British Actors Archives - Page 65 of 137

Marshall Lancaster

Marshall Lancaster is a prolific British television actor who was born in Cheshire in 1974. He is best known for his performance in the series “Ashes to Ashes”. He also played the part of ‘Slug’in “Coronation Street”.

“Female First” interview in 2010:

by Helen Earnshaw | 5 July 2010

Marshall Lancaster has enjoyed an acting career that has already spanned ten years with shows such as Clocking Off and Coronation Street under his belt.

But is his role as Chris Skelton for which he is most famous as Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes have become two of the most popular shows on TV in recent years.

But Ashes to Ashes came to an end earlier this year, out on DVD now, and I caught up with Marshall to talk about his time on the show.

– Ashes to Ashes is just out on DVD so for anyone who hasn’t seen the show what can we expect?

(Laughs) Basically the show ties up the mystery of what’s going on, what has happened to Alex Drake and also what happened to Sam Tyler in the previous series Life On Mars.

– No Chris was left in disgrace at the end of season two so how do we see him develop this time around?

Well I think that the fact that it was left like that has affected his relationships with Shaz because they have sort of had to split really, it’s never really explained why but I think it’s probably something to do with Chris being a Judas in the previous series. He was very lucky that he wasn’t taken away by Jim Keats.

– And what about his relationships with Gene, Alex, Ray and Shaz how do they develop or alter?

I think it sort of carries on in pretty much the same way, it’s not really mentioned what happened in the previous series, so it pretty much picks up where they left off Chris is still eager to please and he is still the dogsbody.

– But he does have a very interesting relationship with Gene this time around?

This whole point is in this coppers purgatory you have to redeem yourself, Chris died because he was shot after being given wrong orders and he didn’t trust is own instincts.

So the whole point is that Chris has to stand up to Gene in the seventh episode and that is what he does and that helps him move on and send him off to the pub.

– Season 3 gives us the answers we have all been looking for so when were you told about the ending and was it what you were expecting?

It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. We were all sat down at the beginning of the third series and we were told about how it all fits and what it was all about, we had all been used to the idea that it’s Alex Drake that’s in this coma but to find out that you are all in the same boat was quite funny really. I wish I had known about it earlier on because I could have played a coma moment of my own.

– Did you have any theories of your own?

No, no. I didn’t think that Alex Drake would wake up and it would be your typical ending I thought that there had to be more to it than that but I didn’t expect to go quite like that.

I thought of another option that was the whole thing was just a couple of seconds and she would wake up and the whole was just in the blink of an eye, but I never expected that.

– How satisfied were you with Chris’ fate?

I was satisfied until I got to the final line of the show, Chris’ final line of the show, Shaz says to Chris and Ray ‘You two should have got married’ and Chris’ final line is ‘well it’s legal in Holland actually’ so it looks like Chris turned out to be gay in the final line of the show (laughs).

– We first met Chris back in 2006 on Life On Mars so what was it that drew you to the project in the first place?

Well it was literally work, I didn’t know what it would be and how it would turn out I had just gone for an audition like any other, I didn’t realise that it was going to be what it was five years later.

– How surprised have you been by the success of Life On Mars?

It was 50/50 really because I had worked with both John (Simm) and Phil (Glenister) before and I knew that they were both great actors and that sort of thing so to see them involved in that you knew that it was going to be a good show.

But walking onto the CID set for the first time in Manchester it was just vast, it was brilliant to see this 1970’s CID with that concrete roof and it just looked brilliant.

Also half way through that they also showed us footage of what we had been filming and we got the idea that t was going to be good.

– The original show was all tied up after two series so why they suggested the spin-off what was your initial reaction?

I think I thought ‘how are they going to do this?’ I half wondered if it would be a success, how it would take off and how people would receive it.

But they cleverly worked Keeley into it and it was good that they choose a female copper rather than trying to replace John, I don’t think you could have replaced the character of Sam Tyler.

But I did just wonder but it was nice in a way because we had already set the ground rules and we could go further with it, it’s almost tongue in cheek when we are coming down the Thames in the speedboat, it’s almost like you can have just a little bit more fun with it.

