British Actors Archives - Page 111 of 124

Georgia Brown

Georgia Brown was born in the East End of London in 1933. She first came to prominence on the London stage as Lucy in a 1956 adaptation of “The Threepenny Opera”. In 1959 she won widespread acclaim as Nancy in Lionel Bart’s “Oliver” which she then took to Broadway” in 1963 and winning a Tony for her performance. However she lost our to Shani Wallis for the film version. Her films include “The Raging Moon” in 1973 and “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution”. She moved to the U.S. and performed in supper clubs and on television in such shows as “Murder She Wrote”. Georgia Brown died suddenly while on a visit to London in 1992 at the age of only 58.

Her “Independent” obituary by Tom Vallance:

Lillie Klot (Georgia Brown), actress and singer, born London 21 October 1933, married 1974 Gareth Wigan (one son; marriage dissolved), died London 5 July 1992.

THE MEMORABLE night in 1960 when Oliver] opened in London at the New Theatre (now the Albery) will not be forgotten by those of us lucky enough to be there, but one moment stands out most of all.

When the audience returned for the second half, the intermission buzz having confirmed that everyone was in a similar state of rapture, the curtain went up on Sean Kenny’s brilliant smoke- filled set of an East End drinking den, and to a pounding waltz beat Georgia Brown, as Nancy, launched into her raucous music- hall ditty ‘Oom-Pah-Pah’. When she finished, the roar of approval was deafening and spine-tingling. The dark-haired actress-singer with her husky and full-throated delivery had deservedly triumphed in the role and performance of her career. She repeated her success in the Broadway production, but was never seriously considered for the film version which, though lauded, would have been even better if she had played Nancy.

Born Lillie Klot in Whitechapel, east London, in 1933, she became the most successful product of the Brady School, a training ground for impoverished East-Enders, and was justifiably proud of having made it against all the odds. As a teenager she performed at youth clubs while learning the rag trade by day, and by the time she was 17 she was working at the Stork Club in London and appearing in television variety shows, having assumed a name taken from one of her numbers ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’.

Her early influences were jazz singers, but her earthy, energetic delivery made her equally at home with music hall in the Marie Lloyd tradition, while when singing popular standards her interpretative skill was comparable to Piaf or Garland. If she lacked the vulnerability of those ladies it only gave her more sentimental moments and added pathos. Nobody has ever sung ‘As Long As He Needs Me’ as well as Georgia Brown.

In 1956 she was cast as Lucy in The Threepenny Opera at the Royal Court, the start of a long association with the works of Brecht, and the following year she succeeded Beatrice Arthur in the show’s off-Broadway production. She returned to the Royal Court in The Lily White Boys with Albert Finney, then came Oliver].

After the Broadway production she elected to stay in the US, turning down the show Lionel Bart created for her, Maggie May, though she replaced its star, Rachel Roberts, six months into the London run. She maintained an affection for life in the United States which American show-business never managed adequately to reciprocate. The impetus in her career created by Oliver] gradually faltered and, despite steady work and respect within the profession, the enormous potential was never fully realised.

She made records, did more Brecht – The Baby Elephant upstairs at the Royal Court in 1971 and, later the same year, Man is Man in the main theatre. She sang Anna in the Royal Ballet’s Seven Deadly Sins in 1973/74 and played in Mother Courage on television. Television work also included Sartre’s Roads to Freedom. Her films included A Study in Terror (1965), The Fixer (1968), Bart’s Lock up Your Daughters (1969), Galileo (1975), and The Seven Per Cent Solution (1976), in which she introduced Stephen Sondheim’s blatantly risque I Never Do Anything Twice.

That same year she settled permanently in Los Angeles. She returned to Broadway in two new musicals, but neither was successful. Carmelina (1979), based on the Gina Lollobrigida film Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell, had songs by Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner, but, with a poor production and Jose Ferrer’s leaden direction, it lasted only 17 performances.

Five years later Brown was due to open in Roza at the Adelphi in London when financing was suddenly withdrawn. In 1987, directed by Harold Prince, it opened on Broadway with Brown playing a role Simone Signoret had enacted in the film Madam Rosa (based on a novel, La Vie Devant Soi, by Romain Gary). Brown had gained weight to play the former prostitute who now looks after the children of prostitutes in a run-down section of Paris, but the show’s score by Gilbert Becaud and Julian More was too pop-orientated for Broadway taste, its book too flimsy and despite outstanding personal reviews for Brown it closed after 12 perforamnces.

