Ripping Yarns
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Michael Palin is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He was one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python.
After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over three years from 1976. In 1980, Palin co-wrote Time Bandits with Terry Gilliam. He also acted in the film. In 1984, he reunited with Terry Gilliam to appear in Brazil. He appeared in the comedy film A Fish Called Wanda (1988), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.Lead role in every episode and Co-writer- Writer
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Terry Jones was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the son of Dilys Louisa (Newnes), a homemaker, and Alick George Parry Jones, a bank clerk. His older brother is production designer Nigel Jones. His grandparents were involved in the entertainment business, having managed the local Amateur Operatic Society and staged Gilbert and Sullivan concerts. Jones studied at St. Edmund Hall College, Oxford University, read English but graduated with a degree in History. He was variously captain of boxing, captain of the Rugby Team and School Captain. At about this time, he befriended Michael Palin. Both performed comedy together as part of the Oxford Revue. In 1965, he again partnered Palin in The Late Show (1966) and worked in the dual capacity of writer/actor on Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967) with Palin, Eric Idle and David Jason. Another noteworthy television credit was Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969) (again with Palin) in which fun was poked at famous historical personae, Jones essaying Oliver Cromwell, Sir Walter Raleigh and Henry VIII (among others).
Needless to say that Jones found his greatest success as a founding member of the anarchic and irreverent Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969), along with Palin, Idle, Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Terry Gilliam. Jones not only provided much of the written comic input, but also portrayed many of the classic characters: the implausibly obese Mr. Creosote in The Meaning of Life (1983) (who explodes after one more little wafer), the inept Detective Superintendent Harry "Snapper" Organs in the Piranha Brothers sketch (a take on the Kray Twins), the tobacconist in the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook sketch and numerous assorted shrill-voiced, slovenly 'rat-bag women' (Mrs. Equator comes to mind).
The Pythons were unconventional, controversial, certainly groundbreaking and invariably inspired, at their best in their unrelenting satirical attacks on established British institutions, ruling hierarchies and the class structure. Jones later said "The thing is we never thought Python was a success when it was actually happening, it was only with the benefit of hindsight". In addition to writing and acting, Jones also co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) (with Terry Gilliam) and took solo directing credit for Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life. Post-Python, he rejoined Palin as co-writer for some of the very best episodes of Ripping Yarns (1976), including Whinfrey's Last Case, Tompkinson's Schooldays, Murder at Moorstone Manor, The Curse of the Claw and The Testing of Eric Oldthwaite. Jones later scripted Labyrinth (1986) from a story by Jim Henson and Dennis Lee and wrote, as well as directed, Erik the Viking (1989) and Absolutely Anything (2015), a science fiction comedy with Simon Pegg and Kate Beckinsale.
On a more serious note, Jones sidelined as a newspaper columnist and was an outspoken social and political commentator (a staunch critic of the Iraq War). His lifelong fascination with medieval and ancient history (and Geoffrey Chaucer in particular) led to presenting a series of television documentaries (Medieval Lives (2004) and Barbarians (2006))) as well as publishing several well researched, if sometimes controversial, books including Chaucer's Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary and Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery.
Jones died at the age of 77 on 21 January 2020 from complications of dementia, at his home in Highgate, North London.Master in Timpkin's School Days and Co-writer- Actor
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Ian Ogilvy was born on 30 September 1943 in Woking, Surrey, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Death Becomes Her (1992), I, Claudius (1976) and My Life in Ruins (2009). He has been married to Kathryn Holcomb since 1992. He was previously married to Diane Sarah Patricia Hart.Bully in Timpkin's School Days- Actor
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Kenneth Colley was born on 7 December 1937 in Manchester, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Firefox (1982) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). He has been married to Mary Dunne since 1962.Robber - The Testing of Eric Outhwaite- Actor
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After his schooling in Edinburgh, the British character actor Roy Kinnear attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Following national service, Kinnear appeared on stage, radio, and television in Scotland before becoming a household name in Britain in the early 1960s as one of the original members of the television series That Was the Week That Was (1962). Around this time, he also established his film career, specializing in jovial, yet sometimes slightly sinister, characters, such as Finney, Moriarty's henchman, in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975). Another characteristic role was that of Planchet in the Musketeer movies, a role that tragically led to his death from a riding accident during the filming of The Return of the Musketeers (1989).Vogel - Escape from Staleg 112B- Frank Middlemass, the son of a naval architect, was born in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton. He made his stage debut at the Newcastle Upon Tyne Playhouse in Jesmond after the war then performed in repertory in Penzance and later at London's Old Vic, Bristol, and on a world tour. . He appeared in a number of films including Barry Lyndon, Madame Sin and The Island. He had a sister who lived in Newcastle.Father - Murder at Moorstones Manor
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Iain Cuthbertson was born on 4 January 1930 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Gorillas in the Mist (1988), Doctor Who (1963) and Scotch on the Rocks (1973). He was married to Janet Mary Smith and Anne Kristen. He died on 4 September 2009 in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland, UK.Dr Carson - Murder at Moorstones Manor- Actor
