Ray Milland was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945), which won him Best Actor at Cannes, a Golden Globe Award, and ultimately an Academy Award—the first such accolades for any Welsh actor.
Naunton Wayne, was a Welsh character actor, born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Clifton College. His name was changed by deed poll in 1933.
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.
General Electric Theater was an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
Duncan William Ferguson Lamont was a British actor. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, and brought up in Scotland, he had a long and successful career in film and television, appearing in a variety of high-profile productions.
Jacques Tourneur was a French-American filmmaker, active during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known as an auteur of stylish and atmospheric genre films, many of them for RKO Pictures, including the horror films Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, and The Leopard Man, and the classic film noir Out of the Past. He is also known for directing Night of the Demon, which was released by Columbia Pictures.
Philip MacDonald was a British-born writer of fiction and screenplays, best known for thrillers.
Rhubarb is a 1951 film adapted from the 1946 novel Rhubarb by humorist H. Allen Smith. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the screwball noir comedy stars the cat Orangey along with Jan Sterling and Ray Milland. Cinematography was by Lionel Lindon. The supporting cast features William Frawley and Gene Lockhart.
Greta Gynt was a Norwegian dancer and actress. She is remembered for her starring roles in the British classic films The Dark Eyes of London, Mr. Emmanuel, Take My Life, Dear Murderer and The Ringer.
Screen Directors Playhouse is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, with original directors of the films sometimes involved in the productions, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations and taking a brief "curtain call" with the cast and host at the end of the program. During the 1955–56 season, the series was seen on television, focusing on original teleplays and several adaptations of famous short stories.
Kitty is a 1945 film, a costume drama set in London during the 1780s, directed by Mitchell Leisen, based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall, with a screenplay by Karl Tunberg. It stars Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Constance Collier, Patric Knowles, Reginald Owen, and Cecil Kellaway as the English painter Thomas Gainsborough. In a broad interpretation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the film tells the rags-to-riches story of a beautiful young cockney guttersnipe who is given a complete makeover by an impoverished aristocrat (Milland) and his aunt (Collier) in hopes of arranging her marriage to a peer, thereby repairing their fortunes and their social status.
Patricia Roc was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) and The Wicked Lady (1945), though she only made one film in Hollywood, Canyon Passage (1946). She also appeared in Millions Like Us (1943), Jassy (1945), The Brothers (1947) and When the Bough Breaks (1947).
Orders Is Orders is a 1933 British comedy film starring Charlotte Greenwood, James Gleason and Cyril Maude about an American film crew who move into a British army barracks to start making a film, much to the commander's horror. Much of the film concerns the interaction between the American crew and the British officers. It is based upon the 1932 play Orders Are Orders by Ian Hay and Anthony Armstrong. It was shot at the Lime Grove Studios in London with sets designed by the art director Alfred Junge.
Botany Bay is a 1953 American adventure film directed by John Farrow and starring Alan Ladd, James Mason and Patricia Medina. It was based on a novel of the same name by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.
The National Government of 1931–1935 was formed by Ramsay MacDonald following his reappointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V after the general election in October 1931.
Highly Dangerous is a 1950 British spy film starring Margaret Lockwood and Dane Clark. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker, based on a screenplay and novel The Dark Frontier written by Eric Ambler.
Untamed is a 1940 American Technicolor adventure film directed by George Archainbaud and starring Ray Milland, Patricia Morison and Akim Tamiroff. It is based on the 1926 Sinclair Lewis novel Mantrap.
Menace is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Ralph Murphy and starring Gertrude Michael, Paul Cavanagh and Henrietta Crosman. The emerging star Ray Milland billed fifth. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1933 novel Menace by British writer Philip MacDonald. Mitchell Leisen was originally intended to direct the film before being replaced by Murphy. A review in the New York Times considered "it ranks several notches higher than the average murder film".
Giulio Panicali was an Italian actor and voice actor.
