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1-15 of 15
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Janine Drzewicki was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe to an English mother and a Polish father. She attended school in Nottingham and later moved to London to train as an actress at the E 15 theatre school. Shortly after leaving she was given a couple of small roles in television dramas but had no agent, and placed an advert in the 'Spotlight' agency catalogue with a photograph. As a result she was approached by the BBC to test for a play about incest, entitled Diane (1975). Although she was in her early 20s the part was that of a 13-year-old girl but her audition was sufficiently convincing to win her the role. The door thus opened to her for more TV and stage roles and, whilst she was appearing in 'Don Juan' at Hampstead Theatre, London, she was spotted by Mike Leigh who offered her the part of Angie in the stage production of Abigail's Party (1977), which she repeated in the television version. A familiar face in television comedy series, she has nonetheless been given very little of note in the cinema, playing typically small roles as mad women in Dracula (1979) and The Madness of King George (1994). Married to the actor Paul Bentall, she has two sons and two daughters, one being the actress Ruby Bentall, and lives in London.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lisa O'Hare was born on 12 November 1983 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for New Amsterdam (2018), Castle (2009) and The Closer (2005). She has been married to Brian Shoemaker since 26 September 2009. They have one child.- In a career than spanned eight decades, Thora Hird was widely-regarded as one of Britain's finest character actresses. She made over 100 films as well as starring in a host of TV comedies and, as a straight actress, excelled in the works of playwright Alan Bennett. Even in her 90s, she was working almost daily.
Born in Morecambe, Lancashire, the daughter of the manager of the local Royalty Theatre, she was carried on to the stage in a melodrama at the age of eight weeks. When old enough, she joined the Royalty's theatre company, although she kept a day job as a cashier in a grocery store. "I spent 10 years working in that grocery store", she recalled, "and I've played nearly all the customers I used to serve - maids, landladies, cleaners, forthright parents. When I'm acting, I'll do some little thing I've remembered, so simple". At the theatre, she appeared in over 500 plays and, in 1941, the comedian George Formby, on a visit to the theatre, recommended her to Michael Balcon at Ealing Film Studios. Put under contract, she first appeared in Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942) with Will Hay and a string of comedy films and dramas followed. In the same vein as the saucy seaside postcards of her Morecambe birth, Hird was usually cast as the all-seeing boarding house landlady, a gossiping neighbour or a sharp tongued mother-in-law.
In the 1950s, Hird was under contract to the Rank Organisation and was established as a major character actress. She worked with some of Britain's finest directors, including Herbert Wilcox, Lewis Gilbert and John Schlesinger but, by her own account, was not easily awed. "I've appeared in hundreds of films and television things and, in some cases, I literally mean 'appeared' around the door, that was all. Like anybody earning a living, I took most of the work that came along". She gave outstanding performances in Simon and Laura (1955) and The Entertainer (1960), opposite Laurence Olivier, but one of her best- remembered roles was that of the monstrous TV-addicted mother in A Kind of Loving (1962).
As her career progressed, she frequently returned to the stage, often in comedies, with comedians such as Arthur Askey and Harry Secombe, and, in 1964, she was memorably team with the comedian Freddie Frinton in the TV series, Meet the Wife (1963). She starred in a succession of hit TV comedies throughout the 70s and 80s but proof of her talent as a straight actress came in 1987, when she starred in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologue, A Creamcracker under the Settee for which she won a BAFTA award. She wrote several volumes of autobiography, including "Scene and Hird" and "Not in the Diary" and, in 1995, was the subject of a South Bank Show (ITV) monograph. One of the show's contributors, the actor Alan Bates, said of her, "Thora always had a grasp of her character immediately. She didn't have to work herself into a state to get it right. She is a naturally funny woman whose comedy is on the edge of tragedy. It's instinctive and very understanding of life itself". - Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Janette Scott was born on 14 December 1938 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for No Highway in the Sky (1951), The Day of the Triffids (1963) and Crack in the World (1965). She has been married to William John Rademaekers since 7 April 1981. She was previously married to Mel Tormé and Jackie Rae.- Emma Atkins was born on 31 March 1975 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Emmerdale Farm (1972), Emmerdale: The Dingles - For Richer for Poorer (2010) and Casualty (1986).
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Eric Morecambe was born on 14 May 1926 in Buxton Street, Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968), Night Train to Murder (1984) and The Intelligence Men (1965). He was married to Joan Morecambe. He died on 28 May 1984 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK.- Stunts
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Stuart Fell was born in 1942 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Lifeforce (1985), Aliens (1986) and Willow (1988).- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Andy Crane was born on 24 February 1964 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Redcoats (2003), What's Up Doc? (1992) and Noel's House Party (1991). He has been married to Caroline since 13 June 1992. They have three children.- Writer
- Actor
Wayne Hemingway was born on 19 January 1961 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. He is a writer and actor, known for Dead Man's Shoes (2004), The Art Show (2002) and Best Year Ever (2022). He has been married to Gerardine Hemingway since 1982. They have four children.- Anne Miles was born in November 1938 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. Anne was a producer, known for Dirty Beasts (1990), MacDonald's Farm (2000) and Enid Blyton's Enchanted Lands (1997). Anne was married to Ian Miles. Anne died on 22 April 2020 in England, UK.
- Director
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Chris Bould was born on 28 February 1953 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. Chris is a director and producer, known for The Nicholas Brothers: We Sing and We Dance (1992), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1988) and My Friend Joe (1996).- Music Department
- Director
- Visual Effects
Charlie Gillett was born on 20 February 1942 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a director, known for Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) and Sounding Out (1972). He was married to Buffy Chessum. He died on 17 March 2010 in London, England, UK.- Bertram Dench was born on 10 October 1891 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Music Hall (1934), Flood Tide (1934) and The Immortal Gentleman (1935). He was married to Stella Heaton and Ethel ?. He died on 29 July 1980 in Seaford, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Alfreda Hodgson was born on 7 June 1940 in Morecambe, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Midsummer Marriage (1984) and Mozart - His Life with Music (1985). She died on 16 April 1992 in Morecambe, England, UK.
- Owen Jones-Bradleigh was born on 6 February 1979 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Perfect Posse (1992) and The Two Brians (1997).