1.
Mel Gibson
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Mel Colmcille Gerard Gibson AO is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Peekskill, New York, and moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia and he studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art. During the 1980s, he founded Icon Entertainment, a company which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called. Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the critically acclaimed World War I drama Gallipoli, the film also helped to earn Gibson the reputation of a serious, versatile actor. He later directed and produced the successful and controversial, biblical drama film The Passion of the Christ. He received further critical notice for his work of the action-adventure film Apocalypto. Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of eleven children, and the son of Hutton Gibson, a writer. One of Gibsons younger brothers, Donal, is also an actor, because of his mother, Gibson retains dual Irish and American citizenship. Mel was twelve years old at the time, Gibson was educated by members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers at St Leos Catholic College in Wahroonga, New South Wales, during his high school years. Gibson gained very favorable notices from critics when he first entered the cinematic scene. In 1982, Vincent Canby wrote that Mr. Gibson recalls the young Steve McQueen, I cant define star quality, but whatever it is, Mr. Gibson has it. Gibson has also likened to a combination Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. Gibsons roles in the Mad Max series of films, Peter Weirs Gallipoli, later, Gibson expanded into a variety of acting projects including human dramas such as Hamlet, and comedic roles such as those in Maverick and What Women Want. He expanded beyond acting into directing and producing, with, The Man Without a Face, in 1993, Braveheart, in 1995, The Passion of the Christ, in 2004, jess Cagle of Time compared Gibson with Cary Grant, Sean Connery, and Robert Redford. Connery once suggested Gibson should play the next James Bond to Connerys M. Gibson turned down the role, Gibson studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. The students at NIDA were classically trained in the British-theater tradition rather than in preparation for screen acting. As students, Gibson and actress Judy Davis played the leads in Romeo and Juliet, and Gibson played the role of Queen Titania in an experimental production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. After graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on the filming of Mad Max, but continued to work as a stage actor, and joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide
2.
Sophie Marceau
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Sophie Marceau is a French actress, director, screenwriter, and author. As a teenager, Marceau achieved popularity with her debut films La Boum and La Boum 2 and she became a film star in Europe with a string of successful films, including LÉtudiante, Pacific Palisades, Fanfan, and Revenge of the Musketeers. Marceau became a film star with her performances in Braveheart, Firelight. Marceau was born 17 November 1966 in Paris, the child of Simone, a shop assistant, and Benoît Maupu. Her parents divorced when she was nine years old, in February 1980, Marceau and her mother came across a model agency looking for teenagers. Marceau had photos taken at the agency, but did not think anything would come of it, at the same time, Françoise Menidrey, the casting director for Claude Pinoteaus La Boum, asked modeling agencies to recommend a new teenager for the project. After viewing the rushes, Alain Poiré, the director of the Gaumont Film Company, La Boum was a hit movie, not only in France, where 4,378,500 tickets were sold, but also in several other European countries. In 1981, Marceau made her debut with French singer François Valéry on record Dream in Blue. In 1982, at age 15, Marceau bought back her contract with Gaumont for one million French francs and she borrowed most of the money. In 1988, she starred in LÉtudiante and the adventure film Chouans. That year, Marceau was named Best Romantic Actress at the International Festival of Romantic Movies for her role in Chouans, in 1989, Marceau starred in My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days, which was directed by her long-time boyfriend Andrzej Zulawski. In 1990, she starred in Pacific Palisades and La note bleue, in 1991, she ventured into the theater in Eurydice, which earned Marceau the Moliere Award for Best Female Newcomer. Throughout the 1990s, Marceau began making films, such as the comedy Fanfan in 1993 and Revenge of the Musketeers in 1994—both popular in Europe. That year, she returned to the theatre as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, Marceau achieved international recognition in 1995 playing the role of Princess Isabelle in Mel Gibsons Braveheart. That year, she was part of an ensemble of actors in the French film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders. In 1999, she played Hippolyta in A Midsummer Nights Dream, in 2008, Marceau played a member of the French Resistance movement in Female Agents, and a struggling single mother in LOL. In 2009, she teamed up with Monica Bellucci in Dont Look Back about the connection between two women who have never met. In 2010, Marceau played a business executive forced to confront her unhappy childhood in With Love
3.
Patrick McGoohan
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Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born Irish actor, writer and director who was brought up in Ireland and England. He began his career in Great Britain in the 1950s, and his career defining roles were in the British 1960s television series Danger Man, and the surreal psychological drama The Prisoner, which he co-created. McGoohan was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, the son of Rose and Thomas McGoohan and he was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Shortly after he was born, McGoohans parents moved back to Mullaghmore, County Leitrim, Ireland, McGoohan attended St Vincents School and De La Salle College in Sheffield. During World War II, he was evacuated to Loughborough, Leicestershire, there he attended Ratcliffe College, where he excelled in mathematics and boxing. When one of the actors became ill, McGoohan was substituted for him, in 1955, McGoohan starred in a West End production of a play called Serious Charge in the role of a priest accused of being homosexual. Orson Welles was so impressed by McGoohans stage presence that he cast him as Starbuck in his York theatre production of Moby Dick—Rehearsed. Welles said in 1969 that he believed McGoohan would now be, I think and he was tremendous as Starbuck. and with all the required attributes, looks, intensity, unquestionable acting ability and a twinkle in his eye. His first film appearance was a role in The Dam Busters. He delivered the line – Sorry, old boy, its secret – you cant go in, which was cut from some prints of the movie. While working as a stand-in during screen tests, McGoohan was signed to a contract with the Rank Organisation, after a few films and some clashes with the management, the contract was dissolved. Free of the contract, he did some TV work, winning a BAFTA in 1960 and his favourite part for the stage was the lead in Ibsens Brand, for which he received an award. It appeared in a BBC television production in August 1959, soon, production executive Lew Grade approached McGoohan about a TV series in which he would play a spy named John Drake. The series debuted in 1960 as Danger Man, a half-hour programme geared toward an American audience and it did fairly well, but not as well as hoped. Production lasted only one year and 39 episodes, McGoohan was one of several actors considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No. While McGoohan, a Catholic, turned down the role on moral grounds and he was later considered for the same role in Live and Let Die, but turned it down again. Before that happened, McGoohan spent some time working for Disney on The Three Lives of Thomasina, after he had also turned down the role of Simon Templar in The Saint, Lew Grade asked him if he would like to give John Drake another try. This time, McGoohan had even more say about the series, Danger Man was resurrected in 1964 as a one-hour programme
4.
James Horner
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James Roy Horner was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator of film scores. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. His first major film score was for the 1979 film The Lady in Red, but did not establish himself as a mainstream composer until he worked on the 1982 film Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. Horner composed music for over 100 films, he won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three Satellite Awards, and three Saturn Awards, and was nominated for three British Academy Film Awards. Horner was killed in a single-fatality crash of his Short Tucano turboprop aircraft at the age of 61, Horner was born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California, to Jewish immigrants. His father, Harry Horner, was born in Holíč, then a part of Austria-Hungary and he immigrated to the United States in 1935 and worked as a set designer and art director. His mother, Joan Ruth, was born into a prominent Canadian family, Horners brother Christopher is a writer and documentary filmmaker. James Horner started playing piano at the age of five and his early years were spent in London, where he attended the Royal College of Music. He returned to America, where he attended Verde Valley School in Sedona, Arizona, after he earned a masters degree, he started work on his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied with Paul Chihara, among others. After several scoring assignments with the American Film Institute in the 1970s, he finished teaching a course in theory at UCLA. Horner was also a pilot, and owned several small airplanes. Horner began his career scoring films by working for B film director, Horners first composer credit was for Cormans Battle Beyond the Stars. From there, his works gained notice in Hollywood, which enabled him to take on larger projects, One of his first major film scores was for the 1979 film The Lady in Red. Horners major breakthrough came in 1982, when he had the chance to score the music to Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, Horner continued composing music for high-profile releases during the 1980s, including 48 Hrs. Krull, Star Trek III, The Search for Spock, Commando, Cocoon, Aliens, *batteries not included, Willow, Glory and he frequently collaborated with film director Ron Howard, a partnership that began with Cocoon in 1985. Aliens earned Horner his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score in 1987, somewhere Out There, which he co-composed and co-wrote with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil for An American Tail, was also nominated that year for Best Original Song. A Dinosaurs Story, The Pagemaster, and Casper, Jumanji, and Balto, Mighty Joe Young, Horners biggest financial and critical success would come with the score to the 1997 film Titanic. The album became the best-selling primarily orchestral soundtrack in history, selling over 27 million copies worldwide, at the 70th Academy Awards, Horner won Oscars for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for My Heart Will Go On
5.