In London she starred in 42nd Street but, though nominally the leading role, the part of an ageing and temperamental star replaced by an ingenue was a thanklessly underwritten and unsympathetic one. In 1980 Brown had played the twin roles of Mother/Sphinx in Steven Berkoff’s Greek for its brief New York run and when the play came to London in 1988 she successfully repeated her powerful performance.

Recently she had been performing a one-woman show, Georgia Brown and Friends, and had come to London for an appearance in a charity tribute to Sammy Davis Jnr. Fortunately, Brown recorded both Oliver] and Carmelina and two of her solo albums, devoted respectively to the works of Kurt Weill and George Gershwin, were combined last year on one CD to win new critical acclaim. Her tartly abrasive ‘Strike up the Band’and plaintively aching ‘It Never Was You’ on these albums are just two fine examples of her distinctive talents.

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

Georgia Brown (1933–1992) was the volcanic core of the post-war British musical theatre explosion. While many of her contemporaries aimed for a “refined” West End sheen, Brown brought a raw, Earth-mother intensity and a deep, mahogany-toned contralto that bridged the gap between Jewish folk tradition, jazz, and the gritty realism of the “Angry Young Men” era.

She is the definitive Nancy, a role she created on stage and one that defined the archetype of the tragic, resilient street-survivor for all who followed.

Career Overview: The Soul of the East End

1. The Jazz and Folk Foundations (1950s)

Born Lillian Klot in the East End of London, Brown began her career as a cabaret and jazz singer. Her early work was heavily influenced by her Jewish heritage and a deep appreciation for the blues, which gave her a vocal “weight” that was rare in British theatre at the time.

2. The Brechtian Pioneer (1955–1956)

Before Oliver!, Brown proved her dramatic mettle in the first major British revival of “The Threepenny Opera.”Her portrayal of Lucy Brown showcased her ability to handle the cynical, sharp-edged material of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill—a stylistic precursor to the “Kitchen Sink” realism of the 1960s.

**3. Creating an Icon: Oliver! (1960–1965)**

Lionel Bart wrote the role of Nancy specifically for Brown’s unique vocal range. She starred in the original London production (1960) and later the Broadway transfer (1963), earning a Tony nomination. She didn’t just play the role; she authored its emotional language.

4. The International Stage and Screen (1970s–1992)

Brown spent much of her later career in the United States, becoming a powerhouse character actress. She starred in the Broadway musical Roza, appeared in films like The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), and became a beloved guest star on American television, earning an Emmy nomination for her role in Cheers.

Detailed Critical Analysis: The “Folk-Broadway” Synthesis

1. The “Vocal Sob” and Technical Power

Brown’s voice was an instrument of narrative friction. Unlike the crystalline sopranos of the 1950s, Brown’s voice had a “grain” to it.

Analysis: Critics often noted her use of the “glottal stroke” and a wide, pulsating vibrato. In her definitive recording of “As Long as He Needs Me,” she didn’t just sing the notes; she “attacked” them. Her technique allowed her to move from a guttural whisper to a thunderous belt, making her performances feel like spontaneous emotional outpourings rather than rehearsed numbers.

2. Subverting the Musical Comedy Heroine

Brown was instrumental in moving the musical theatre lead away from the “ingenue” and toward the “woman of experience.”

Critical Insight: In Oliver!, she played Nancy not as a victim, but as a woman of immense, albeit misplaced, strength. She brought a Brechtian unsentimentality to the role. Critics praised her for the “dirt under the fingernails” authenticity she brought to the stage, which made the character’s eventual death feel like a genuine social tragedy rather than a plot device.

3. The Bridge Between Cultures

Brown was one of the few British performers who could authentically inhabit the Great American Songbookwhile maintaining a distinctly European, Jewish-inflected soul.

Technical Analysis: On her various solo albums (like Georgia Brown Sings Gershwin), she displayed a jazz-like improvisational freedom. She often delayed the beat, a technique known as rubato, which gave her singing a conversational, “lived-in” quality. Critics compared her to Lotte Lenya and Judy Garland, noting her ability to turn a three-minute song into a one-act play.