– What were the relationships like on set, you have worked with Dean Andrews and Philip Glenister for five years now?

Yeah, yeah (laughs) I did a lot of work with Dean and Phil Glenister is an amazing actor and he great to work alongside. But yeah it was good, it was good.

– And how did Keeley and Montserrat shake up that dynamic?

It was good because they brought in the female influence really and it was quite amusing to have then involved in this man’s world that had been created.

– The police force at the time was a male dominated arena and many of the characters are quite sexist so what sort of research did you do into the time and the profession?

Originally we were sent information on what things were like at the time and how things worked in CID at the time.

There was a thing in the early series about stamping a rubber stamp on Keeley’s backside because she has come into CID and that sort of thing did go on it was taken from genuine stories of the atmosphere that women had to put up with, you would be done for sexual harassment nowadays.

So we learnt a lot about how coppers worked and watched lots of footage to see how they all hung around.

– Away from the show you are rehearsing for a new theatre show of The Railway Children so can you tell me a little bit about that?

Yeah it’s going on in Waterloo Station, I have already been in the show up in York, and I’m taking on the role of Perks the porter, which is played by Bernard Cribbins in the film; he has been down to see us.

The train has been shipped down from York and that is going to be pushed into the theatre space which is quite an amazing feat, especially for the ‘oh my daddy, my daddy’ moment.

It’s just a fabulous play and all the scenes go in and out of platforms so it’s really, really clever and just a beautiful piece of theatre and I’m looking forward to being in it.

– How great is it for you to go on to move into an entirely new project?

It’s a funny thing being an actor because your head is always right involved with whatever project you happen to be in at the time. I have always done things between Life On Mars and Ashes, luckily I have always found a bit of work in between, so it fells like I could be going back to do another series, obviously I’m not. But you just concentration straight onto the next project my focus is now on sweeping platforms and whistling trains in.

– You have appeared in a couple of theatre productions in recent years including Wuthering Heights and Up n’ Under so how does your stage work compare with TV?

TV needs plenty of energy but theatre you need lots of gusto and energy because you really have to play things out a lot more than when you are on TV, I think anyway (laughs) It compares in the fact that you have got to make more of the voice and you have got to be more physical but on the whole action is acting and you prepare and that sort of thing.

– Back to Ashes to Ashes how sad are you to see it end? But was it the right time to bring the show to a close?

I do think it was the right time because these shows can run and run and I think that there is only so much the public will probably accept, in the end I think that you would just get frustrated and want to know what is going on so I think if it had tried to go on or move to another era it would just have been too much.

– What the main memories that you will take away from working on the show, Montserrat Lombard said it was your dancing?

(laughs) yeah I think I probably scared her for life with that. I think it was those sorts of things like the speedboat moment are all really fond memories. But it was just having a laugh and working with some great people.

– Finally what’s next for you?

I have got one or two things in the pipeline, I’m not 100% sure, there is talk of me returning to Coronation Street, I have spoke to the producer about going back and it’s whether they get in touch again.

I would quite like to do that and I have one or two other things up my sleeve but for the next couple of months I have got to concentrate on being Mr Perks.

Ashes to Ashes Season 3 is out on DVD now.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

Marshall Lancaster has enjoyed an acting career that has already spanned ten years with shows such as Clocking Off and Coronation Street under his belt.

online here.

Simon Gregson was born in 1974 in Manchester. He is best known for his playing of the role of ‘Steve McDonald’ in “Coronation Street” wehich he has been playing since 1989.

Cary Elwes was born in London in 1962. He made his film debut in 1984 with Rupert Everett and Colin Firth in “Another Country”. He went on to star in “The Princess Bride”, “Hot Shots”, “Twister” and “Robin Hood; Men in Tights”.

