Ronald Howard was an English actor and writer. He appeared as Sherlock Holmes in a weekly television series of the same name in 1954. He was the son of the actor Leslie Howard.
Francis Brett Young was an English novelist, poet, playwright, composer, doctor and soldier.
Blithe Spirit is a comic play by Noël Coward, described by the author as "an improbable farce in three acts". The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant Madame Arcati to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his wilful and temperamental first wife, Elvira, after the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost.
Sir Michael Elias Balcon was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in West London from 1938 to 1955. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film studios of the day. In an industry short of Hollywood-style moguls, Balcon emerged as a key figure, and an obdurately British one too, in his benevolent, somewhat headmasterly approach to the running of a creative organization. He is known for his leadership, and his guidance of young Alfred Hitchcock.
Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison,, known professionally as Dulcie Gray, was a British actress, mystery writer and lepidopterist.
John Michael Terence Wellesley Denison was an English actor. He often appeared with his wife, Dulcie Gray, with whom he featured in several films and more than 100 West End theatre productions.
The Glass Mountain is a 1949 black and white British romantic film drama directed by Henry Cass. It starred Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray and Valentina Cortese. The film was a popular success of its day, and was re-released in the UK in 1950 and 1953. It features acclaimed classical vocalists Elena Rizzieri as herself and Tito Gobbi as himself, with the orchestra and chorus of the Venice Opera House. The theme music by Nino Rota is memorable, and was also a contemporary hit. It was mainly filmed on location in the Dolomites and at Venice's La Fenice Opera House. Co-producer Joseph Janni also co-produced another film shot in Italy, the comedy Honeymoon Deferred, in 1951.
Angels One Five is a 1952 British war film directed by George More O'Ferrall and starring Jack Hawkins, Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, John Gregson, Cyril Raymond and Veronica Hurst. Based on the book What Are Your Angels Now? by Pelham Groom, the plot centres on a young fighter pilot immediately before and during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Some scenes in the film were shot at RAF Uxbridge, where there was a wartime operations room.
A Place of One's Own is a 1945 British film directed by Bernard Knowles. An atmospheric ghost story based on the 1940 novel of the same title by Osbert Sitwell, it stars James Mason, Barbara Mullen, Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price and Dulcie Gray. Mason and Mullen are artificially aged to play the old couple. It was one of the cycle of Gainsborough Melodramas.
Rain On The Just is a play by Peter Watling which premiered in 1948 at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne. The cast included Marie Ney, Eileen Peel, Michael Denison, Geoffrey Keen, Dulcie Gray and Edgar Norfolk. Later that year the show moved to the Bristol Old Vic with much of the same cast. Actress Rachel Gurney replaced Gray in the role of the fiancé. The play had its London premiere in August 1948 at the Aldwych Theatre with Dulcie Gray returning to the cast. The play was also broadcast on radio on the BBC's Sunday Night Theatre and in Australia on Radio National in 1951.
Undercover is a 1943 British war film produced by Ealing Studios, originally titled Chetnik. It was filmed in Wales and released on 27 July 1943. Its subject is a guerrilla movement in German-occupied Yugoslavia, loosely based on Draza Mihailovich's Chetnik resistance movement.
The Franchise Affair is a 1951 British mystery thriller film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, Anthony Nicholls and Marjorie Fielding. It is a faithful adaptation of the novel The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. It was shot at Elstree Studios with location shooting taking place around Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire which stood in for the fictional town of Melford. The film's sets were designed by the art director Terence Verity.
Samuel George Herbert Mason was a British film director, producer, stage actor, army officer, presenter of some revues, stage manager, stage director, choreographer, production manager and playwright. He was a recipient of the Military Cross the prestigious award for "gallantry during active operations against the enemy." He received the gallantry award for his part in the Battle of Guillemont where British troops defeated the Germans to take the German stronghold of Guillemont.
City of Play is a 1929 British part-talkie sound drama film directed by Denison Clift and starring Chili Bouchier, Patrick Aherne and Lawson Butt. It was made by Gainsborough Pictures and produced by Michael Balcon. The film featured a few sequences with dialogue and singing while the remaining film used English intertitles along with a musical score and sound effects.
Banana Ridge is a 1942 British comedy film directed by Walter C. Mycroft and starring Robertson Hare, Alfred Drayton and Isabel Jeans. The film is based on a 1938 stage play of the same name by Ben Travers. It was made at Welwyn Studios. Michael Denison accompanied his wife Dulcie Gray for her screen test for the film, which led some years later to his casting in his breakthrough role in My Brother Jonathan. The film was a success at the box office. Hare and Drayton appeared together in another comedy Women Aren't Angels the following year.
Village Wooing is a 1962 Australian television play directed by William Sterling and starring Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray who were touring Australia at the time. It was based on the play by George Bernard Shaw.
There Was a Young Lady is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray and Sydney Tafler. It was made at Walton Studios and on location in London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Frederick Pusey. Huntington had been a prominent director in the 1940s but after this film he dropped into making second features. The film marked the screen debut of Geraldine McEwan as dim-witted secretary Irene.
My Brother Jonathan is a British television drama series which first aired on BBC 2 in five episodes between 12 August and 9 September 1985. It is based on the 1928 novel of the same name by Francis Brett Young, which had previously been made into a 1948 film My Brother Jonathan. Jonathan Dakers is an idealistic young doctor in a coal-mining area of Northern England around the time of the First World War.
My Brother Jonathan is a 1928 novel by the British writer Francis Brett Young. It portrays the life of an idealistic young doctor working in the Black Country before the First World War, forced to deal with the consequences of his irresponsible brother Harold.
Queen Elizabeth Slept Here is a comedy play by the British writer Talbot Rothwell. It was inspired by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's 1940 Broadway play George Washington Slept Here, with the setting switched to England and many alterations to the plot and characters. The story takes place at an Elizabeth era cottage in Buckinghamshire.