4. Late-Career “Masterclass” in Television

In the late 1980s and early 90s, Brown’s work on American TV showed a masterful shift into character comedy.

Analysis: As Madame de Vionnet in Cheers or her various roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation, she used her commanding presence and rich accent to play “formidable” women. Critics noted that she brought a theatrical weight to the sitcom format, proving that her “Nancy-esque” gravity could be translated into sharp, intellectual wit.

Key Credits & Critical Milestones

Year	Title	Role	Note
1956	The Threepenny Opera	Lucy Brown	Her “Brechtian” breakthrough in London.
1960	Oliver! (West End)	Nancy	The definitive creation of a musical theatre icon.
1963	Oliver! (Broadway)	Nancy	Tony Award Nominee; established her in the US.
1976	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution	Frau Freud	Showcased her range as a dramatic film actress.
1990	Cheers (TV)	Madame de Vionnet	Emmy Award Nominee; showcased her comedic She didn’t just sing songs; she excavated them. By bringing a gritty, East End reality to the stylized world of musical theatre, she paved the way for the modern, belt-driven musical. Her legacy remains in the “blood and guts” intensity she demanded from herself and her characters, ensuring that Nancy would always be more than a girl in a red dress

Roger Moore obituary in “The Independent” in 2017.

More than any other actor of his generation, Roger Moore, one of the most instantly recognised stars, personified British sangfroid. Though he will be remembered for his action roles, typified by James Bond and Simon Templar in The Saint, Moore arguably had much more in common with the likes of Cary Grant and David Niven, light sophisticated film comedians. His approach, even with Bond, was to look for the humour first and worry about the dramatics second. To world audiences throughout the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, he was the epitome of the perfect English gentleman.

Roger George Moore was born in 1927 in Stockwell, south London, the only child of George Moore, a police constable at Bow Street, and his wife Lily, the daughter of an Army Sergeant Major. Educated at Battersea Grammar school, upon leaving at the age of 15 in 1943 Roger Moore got a job as an apprentice cartoonist with an animation film company. One visitor to the studio was Lt-Col David Niven, there to give technical advice on a film. In later life the two men were to become great friends and co-star together in three films. Niven was also Ian Fleming’s personal choice of actor for the role of Bond.

Though he showed flair as a cartoonist, Moore was sacked when he made a mistake over some animation cells. By his late teens, he had developed from a rather podgy child into a tall (6ft 2in) broad-shouldered, blond-haired hunk and a friend suggested he try his luck as a film extra on Caesar and Cleopatra, then in production at Denham studios. The thought of acting had never before occurred to Moore, despite his father being an avid devotee of amateur dramatics.

He landed the job of a spear-carrying Roman soldier and was spotted by the director Brian Desmond Hurst, not for any acting qualities but for the multitude of female admirers he managed to attract off-camera. Sensing some kind of potential, Hurst offered to pay Moore’s fees at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

It was during his three terms at Rada (where one of his classmates was Lois Maxwell, the future Miss Moneypenny) that Moore began to cultivate the accent and demeanour, that relaxed, devil-may-care, mid-Atlantic style, which later became his screen trademarks. Doing his National Service as a commissioned officer with the Combined Services Entertainment Section, he earned the nickname “The Duchess” for his immaculate and cultivated appearance. He was also continually reprimanded for having his army mates call him “Rog” instead of Sir.

While at Rada, Moore fell in love and married an ice skater called Doorn van Steyn. He was just 19. Their time together was beset by professional and financial difficulties as both struggled to establish their careers and the marriage soon foundered. Moore himself could only find a few acting jobs and to supplement his income worked as a waiter, dishwasher, street salesman and male model, famously appearing in knitting books modelling sweaters, something which caused him great embarrassment in later years.

In 1952 Moore met one of Britain’s most popular singers Dorothy Squires (12 years his senior), and the couple were soon an item. He travelled with Squires to America, where his charm and good looks won him some film roles, notably opposite the screen divas Elizabeth Taylor in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) and Lana Turner in Diane (1956).

On his return to Britain, Moore became one of the first television stars, in 1958 taking the title role in the adventure serial Ivanhoe. Other TV series followed, this time made in Hollywood, The Alaskans (1959-60) and Maverick (1960-61). But his film career was going nowhere, summed up by turkeys like The Rape of the Sabine Women (1961). Made in Rome, it did little to further Moore’s dreams of movie stardom, but had a profound effect upon his personal life. On set he met and fell in love with the Italian actress Luisa Mattioli. He was refused a divorce by Dorothy Squires, but he and Mattioli lived together until finally being allowed to marry in 1969.