TCM overview:

Revered for his charming lead performance in Rob Reiner’s classic fairy tale, “The Princess Bride” (1987), British actor Cary Elwes went on to find success largely in supporting roles in a variety of genres. He showed a career-long interest in period films, donning medieval tights again in the satirical “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993), which solidified his believability as a genuine swashbuckler throwback, a la Errol Flynn. In his higher profile Hollywood work, the actor appeared as Tom Cruise’s rival in “Days of the Thunder” (1991) before sending up the action film genre in “Hot Shots” (1991). He supported Jim Carrey in the comedy “Liar Liar” (1997), chased storms in “Twister” (1996), and while he was initially typecast for his dashing, patrician air, Elwes’ later career was marked by darker roles in genre material like “The X-Files” (Fox, 1993-2002), “Saw” (2004) and “The Riverman” (A&E, 2004), the latter of which saw him portraying infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. The actor’s charm and humor was still on display, however, with animated voice work on the CGI adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” (2009) and a recurring role as the roguish Pierre Despereaux on the TV dramedy “Psych” (USA Network, 2006- ). By turns dashing, sinister or downright silly, Elwes maintained a well-earned reputation as one of the most dependable and versatile actors of his generation.

The youngest son of painter Dominic Elwes and interior designer Tessa Kennedy, Elwes was born Ivan Simon Cary Elwes on Oct. 26, 1962. Following his parents’ divorce, the child of privilege split his time between London, where his mother lived, and his father’s home in Spain. His stage debut at age six in “Robin Hood” foretold his film breakout decades later, but prior to that, a teenaged Elwes moved to New York City where he studied acting at Sarah Lawrence College, the Lee Strasberg Institute, and The Actors’ Studio. His first few film appearances were in British productions like “Another Country” (1984), about elite students at a British public boarding school in the 1930s, and the period drama “Lady Jane” (1986), where he garnered attention for his romantic turn as a highborn adolescent opposite Helena Bonham Carter. Among those who saw the newcomer’s potential as a modern-day Errol Flynn was filmmaker Rob Reiner, who courted Elwes to star as a farm boy-turned-swashbuckling hero in his hilarious fairy tale “The Princess Bride” (1987). A moderate box office success at the time, film’s popularity grew with the advent of home video and cable television, and by the end of the 20th century it was revered as a true comedy classic.

Elwes continued to display a penchant for historic productions with his supporting role as the second-in-command to Union officer Matthew Broderick in the Civil War epic, “Glory” (1989), directed by Edward Zwick. He remained in the public eye as Tom Cruise’s arrogant rival in the car racing hit “Days of Thunder” (1991) and parodied the Cruise hit “Top Gun” (1986) in Jim Abrahams’ “Hot Shots!” starring Charlie Sheen. Although Elwes’ portrayal of Lord Holmwood got lost behind the grand visuals of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992), he managed to rebound with a dead-on parody of Errol Flynn – by way of Kevin Costner – as a slightly dim denizen of Sherwood Forest in Mel Brooks’ zany spoof, “Robin Hood: Men In Tights” (1993). Fast-forwarding to modern American suburbia, Elwes was cast as a journalist who finds himself the object of affection of his landlord’s sociopathic teen daughter (Alicia Silverstone) in “The Crush” (1993), which was popular with the MTV crowd, thanks to the debut of its young music video starlet. In a more menacing turn, Elwes had a leading role in adventure filmmaker Stephen Sommers’ adaptation of “Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book” (1994), starring as a corrupt British officer whose greed and arrogance spoil the jungle boy’s idyllic existence.

Tapped again to play the thorn in a hero’s side, Elwes was seen as the corporate-sponsored rival to Bill Paxton’s salt-of-the-earth storm-chaser in “Twister” (1996), the second most popular film of 1996 and an expertly crafted action film from Jon de Bont. Elwes gave a strong performance as a detective hot on the trail of a missing woman (Ashley Judd) in the thriller “Kiss the Girls” (1997). That same year, he also had a supporting role in the blockbuster Jim Carrey comedy “Liar Liar” (1997) and voiced the blind hero of the animated “Quest for Camelot” (1998). While Elwes’ television appearances were rare, a spate of screen projects in the late 1990s included his casting as a whistle-blower out to expose the U.S. military’s profligate spending in the satire “The Pentagon Wars” (HBO, 1998), as well as portraying Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins in Tom Hanks’ Emmy-winning HBO miniseries, “From the Earth to the Moon” (1998). Shortly thereafter, Elwes starred as a British military officer who befriends an IRA terrorist in the Showtime telefilm, “The Informant” (Showtime, 1998).

