1.
Richard Johnson (actor)
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Richard Keith Johnson was a British actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and also had TV roles and a distinguished stage career. Johnson was born in Upminster, Essex, the son of Frances Louisa Olive, Johnson went to Felsted School, then trained at RADA and made his first professional appearances on stage in Manchester with John Gielguds company in a production of Hamlet in 1944. He served in the Royal Navy from 1945 to 1948, and made his debut in 1959. He was subsequently contracted by MGM to appear in one film per year over six years and his biggest successes as a film actor came with The Haunting also featuring Claire Bloom and Julie Harris, Khartoum with Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier, and the spy film Danger Route. Johnson was director Terence Youngs preferred choice for the role of James Bond in the first film in the series, a few years later, Bulldog Drummond was reimagined as a 007-type hero in Deadlier Than the Male and its sequel Some Girls Do. He also appeared in several Italian films, including Lucio Fulcis cult classic, Zombi 2, at the same time, he was a stage actor, appearing in the title role in Tony Richardsons production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre in 1958. His stage career was extensive and distinguished and his early work in the London theatre attracted the attention of the director of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. He appeared in many important productions at that theatre in the late 1950s and early 1960s, making notable successes as Romeo, Orlando in As You Like It, Pericles and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar. In 1958 he appeared in Peter Halls first production at the theatre, Cymbeline, and he continued to act with the RSC from time to time, including as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, which he played on two occasions. He played the role in ITVs production in 1974 and he continued to appear on film and television in the first decade of the 21st century. His films during this period included Lara Croft, Tomb Raider and he also appeared in several TV films, in 2005 he appeared as Stanley Baldwin in Wallis & Edward, in 2007 as Earl Mountbatten in Whatever Love Means, and in 2009 in Lewis. He contributed to British episodic TV, including Spooks, Waking the Dead, twice in Midsomer Murders, from 2007, he led the cast of the BBCs radio comedy series Bleak Expectations which ran until 2012. Throughout his career Johnson continued to teach young actors and students and he toured American universities and taught summer schools at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He was appointed to the Council of RADA in 2000, and served as a Council Member of the British Academy of Film, Johnson wrote the original story for the 1975 thriller, Hennessy. Johnson founded the British production company United British Artists in 1981, and served as the companys CEO until 1990, during his tenure at UBA he produced the films Turtle Diary, and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne. In London, he produced Pinters Old Times, a revival of Serjeant Musgraves Dance, and for theatre and television, Johnson wrote travel articles regularly for the London mass-circulation newspaper The Mail on Sunday. He kept a blog and teaching website called The Shakespeare Masterclass, by his first marriage, to Sheila Sweet, Johnson had two children, tabletop games designer Jervis Johnson and actress Sorel Johnson. His second wife was American actress Kim Novak, with whom he appeared in the film The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders and he also had another daughter, Jennifer Johnson, by his third wife, Marie-Louise Norlund, and a fourth child, Nicholas Johnson, by Françoise Pascal
2.
Honor Blackman
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Honor Blackman is an English actress, widely known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers, Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, Julia Daggett in Shalako and Hera in Jason and the Argonauts. She is also notable for her role as Laura West in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand and her father, Frederick Blackman, was a civil service statistician. She attended North Ealing Primary School and Ealing County Grammar School for Girls, for her 15th birthday, her parents gave her acting lessons and she started training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1940. While attending the Guildhall School, Blackman worked as an assistant for the Home Office. Blackmans film debut was a part in Fame Is the Spur. Other films include Quartet, based on stories by W. She played Hera in Jason and the Argonauts, which is known for the stop-motion animation. She had roles in the films Bridget Joness Diary and Jack Brown, albert R. Broccoli said Blackman was cast opposite Sean Connery in the James Bond films based on her success in the British television series The Avengers. He knew that most American audiences would not have seen the programme, Broccoli said, The Brits would love her because they knew her as Mrs. Gale, the Yanks would like her because she was so good, it was a perfect combination. During the 1960s, Blackman practised judo at the famous Budokwai dojo and this helped her prepare for her roles as Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. At 38, she was one of the oldest actresses to play a Bond girl, in 1968 Blackman appeared opposite John Neville and Hylda Baker in the musical play Mr & Mrs, based on the plays of Noël Coward. In the late 1970s she toured Australia and New Zealand with Michael Craig and Colleen Clifford in the comedy play Move Over, Mrs Markham. In February 1979, she starred in Stephen Barrys production of Tom Stoppards Night and Day at the Perth Playhouse, in 1981, she appeared in the London revival of The Sound of Music opposite Petula Clark. The production opened to reviews and the largest advance sale in British theatre history to that time. She spent most of 1987 at the Fortune Theatre starring as the Mother Superior in the West End production of Nunsense, Blackman returned to the theatre in 2005, touring through 2006 with a production of My Fair Lady, in which she played Mrs. Higgins. She developed a show, Word of Honor, which premiered in October 2006. In April 2007, Blackman took over the role of Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre in Londons West End and she left the show at the end of September 2007. Blackman started acting on television in the role of Nicole
3.