Moore was finally rescued from oblivion in 1962 when he won the coveted lead role in The Saint, which he went on to play for six years. The series was shown in over 60 countries, turning Moore into an internationally recognised figure and the first British actor to become a millionaire through television. After dropping his halo, Moore yet again pursued a film career, with haphazard results, and in 1971 was forced to make another television series, despite having sworn never to do so.

It was called The Persuaders! and was again the brainchild of Lew Grade, the man responsible for The Saint. Grade had craftily already sold the concept of the show to America on the strength of Moore’s name. At a meeting Moore queried the legality of what Grade had done. The cigar-chomping tycoon replied, “The country needs the money, Roger. Think of the Queen.”

The Persuaders! was about a pair of wealthy playboys and part-time adventurers. Glitzy and chic, with its South of France locations, the show is chiefly remembered today for the marvellous chemistry between Moore and his co-star Tony Curtis, though in real life the two men did not hit it off. Although a huge success in Europe, crucially The Persuaders! flopped in America and was cancelled, leaving Moore free to take on the role that he will be forever remembered – James Bond.

Moore had in fact been one of the original choices for 007 back in 1962, but had been deemed not tough enough. Because Moore lacked Sean Connery’s animal presence and killer instinct, the filmmakers instead played to his very different strengths, a sophisticated wit and gentlemanly charm, and the Bond films grew more tongue in cheek as a result.

Moore himself refused to take the role especially seriously. “Bond has nothing to do with the real spying world,” he once said. “I mean, what sort of spy is recognised in every bar in town?” His self-mocking approach did not find favour with the critics, although some claimed he was much closer to Fleming’s original concept of Bond than Connery, much more the Etonian drop-out, but the public was won over and Moore’s seven-film reign as Bond raked in a billion dollars at the global box office.

Moore also began to establish himself as a film star with a string of popular hits like the action adventure Shout at the Devil (1976), the Boy’s Own war drama The Wild Geese (1978), with Richard Burton, and the all-star car comedy The Cannonball Run (1981). By the late Seventies he was the most bankable British film personality and had joined those other superstar tax exiles (Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Richard Burton) in leaving the country in order to evade the Labour government’s punitive tax rates, moving to Switzerland where he could also indulge his love of skiing.

After A View to a Kill in 1985, Moore, then 57, left the Bond stable and all but retired from cinema, returning sporadically in films that showed either a lazy approach to his craft or just plain bad taste, stiffs like Spice World (1997) and Boat Trip (2002). He appeared most frequently on television chat shows and in European gossip magazines. Especially when his marriage, considered by many to be one of Hollywood’s most rock-solid, broke up in 1994 when he fell in love with a close family friend, the Swedish-born socialite Kristina Tholstrup.

Moore will never be remembered for being one of cinema’s most versatile actors. And to be fair, Moore himself made something of a career out of underestimating his own talent. But those who worked with him loved him. On set he liked to keep a jovial and happy working atmosphere and often indulged his schoolboyish sense of humour by playing practical jokes on his co-stars.

He took great pride in 1991 in succeeding Audrey Hepburn as Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef, raising funds for children in underdeveloped countries. His work for Unicef took him to countries such as Brazil and India that he had visited with the Bond films, but the second time around, he was able to see them through different eyes, noticing the poverty and suffering. Such generous and selfless work earned Moore appointment as CBE in 1999 and in 2003 he was knighted.

Sir Roger George Moore, actor: born London 14 October 1927; died Switzerland 23 May 2017

Sean HughesSean Hughes was born in London in 1965. He was brought up in Dublin. He won the Perrier Comedy Award as a rising young comedian. He was seen in Alan Parker’s 1991 film about Dublin bands “The Commitments”. His other films include “The Butcher Boy”, “Fast Food” and “Puckoon”. On television he has starred in “The Last Detective” and also did a stint in “Coronation Street” in 2007.