Independent filmgoers saw Elwes deliver a turn as famous British thesp John Houseman in Tim Robbins’ period drama “Cradle Will Rock” (1999), which he followed by portraying German cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner in “Shadow of the Vampire” (2000), a fictionalized take on the filming of the 1922 German masterpiece, “Nosferatu.” Elwes’ portrayal of early entertainment figures was rounded out with his role as 1920s film mogul Thomas Ince, who died under mysterious circumstances, in “The Cat’s Meow” (2002) from Peter Bogdanovich. Elwes returned to television with a recurring role as an FBI agent on the final season of Fox’s sci-fi hit “The X-Files” (Fox, 1993-2002), and kept his offerings dark with a follow-up portrayal of serial killer Ted Bundy in the A&E film, “The Riverman” (2004).

Elwes’ biggest box office haul in years resulted from the ultra-violent horror film “Saw” (2004). That same year, he gave a lighter villainous performance in the fairy tale-like romantic comedy, “Ella Enchanted” (2004) starring Anne Hathaway. While the actor remained busy in the new century, his appearances were mostly in little-seen low budget films, with the exception of his portrayal of the pontiff in “Pope John Paul II” (CBS, 2005) and the lead alongside Eliza Dushku in the thriller “The Alphabet Killer” (2008). Elwes’ profile enjoyed a rise during the 2009 holiday season when he lent his voice to “A Christmas Carol” (2009), Robert Zemeckis’ big-budget retelling of the classic tale starring Elwes’ former co-star, Jim Carrey. The seemingly indefatigable Elwes also appeared for the first of several times as the elusive, charismatic art thief Pierre Despereaux in a 2009 episode of the comedic mystery series “Psych” (USA, 2006- ). After settling a legal dispute with the film franchise’s producers over profits owed him from the first movie, Elwes returned as Dr. Lawrence Gordon in “Saw 3-D: The Final Chapter” (2010). Although his character had survived the first film, Dr. Gordon’s fate remained a lingering mystery throughout the series until “Saw 3-D” revealed the grim secret life he had been living during the intervening years.

Elwes went on to portray more doctors, albeit in much lighter fare, with supporting turns in the romantic comedies “No Strings Attached” (2011) and “New Year’s Eve” (2011). Following guest spots in 2012 episodes of the cable series “Leverage” (TNT, 2008- ) and “Perception” (TNT, 2012- ), Elwes was seen in the critically-assailed children’s fantasy “The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure” (2012), a film that set a box office record as the lowest grossing wide-release movie of all time. Fortunately, Elwes was able to relive happier cinematic memories when he and his former castmates reunited for a 25th Anniversary screening of “The Princess Bride” in October of that year. Following the event, the actor spent time on the talk show circuit discussing the continued appreciation of a production that, while only a middling success at the time of its release, had grown to become one of the most beloved family films of its era and certainly remained the role by which he would always be measured.

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

IMDB entry:

Diana Dors Tribute by David Shipman

Diana Dors was living demonstration that the British cannot make sex queens. In her heyday, sex on the British screen was mostly a matter of plastic macs and low necklines, but as real eroticism had little to do with either tarts or the amount of flesh exposed it can be said with certainty that she did not have much. She herself agreed, but she listened sufficiently to her advisors to let the ‘blonde bombshell’ tag get in the way of a real ability as a character actress. When she was young, she was very funny. She did a neat parody of the man-mad teenager, the nubile cousin who ogles the best man at the wedding breakfast, the office junior ready for a bit of slap and tickle behind the filing cupboard. She was the best thing about most of her early films.” – David Shipman – “The Great Movie Stars – The International Years” (1972)

Diana Dors was promoted as Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe. She did not have Monroe’s vulnerability but had instead a cheeky cheerfulness which was very appealing. Born in Swindon in 1932 she made her film debut in “The Shop at Sly Corner” in 1948. Her best movie was “Yield to the Night” in 1955 and she was Hollywood bound after that. Her films in Hollywood were not successful although she made a good thriller “The Unholy Wife” with Rod Steiger and Tom Tryon. By 1958 she was back in the U.K. and pursued her career on home territory thereafter. She matured into a terrific character actress and gave a wonderful performance in Joseph Losey’s “Steaming” in 1983 with Sarah Miles and Vanessa Redgrave. Sadly she died the following year aged only 52.