Icon Productions
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Icon Productions is an American-Australian independent production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey. Icon started when Gibson was having trouble in financing the 1990 film Hamlet, according to Davey, Mel wanted to make Hamlet and the agent he had who was helping him with it lasted about five minutes. Its pretty hard to get someone to give you money to make Hamlet. I told him if he wanted to make this happen, someone had to roll up their sleeves and find the and he asked me if I wanted to have a crack at it. Unlike most other independents, Icon internally funds most of its development and packaging costs, mainly by Gibson, felicias Journey director Atom Egoyan has praised the companys creative independence and risk-taking, Mels dream was to create an alternative to the studio system and make films free of interference. Hes been able to use his celebrity status to set up a viable company. Icon is able to take risks that studios wont broach, furthermore, it owns a library of over 250 film titles. In 2008, Icon entered the business for the first time by purchasing Dendy Cinemas, Australias largest independent film distributor. Icon Productions has also launched the label Con Artists Productions, in the UK and Australia, its DVDs are usually distributed by Warner Home Video, though some of their UK DVDs have been released by MGM Home Entertainment. Icon films are distributed in DVD, Blu-ray and HD VMD. After the financial success of The Passion of the Christ, there was frequent mention of the ability of Icon to function as a mini-studio, however, Bruce Davey has downplayed those expectations, saying, The last thing we want is to become a studio. We dont want to become top heavy. We want to be independent and passionate and we dont want to lose the magic. Gibson has explained that the name was chosen because icon means image in Greek. The logos artwork features a small crop of the left eye from the Theotokos of Vladimir icon. The main executives at Icon were Mel Gibson, Bruce Davey, Mark Gooder, Vicki Christianson, Simon Crowe David Miercourt, producer Stephen McEveety has also worked many years at Icon. In September 2008, Davey and Gibson sold the Icon international sales, neither Icon Productions nor the Dendy cinemas were part of the acquisition deal. Tills new company will continue to use the Icon name and will have a three-year first-look deal with Icon Productions to handle the rights to its productions
6.
The Ladd Company
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The Ladd Company was an American film production company founded by Alan Ladd, Jr. Jay Kanter, and Gareth Wigan in 1979, prior to the companys formation, Ladd was President of 20th Century Fox, and Kanter & Wigan also served as Fox executives. Fox subsequently cut their contracts short, ending on October 1,1979, the day after the contracts expired, the trio placed ads for the newly named Ladd Company in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. On April 18,1984, Alan Ladd, Jr. and Warner Bros. parted ways, from that point on, the Ladd Company become a non-exclusive production organization. During a brief partnership with Paramount Pictures in the mid-1990s, it produced the Best Picture Oscar winner Braveheart, ladds most recent releases are the 2005 Lasse Hallström drama, An Unfinished Life and the 2007 Ben Affleck drama Gone Baby Gone, both distributed by Miramax Films. The Ladd Company at the Internet Movie Database
7.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California, that has been a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor contracted 22 actors and actresses and these fortunate few would become the first movie stars. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company. It is the last major film studio headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company, hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success and its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies, Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor, until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation, in 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one, with only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its Paramount Pictures soon dominated the business. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, the driving force behind Paramounts rise was Zukor. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg and they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max, the Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957, Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as talkies, and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris
8.
20th Century Fox
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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio currently owned by 21st Century Fox. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios and is located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, the studio was formerly owned by News Corporation. 20th Century Fox is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2015, 20th Century Fox celebrated its 80th anniversary as a studio. Spyros Skouras, then manager of the Fox West Coast Theaters, the studios biggest star, Will Rogers, died in a plane crash weeks after the merger. Its leading female star, Janet Gaynor, was fading in popularity and promising leading men James Dunn, at first, it was expected that the new company was originally to be called Fox-20th Century, even though 20th Century was the senior partner in the merger. However, 20th Century brought more to the bargaining table besides Schenck and Zanuck, the new company, 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, began trading on May 31,1935, the hyphen was dropped in 1985. Schenck became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, while Kent remained as President, Zanuck became Vice President in Charge of Production, replacing Foxs longtime production chief Winfield Sheehan. The company established a training school. The contracts included an option for renewal for as long as seven years. For many years, 20th Century Fox claimed to have founded in 1915. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary, however, in recent years it has claimed the 1935 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915. The companys films retained the 20th Century Pictures searchlight logo on their credits as well as its opening fanfare. Also on the Fox payroll he found two players who he built up into the studios leading assets, Alice Faye and seven-year-old Shirley Temple, favoring popular biographies and musicals, Zanuck built Fox back to profitability. Thanks to record attendance during World War II, Fox overtook RKO, while Zanuck went off for eighteen months war service, junior partner William Goetz kept profits high by going for light entertainment. The studios—indeed the industrys—biggest star was creamy blonde Betty Grable, in 1942, Spyros Skouras succeeded Kent as president of the studio. Together with Zanuck, who returned in 1943, they intended to make Foxs output more serious-minded. During the next few years, with pictures like The Razors Edge, Wilson, Gentlemans Agreement, The Snake Pit, Boomerang, and Pinky, Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books such as Ben Ames Williams Leave Her to Heaven, starring Gene Tierney and they also made the 1958 film version of South Pacific
9.
Seattle International Film Festival
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The Seattle International Film Festival, held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily, the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees, the SIFF runs for more than three weeks, in May/June, and features a diverse assortment of predominantly independent and foreign films, and a strong contingent of documentaries. SIFF2006 included more than 300 films and was the first SIFF to include a venue in neighboring Bellevue, Washington, however, in 2008, the festival was back to being entirely in Seattle, and had a slight decrease in the number of feature films. The 2010 festival featured over 400 films, shown primarily in downtown Seattle and its neighborhoods, and in Renton, Kirkland. The festival began in 1976 at a then-independent cinema, the Moore Egyptian Theater, the first five festivals were held at The Moore Egyptian, now back under its earlier name the Moore Theater and functioning as a concert venue. When founders Dan Ireland and Darryl Macdonald of the Moore Egyptian lost their lease, the Egyptian theater remains a prime festival venue to this day, although the festival now typically uses about half a dozen cinemas, with the exact roster varying from year to year. During the 1980s, SIFF audiences developed a reputation for appreciating films that did not fit standard industry niches, SIFF was instrumental in the entry of Dutch films into the United States market, including the first major American debut for director Paul Verhoeven. The festival includes a component that is unique among film festivals. Those who attend the Secret Festival do not know in advance what they will see, in general, SIFF has a reputation as an audience festival rather than an industry festival. The festival often partially overlaps the Cannes Film Festival, which can reduce attendance by industry bigwigs, fifty youth from across the United States arrive in Seattle to then travel to a local Pacific Northwest reservation to create 4 films in 36 hours. The city contributed $150,000 to the $350,000 project and this auditorium was a flagship venue for SIFF festivals and the site of most press screenings. Shortly after the 2011 festival, SIFF moved its operations to the SIFF Film Center on the Seattle Center campus, the Film Center includes a 90-seat multi-use theater, multi-media classroom, exhibition spaces, archives, and offices for SIFF and the Film School. In October 2011, SIFF Cinema moved from McCaw Hall to its current location in the Uptown Theater, SIFF utilizes all three of the Uptowns three screens for year-round programming. SIFF currently has year round programming for four screens in Seattle, in May 2014 it was announced that SIFF had purchased the Uptown Theater, and would be leasing and renovating the Egyptian Theater from Seattle Central College. Since 1985, the Seattle International Film Festival has awarded the Golden Space Needle award each year to the festivals most popular movie, ballots are cast by audience members at the end of each movie
10.