“Guardian” interview from 2012:

“It horrifies me to say this,” says Sean Hughes, “but my dad came to see a show I did years ago and fell asleep due to drunkenness.” The relationship between father and son wasn’t cosy – “We used to high-five each other in the middle ground of self-hatred,” he says. But nearly two years after Sean senior died of leukaemia, aged 72, the comedian is tackling his father’s illness and death head-on, through his new stage show, Life Becomes Noises.

“Just don’t use the C-word,” he says, hunched over a coffee in a cafe, his face fuller in middle age.

The C-word? “Cathartic,” he says.

Hughes, who was the youngest winner of the Perrier award for comedy in 1990, rates this show as his best work. “I feel I’m doing something good.”

He says he has his father to thank for this new vitality. “I’ve said before that my father never gave me any support, but there was a weird rough justice in him dying. He gave me the inspiration to write this show, against his will, and it made me grow up. It pushed me towards the next phase of my life. If there is a ‘presence’, I just hope he knows he’s been extremely helpful, because I think he’d have been proud of what I’ve done. I find that a solace.”

Hughes’s father was a driving instructor – at a time when drink-driving wasn’t illegal, he points out. He was also keen on the horses and Hughes makes his stage entrance dressed as a jockey. Surely his father wasn’t hoping he’d take up racing as a career? “He would have been delighted. He didn’t want much in life.”

This was the result, he assumes, of his father’s own thwarted ambitions – disappointments later masked by drink. That generation didn’t analyse their lives in the way Hughes’s own north London neighbours might these days. “It wasn’t a thing you did, especially in a working-class environment, so he muddled along.”

The show, which combines laugh-out-loud humour, world-weary indignation and poignant anecdotes is set between his father’s hospital bed and the family hearth in Dublin. Hughes zig-zags through his feelings about healthcare for the terminally ill, his family dynamics and whether we take death too seriously.

He started thinking about writing it on the way home from his father’s funeral. No sentimentality was his first rule. He showed the script to his two brothers, aware that his version of events wasn’t necessarily theirs. “I was a bit sheepish … my younger brother, Martin, found it very hard to read but was aware that I’d taken poetic licence. My older brother, Alan, was a bit taken aback – positively so. I’m so glad they didn’t go, ‘You can’t say that.'”

He didn’t consult his mother. “She wouldn’t understand and I don’t want to hurt her. What I do is an alien world to her and she’d be wondering why I’m saying those things about our family to other people. Of course, I’m terribly disappointed – I’d love my mum to be the biggest champion of [my work], but I accepted years ago that it wasn’t going to happen.

“I harboured a lot of resentment in my youth. I had no support when I was going into a creative career. I had a part-time job in a supermarket and my mum and dad would have been delighted if they’d given me a full-time job. That was their ambition for me. That hurts. They weren’t being hurtful but it made me quite hard towards them, which was probably unfair.

“One reason I haven’t got children is that I’m too selfish, but I think each generation looks to their parents’ faults to make them better people.”

Hughes was born in London but the family moved back to Dublin when he was six, where he was sent to a new school at the height of the Troubles sporting the provocative combination of a bow-tie and a Cockney accent. “Dad’s best joke … I looked and sounded like Tommy Steele.”

Hughes left for England at the earliest opportunity, after which, he says, “we weren’t very good on the phone”.

He has tried to avoid being mawkish in writing about his father. “A few comics have talked about their fathers dying and they’ve been tributes. It doesn’t ring true to me. I wanted it to be more deep, and real. Things weren’t great, but let’s celebrate that. There are positives to be taken out of traumas.”

Our attitude to death is too serious, he says. “It should be more like seeing someone off on a great adventure. But there are too many set rules. The priest saying the words doesn’t really know the person. They should be beautiful occasions and they are not.”

He wonders why the doctors couldn’t have made it clear that his dad wouldn’t get better. “He was too old and weak to survive, but they don’t tell you that. I guess it’s the whole Catholic thing of miracles, that you could get better, which is bullshit. And when you look at the shitty bed they die on … It sounds flippant when I say cancer wards should be jolly. But they should be like children’s wards. There should be colours, not dark shapes.”

Sometimes major events are life-changing for a while, then you revert to type, says Hughes, who was caught up in the 2004 tsunami, in Sri Lanka. “I’m lucky to be alive – but it changes you for two days, then you’re back watching Neighbours at lunchtime.