Diana Dors was born Diana Mary Fluck on October 23, 1931 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. She and her mother both nearly died from the traumatic birth. Because of the trauma, her mother lavished on Diana anything and everything she wanted–clothes, toys and dance lessons were the order of the day. Diana’s love of films began when her mother took her to the local movies theaters. The actresses on the screen caught Diana’s attention and she said, herself, that from the age of three she wanted to be an actress. She was educated in the finest private schools, much to the chagrin of her father (apparently he thought private education was a waste of money). Physically, Diana grew up fast. At age 12, she looked and acted much older than what she was. Much of this was due to the actresses she studied on the silver screen and Diana trying to emulate them. She wanted nothing more than to go to the United States and Hollywood to have a chance to make her place in film history. After placing well in a local beauty contest, Diana was offered a role in a thespian group (she was 13).

On The Double, poster, US poster art, bottom left: Danny Kaye, top center: Diana Dors, bottom center: Dana Wynter, right: Dana Wynter, Danny Kaye, 1961. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

The following year, Diana enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) to hone her acting skills. She was the youngest in her class. Her first fling at the camera was in Code of Scotland Yard (1947). She did not care that it was a small, uncredited role; she was on film and at age 16, that’s all that mattered. That was quickly followed by Dancing with Crime (1947), which consisted of nothing more than a walk-on role. Up until this time, Diana had pretended to be 17 years old (if producers had known her true age, they probably would not have let her test for the role). However, since she looked and acted older, this was no problem. Diana’s future dawned bright in 1948, and she appeared in no less than six films. Some were uncredited, but some had some meat to the roles. The best of the lot was the role of Charlotte in the classic Oliver Twist(1948). Throughout the 1950s, she appeared in more films and became more popular in Britain. Diana was a pleasant version of Marilyn Monroe, who had taken the United States by storm. Britain now had its own version.

Diana continued to play sexy sirens and kept seats in British theaters filled. She really came into her own as an actress. She was more than a woman who exuded her sexy side, she was a very fine actress as her films showed. As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, she began to play more mature roles with an effectiveness that was hard to match. Films such as Craze (1974), Every Afternoon (1974), The Amorous Milkman (1975) and Three for All (1975) helped fill out her resume. After filming Steaming (1985), Diana was diagnosed with cancer, which was too much for her to overcome. The British were saddened when word came of her death at age 52 on May 4, 1984 in Windsor, Berkshire, England.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson (qv’s & corrections by A. Nonymous)

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

“Guardian” obituary from 1984:

Diana Dors, the actress who described herself as “the only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva”, died in hospital in Windsor last night.

Miss Dors, 52, was admitted to hospital on Saturday after collapsing at home with severe stomach pains. She underwent surgery for an intestinal blockage, but her condition deteriorated yesterday. Her husband, Alan Lake, announced her death.

She had twice beaten cancer over the past two years, undergoing surgery for the removal of tumours in 1982 and last year. She had also survived a near fatal attack of meningitis.

Diana Dors, the daughter of a railway clerk, became Britain’s best paid actress by the age of 25. She married three times and had a glamorous career, but confessed that she never believed she was good-looking and longed for a quiet life.

Obituary

The young Diana Dors was very much a characteristic icon of the post-war austerity years. She managed to evince at once a pseudo-American allure and a reassuringly homegrown air of down-to-earth matiness.

Trained at stage school, she made her first film in 1946, when she was only 15. Blonde, ambiguously baby-faced, and (as the saying went) busty, she revealed a natural affinity with the screen. For the next several years, when the Rank Organisation was seeking to foster a Hollywood-style star system, she was kept busy not merely as a minor presence in an assortment of frequently indifferent films, but as an off-screen personality, thrust into the public eye, and into the tabloid press, at every opportunity.