Epic film
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Epic film is a style of filmmaking with large scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre, like epics in the classical literary sense it is often focused on a heroic character. An epics ambitious nature helps to set it apart from other types of such as the period piece or adventure film. The most common subjects of epic films are royalty, and important figures from various periods in world history, the term epic originally came from the poetic genre exemplified by such works as the Iliad, Epic of Gilgamesh, or the Odyssey. In classical literature, epics are considered works focused on deeds or journeys of heroes upon which the fate of a number of people depend. Similarly, films described as epic typically take a historical character, common subjects of epics are royalty, gladiators, great military leaders, or leading personalities from various periods in world history. Such films usually have a setting, although fantasy or science fiction settings have become common in recent decades. The central conflict of the film is seen as having far-reaching effects. The main characters actions are often central to the resolution of the societal conflict, in its classification of films by genre, the American Film Institute limits the genre to historical films such as Ben-Hur. However, film scholars such as Constantine Santas are willing to extend the label to science-fiction films such as 2001, A Space Odyssey and Star Wars. Stylistically, films classed as epic usually employ spectacular settings and specially designed costumes, often accompanied by a musical score. Epics are usually among the most expensive of films to produce and they often use on-location filming, authentic period costumes, and action scenes on a massive scale. Biographical films may be less lavish versions of this genre, many writers may refer to any film that is long as an epic, making the definition epic a matter of dispute, and raise questions as to whether it is a genre at all. As Roger Ebert put it, in his Great Movies article on Lawrence of Arabia, what you realize watching Lawrence of Arabia is that the word epic refers not to the cost or the elaborate production, but to the size of the ideas and vision. Werner Herzogs Aguirre, The Wrath of God didnt cost as much as the catering in Pearl Harbor, but it is an epic, the comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail had the joking tagline Makes Ben Hur look like an epic. This boom period of international co-productions is generally considered to have ended with Cleopatra, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Epic films continue to be produced, although since the development of CGI they typically use computer effects instead of an actual cast of thousands. Since the 1950s, such films have regularly been shot with an aspect ratio for a more immersive. Epic films were recognized in a montage at the 2006 Academy Awards, War epics are generally focused on specific battles in a war, P. O. W camps or the personal consequences of living in an invaded/occupied country
11.
War film
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War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war films often end with them, themes explored include combat, survival and escape, sacrifice, the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and the moral and human issues raised by war. War films are categorized by their milieu, such as the Korean War. The stories told may be fiction, historical drama, or biographical, critics have noted similarities between the Western and the war film. Subgenres, not necessarily distinct, include anti-war, comedy, animated, propaganda, the war film genre is not necessarily tightly defined, the American Film Institute, for example, speaks of films to grapple with the Great War without attempting to classify these. However, some directors and critics have offered at least tentative definitions, the director Sam Fuller defined the genre by saying that a war film’s objective, no matter how personal or emotional, is to make a viewer feel war. However, Neale notes, films set in the American Civil War or the American Indian Wars of the 19th century were called war films in the time before the First World War, the film scholar Kathryn Kane points out some similarities between the war film genre and the Western. Both genres use opposing concepts like war and peace, civilization, james Clarke notes the similarity between a Western like Sam Peckinpahs The Wild Bunch and war-movie escapades like The Dirty Dozen. They take place in the combat zones of World War II, against the established enemies, on the ground. They contain many repeated events, such as mail call, all presented visually with appropriate uniforms, equipment and she argues that the combat film is not a subgenre but the only genuine kind of war film. This in turn pushes combat scenes to the ends of war films. Not all critics agree, either, that war films must be about 20th century wars, the costliest war in U. S. history in terms of American life, this war has been the subject of, or the backdrop to, numerous films, documentaries and mini-series. One of the earliest films using the Civil War as its subject was D. W. Griffiths 1910 silent picture, The Fugitive. Some films such as Gettysburg focused on a battle during the war, or even on a single incident, like the French short film. Others like the 1993 miniseries North and South spanned the entire breadth of the war, some films deal with the human aspects of the war, such as The Red Badge of Courage, or Shenandoah, on the tragedy that the war inflicted on the civilian population. Ken Burnss The Civil War is the most watched documentary in the history of PBS, the first war films come from the Spanish–American War of 1898. Short actualities – documentary film-clips – included Burial of the Maine Victims, Blanket-Tossing of a New Recruit and these non-combat films were accompanied by reenactments of fighting, such as of Theodore Roosevelts Rough Riders in action against the Spanish, staged in the United States
12.
William Wallace
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Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297 and he was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. Since his death, Wallace has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland and he is the protagonist of Blind Harrys 15th-century epic poem The Wallace and the subject of literary works by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart. William Wallace was a member of the nobility, but little is definitely known of his family history or even his parentage. This Alan Wallace may be the same as the one listed in the 1296 Ragman Rolls as a tenant in Ayrshire. However, Williams seal has given rise to a claim of Ellerslie in Ayrshire. There is no evidence linking him with either location, although both areas had connections with the wider Wallace family. Records show early members of the family as holding estates at Riccarton, Tarbolton, and Auchincruive in Kyle and they were vassals of James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland as their lands fell within his territory. Wallaces brothers Malcolm and John are known from other sources, when Wallace was growing up, King Alexander III ruled Scotland. His reign had seen a period of peace and economic stability, on 19 March 1286, however, Alexander died after falling from his horse. The heir to the throne was Alexanders granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway, as she was still a child and in Norway, the Scottish lords set up a government of guardians. Margaret fell ill on the voyage to Scotland and died in Orkney on 26 September 1290, the lack of a clear heir led to a period known as the Great Cause, with several families laying claim to the throne. With Scotland threatening to descend into civil war, King Edward I of England was invited in by the Scottish nobility to arbitrate, before the process could begin, he insisted that all of the contenders recognise him as Lord Paramount of Scotland. In early November 1292, at a great feudal court held in the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edward proceeded to reverse the rulings of the Scottish Lords and even summoned King John Balliol to stand before the English court as a common plaintiff. John was a king, known as Toom Tabard or Empty Coat. John renounced his homage in March 1296 and by the end of the month Edward stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, in April, the Scots were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar in East Lothian and by July, Edward had forced John to abdicate. Edward then instructed his officers to receive homage from some 1,800 Scottish nobles. Some historians, such as Andrew Fisher, believe Wallace must have had some military experience in order to lead a successful military campaign in 1297
13.
First War of Scottish Independence
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De facto independence was established in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn. England attempted to establish its authority over Scotland while the Scots fought to keep English rule, when King Alexander III ruled Scotland, his reign had seen a period of peace and economic stability. On 19 March 1286, however, Alexander died after falling from his horse, the heir to the throne was Alexanders granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway. As she was still a child and in Norway, the Scottish lords set up a government of guardians, Margaret fell ill on the voyage to Scotland and died in Orkney on 26 September 1290. The lack of a clear heir led to a known as the Great Cause. With Scotland threatening to descend into civil war, King Edward I of England was invited in by the Scottish nobility to arbitrate, before the process could begin, he insisted that all of the contenders recognise him as Lord Paramount of Scotland. In early November 1292, at a great feudal court held in the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edward proceeded to reverse the rulings of the Scottish Lords and even summoned King John Balliol to stand before the English court as a common plaintiff. John was a king, known as Toom Tabard or Empty Coat. John renounced his homage in March 1296 and by the end of the month Edward stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, in April, the Scots were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar in East Lothian and by July, Edward had forced John to abdicate. Edward then instructed his officers to receive homage from some 1,800 Scottish nobles. Throughout Scotland, there was discontent and disorder after the dominion exercised by the English Crown. In 1297, the country erupted in revolt, and Andrew de Moray. Andrew de Moray was the son of a landowner, Sir Andrew de Moray of Petty. Andrew and his father were both captured in the rout after the Battle of Dunbar in April 1296, Andrew the younger was initially held captive in Chester Castle on the Anglo-Welsh border, from which he escaped during the winter of 1296-97. He returned to his fathers castle at Avoch on the shore of the Moray Firth. Moray quickly gathered a band of like-minded patriots, and employing hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, began to attack and devastate every English-garrisoned castle from Banff to Inverness. The entire province of Moray was soon in revolt against King Edward Is men, and before long Moray had secured Moray, leaving him free to turn his attention to the rest of the northeast of Scotland. Wallace rose to prominence in May 1297, when he killed Sir William Haselrig, the English sheriff of Lanark, when news of Wallaces latest attack on the English rippled throughout Scotland, men rallied to him
14.
Edward I of England
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Edward I, also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. He spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law, through an extensive legal inquiry, Edward investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties, while the law was reformed through a series of statutes regulating criminal and property law. Increasingly, however, Edwards attention was drawn towards military affairs, the first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his fathers reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he sided with a baronial reform movement. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained throughout the subsequent armed conflict. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land, the crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster on 19 August, after suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282–83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, Edward subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns in the countryside, next, his efforts were directed towards Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the kingdom. In the war followed, the Scots persevered, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. At the same there were problems at home. In the mid-1290s, extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation and these crises were initially averted, but issues remained unsettled. When the King died in 1307, he left to his son, Edward II, Edward I was a tall man for his era, hence the nickname Longshanks. He was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man, nevertheless, he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. The Edict remained in effect for the rest of the Middle Ages, Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Among his childhood friends was his cousin Henry of Almain, son of King Henrys brother Richard of Cornwall, Henry of Almain would remain a close companion of the prince, both through the civil war that followed, and later during the crusade. Edward was in the care of Hugh Giffard – father of the future Chancellor Godfrey Giffard – until Bartholomew Pecche took over at Giffards death in 1246, there were concerns about Edwards health as a child, and he fell ill in 1246,1247, and 1251
15.
Blind Harry
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This was a lengthy poem recounting the life of William Wallace, the Scottish independence leader, written around 1477,172 years after Wallaces death. Little is known about Blind Harrys life, one source is the Lord High Treasurers accounts of 1473–1492, which recorded payments to him for performances at the court of James IV. This is the last mention of Harry in the accounts and he is mentioned by William Dunbar on line 69 of his Lament for the Makeris early in the 16th century. Historian John Major also wrote about Harry in 1518 and these sources differed on whether or not he was blind from birth, but Harry almost certainly seems to have had a military background. Blind Harry claimed his work was based on a book by Father John Blair, Wallaces boyhood friend, most historians nowadays regard Acts and Deeds as a versified historical novel, written at a time of strong anti-English sentiment in Scotland. At twelve volumes, the work is also doubted to be solely his work, Elspeth King maintained that despite any inaccuracies, Harrys patriotic and nationalistic portrayal was to ensure Wallaces continuing reputation as a hero. Harrys depiction of Wallace has been criticised by Major and others as being fictionalized, are there any more dogs you would have slain. Harry is often considered inferior to Barbour as a poet, and has little of his elevation, but he surpasses him in graphic power, vividness of description. He occasionally shows the influence of Chaucer, and is said to have known Latin, Blind Harrys words were made more accessible by a translation written by William Hamilton of Gilbertfield published in 1722. In this form they met the notice of such as Robert Burns, Lord Byron, Robert Southey, John Keats, Joanna Baillie. It was also an important source for Randall Wallace in his writing of the screenplay of Braveheart, most recently, in 1998, Elspeth King published Hamiltons text amended for modern readers as Blind Harrys Wallace. Blind Harry mentions a number of battles or skirmishes fought by Wallace which are now regarded by historians as unhistorical and these battles are sometimes referenced as historical events by accounts which do not cross-check the stories in Acts and Deeds against another source. Dubious battles include the Battle of Loudoun Hill in 1296, the Battle of Biggar in 1297, in the case of the folkloric Battle of Loudoun Hill, later enthusiasts have erected a monument to Wallace at the site. Similarly, the story of a hanging of Scots nobles at Ayr is described by Blind Harry, and is repeated in a number of places, including the film Braveheart. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Cousin. Blind Harry or Henry The Minstrel, a Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons, wikisource Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain,520. Blind Harrys Wallace translated by William Hamilton, introduction by Elspeth King, the Wallace Anne McKim George Lillie Craik
16.
Epic poetry
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An epic poem, epic, epos, or epopee is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Milman Parry and Albert Lord have argued that the Homeric epics and these works form the basis of the epic genre in Western literature. Nearly all Western epic self-consciously presents itself as a continuation of the tradition begun by these poems, classical epic employs dactylic hexameter and recounts a journey, either physical or mental or both. Epics also tend to highlight cultural norms and to define or call into question cultural values, another type of epic poetry is epyllion, which is a brief narrative poem with a romantic or mythological theme. The term, which means little epic, came into use in the nineteenth century, the most famous example of classical epyllion is perhaps Catullus 64. The first epics were products of preliterate societies and oral history poetic traditions, in these traditions, poetry is transmitted to the audience and from performer to performer by purely oral means. Early twentieth-century study of living oral traditions in the Balkans by Milman Parry. What they demonstrated was that oral epics tend to be constructed in short episodes, each of equal status, interest and this facilitates memorization, as the poet is recalling each episode in turn and using the completed episodes to recreate the entire epic as he performs it. Parry and Lord also contend that the most likely source for written texts of the epics of Homer was dictation from an oral performance, poets in literate societies have sometimes copied the epic format. The earliest surviving European examples are the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes and Virgils Aeneid, other obvious examples are Nonnus Dionysiaca, Tulsidas Sri Ramacharit Manas. In his work Poetics, Aristotle defines an epic as one of the forms of poetry, contrasted with lyric poetry, an attempt to delineate ten main characteristics of an epic, Begins in medias res. The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world or the universe, Begins with an invocation to a muse. Begins with a statement of the theme, contains long lists, called an epic catalogue. Shows divine intervention on human affairs, features heroes that embody the values of the civilization. Often features the tragic heros descent into the Underworld or hell, the hero generally participates in a cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. The epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society the epic originates from, many epic heroes are recurring characters in the legends of their native culture. Conventions of epics, Preposition, Opens by stating the theme or cause of the epic and this may take the form of a purpose, of a question, or of a situation. Invocation, Writer invokes a Muse, one of the nine daughters of Zeus, the poet prays to the Muses to provide him with divine inspiration to tell the story of a great hero
17.
The Wallace (poem)
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As the title suggests, it commemorates and eulogises the life and actions of the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace who lived a century and a half earlier. The poem is historically inaccurate, and mentions several events that never happened, for several hundred years following its publication, The Wallace was the second most popular book in Scotland after the Bible. The earliest extant text is a made by John Ramsay, 1st Lord Bothwell in 1488. The first mention of Blind Harry as the author was made by John Mair in his 1521 work Historia Majoris Britanniae. It was later republished in the late 18th century by the poet William Hamilton and this version also went through over 20 editions, with the last published in 1859. The Wallace is a narrative work composed in decasyllabic rhyming couplets. It forms a biography of William Wallace from his boyhood, through his career as a Scots patriot in the First War of Independence until his execution in London in 1305. The poem has some basis in fact with descriptions of the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The factual elements of the poem are, however, combined with many fictional elements, Wallace is depicted as an ideal hero in the tradition of chivalric romance. He is described as being courageous, patriotic, devout. The English are depicted throughout as the natural and irreconcilable enemies of the Scots, in the early texts of the poem, the author of The Wallace is referred to as Hary or Blind Hary but little is known for certain about the poet. A man referred to as Blind Hary is recorded as having received payments from King James IV on five occasions between 1490 and 1492, the reasons for the payments are not specified. A Blind Hary is also mentioned by the near-contemporary poet William Dunbar in his Lament for the Makaris, in this poem Hary is included in a list of deceased poets mourned by Dunbar. The Scots scholar John Mair identified Blind Hary as the author of The Wallace in his work Historia Majoris Britanniae or The History Of Greater Britain of 1521, the Wallace appears to date to the latter half of the fifteenth century. The earliest surviving copy, the Ramsay Manuscript, is dated to 1488, Blind Hary refers to having consulted William Wallace of Craigie while composing the poem and Wallace of Craigie is known to have died in 1479. Furthermore, during the 1470s King James III was engaged in a policy of reconciliation with King Edward IV of England. The poem, with its depiction of the English, may represent a criticism of this policy as typified in its opening verse. The earliest surviving manuscript of the poem was written in 1488 by John Ramsay, the Ramsay manuscript is preserved in the National Library of Scotland under the catalogue number Adv
18.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
19.
68th Academy Awards
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During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Quincy Jones, Actress Whoopi Goldberg hosted the show for the second time, having previously presided over the 66th ceremony in 1994. Braveheart won five awards, including Best Director for Mel Gibson, the telecast garnered almost 45 million viewers in the United States. The nominees for the 68th Academy Awardswere announced on February 13,1996, PST at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater by president of the Academy, and the music producer Quincy Jones. Braveheart led all nominees with ten nominations, Apollo 13 came in second with nine, the winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 25,1996. Braveheart was the film to win Best Picture with no acting nominations. With her Best Supporting Actress win for Mighty Aphrodite, Mira Sorvino became the second actress to win the aforementioned category for a performance in a film directed by Woody Allen. Best Adapted Screenplay winner Emma Thompson was the first person to win Oscars for both acting and screenwriting and she had previously won Best Actress for her performance in the 1992 film Howards End. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger, chuck Jones Kirk Douglas John Lasseter for Toy Story The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers. As a result of the reception of David Lettermans stint as host from the preceding years ceremony, veteran film. In November 1995, AMPAS recruited music producer and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Quincy Jones as producer of the 1996 ceremony, Jones immediately selected actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg to host the ceremony. One segment that was staged during the ceremony was a fashion show showcasing the nominees for Best Costume Design. Initially, actor Jack Nicholson was approached to introduce the segment along with models Naomi Campbell, however, actor Pierce Brosnan accepted the role of presenter of the segment and award after Nicholson declined those respective duties. Several other people and elements were involved with the production of the ceremony. Jeff Margolis served as director for the program, Actress and talk show host Oprah Winfrey interviewed several nominees and other attendees during a seven-minute red carpet arrival segment shown at the beginning of the telecast. Musician and saxophonist Tom Scott served as director for the ceremony. Choreographer Jamie King supervised the performances of the Best Song nominees, Babe, the pig from the eponymous film, and Miss Piggy participated in a comedy sketch during the proceedings. Beginning with this ceremony, the AMPAS music branch divided the category of Best Original Score into two categories, Best Dramatic Score and Best Musical or Comedy Score
20.
Academy Award for Best Director
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The Academy Award for Best Director is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of a director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year, the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 89 films that have been awarded Best Picture,63 have also been awarded Best Director, since its inception, the award has been given to 69 directors or directing teams. John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four, william Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions, more than any other individual. As of the 2017 ceremony, Damien Chazelle is the most recent winner in category for his work on La La Land. Chazelle also became the youngest director in history to receive this award, two directing teams have shared the award, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men in 2007. The Coen brothers are the siblings to have won the award. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31, for the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1,1932 to December 31,1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full calendar year from January 1 to December 31. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com
21.
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
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The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work on one particular motion picture. In its first film season, 1927–28, this award was not tied to a specific film, the second year,1929, there were no nominations at all, although the Academy has a list of unofficial titles which were under consideration by the Board of Judges. In the third year,1930, films, not cinematographers, were nominated, finally, for the 1931 awards, the modern system in which individuals are nominated for a single film each was adopted in all profession-related categories. From 1939 to 1967, there were separate awards for color and for black-and-white cinematography. Since then, the only film to win is Schindlers List. Floyd Crosby won the award for Tabu in 1931, which was the last silent film to win in this category, hal Mohr won the only write-in Academy Award ever, in 1935 for A Midsummer Nights Dream. Mohr was also the first person to win for both black-and-white and color cinematography, no winners are lost, although some of the earliest nominees are lost, including The Devil Dancer, The Magic Flame, and Four Devils. The Right to Love is incomplete, and Sadie Thompson is incomplete, the first nominees shot primarily on digital video were The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, with Slumdog Millionaire the first winner. The following year Avatar was the first nominee and winner to be entirely on digital video. As of 2017 no woman has ever been nominated for Best Cinematography, winners are listed first in colored row, followed by the other nominees
22.
Kingdom of Scotland
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The Kingdom of Scotland was a state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843, which joined with the Kingdom of England to form a unified Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the third of the island of Great Britain. It suffered many invasions by the English, but under Robert I it fought a war of independence. In 1603, James VI of Scotland became King of England, in 1707, the two kingdoms were united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain under the terms of the Acts of Union. The Crown was the most important element of government, the Scottish monarchy in the Middle Ages was a largely itinerant institution, before Edinburgh developed as a capital city in the second half of the 15th century. The Scottish Crown adopted the conventional offices of western European courts, Parliament also emerged as a major legal institution, gaining an oversight of taxation and policy, but was never as central to the national life as its counterpart in England. In the 17th century, the creation of Justices of Peace, the continued existence of courts baron and the introduction of kirk sessions helped consolidate the power of local lairds. Scots law developed into a system in the Middle Ages and was reformed and codified in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under James IV the legal functions of the council were rationalised, in 1532, the College of Justice was founded, leading to the training and professionalisation of lawyers. David I is the first Scottish king known to have produced his own coinage, Early Scottish coins were virtually identical in silver content to English ones, but from about 1300 their silver content began to depreciate more rapidly than the English coins. At the union of the Crowns in 1603 the Scottish pound was fixed at only one-twelfth the value of the English pound, the Bank of Scotland issued pound notes from 1704. Scottish currency was abolished by the Act of Union, Scotland is half the size of England and Wales in area, but has roughly the same length of coastline. Geographically Scotland is divided between the Highlands and Islands and the Lowlands, the Highlands had a relatively short growing season, which was further shortened during the Little Ice Age. From Scotlands foundation to the inception of the Black Death, the population had grown to a million, following the plague and it expanded in the first half of the 16th century, reaching roughly 1.2 million by the 1690s. Significant languages in the kingdom included Gaelic, Old English, Norse and French. Christianity was introduced into Scotland from the 6th century, in the Norman period the Scottish church underwent a series of changes that led to new monastic orders and organisation. During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a Protestant Reformation that created a predominately Calvinist national kirk, there were a series of religious controversies that resulted in divisions and persecutions. The Scottish Crown developed naval forces at various points in its history, Land forces centred around the large common army, but adopted European innovations from the 16th century, and many Scots took service as mercenaries and as soldiers for the English Crown
23.
Alexander III of Scotland
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Alexander III was King of Scots from 1249 to his death. Alexander was born at Roxburgh, the son of Alexander II by his second wife Marie de Coucy. Alexander III was also the grandson of William the Lion, Alexanders father died on 8 July 1249 and he became king at the age of seven, inaugurated at Scone on 13 July 1249. The former dominated the years of Alexanders reign. At the marriage of Alexander to Margaret of England in 1251, Henry III of England seized the opportunity to demand from his son-in-law homage for the Scottish kingdom, but Alexander did not comply. In 1255 an interview between the English and Scottish kings at Kelso led to Menteith and his party losing to Durwards party. On attaining his majority at the age of 21 in 1262 and he laid a formal claim before the Norwegian king Haakon. Haakon rejected the claim, and in the following year responded with a formidable invasion, sailing around the west coast of Scotland he halted off the Isle of Arran, and negotiations commenced. Alexander artfully prolonged the talks until the autumn storms should begin, at length Haakon, weary of delay, attacked, only to encounter a terrific storm which greatly damaged his ships. The Battle of Largs proved indecisive, but even so, Haakons position was hopeless, baffled, he turned homewards, but died in Orkney on 15 December 1263. The Isles now lay at Alexanders feet, and in 1266 Haakons successor concluded the Treaty of Perth by which he ceded the Isle of Man, Norway retained only Orkney and Shetland in the area. Alexander had married Margaret, daughter of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence and she died in 1275, after they had three children. Towards the end of Alexanders reign, the death of all three of his children within a few made the question of the succession one of pressing importance. In 1284 he induced the Estates to recognize as his heir-presumptive his granddaughter Margaret, the need for a male heir led him to contract a second marriage to Yolande de Dreux on 1 November 1285. Alexander died in a fall from his horse riding in the dark to visit the queen at Kinghorn in Fife on 18 March 1286 because it was her birthday the next day. He had spent the evening at Edinburgh Castle celebrating his second marriage and he was advised by them not to make the journey to Fife because of weather conditions, but he travelled anyway. Alexander became separated from his guides and it is assumed that in the dark his horse lost its footing, the 44-year-old king was found dead on the shore the following morning with a broken neck. Some texts have said that he fell off a cliff, although there is no cliff at the site where his body was found, there is a very steep rocky embankment, which would have been fatal in the dark
24.
Edward II of England
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Edward II, also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the following the death of his older brother Alphonso. Beginning in 1300, Edward accompanied his father on campaigns to pacify Scotland, Edward succeeded to the throne in 1307, following his fathers death. In 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of the powerful King Philip IV, Edward had a close and controversial relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had joined his household in 1300. The precise nature of Edward and Gavestons relationship is uncertain, they may have been friends, Gavestons arrogance and power as Edwards favourite provoked discontent both among the barons and the French royal family, and Edward was forced to exile him. On Gavestons return, the barons pressured the King into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms called the Ordinances of 1311, the newly empowered barons banished Gaveston, to which Edward responded by revoking the reforms and recalling his favourite. Led by Edwards cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, a group of the barons seized and executed Gaveston in 1312, English forces were pushed back in Scotland, where Edward was decisively defeated by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Widespread famine followed, and criticism of the Kings reign mounted, in response, Edward led a short military campaign, capturing and executing Lancaster. Edward and the Despensers strengthened their grip on power, revoking the 1311 reforms, executing their enemies, unable to make progress in Scotland, Edward finally signed a truce with Robert. Opposition to the regime grew, and when Isabella was sent to France to negotiate a treaty in 1325, she turned against Edward. Isabella allied herself with the exiled Roger Mortimer, and invaded England with an army in 1326. Edwards regime collapsed and he fled into Wales, where he was captured in November, Edwards relationship with Gaveston inspired Christopher Marlowes 1592 play Edward II, along with other plays, films, novels and media. Many of these have focused on the sexual relationship between the two men. Debate has continued into the 21st century as to whether Edward was a lazy and incompetent king, or simply a reluctant, Edward II was the fourth son of Edward I and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile. His father was the King of England, and had also inherited Gascony in south-western France, which he held as the vassal of the King of France. His mother was from the Castilian royal family, and held the County of Ponthieu in northern France, Edward I proved to be a successful military leader, leading the suppression of the baronial revolts in the 1260s, and joining the Ninth Crusade. During the 1280s he conquered North Wales, removing the native Welsh princes from power and he was considered an extremely successful ruler by his contemporaries, largely able to control the powerful earls that formed the senior ranks of the English nobility. The historian Michael Prestwich describes Edward I as a king to inspire fear and respect, despite his successes, when Edward I died in 1307 he left a range of challenges for his son to resolve
25.
Battle of Stirling Bridge
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The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a battle of the First War of Scottish Independence. The Earl of Surrey had won a victory over the aristocracy of Scotland at the Battle of Dunbar, however, by August 1297 Moray and Wallace controlled almost all of Scotland north of the Forth, except for Dundee. Surrey marched north with an army from Berwick to relieve Dundee, the town of Stirling was the key entry point to the north of Scotland. The earl arrived at the narrow, wooden bridge over the River Forth near Stirling Castle, so he delayed crossing for several days to allow for negotiations, and to reconnoiter the area. On 10 September Warenne gave orders to cross the river the next day, at dawn the English and Welsh infantry started to cross only to be recalled due to the fact that Warenne had overslept. The Scots arrived first and encamped on Abbey Craig which dominated the soft, the English force of English, Welsh and Scots knights, bowmen and foot soldiers camped to the south of the river. Hugh Cressingham, King Edwards treasurer in Scotland, persuaded the Earl to reject this advice, the Scots waited as the English knights and infantry made their slow progress across the bridge on the morning of 11 September. It would have several hours for the entire English army to cross. Wallace and Moray waited, according to the Chronicle of Hemingburgh, when a substantial number of the troops had crossed the attack was ordered. The Scots spearmen came down from the ground in rapid advance. They gained control of the east side of the bridge, caught on the low ground in the loop of the river with no chance of relief or of retreat, most of the outnumbered English on the east side were probably killed. A few hundred may have escaped by swimming across the river, Surrey, who was left with a pitiful contingent of archers, had remained to the south of the river and was still in a strong position. The bulk of his army remained intact and he could have held the line of the Forth, denying the triumphant Scots a passage to the south, but his confidence was gone. James Stewart, the High Steward of Scotland, and Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, whose forces had been part of Surreys army, observing the carnage to the north of the bridge, withdrew. Then the English supply train was attacked at The Pows, a marshy area, by James Stewart. The location of Stirling Bridge at the date of the battle is believed to lie about 180 yards upstream from the 15th century stone that still crosses the river today. Four stone piers have been found underwater just north and at an angle to the extant 15th-century bridge, along with man-made stonework on one bank in line with the piers. The site of the fighting was along either side of a causeway leading from the Abbey Craig, atop which the Wallace Monument is now located
26.
Robert the Bruce
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Robert I, popularly known as Robert the Bruce, was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation and he fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotlands place as an independent country and is today revered in Scotland as a national hero. As Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his familys claim to the Scottish throne, after submitting to Edward I in 1302 and returning to the kings peace, Robert inherited his familys claim to the Scottish throne upon his fathers death. In February 1306, Robert the Bruce killed Comyn following an argument, Bruce moved quickly to seize the throne and was crowned king of Scots on 25 March 1306. Bruce defeated his other Scots enemies, destroying their strongholds and devastating their lands, despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to renounce his claim to the overlordship of Scotland. In 1320, the Scottish nobility submitted the Declaration of Arbroath to Pope John XXII, declaring Robert as their rightful monarch and asserting Scotlands status as an independent kingdom. In 1324, the Pope recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and in 1326, Robert I died in June 1329. His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart was interred in Melrose Abbey. Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale, the first of the Bruce, or de Brus, line arrived in Scotland with David I in 1124 and was given the lands of Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway. His mother was by all accounts a formidable woman who, legend would have it, from his mother, he inherited the Earldom of Carrick, and through his father, a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne. The Bruces also held estates in Aberdeenshire, County Antrim, County Durham, Essex, Middlesex. Although Robert the Bruces date of birth is known, his place of birth is less certain, although it is most likely to have been Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, very little is known of his youth. Annandale was thoroughly feudalised and the form of Northern Middle English that would develop into the Scots language was spoken throughout the region. Robert the Bruce would most probably have become trilingual at an early age and he would have been schooled to speak, read and possibly write in the Anglo-Norman language of his Scots-Norman peers and his fathers family. He would also have both the Gaelic language of his Carrick birthplace and his mothers family, and the early Scots language. As the heir to an estate and a pious layman, Robert would also have been given working knowledge of Latin. This would have afforded Robert and his brothers access to education in the law, politics, scripture, saints Lives, philosophy, history and chivalric instruction. That Robert took personal pleasure in such learning and leisure is suggested in a number of ways, as king, Robert certainly commissioned verse to commemorate Bannockburn and his subjects military deeds
27.
Isabella of France
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Isabella of France, sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France, was Queen of England as the wife of Edward II, and regent of England from 1326 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France, Queen Isabella was notable at the time for her beauty, diplomatic skills, and intelligence. Isabella arrived in England at the age of 12 during a period of growing conflict between the king and the powerful baronial factions, Isabella could not tolerate Hugh Despenser and by 1325 her marriage to Edward was at a breaking point. Travelling to France under the guise of a mission, Isabella began an affair with Roger Mortimer. The Queen returned to England with a mercenary army in 1326. Isabella deposed Edward, becoming regent on behalf of her son, many have believed that Isabella then arranged the murder of Edward II. In 1330, Isabella’s son Edward III deposed Mortimer in turn, taking back his authority, the Queen was not punished, however, and lived for many years in considerable style—although not at Edward III’s court—until her death in 1358. Isabella became a popular femme fatale figure in plays and literature over the years, usually portrayed as a beautiful but cruel, manipulative figure. Isabella was born in Paris on an uncertain date – on the basis of the chroniclers and she is described as born in 1292 in the Annals of Wigmore, and Piers Langtoft agrees, claiming that she was 7 years old in 1299. The French chroniclers Guillaume de Nangis and Thomas Walsingham describe her as 12 years old at the time of her marriage in January 1308, placing her birth between January 1295 and of 1296. A papal dispensation by Clement V in November 1305 permitted her immediate marriage by proxy and her parents were King Philip IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre, her brothers Louis, Philip and Charles became kings of France. Isabella was born into a family that ruled the most powerful state in Western Europe. Indeed, he appeared almost obsessed about building up wealth and lands, Isabellas mother died when Isabella was still quite young, some contemporaries suspected Philip IV of her murder, albeit probably incorrectly. Isabella was brought up in and around the Château du Louvre, Isabella was cared for by Théophania de Saint-Pierre, her nurse, given a good education and taught to read, developing a love of books. As was customary for the period, all of Philips children were married young for political benefit, Pope Boniface VIII had urged the marriage as early as 1298 but was delayed by wrangling over the terms of the marriage contract. The English king, Edward I attempted to break the engagement several times for political advantage, Isabella and Edward II were finally married at Boulogne-sur-Mer on 25 January 1308. At the time of her marriage, Isabella was probably about twelve and was described by Geoffrey of Paris as the beauty of beauties, in the kingdom if not in all Europe. Isabella was said to resemble her father, and not her mother, queen regnant of Navarre and this indicates that Isabella was slender and pale-skinned, although the fashion at the time was for blonde, slightly full-faced women, and Isabella may well have followed this stereotype instead
28.