“My philosophy is that you can’t force change. I matured very late in life. The idea of not drinking five years ago would have been alien to me. I was blocking things out with drink. You realise that when you’re dealing with a death you can’t block it out. But you have to come to all these places on your own. Once you realise that, you become a more rounded person.”

Being thrust into grief has lowered his expectations of life without admitting defeat, which he says is a good thing. It has made him more generous – up to a point. “As you get older, you want more quality time and that means putting yourself out. I try not to be so judgmental, to show people more love. I can’t give you a list. It’s a general state. Having said that, I’m probably still too controlling … and I don’t suffer fools. I got that from my father. That will never change.”

Marriage and children are not on his agenda: “I like to be on my own. I can deal with that.”

Hughes is able to distance himself from the personal content of the show – which received warm reviews on its Edinburgh Fringe debut run – and see it as an acting job. “It’s not necessarily about my father any more. It’s about how it affects the audience. If you’re telling the truth, you’re pretty much telling everyone’s truth.

“The reaction I wanted was the same reaction that I had after I saw Death of a Salesman. I wanted people to go out and cherish their relationships.”

Over the year before his father’s death, Hughes and his father reached an accommodation. “If I look at it coldly, if someone’s not going to get better, I’d rather they died quickly. But that time allowed us not to fix our relationship but to amend it. They were quite cherished times. It was kind of beautiful when I used to do insignificant things with him – go to the shops, get some bread, you know …”

He checks himself. “I’m not going to romanticise it. It wasn’t like running through a field of daisies.”

To illustrate his point, he recalls a trip to Kilmainham Gaol museum in Dublin, where leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed by the British. “My parents lived in a self-imposed Catholic prison so what I tried to do near the end was take them out. I love history and Kilmainham is amazing. I was delighted that my dad was having a good time and asked if he was enjoying himself. He went: ‘Yeah, but your brother Alan would have enjoyed it more because he likes history.””

It may be a cliche but Hughes – now 46, and a non-smoking, vegetarian teetotaller – admits that the process of losing his father has changed him. He would get drunk to sit at his bedside and tell him how he felt, or to warn his father that news about his recovery prospects would one day be negative.

Gradually, it dawned on him that it was kinder to be less brutally honest. Towards the end, when his father asked, “Nothing’s going to happen to me, is it?”, he was able to say no, to make his father feel safe.

“He wasn’t a brilliant man but he did make me feel safe and I should have respected him more for that. That was my way of thanking him, telling him ‘I love you’ because I didn’t say it enough.”

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

Joe Robinson was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1927 and comes froma family of wrestlers. He made his film debut in 1955 in “A Kid for Two Farthings” as Diana Dors’s boyfriend.His other films include “The Lonelieness of the Long Distance Runner”, “Carry On Regardless” andin 1971 “Diamonds Are Forever”.

His IMDB entry:

Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1927 (not 1929 as some references give) Joe Robinson came from a famous family of wrestlers. Both his father Joseph Robinson Senior and grandfather John were world champions. Following in their footsteps Joe Junior won the wrestling European Heavyweight Championship in 1952, beating Axel Cadier in London. At that time he was billed as Tiger Joe Robinson. He was also interested in acting and studied at R.A.D.A. After injuring his back wrestling in Paris, Joe decided to concentrate on acting, and after a few bit parts in films his first leading role came in the keep-fit documentary Fit as a fiddle (1952). He also played Harry “Muscles” Green in the musical Wish You Were Here (1952) on the West End stage. His most memorable film role was in A Kid For Two Farthings (1955) in which he wrestled Primo Carnera. Like most muscular actors he was invited to Rome in 1960 where he appeared in five Italian epics. At the same time, Joe and his younger brother Doug Robinson became popular stunt arrangers, particularly on the James Bond films. Joe and Doug, together with Honor Blackman co-authored the book “Honor Blackman’s Book of Self-Defence” published by Andre Deutsch in 1965. Joe was also a judo champion and black belt at karate, and opened a martial arts centre in Brighton where he is now retired.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Jim Marshall

The above IMDB entry can be accessed online here.

He died in Brighton in 2017 at the age of 90.

Joe Robinson’s obituary in The Times in 2017.

Saturday July 15 2017, 12.01am BST, The Times

Joe Robinson with Diana Dors in A Kid for Two Farthings (1955)ALAMY

With his grandfather and father both wrestling champions, it was always likely that the 6ft 2in Joe Robinson would follow them on to the mat.