By the early 1950s, she was being touted as Britain’s Marilyn Monroe and had progressed to starring roles. Although these were often only pneumatic stereotypes, occasional films revealed her as an actress of real potential, particularly Yield to the Night, in which she played a condemned murderess in a story modelled on the Ruth Ellis case.

Before long, Hollywood beckoned, but once there she appeared only in a handful of pictures. Matrimonial and financial problems mounted and by the 1960s her career had taken a downward turn.

But she rallied in adversity, unabashedly trading on her name by touring the British club circuit, and gradually re-establishing herself in the cinema as a player of character roles.

During the 1970s her private life remained periodically fraught and her health deteriorated. But she carried on gamely, appearing in occasional films and also on TV.

The above “Guardian” obituary can also be accessed online here.

English movie actress Diana Dors on the cover of “Picturegoer” magazine, the National Film and Entertainment Weekly, published in London, circa December 1955. (Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Ian Sears is a British actor who acted in films in the UK in the 1980’s and early 90’s. His movies included “King David”. He does not seem to have acted on film since 1993. In the mid 1980’s I saw him on stage in “Torch Song Trilogy” in London.

Joanne Froggatt is currently riding high with her performance in the classic TV series “Downton Abbey” in which she plays maid ‘Anna Smith’. Previously she was featured as the teenage ‘Zoe’ in “Coronation Street”.

TCM overview:

British actress Joanne Froggatt leapt from relative obscurity to worldwide fame in 2010 as the loyal maid Anna Smith in the popular U.K. drama series “Downton Abbey” (ITV/PBS, 2010- ). The role was the culmination of a series of critically regarded turns on British television that saw Froggatt tackle some exceptionally complex female characters, from a teenaged mother on “Coronation Street” (ITV, 1960- ) to child killer Myra Hindley in “See No Evil: The Moors Murders” (ITV, 2006). After proving her ability to carry a motion picture with the intense drama “In Our Name” (2010), Froggatt began her tenure on “Downton Abbey” as Anna Smith, whose romance with the ill-fated Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle) was among the show’s emotional high points. Froggatt received widespread praise for her performance, which served as the official beginning of her transition from featured player to breakout star.

The daughter of sheep farmers, Froggatt was born Aug. 21, 1980 in the North Yorkshire village of Littlebeck, England. She developed an interest in performing at a very early age, requesting ballet lessons at two years old. After making her acting debut with a theater troupe in Scarborough, Froggatt convinced her parents to send her to the Redroofs Theatre School when she was 12 years old. Three years later, she postponed her desire to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts to make her television debut in “The Bill” (ITV, 1984-2010), and then segued into a recurring role as a teenaged mother on “Coronation Street.” Froggatt worked steadily on television throughout the late 1990s, eventually gaining considerable acclaim as a teenaged girl who witnessed the murder of her boyfriend in “Danielle Cable: Eyewitness” (ITV, 2003), which earned her a Best Actress nomination from the Royal Television Society.

In 2006, Froggatt played convicted killer Myra Hindley in “See No Evil: The Moors Murders,” a docudrama about a monstrous murder spree conducted by two English teens during the early 1960s. She followed with an equally controversial role in “Joanna Lees: Murder in the Outback” (Channel Ten/ITV, 2007), playing a woman implicated in the murder of her boyfriend (Laurence Bruels) during a trip to the Australian outback. That same year, she returned to the stage in a production of All About My Mother at the Old Vic Theatre, which she followed up with more work on television before making her feature film debut in “In Our Name” (2010). A moving drama about a female soldier (Froggatt) who struggled with paranoia after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, the film earned Froggatt a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

That same year, Froggatt began her supporting role as Anna Smith, head housemaid at “Downton Abbey,” which brought her to the attention of a worldwide audience. A well-liked member of the servant staff, Anna served as a confidant for Lady Mary Crawley after her ill-fated one-night stand with Kernal Pamuk. She later became romantically entangled with valet John Bates, but their romance was interrupted by his conviction for the murder of his wife, for which he received the death penalty. For her performance, Froggatt received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2012.

