Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, was an English actor, comedian, musician and singer, best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring a hapless character called Norman Pitkin. He was awarded the 1953 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles following the release of Trouble in Store, his first film in a lead role.
The Battle of the River Plate is a 1956 British war film in Technicolor and VistaVision by the writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film stars John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Bernard Lee and Peter Finch. It was distributed worldwide by Rank Film Distributors Ltd.
Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor, known for his upper-middle class, macho image and his heavy-drinking, "hellraiser" lifestyle. His screen career spanned over 40 years, between 1955 and 1999. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth-most-popular star at the box office.
Henry James Hayter was a British actor of television and film. He is best remembered for his roles as Friar Tuck in the film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) and as Samuel Pickwick in the film The Pickwick Papers (1952), the latter earning him a BAFTA Award for Best British Actor nomination.
Sink the Bismarck! is a 1960 black-and-white CinemaScope British war film based on the 1959 book The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck by C. S. Forester. It stars Kenneth More and Dana Wynter and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. To date, it is the only film made that deals directly with the operations, chase and sinking of the battleship Bismarck by the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Although war films were common in the 1960s, Sink the Bismarck! was seen as something of an anomaly, with much of its time devoted to the "unsung back-room planners as much as on the combatants themselves". Its historical accuracy, in particular, met with much praise despite a number of inconsistencies.
Graham William Stark was an English comedian, actor, writer and director.
John Ernest Briggs was an English actor. He was known for his role as Mike Baldwin in the soap opera Coronation Street, in which he appeared from 1976 to 2006.
Jay Novello was an American radio, film, and television character actor.
Arthur Howard was an English stage, film and television actor.
Edward Chapman was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. William Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s.
Forrester Harvey was an Irish film actor.
Destroyer is a 1943 American war film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Edward G. Robinson.
We Joined the Navy is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, Joan O'Brien, Derek Fowlds, Graham Crowden, Esma Cannon and John Le Mesurier. Produced by Daniel M. Angel, it was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by John Winton, a former Royal Navy lieutenant commander.
Anthony Sagar was an English character actor and a member of the National Theatre. He was prolific screen performer and appeared in many films and television series including the 1959 adaptation of The Moonstone, Steptoe and Son, The Avengers and Dad's Army.
Sailor Beware! is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Peggy Mount, Shirley Eaton and Ronald Lewis. It was written by Philip King and Falkland Cary adapted from their 1955 stage play of the same name. It was released in the United States by Distributors Corporation of America in 1957 as Panic in the Parlor.
The Briggs Family is a 1940 British second feature ('B') drama film directed by Herbert Mason and starring Edward Chapman, Felix Aylmer, Jane Baxter, Oliver Wakefield and Austin Trevor. It was written by Brock Williams and John Dighton.
A Stitch in Time is a 1963 comedy film directed by Robert Asher and starring Norman Wisdom, Edward Chapman, Jeanette Sterke and Jerry Desmonde. It was produced by Hugh Stewart and Earl St. John. The film is set in a children's hospital and features an early role for Johnny Briggs.
The Square Peg is a 1958 British war comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom. Norman Wisdom plays two different characters: a man who digs and repairs roads, and a Nazi general.
Sailors Three is a 1940 British war comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Tommy Trinder, Claude Hulbert and Carla Lehmann. This was cockney music hall comedian Trinder's debut for Ealing, the studio with which he was to become most closely associated. It concerns three British sailors who accidentally find themselves aboard a German ship during the Second World War.
William Patrick Roache is an English actor, best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Roache is the longest-serving cast member in Coronation Street, having appeared in the show continuously since its first broadcast on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-serving television star in a continuous role.
