here. But he was certainly always busy - when all told - the actor's foremost blessing. Television drama and series gave him better opportunities for a veteran actor, beginning with a Henry V (1953) where he played the comic role of Pistol. Along with some BBC TV theater (more Shakespeare and some American playhouse as well) and sporadic serials, he had a stint on the long-running BBC children's reading program "Jackanory". And he is probably best remembered as the dour James Frazer on the popular "Dad's Army" series (1968-1977). But one of his last and most touching performance was simply being his good-natured self - 80 years old but still a vibrant man with his Scots burr - when he accompanied Powell back to dramatically isolated Foula for the director's short documentary Return to the Edge of the World (1978) (included with the 2003 DVD release of the 1937 movie). There was a bit of staging by Powell. But Laurie's animated face was a picture of profound humanity, as - with a shade of theatrics when appropriate - he remembered the shoot and with sincere joy renewed acquaintances with the inhabitants, as if he himself had returned once more to his native heath. A bonnie old actor indeed! - Docile, delicately beautiful, light-haired Parisian actress Odile Versois was born Katiana de Poliakoff-Baidaroff on June 14, 1930, the second of four Poliakoff sisters, all of whom became renowned actresses in their own right. From an artistic family (her father was opera singer Vladimir de Poliakoff), Versois began her career as a child ballerina with the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.
She subsequently turned to film acting at age 18 and proved a natural with a major debut in The Last Vacation (1948) [The Last Vacation]. Of the numerous films in which she undertook leading lady parts, she moved audiences most with her portrayals of fragile, often tragic heroines in romantic drama. Her more notable pictures include Paolo e Francesca (1950), Bel amour (1951) [Beautiful Love], the title role in Domenica (1952), Grand gala (1952) and director/actor Robert Hossein's Toi... le venin (1958) [Nude in a White Car], which also co-starred sister Marina Vlady -- known for her sultry roles. Versois also provided a lovely distraction in British films of the 1950s in_A Day to Remember (1953)_, David Knight in Chance Meeting (1954) [aka Chance Meeting], Alec Guinness in To Paris with Love (1955), Anthony Steel in Checkpoint (1956) and Room 43 (1958) starring Diana Dors and Herbert Lom.
She matured in taut crime thrillers and lively costume dramas in the 1960s, notably Le rendez-vous (1961) and Cartouche (1962) the latter starring a swashbuckling Jean-Paul Belmondo. She also worked on the French, Belgian, Swiss and North African stages and on television, lending some touching performances toward the end, particularly in the films Églantine (1972) and Le Crabe-Tambour (1977). Dogged by ill health, she was seen less frequently into the 1970s and passed away from cancer a week after her 50th birthday, a gentle, beautiful soul gone before her time. - Sanjay Gandhi was born on 14 December 1946 in New Delhi, British India. He was married to Maneka Gandhi. He died on 23 June 1980 in New Delhi, India.
- Lennox Milne was born on 9 May 1909 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She was an actress, known for Scotch on the Rocks (1973), The Quatermass Conclusion (1979) and The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1952). She was married to Moray McLaren. She died on 23 June 1980 in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, UK.
- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Phil Sharp was born on 6 February 1911 in New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Phil Silvers Show (1955), All in the Family (1971) and I Married Joan (1952). He was married to Elizabeth O'neill . He died on 23 June 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Exxie Wilson was born on 17 August 1959 in Perryville, Arkansas, USA. She died on 23 June 1980 in Studio City, California, USA.
- Make-Up Department
Ray Sebastian was born on 20 November 1899 in Arkansas, USA. Ray is known for Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Get Smart (1965) and The Don Adams Special: Hooray for Hollywood (1970). Ray died on 23 June 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Jerzy Staszewski was born on 2 November 1914 in Lódz, Poland, Russian Empire [now Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland]. He was an actor, known for Pokój z widokiem na morze (1978), Pejzaz horyzontalny (1978) and Wesela nie bedzie (1978). He died on 23 June 1980 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland.
- Elsa Wallin was born on 25 April 1900 in Kalmar, Kalmar län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for En rackarunge (1923), Fröken på Björneborg (1922) and Den farliga leken (1931). She died on 23 June 1980 in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden.
- Karen Jones was born on 23 February 1956 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. She died on 23 June 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Robert Fitz was born on 20 December 1900. He was an actor, known for Sonderdezernat K1 (1972), Tatort (1970) and Autoverleih Pistulla (1974). He died on 23 June 1980 in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany.