1.
Frankie Howerd
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Francis Alick Frankie Howerd, OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as a series of comebacks, spanned six decades. Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William and Edith Florence Howard, at the City Hospital in York, England and he was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School in Woolwich, London. His first stage appearance was at age 13 but his hopes of becoming a serious actor were dashed when he failed an audition for RADA. He began to entertain during World War II service in the British Army and it was at this time that he adapted his surname to Howerd to be different. In 1944 he became a bombardier in Plymouth, was promoted to sergeant, despite suffering from stage fright, he continued to work after the war, beginning his professional career in the summer of 1946 in a touring show called For the Fun of It. His act was soon heard on radio, when he made his debut, in early December 1946 and his profile rose in the immediate postwar period. In 1954, he made his debut opposite Petula Clark in The Runaway Bus. The film was so low-budget that it could not afford scenery, the film, however, was an immediate hit, even though Howerd never established a major film presence thereafter. After suffering a breakdown at the start of the 1960s, he began to recover his old popularity. He was boosted further by success on That Was the Week That Was in 1963 and on stage with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which led into regular television work. In 1966 and 1967, he co-hosted a 90-minute Christmas show called The Frankie and Bruce Christmas Show with Bruce Forsyth, during the 1960s and 1970s, he was involved in shows for the BBC and Thames Television. Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote for him from 1964 to 1966 when he worked for the BBC and also for a show for Thames, Frankie Howerd meets the Bee Gees. He was famous for his seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to the audience, which was a direct follow-up from Forum. His television work was characterised by direct addresses to camera and by his littering monologues with verbal tics such as Oooh, no missus, a later sale of his scripts, however, showed that the seemingly off-the-cuff remarks had all been meticulously planned. Barry Cryer said of his technique, What he could do with a script was amazing and he knew exactly what he was doing. Another feature of his humour was to feign innocence about his obvious and risqué double entendres, Howerd appeared as Francis Bigger, one of the lead characters in 1967s Carry On Doctor. The success of the version of Up Pompeii in 1971 saw British exhibitors vote him the ninth most popular star at the British box office that year. He would play versions of the character Lurkio in Up the Chastity Belt, also in 1971, the song was included in the 2004 CD re-issue of Oh
2.
Bill Fraser
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William Simpson Bill Fraser was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his role in the play When We Are Married. Fraser was born in Perth and educated at Strathallan School and he began his career as a clerk in a bank before beginning to act. In the early days when acting work was scarce, Fraser was often penniless, frequently sleeping rough on the Embankment in London. Just after the war a chance meeting in a London street led to Frasers giving Sykes his first work as a writer for radio comedy, Fraser is also credited with giving Peter Cushing his first acting job. Fraser often played irascible or belligerent characters on screen and had roles as a policeman. His first television appearance was on The Tony Hancock Show in 1956 and he then joined The Army Game as Sgt Claude Snudge, followed by a sequel called Bootsie and Snudge. He also played Snudge in the 1964 series Foreign Affairs, later comedic roles included parts in the TV dramatisation of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ as well as Ripping Yarns, The Train Now Standing, The Corn is Green and Father, Dear Father. He also appeared in the comedy films The Amorous Milkman and Doctor at Large, the version of Love Thy Neighbour. Up the Front and Up the Chastity Belt and he had a recurring role on Rumpole of the Bailey as Judge Roger Bullingham, an unsympathetic judge privately nicknamed the Mad Bull by defence barrister Horace Rumpole. Frasers straight parts included Boanerges in The Apple Cart and Eddie Waters in Comedians and he also featured in the Doctor Who story Meglos in 1980, and appeared in the spin-off show K-9 and Company the following year. He appeared as Mr Micawber in the TV dramatisation of David Copperfield in 1966 and he played Serjeant Buzzfuzz in the TV musical Pickwick for the BBC in 1969, and his last role was as Mr Casby in the film version of Little Dorrit. Fraser also appeared in an advertisement for the Austin Metro. In 1985 he was cast as Bert Baxter in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, during those periods when Fraser was not acting, he ran a small sweetshop and tobacconists at Ilford Lane in Ilford, Essex. Bill Fraser played husband to Googie Withers in the Chichester Theatre production of Maughams The Circle and it transferred to the West End and played at the Haymarket, and then toured Britain. Also in the cast were Susan Hampshire and John McCallum, who was married to Googie Withers, in 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play When We Are Married. He died from emphysema in Bushey, Hertfordshire, aged 79, leaving a widow, the actress Pamela Cundell, performances listed in the Theatre Archive, University of Bristol Rotten Tomatoes Bill Fraser at the Internet Movie Database
3.
Hermione Baddeley
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Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley, known as Hermione Baddeley, was an English character actress of theatre, film and television. She typically played brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as brassy or blowsy and she found her milieu in revue, in which she played from the 1930s to the 1950s, co-starring several times with Hermione Gingold. Baddeley was born in Broseley, Shropshire, England and she is a descendent of British American Revolutionary War General Sir Henry Clinton. Her elder sister, Angela Baddeley, was also an actress and her half-brother, Very Rev William Baddeley, was a Church of England priest who became Rural Dean of Westminster. She also had a stage career. She had a professional relationship with Sir Noël Coward, appearing in many of his plays throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The most successful was her teaming with Hermione Gingold in Cowards comedy Fallen Angels and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Simone Signorets best friend in Jack Claytons Room at the Top. With just 2 minutes and 32 seconds, hers is the shortest role to be nominated for an Academy Award, in 1960 she played prostitute Doll Tearsheet in the BBCs series of Shakespeare history plays An Age of Kings, acting alongside her sister Angela as Mistress Quickly. In 1963, she was nominated for Broadways Tony Award as Best Actress for The Milk Train Doesnt Stop Here Anymore and she was known to American audiences for roles in Bewitched, Little House on the Prairie, Camp Runamuck and Maude. Toward the end of her career, Baddeley was also a sought-after voice-over actress, including roles in The Aristocats, in 1928 Baddeley married the Hon. David Francis Tennant. She arrived an hour late for the wedding, having misremembered the time booked for the ceremony and they rented Teffont Evias Manor, which became known for their boisterous parties. She had a daughter Pauline Tennant on 16 February 1927 and they divorced in 1937 but remained good friends until his death. In 1940 Baddeley married Major J. H. Dozey Willis and she also had a relationship with the actor Laurence Harvey, a man 22 years her junior. Although Harvey proposed marriage to her, Baddeley thought the age difference was too great, Harvey left Baddeley in 1951 for actress Margaret Leighton. Baddeley was known for her devotion to animals and she dedicated her autobiography, The Unsinkable Hermione Baddeley, to her pet dog. She continued to work in film and television until shortly before the end of her life and she died following a series of strokes on 19 August 1986, aged 79, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She was survived by two children, Pauline Tennant and David, from her first marriage and she was interred in St Mary and St Melor Parish Church in Amesbury, Wiltshire
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