Battle of Falkirk
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The Battle of Falkirk, which took place on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence. Led by King Edward I of England, the English army defeated the Scots, shortly after the battle Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland. King Edward learned of the defeat of his army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. As a preliminary step he moved the centre of government to York, a council-of-war was held in the city in April to finalise the details of the invasion. The Scottish magnates were all summoned to attend, and when none appeared they were all declared to be traitors, Edward then ordered his army to assemble at Roxburgh on 25 June. Edwards own supply fleet was delayed by bad weather, and when the army reached central Scotland it was tired and hungry. The Welsh infantry in particular were badly demoralised, while the army was encamped at Temple Liston, near Edinburgh, they erupted in a drunken riot that was broken up by the English cavalry, who killed 80 Welshmen. Edward faced the prospect of the kind of retreat that became a regular feature of his sons campaigns in the succeeding reign. Edward was delighted, As God lives and they need not pursue me, for I will meet them this day. The Scots army, again made up chiefly of spearmen as at Stirling, was arranged in four great armoured hedgehogs known as schiltrons, the long spears pointed outwards at various heights gave these formations a formidable and impenetrable appearance. The gaps between the schiltrons were filled with archers and to the rear there was a troop of men-at-arms, provided by the Comyns. On Tuesday 22 July, the English cavalry, divided into four battalions, the left was commanded by the Earls of Norfolk, Hereford and Lincoln. The right was under the command of Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham, while the King commanded the centre, in a disorganised pell-mell the cavalry finally closed on the Scots, on the right and left. The party of men-at-arms under John Comyn left the field immediately, the Scots bowmen commanded by Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, the younger brother of the High Steward of Scotland, stood their ground and were quickly destroyed. But the schiltrons held firm, with the knights making little impression on the dense forest of long spears, King Edward arrived in time to witness the discomfiture of his cavalry and quickly restored discipline. The knights were ordered to withdraw and Edward prepared to employ the tactics that the Earl of Warwick had used to defeat the Welsh spearmen at the Battle of Maes Moydog in 1295. The Scottish cavalry charged the English cavalry, but seeing the vast numbers that were formed against them they then fled the field, Edwards longbowmen were brought into place and quickly overcame the inexperienced force of badly armed Scottish archers. The schiltrons were a target, they had no defence
29.
Hanged, drawn and quartered
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To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a statutory penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reign of King Henry III. Convicts were fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution and their remains were often displayed in prominent places across the country, such as London Bridge. For reasons of public decency, women convicted of treason were instead burned at the stake. The severity of the sentence was measured against the seriousness of the crime and they included many English Catholic priests executed during the Elizabethan era, and several of the regicides involved in the 1649 execution of Charles I. The death penalty for treason was abolished in 1998, during the High Middle Ages those in England guilty of treason were punished in a variety of ways, including drawing and hanging. In the 13th century other, more brutal penalties were introduced, the 13th-century English chronicler Matthew Paris described how in 1238 a certain man at arms, a man of some education attempted to kill King Henry III. He was apparently sent by William de Marisco, an outlaw who some years earlier had killed a man under royal protection before fleeing to Lundy Island, de Marisco was captured in 1242 and on Henrys order dragged from Westminster to the Tower of London to be executed. There he was hanged from a gibbet until dead and his corpse was disembowelled, his entrails burned, his body quartered and the parts distributed to cities across the country. The punishment is more frequently recorded during Edward Is reign, welshman Dafydd ap Gruffydd became the first nobleman in England to be hanged, drawn and quartered after he turned against the king and proclaimed himself Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdon. Dafydds rebellion infuriated Edward so much that he demanded a novel punishment, therefore, following his capture and trial in 1283, for his betrayal he was drawn by horse to his place of execution. For killing English nobles he was hanged alive, for killing those nobles at Easter he was eviscerated and his entrails burned. For conspiring to kill the king in parts of the realm, his body was quartered. A similar fate was suffered by the Scottish leader Sir William Wallace, captured and tried in 1305, he was forced to wear a crown of laurel leaves and was drawn to Smithfield, where he was hanged and beheaded. His entrails were then burned and his corpse quartered and his head was set on London Bridge and the quarters sent to Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth. Treason was based on an allegiance to the sovereign from all subjects aged 14 or over and it remained for the king, Edward therefore introduced the Treason Act 1351. It was enacted at a time in English history when a right to rule was indisputable and was therefore written principally to protect the throne. The new law offered a definition of treason than had existed before. Petty treason referred to the killing of a master by his servant, men guilty of petty treason were drawn and hanged, whereas women were burned
30.
Battle of Bannockburn
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The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence, and a landmark in Scottish history. Stirling Castle, a Scots royal fortress, occupied by the English, was under siege by the Scottish army, the English king, Edward II, assembled a formidable force to relieve it. This attempt failed, and his army was defeated in a battle by a smaller army commanded by the King of Scots. The removal of John Balliol from the Scottish throne also contributed to the English success, the Scots had been victorious in defeating the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, however this was countered by Edward Is victory at the Battle of Falkirk. By 1304 Scotland had been conquered, but in 1306 Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne, Stirling Castle was one of the most important castles that was held by the English as it commanded the route north into the Scottish Highlands. It was besieged in 1314 by Robert the Bruces brother, Edward Bruce, the Scottish army probably numbered between 7,000 and 10,000 men, of whom no more than 500 would have been mounted. Unlike the heavily armoured English cavalry, the Scottish cavalry would have been light horsemen who were good for skirmishing, the Scottish infantry would have had axes, swords and pikes, with few bowmen among them. The English appear to have advanced in four divisions whereas the Scots were in three divisions, known as schiltrons which were strong defensive circles of men bristling with pikes and his brother Edward led the third division. According to Barbour, there was a fourth division nominally under the youthful Walter the Steward and these archers played little part in the battle. There is firsthand evidence in a poem by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, written just after the battle, most medieval battles were short-lived, lasting only a few hours, therefore the Battle of Bannockburn is unusual in that it lasted for two days. On 23 June 1314 two of the English cavalry formations advanced, the first commanded by the Earl of Gloucester and they encountered a body of Scots, among them Robert the Bruce himself. A celebrated single combat then took place between Bruce and Henry de Bohun who was the nephew of the Earl of Hereford, Bohun charged at Bruce and when the two passed side by side, Bruce split Bohuns head with his axe. The Scots then rushed upon the English under Gloucester and Hereford who struggled back over the Bannockburn, so saying he spurred in between Beaumont and Sir William Deyncourt, and charged into the thick of the enemy. Under nightfall the English forces crossed the stream that is known as the Bannock Burn, establishing their position on the plain beyond it. A Scottish knight, Alexander Seton, who was fighting in the service of Edward II of England, deserted the English camp and told Bruce of the low English morale, in the morning the Scots then advanced from New Park. Not long after daybreak, the Scots spearmen began to move towards the English, Edward was surprised to see Roberts army emerge from the cover of the woods. As Bruces army drew nearer, they paused and knelt in prayer, Edward is supposed to have said in surprise They pray for mercy. For mercy, yes, one of his attendants replied, But from God and these men will conquer or die
31.
Angus Macfadyen
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He has made appearances on several television series such as Californication, Criminal Minds and the final season of Chuck. He currently stars as Robert Rogers in the AMC historical drama Turn, Washingtons Spies, Macfadyen was born in Glasgow, Scotland and lived a colourful childhood, being brought up in such places as the Philippines, Africa, Singapore and France. His father was a doctor in the World Health Organization, Macfadyen attended the University of Edinburgh and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Macfadyens first role was Philip in the made for television The Lost Language of Cranes. He portrayed a man who must tell his parents that he is gay. Playing the role of his father was fellow Scottish actor Brian Cox and that role led to his role as Robert the Bruce in Mel Gibsons film Braveheart. He also co-starred alongside Don Cheadle and Ray Liotta when he played Peter Lawford in the HBO film The Rat Pack, Macfadyen played Orson Welles in Tim Robbinss third directorial film Cradle Will Rock. Although the film received a nomination for the Palme dOr at Cannes, Macfadyen next made the Shakespearan film Titus, alongside Anthony Hopkins, where he played Lucius, eldest son of Titus Andronicus. Directed by Julie Taymor, the film was a critical triumph, after the noir film Second Skin, Macfadyen acted in a number of poorly received films. One such film was the action film Styx which starred Peter Weller, a year later, he acted in the comedy film Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood alongside a number of famous names, Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Smith and Ashley Judd. That same year, Macfadyen took the role of Vice-Counsel Dupont in Equilibrium, the film, also starring Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs and Emily Watson, is set in the future, where a fascist regime forbids all emotions. Macfadyen acted as Marcus Crassus in the TV version of Spartacus, the character of Bill in The Pleasure Drivers, and he then played the pirate Blackbeard in a television film of the same name. His next big role was that of Jeff Denlon in Saw III, Jeff is a man obsessed with revenge, and he is led into a series of traps that test his ability to forgive. The film was a hit for its 10 million dollar budget. Macfadyen then co-starred in the box office bomb Redline, the year he appeared in Saw IV. Macfadyen continued making films, starring as the outlaw Will Tunney in his western film Shadowheart and he has appeared on television on the series Californication and Killer Wave. He has also acted in the mystery film San Saba and the thriller film Clean Break and he starred as Lucas Blackstone in the Christian film Taken by Grace. Currently Macfadyen stars as Robert Rogers in AMCs historical drama series Turn, Washingtons Spies, in late 2014, he began principal photography on Macbeth, a feature-length film adaptation of the Shakespearean play in which he stars and directs
32.