Peter Vaughan
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Peter Vaughan was a British character actor, known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also worked extensively on the stage and he was best known for his role as Grouty in the sitcom Porridge and also had a recurring role alongside Robert Lindsay in Citizen Smith, written by John Sullivan. He also had parts as Tom Franklin in Chancer, playing the father of Anthony Hopkinss character in The Remains of the Day, and as Maester Aemon in HBOs Game of Thrones. He was born Peter Ewart Ohm on 4 April 1923, in Wem, Shropshire, the son of a clerk, Max Ohm, who was an Austrian immigrant, and Eva Wright. He was brought up from the age of seven in Staffordshire where he attended Uttoxeter Grammar School, after leaving school he joined Wolverhampton Repertory theatre and gained experience in other repertory theatres before army service in the Second World War. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals on 9 June 1943, and served in Normandy, Belgium. At the end of the war, he was in Singapore, in film, he made his debut in 1959 in an uncredited role as a police officer in The 39 Steps. He continued for years to play small parts before gaining his first starring role. In a minor picture called Smokescreen, he played an insurance investigator, in 1967, he received second billing opposite Frank Sinatra in the film The Naked Runner. However, his performance was not well received by critics who accused him of overacting in his role as a British agent and he played Mr. Freeman in Karel Reiszs 1980 The French Lieutenants Woman, alongside Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. Possibly his highest-profile film performance was as the father of Anthony Hopkinss character in The Remains of the Day and he was also cast in Terry Gilliams The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, but had not shot any material before that project was abandoned. He had previously appeared for Gilliam in Time Bandits and Brazil and he also appeared as a menacing character in Straw Dogs, and with Bill Murray in a film of W. Somerset Maughams novel The Razors Edge in 1984. In 1996, he appeared as Giles Corey in The Crucible, in 1998, he appeared as Bishop Myriel in Les Misérables alongside Liam Neeson. His most unusual role may have been as SS Obergruppenführer Arthur Nebe in the 1994 film of Robert Harriss novel Fatherland and he became known for his performances on television, including supporting roles in Porridge and Citizen Smith as Charles Johnson. Vaughans role in Porridge brought him a deal of public recognition. In 1969, he appeared in Randall and Hopkirk in the episode Never Trust a Ghost, the same year he starred in the thirteen-part LWT TV series The Gold Robbers. In December 1972, he appeared as Mr. Paxton in the BBC television adaptation of the M. R. James ghost story A Warning to the Curious, Vaughan starred as Billy Fox in the Thames Television series Fox. The saga was written by Trevor Preston, directed by Jim Godard, as other Fox family members it also starred Elizabeth Spriggs, Ray Winstone, Larry Lamb and Bernard Hill
4.
United Artists
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United Artists is an American film and television entertainment studio. The studio was bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century. On December 14 of the year, however, MGM acquired the 48% stake of UAMG it did not own. UA was incorporated as a joint venture on February 5,1919, by Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work. They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over salaries and creative decisions. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized, when he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, is said to have observed, The inmates are taking over the asylum. The four partners, with advice from McAdoo, formed their distribution company and its headquarters was established at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City. The original terms called for each of the stars to produce five pictures each year, UAs first film was a success. Without selling stock to the public, following the other studios, as a result, production was slow and the company distributed an annual average of five films during its first five years. By 1924 Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis, veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. He had been producing pictures for a decade, and he brought commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge, his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge, contracts were signed with independent producers, most notably Samuel Goldwyn, and Howard Hughes. In 1933, Schenck organized a new company with Darryl F. Zanuck, called Twentieth Century Pictures, Schenck formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name. They began international operations, first in Canada and then in Mexico, by the end of the 1930s, United Artists was represented in over 40 countries. When he was denied a share in 1935, Schenck resigned. He set up 20th Century Pictures merger with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century Fox, al Lichtman succeeded Schenck as company president. Other independent producers distributed through United Artists in the 1930s including, Walt Disney Productions, Alexander Korda, Hal Roach, David O. Selznick, as the years passed, and the dynamics of the business changed, these producing partners drifted away. Samuel Goldwyn Productions and Disney went to RKO, and Wanger to Universal Pictures, in the late 1930s, UA turned a profit
