The year 1966 in film involved some significant events. A Man for All Seasons won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru, known professionally as Herbert Lom, was a Czech-British actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 years, he generally appeared in character roles, often portraying criminals or suave villains in his younger years, and professional men as he aged. Highly versatile, he proved a skilled comic actor in The Pink Panther franchise, as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus.
Senta Verhoeven is an Austrian-German actress. She received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include three Bambi Awards, two Romys, an Adolf Grimme Award, both a Deutscher and a Bayerischer Fernsehpreis, and a Goldene Kamera.
Donald Herman Sharp was an Australian film director.
Gambit is a 1966 American comedy heist film starring Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine as two criminals involved in an elaborate plot centered on a priceless antiquity owned by millionaire Mr. Shahbandar, played by Herbert Lom. It was nominated for three Academy Awards.
The Ambushers is a 1967 American spy comedy film directed by Henry Levin starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm, along with Senta Berger and Janice Rule. It is the third of four films in the Matt Helm series, and is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Donald Hamilton, as well as The Menacers (1968) that featured UFOs and a Mexican setting. When a government-built flying saucer is hijacked mid-flight by Jose Ortega, the exiled ruler for an outlaw nation, secret agent Matt Helm and the ship's former pilot Sheila Sommers are sent to recover it.
Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon is a 1967 Eastman color British science fiction comedy film directed by Don Sharp and starring Burl Ives, Troy Donahue, Gert Fröbe and Terry-Thomas.
The Brides of Fu Manchu is a 1966 British/West German Constantin Film co-production adventure crime film based on the fictional Chinese villain Dr. Fu Manchu, created by Sax Rohmer. It was the second film in a series, and was preceded by The Face of Fu Manchu. The Vengeance of Fu Manchu followed in 1967, The Blood of Fu Manchu in 1968, and The Castle of Fu Manchu in 1969. It was produced by Harry Alan Towers for Hallam Productions. Like the first film, it was directed by Don Sharp, and starred Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu. Nigel Green was replaced by Douglas Wilmer as Scotland Yard detective Nayland Smith.
The Quiller Memorandum is a 1966 British neo noir eurospy film filmed in Deluxe Color and Panavision, adapted from the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Elleston Trevor under the name "Adam Hall", screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow and Senta Berger. The film was shot on location in West Berlin and in Pinewood Studios, England. It was nominated for three BAFTA Awards, while Pinter was nominated for an Edgar Award for the script.
The Poppy Is Also a Flower is a 1966 American-French-Austrian made-for-television spy and anti-drug film. It was originally made under the auspices of the United Nations as part of a series of television specials designed to promote the organization's work. The film was directed by Terence Young and stars Yul Brynner, Omar Sharif, Eli Wallach, Angie Dickinson, Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Trevor Howard, Rita Hayworth and Marcello Mastroianni. Grace Kelly narrates.
Eurospy film, or Spaghetti spy film, is a genre of spy films produced in Europe, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, that either sincerely imitated or else parodied the British James Bond spy series feature films. The first wave of Eurospy films was released in 1964, two years after the first James Bond film, Dr. No, and in the same year as the premiere of what many consider to be the apotheosis of the Bond series, Goldfinger. For the most part, the Eurospy craze lasted until around 1967 or 1968. In Italy, where most of these films were produced, this trend replaced the declining sword and sandal genre.
Five Golden Dragons is a 1967 international co-production comedy action film set in Hong Kong and photographed in Techniscope on location in September 1966 at the Tiger Balm Pagoda and Shaw Brothers studios. It was directed by Jeremy Summers and starred Bob Cummings in his final theatrical feature film, Margaret Lee who sings two songs in the film, Rupert Davies and a cast of "guest stars".
Margaret Lee is a British actress who was a popular leading lady in Italian films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is the mother of production manager/producer Roberto Malerba and production manager/producer Damian Anderson.
The Karate Killers is a 1967 American spy film and feature-length film version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s third season two-part episode "The Five Daughters Affair". The episodes were originally broadcast in the United States on March 31, 1967, and April 7, 1967, on NBC. It, as does the television series, stars Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. It is the sixth such feature film that used as its basis a reedited version of one or more episodes from the series. Joan Crawford, Telly Savalas, Herbert Lom, Diane McBain, Jill Ireland, and Kim Darby are among those in the cast. The film was directed by Barry Shear and written by Norman Hudis with the story by Boris Ingster.
The Spy with My Face is a 1965 spy-fi spy film based on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum reprised their roles as secret agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin respectively. THRUSH tries to steal a super weapon by substituting a double for Solo. The film was directed by John Newland.
Dorian Gray a.k.a. The Sins of Dorian Gray and The Secret of Dorian Gray is a 1970 film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Helmut Berger.
Rough Shoot, released in the USA as Shoot First, is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Robert Parrish and written by Eric Ambler, based on the 1951 novel by Geoffrey Household. The film stars Joel McCrea, in his only postwar non-Western role, with Evelyn Keyes as the leading lady, and featuring Herbert Lom, Marius Goring and Roland Culver. The scenario is set in Cold War England when tensions ran high regarding spying.
Dark Places is a 1973 British psychological horror film directed by Don Sharp and starring Robert Hardy, Christopher Lee, Joan Collins and Herbert Lom.
Popular culture references to Marrakech, Morocco:
Skeleton Coast is a 1987 South African made mercenary war film directed by John Cardos in the first of three films for producer Harry Alan Towers. It was the first of Towers' Breton Film Productions.