Brendan Gleeson
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Brendan Gleeson is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of three IFTA Awards, two BIFA Awards, one Emmy Award and has been nominated twice for a BAFTA Award and he won an Emmy Award in 2009 for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the television film Into the Storm. He is also the father of actors Domhnall Gleeson and Brian Gleeson, Gleeson was born in Dublin, the son of Pat and Frank Gleeson. Gleeson has described himself as having been a reader as a child. He received his second level education at St. Josephs CBS in Fairview, after training as an actor, he worked for several years as a secondary school teacher of Irish and English at the now defunct Catholic Belcamp College in North County Dublin, which closed in 2004. He was working simultaneously as an actor while teaching, doing semi-professional and professional productions in Dublin and he left the teaching profession to commit full-time to acting in 1991. In an NPR interview to promote Calvary, he revealed that he was abused by a Christian Brother, saying and it wasn’t very traumatic and it wasn’t at all sustained, it was just one of these things where something odd happened. As a member of the Dublin-based Passion Machine, Gleeson appeared in several of the companys early and highly successful plays such as Wasters, Brownbread. He has also written three plays for Passion Machine, The Birdtable and Breaking Up, both of which he directed, and Babies and Bathwater in which he acted, among his other Dublin theatre work are Patrick Süskinds one-man play The Double Bass and John B. Keanes The Year of the Hiker, Gleeson started his film career at the age of 34. He first came to prominence in Ireland for his role as Michael Collins in The Treaty, a film broadcast on RTÉ One. He has acted in films as Braveheart, I Went Down, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain,28 Days Later, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Lake Placid. Artificial Intelligence, Mission, Impossible II, and The Village and he won critical acclaim for his performance as Irish gangster Martin Cahill in John Boormans 1998 film The General. In 2003, Gleeson was the voice of Hugh the Miller in an episode of the Channel 4 animated series Wilde Stories, Gleeson later went on to portray Winston Churchill in Into the Storm. Gleeson won an Emmy Award for his performance, Gleeson played Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody in the fourth, fifth and seventh Harry Potter films. His son Domhnall played Bill Weasley in the seventh film, Gleeson starred in the short film Six Shooter in 2006, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. This film was written and directed by Martin McDonagh who also wrote, the film, and Gleesons performance, enjoyed huge critical acclaim, earning Gleeson several award nominations, including his first Golden Globe nomination. In the movie, Gleeson plays a figure for Colin Farrells hitman
33.
James Cosmo
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On 3 January 2017 Cosmo entered the nineteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother, on Day 19 of the series he won a pass to the final on 3 February 2017 and finished in fourth place. James Cosmo was born in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, and he is the son of actor James Copeland. Over the years he has also had roles in films such as Trainspotting. He appeared in Troy with future Game of Thrones cast members Sean Bean and Julian Glover and he also appeared in UFO as SHADO operative Lieutenant Anderson, and in Take the High Road as Alex Geddes from 1982 until 1983. He appeared as Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Drysdale in the series of Soldier Soldier. He recently portrayed Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Nights Watch and he is currently involved in the filming of the thriller Breakdown in which he appears alongside Craig Fairbrass, Bruce Payne, Emmett Scanlan, Olivia Grant and Tamer Hassan. James Cosmo at the Internet Movie Database
34.
Ian Bannen
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Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man. Bannen was known for starring as Christopher Lowe in From Beyond the Grave, Jim Prideaux in the BBC production of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Jackie OShea in Waking Ned Devine. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Flight of the Phoenix, Bannen was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College and his first acting role came in a 1947 Dublin stage production of Armlet of Jade. He became a figure on the London stage, making a name for himself in the plays of both Shakespeare and Eugene ONeill. He was an member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared on Broadway as well. His film debut occurred in the early 1950s with a role in Pool of London. He had a significant role as Stoker Samuel Bannister in Yangtse Incident. During the early stages of his career he worked with the Boulting Brothers on Privates Progress and that same year, he starred alongside Sean Connery in the WW2 prison drama, The Hill. Bannen turned down roles in Hawaii Five-O, Van der Valk. His notable television appearances include parts in Doctor Finlay, Thriller, according to screenwriter Penelope Gilliatt, Bannen never felt comfortable with the part. The anxiety adversely affected his performance during the early filming, schlesinger replaced Bannen with Peter Finch, who received an Oscar nomination for the role. Ian Bannen received in 1965 an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Flight of the Phoenix as Ratbags Crow and he also received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as suspected child molester Kenneth Baxter in The Offence. In 1996, he was honoured with the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, Bannen was killed, aged 71, in a car accident by Loch Ness in November 1999. He and his wife, Marilyn Salisbury, who had been driving, were discovered in a vehicle at Knockies Straight between Inverness and Fort Augustus. His wife, a veterinarian for the Ministry of Agriculture, suffered minor injuries. The couple had married since 1976, they had no children. Coatbridge College, Lanarkshire annually presents the Ian Bannen Memorial Award to the best actor or actress in its classes, Bannen was posthumously given the 2000 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award
35.
Brian Cox (actor)
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Brian Denis Cox, CBE is a Scottish actor who works with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. He is also best known for appearing in The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, X2, Braveheart, Rushmore, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Troy and he was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lecter on film in the 1986 feature film Manhunter. Cox was born in Dundee, the son and youngest of five children. He is from a working class Roman Catholic family, of Irish and Scottish descent and his mother, Mary Ann Guillerline, was a spinner who worked in the jute mills and suffered several nervous breakdowns during Coxs childhood. His father, Charles McArdle Campbell Cox, was a butcher and later a shopkeeper, Cox was brought up by his four elder sisters. He joined Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of 14, Cox was educated at St Marys Forebank Primary School, followed by St Michaels Junior Secondary School, which he left at the age of 15. After working at Dundee Repertory Theatre for a couple of years, he went to school from the age of 17 to 19. I’m old enough to have seen it and watched it and, yes, in 1978, he played King Henry II of England in the acclaimed BBC2 drama serial The Devils Crown, following which he starred in many other television dramas. His first film appearance was as Leon Trotsky in Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971, Cox is an accomplished Shakespearean actor, spending seasons with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the 1980s and 1990s. His work with the RSC included an acclaimed performance as the title character in Titus Andronicus. Cox said later that his performance in Titus Andronicus was the greatest stage performance Ive ever given, later Cox portrayed Burgundy opposite Laurence Olivier in the title role of King Lear. He went on to play King Lear at the National Theatre, in 1986, during the production of Manhunter, while Cox was playing Hannibal Lecktor, Anthony Hopkins was playing King Lear on stage at the National Theatre. Five years later, during the production of The Silence of the Lambs in which Hopkins took over as the correctly named Lecter, at the time, the two actors shared the same agent. In 1984, he played the Royal Ulster Constabulary officer Inspector Nelson in the Royal Courts production of Rat in the Skull, in 1993 he appeared as British spymaster Major Hogan in two episodes of the British television series Sharpe. In the same year, he was seen in an episode of Inspector Morse, where he portrayed Michael Steppings, a retired bookmaker whose daughter is in a permanent coma. In 1994, he played the role of Colonel Grushko, a policeman who sees greed and rapacity in Russias new mood, in Grushko and his most famous appearances include Rob Roy, Braveheart, The Ring, X2, Troy and The Bourne Supremacy. In 2001, he received acclaim for his performance as a pedophile in Michael Cuestas L. I. E. He won a Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Actor and he has played more sympathetic characters, such as Edward Nortons father in 25th Hour
