Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor. With a career spanning more than seven decades, he is noted for his roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
Dirty Weekend is a British film directed by Michael Winner, based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Helen Zahavi. It was banned from video release for two years by the BBFC for its violent and sexual content.
Richard III is a 1995 period drama film, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name, directed by Richard Loncraine. The film adapts the play's story and characters to a setting based on 1930s Britain, with Richard depicted as a fascist plotting to usurp the throne.
Cold Comfort Farm is a comic novel by English author Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb.
John Richard Schlesinger was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood, often directing films dealing frankly in provocative subject matter, combined with his status as one of the only openly-gay directors working in mainstream films.
Kathrin Romany Beckinsale is an English actress. She has gained acclaim for her roles in action films, romance films, and period dramas. Beckinsale made her film debut in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She gained prominence taking leading roles in numerous British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996), and The Golden Bowl (2000). She challenged herself taking roles in films such as The Last Days of Disco (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Pearl Harbor (2001), Serendipity (2001), Tiptoes (2003), The Aviator (2004) and Click (2006).
Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill. The novel became an immediate best-seller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, but having lived long enough to see her only novel become a success. With fifty million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time.
Stella Dorothea Gibbons was an English author, journalist, and poet. She established her reputation with her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm (1932) which has been reprinted many times. Although she was active as a writer for half a century, none of her later 22 novels or other literary works—which included a sequel to Cold Comfort Farm—achieved the same critical or popular success. Much of her work was long out of print before a modest revival in the 21st century.
Richard Arthur Beckinsale was an English actor. He played Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom Porridge and Alan Moore in the ITV sitcom Rising Damp. He was the father of actresses Samantha and Kate Beckinsale.
Sheila Kaye-Smith was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of Sussex and Kent in the English regional tradition. Her 1923 book The End of the House of Alard became a best-seller, and gave her prominence; it was followed by other successes, and her books enjoyed worldwide sales.
Rufus Frederik Sewell is a British actor. In film, he has appeared in Carrington (1995), Hamlet (1996), Dangerous Beauty (1998), Dark City (1998), A Knight's Tale (2001), The Legend of Zorro (2005), The Illusionist (2006), Amazing Grace (2006), The Holiday (2006), The Tourist (2010), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), Judy (2019), The Father (2020), and Old (2021).
Frances J. de Lautour, better known as Frances de la Tour, is an English actress. She is known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the television sitcom Rising Damp from 1974 until 1978. She is a Tony Award winner and three-time Olivier Award winner.
Emma is a television film based on the 1815 novel of the same name by Jane Austen, directed by Diarmuid Lawrence and dramatised by Andrew Davies, the same year as Miramax's film adaptation of Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow was released. This production stars Kate Beckinsale as the title character, and also features Samantha Morton as Harriet Smith and Mark Strong as Mr. Knightley.
Jack and Sarah is a 1995 romantic comedy film written and directed by Tim Sullivan and starring Richard E. Grant, Samantha Mathis, Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Cherie Lunghi and Ian McKellen.
Moira Redmond was an English actress.
The Ballad of Little Jo is a 1993 American Western drama film written and directed by Maggie Greenwald. It is inspired by the real-life story of Josephine Monaghan, a young woman who lived as a man in the late 19th century. It stars Suzy Amis as Monaghan, with Bo Hopkins, Ian McKellen, David Chung, René Auberjonois, and Carrie Snodgress in supporting roles.
The 1st Golden Satellite Awards, given by the International Press Academy, were awarded on January 15, 1997. The ceremony was hosted by Stacy Keach.
Sarah M. Badel is a retired British stage and film actress. She is the daughter of actors Alan Badel and Yvonne Owen.
Mr. Holmes is a 2015 mystery film directed by Bill Condon, based on Mitch Cullin's 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, and featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. The film stars Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes, Laura Linney as his housekeeper Mrs. Munro and Milo Parker as her son Roger. Set primarily during his retirement in Sussex, the film follows a 93-year-old Holmes who struggles to recall the details of his final case because his mind is slowly deteriorating.
Frances Mary Clutton-Brock, known as Molly Clutton-Brock, was a British therapist and youth worker, noted for helping physically disabled children. She and her husband developed a racially integrated farm and Molly developed centres in Rhodesia and Botswana where disabled children could receive physical therapy. She and her husband were expelled from Rhodesia for not supporting the white minority government.