By Paul Gaita

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

David Bradley was born in 1942 in York. He is best known for his performance in the Harry Potter series as ‘Argus Filch’. He also starred in“Our Friends in the North”.

IMDB entry:

David Bradley was born on April 17, 1942 in Yorkshire, England. He is an actor, known forHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone(2001) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1991 (1990 season) for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “King Lear” at the Royal National Theatre. Became an actor in 1971. At the Duke of York Theatre, London, performing in Harold Pinter‘s “No Man’s Land”, withMichael Gambon and David Walliams. [December 2008] When he asked if I would interested, I almost bit his hand off! Mark [Mark Gatiss] has written such a wonderful script not only about the birth of a cultural phenomenon, but a moment in television’s history. William Hartnell was one of the finest character actors of our time and as a fan I want to make sure that I do him justice. I’m so looking forward to getting started.

Martin Stephens

Martin Stephens was a very popular child actor in the UK in the late 1950’s until the mid 1960’s. He was born in 1949 in Southgate, London. He made his movie debut as the son of Sean Connery and Glynis Johns in “Another Time, Another Place” and was very powerful in “The Village of the Damned” and “The Innocents”. His final movies were “The Battle of the Villa Fiorita” as the son of Richard Todd and Maureen O’Hara and in 1966, “The Witches” with Joan Fontaine. He went on to university to qualify as an architect.

Film Society of Lincoln Center interview:

I went to Hollywood, I went to India, I went to all these sorts of places. For a young child to do that in the platinum age of film was extraordinary,” Martin Stephens, child star of Village of the Damned told the filmlinc blog. Stephens also admitted the challenges of being thrust into the limelight at such a young age.

“To some extent you’ve got to acknowledge there’s some degree of exploitation of children,” he said. “Twelve-hour days were standard for me.” Excerpts of his interview with Film Comment’s Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa appear below.

BS-F: How were able to create such complete characters at such a young age?

MS: I can’t say that I was a natural actor but what I would say is that I was very directable. If you look at my fifteen, sixteen, eighteen films, whatever it was, you will see that when it was a good director I tended to be reasonably good and when it was a weak or poor director I was relatively mediocre. I would absorb what was going on. Also, to be honest, I didn’t have much of an ego in terms of what I was doing. To me it was just a job. And I have to thank my family for that, in that we never were, my sisters included, treated as special. You know it was just a job of work, and remember we’re going back fifty years or so with some of this, the whole milieu at that time, the whole celebrity culture, particularly with children, was pretty much non-existent.

BS-F: Although you gained a certain amount of celebrity.

MS: Certainly I did, but nothing like . . . I mean look at Home Alone and that sort of stuff. The kid makes a couple of movies and he’s earning millions and known around the globe. Whereas I was hammering away at it for twelve or fourteen years and never got anything like that level of exposure—or that sort of money. It was a very different time that we were working in. There wasn’t the sort of global communication that there is now. The speed that people can be made famous, and unmade, it just wasn’t there at that time.

BS-F: But people still relate to your iconic roles?

MS: Most people don’t know who I am (laughs). I think my wife does. And to be honest, I’ve never really felt the motive—since I’ve left the profession, I left it. It’s a little bit like a Native American walking backwards, you know, brushing the ground that he’s just trodden upon. Just leaving no trace. I’ll give you an example. I played Oliver in the musical in London when I was twelve. I did that for about seven months and my mom used to come a collect me. Every day she would come up and sometimes she would be a few minutes early so she would go into the wings and see the final curtain calls before she would whisk me off to go to bed. One day the stage manager actually turned to her and said—as I was taking the bows and there was uproarious applause going on, and curtain call after curtain call—the stage manager actually turned to her and said “do you know that Martin couldn’t care less?” It was just doing a job. I was enjoying it, but it didn’t really matter to me too much, I didn’t invest my ego into it.

Collection of Classic Brittish Actors

Marshall Lancaster

Simon Gregson

Cary Elwes

Diana Dors

Diana Dors Tribute by David Shipman

Ian Sears

Joanne Froggatt

Billy Fury

David Bradley

Martin Stephens

Martin Stephens

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