James David Graham Niven was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. He received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Charles Boyer was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American films during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised, in romantic dramas such as The Garden of Allah (1936), Algiers (1938), and Love Affair (1939), as well as the mystery-thriller Gaslight (1944). He received four Oscar nominations for Best Actor. He also appeared as himself on the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy.
The Sound Barrier is a 1952 British aviation drama film directed by David Lean. It is a fictional story about attempts by aircraft designers and test pilots to break the sound barrier. It was David Lean's third and final film with his wife Ann Todd, but it was his first for Alexander Korda's London Films, following the break-up of Cineguild. The Sound Barrier stars Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, John Justin and Nigel Patrick. It was known in the United States as Breaking Through the Sound Barrier and Breaking the Sound Barrier.
Annabella was a French actress who appeared in 46 films from 1927 to 1952, including some Hollywood films during the late 1930s and 1940s.
Henry Hugh Arthur FitzRoy Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, styled Marquess of Worcester until 1924, was a peer, landowner, society figure and a great authority in the fields of horse racing and fox-hunting. He held the office of Master of the Horse for over forty years (1936–1978), the longest to hold the position. He founded the Badminton Horse Trials and was deemed "the greatest fox-hunter of the twentieth century"; his long tenure as Master of the Beaufort Hunt led to his being universally nicknamed Master and his car bore the private numberplate MFH1. In 1980 he published the authoritative book Fox-Hunting.
The 39 Steps is a 1935 British spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. It is loosely based on the 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It concerns a Canadian civilian in London, Richard Hannay, who becomes caught up in preventing an organisation of spies called "The 39 Steps" from stealing British military secrets. Mistakenly accused of the murder of a counter-espionage agent, Hannay goes on the run to Scotland and becomes tangled up with an attractive woman, Pamela, while hoping to stop the spy ring and clear his name.
Death on the Nile is a 1978 British mystery film based on Agatha Christie's 1937 novel of the same name, directed by John Guillermin and adapted by Anthony Shaffer. The film features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, played by Peter Ustinov for the first time, plus an all-star supporting cast that includes Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jane Birkin, David Niven, George Kennedy, and Jack Warden. The film is a standalone sequel to the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express.
Edward Erskholme Clive was a Welsh stage actor and director who had a prolific acting career in Britain and America. He also played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood movies between 1933 and his death.
Lionel Belmore was an English character actor and director on stage for more than a quarter of a century.
Annabella of Scotland was a Scottish princess, a member of the House of Stewart, and by her two marriages Countess of Geneva and Countess of Huntly. Both of her marriages were annulled, the first without being consummated and the second on grounds of consanguinity.
John Grant Mitchell Jr. was an American actor. He appeared on Broadway from 1902 to 1939 and appeared in more than 125 films between 1930 and 1948.
Paul Weigel was a German-American actor. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1916 and 1945.
Richard Whitlock Tucker was an American actor. Tucker was born in Brooklyn, New York. Appearing in more than 260 films between 1911 and 1940, he was the first official member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and a founding member of SAG's Board of Directors. Tucker died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles from a heart attack. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in an unmarked niche in Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Faith.
Ralph du Vergier Truman was an English actor, usually cast as either a villain or an authority figure. He possessed a distinguished speaking voice. He was born in London, England.
Suez is an American romantic drama film released on October 28, 1938, by 20th Century Fox, with Darryl F. Zanuck in charge of production, directed by Allan Dwan and starring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Annabella. It is very loosely based on events surrounding the construction, between 1859 and 1869, of the Suez Canal, planned and supervised by French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. The screenplay is so highly fictionalized that, upon the film's release in France, de Lesseps' descendants sued (unsuccessfully) for libel.
Wolfgang Zilzer was a German-American stage and film actor, often under the stage name Paul Andor.
There Goes the Bride is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Jessie Matthews, Owen Nares, Carol Goodner, Basil Radford and Roland Culver. The screenplay concerns a woman who breaks off her an engagement and escapes to Paris. It is a remake of the German film Mary's Start in die Ehe, also known as Ich bleib' bei dir (1931). David Niven makes his film debut in a tiny uncredited role.
Frederick Leister, was an English actor. He began his career in musical comedy and after serving in the First World War he played character roles in modern West End plays and in classic drama. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1922 and 1961.
Wings of the Morning is a 1937 British drama film directed by Harold D. Schuster and starring Annabella, Henry Fonda, and Leslie Banks. Glenn Tryon was the original director but he was fired and replaced by Schuster. It was the first ever three-strip Technicolor movie shot in England or Europe. Jack Cardiff is credited as the camera operator.
Wilhelm von Brincken, also known as Wilhelm L. von Brincken, William Vaughn, William von Brinken, and William Vaughan, was a German diplomat and spy during World War I, who went on to become an American character actor of the silent and talkie eras.