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Harold Innocent was born on 18 April 1933 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Brazil (1985) and Henry V (1989). He died on 12 September 1993 in London, England, UK.Manners - Murder at Moorstones Manor- Actor
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Denholm entered RADA at the age of 17, but dropped out after a year having hated every minute being there. He joined the RAF in 1940, trained as a gunner/radio operator, and was shot down over Germany in 1942. In the POW camp he and his fellow prisoners staged various productions in a theatre constructed out of old packing cases. After the war he joined a London repertory company and his career took off particularly when Laurence Olivier chose him for the starring role in Venus Observed, for which he won a Clarence Derwent award. When another Olivier production Ring Around the Moon transferred to New York Denholm replaced Paul Schofield in what became a Broadway hit. Returning to Britain he was signed to a film contract and appeared in such movies as The Cruel Sea, The Sound Barrier, Alfie, King Rat, and others in addition to appearing on television and making countrywide theatre tours. In 1983 he won a BAFTA Award for his role as the butler in Trading Places and followed it with a Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in A Private Function. Prior to that he won an Evening Standard Best Actor award for Bad Timing.Mr Gegoary - Across the Andes by Frog- As an amateur actor as a dare he auditioned for the RSC and was not only accepted, but he stayed for 6 years. Best known as Sgt Bulman in XYY Man (77) he then made several series of Strangers (79 -82). His films include Star Wars, Callan, The Prince and the Pauper and The Big Sleep.Sgt Major - Across the Andes by Frog
- Tenniel Evans briefly attended the British Army officer training centre Sandhurst (1945-1946). He studied German and economics at St. Andrews University (1946-1949). He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1949-1951) and acted on stage from 1951, although he also had an in-between job as a private school teacher near Northampton. His regular stage work included West End performances as well as the Royal Court Theatre Company, Savoy Theatre and Globe Theatre. He was part of the cast of the hugely popular 1960s radio comedy "The Navy Lark". He appeared in television from 1960. Evans is fondly remembered by cult television fans as Major Daly, acting opposite his friend Jon Pertwee, in Carnival of Monsters: Episode One (1973) and as Kevin's (Michael Palin's) puritanical father in The Curse of the Claw (1977).Father - Curse of the Claw
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Although a prolific television character actress for almost half a century, Hilary Mason will be best remembered on screen as the blind, psychic Heather in the macabre supernatural thriller Don't Look Now (1973). The 1973 film starred Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as John and Laura Baxter, a grieving couple holidaying in a wintry Venice after the death of their daughter, Christine, who was drowned in the garden pond while wearing a shiny, red mackintosh. When Laura meets the two spinster sisters in a restaurant toilet, she is shocked to be told that Heather has seen her daughter. "I've seen her and she wants you to know that she's happy," says the old woman:
I've seen your little girl, sitting between you and your husband, and she was laughing. Yes, oh, yes, she's with you, my dear, and she's laughing. She's wearing a shiny little mac. She's laughing, she's laughing - she's happy as can be.
Later, Laura attends a seance with the sisters and - when Heather gets what she claims to be a message from Christine - is disturbed to be told that her husband, John (Sutherland), is in danger. A skeptical John fails to heed the warning and in the final scenes of the film is murdered by a female dwarf in a red, hooded coat. Throughout this eerie film, based on a Daphne du Maurier short story, the director, Nicolas Roeg, leaves us unsure whether Mason's chilling character really is a psychic or a con artist, particularly in a scene showing the sisters laughing after convincing Laura that they have contacted her daughter.
Born in Birmingham in 1917, Mason won a scholarship to the London School of Dramatic Art before gaining repertory theater experience in Preston, Southport, York and Guildford. During the Second World War she performed with the troops entertainment organization Ensa.
Mason made her television debut as Mrs Drummond in the drama series Thunder in the West (1957), and played Mrs Yapp in the Midlands-based local council serial Swizzlewick (1964) and Mrs Timothy in the soccer soap United! (1965). She as well took two roles in Coronation Street (1960); following a bit-part as Mrs Ainsworth (1965), she was then Derek Wilton's mother (1976), who disapproved of her son's relationship with the dithering Mavis Riley and insisted it must end - to no avail.
Adept at character roles, Mason took eight different parts in Z Cars (1962), and another three in Dixon of Dock Green (1955), before playing Lady Boleyn in the acclaimed, six-part drama The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) (starring Keith Michell in the title role), Mrs Nickleby in Nicholas Nickleby (1977), Mrs Gummidge in David Copperfield (1986), and Mrs Fagge in Great Expectations (1989).
In comedy, she acted Mrs Booth, exasperated mother to the chalk-and-cheese twin brothers, in My Brother's Keeper (1975) and Gladys in Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (1989), the children's series written by Tony Robinson - with Mason's real-life husband, the actor Roger Ostime, taking the role of Gladys's father in one episode. She also played Michael Palin's mother in the Ripping Yarns (1976) episode The Curse of the Claw (1977).
After her part in "Don't Look Now", Mason was cast in the horror films Sharon's Baby (1975) (acting Mrs Hyde, alongside Joan Collins as a stripper who gives birth to a "possessed" baby, 1975), Dolls (1986), Afraid of the Dark (1991), and Haunted (1995).
Mason also appeared twice in One Foot in the Grave (1990) during the 1990s.
She died in 2006 in Milton Keynes, England and left a husband of 50 years, Roger Ostime; they had married in 1955 in Surrey.Mother - Curse of the Claw- Edward Hardwicke was born on 7 August 1932 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Elizabeth (1998), Oliver Twist (2005) and Oppenheimer (1980). He was married to Prim Cotton and Anne Iddon. He died on 16 May 2011 in Chichester, England, UK.Mr Girton - Winfrey's Last Case
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Jan Francis was born on 5 August 1947 in Westminster, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Dracula (1979), Just Good Friends (1983) and The Good Companions (1980). She has been married to Thomas Ellice since 1977. They have two children.Miranda - Roger of the Raj