Born in Newcastle in 1927, one of eight children, as a child he went to South Africa, where his father ran a gymnasium. As he grew up Robinson would help to keep the gym clean and, encouraged by his father, would take part in amateur wrestling and body-building contests.

Initially there were visits to England and he enrolled at Rada at the same time as beginning a career as a professional wrestler. He appeared in Levenshulme in October 1948 against Ron McLarty and then, settling in London, after 1950 he worked mainly for the soi-disant “Blue Blood of the Mat”, the promoter Sir Atholl Oakeley. When the then European heavyweight champion Bert Assirati left for a tour of the Far East in 1951, Oakeley promoted what he saw as a tournament for the vacant title. In it Robinson met the Spaniard Gonzales the Gorilla, billed as The Apeman, and in later years Robinson would say that when the referee told him to shake hands he refused to do so until Gonzales spoke, confirming he was human.

In the title match Robinson defeated Axel Cadier, the Swede who had won the gold medal in light heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A crowd-pleasing blue-eye, whose speciality was a flying drop-kick, Robinson continued to work for Oakeley until the latter retired. He was nicknamed Tiger after being pictured posing on a tiger-skin rug. However, in the days when the so called hard-holds from which it was difficult and painful to escape were the norm, he was not generally regarded as an uncompromisingly hard shooter and in turn was forced to retire after he sustained a serious neck injury in a Paris ring.

His first film appearance was in a keep-fit documentary, Fit as a Fiddle, in 1952 and the next year he appeared on the West End stage as the holiday camp sports director Harry “Muscles” Green in the British production of the musical Wish You Were Here. During the run, when fellow actor Christopher Hewett was knocked unconscious after being thrown into the onstage swimming pool, Robinson realised what had happened and dived in to rescue him.

He went on to play the wrestler Charles in the Old Vic’s 1959 production of As You Like It, which starred Maggie Smith and Barbara Jefford, and the next year appeared with the comedian Terry-Thomas in the farce It’s In The Bag.

Robinson with Terry-Thomas in It’s In The Bag

He had signed a five-year contract with Sir Alexander Korda’s London Films and starred as body builder Sam with Diana Dors in A Kid for Two Farthings (1955). Originally the backers had wanted Kenneth More to play Sam, but the director Carol Reed insisted on Robinson. The film, with regular shots of Sam (who cannot buy a ring for his longstanding fiancée and who may even be in the closet) in a singlet flexing, had considerable homo-erotic undertones and Robinson unwittingly became a gay icon. Dors said she thought Robinson looked like Burt Lancaster. In his turn Robinson said that he thought kissing her on screen was one of the most exciting things he did in his life.

The next year he was invited to the Cannes Film Festival, where the film was shown as the British entry and where he gave a demonstration of judo on the beach and Gene Kelly joined him. Now mixing with the stars, he met his hero Errol Flynn, with whom he later played a part in The Master of Ballantrae, as well as Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra, who made him spaghetti. Something of a ladies’ man, it was at Cannes he said he danced with Esther Williams, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner and Brigitte Bardot on the same night. A tireless raconteur, his family assumed his accounts of his exploits had been somewhat coloured, until his stories turned out to be true.

His second wife, Annie, would not believe he met Marlene Dietrich until, years later, they were dining in the same restaurant in Brighton. When he stood up Dietrich called out: “Joe, what are you doing here?”

In 1956 he declined an offer to feature as Rank’s Gongman and, more seriously, on Reed’s advice, turned down a part in Alexander the Great (1956), which would star Richard Burton. In 2004 Robinson admitted: “I thought I was a big star and success went to my head.” During the fallow periods he appeared as the cowardly boxer managed by Freddie Mills in Carry on Regardless and in television shows such as The Saint, The Avengers and an episode of Hancock’s Half Hour, in which he is too shy to enter a body-building contest until the very end.

The 1960s were the heyday of Italian sword-and-sandals movies and with his 50in chest he regularly appeared in films, including the biblical epic Barabbas. Robinson was often uncredited or as a “Bearded Gladiator” or “Tall Soldier”, but in 1961 he starred as the title character opposite the Japanese actress Yoko Tani in Ursus and the Tartar Princess. Two years he later would have joined Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker among the actors who have played Tarzan, but for the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs objecting that this was an unauthorised use of the name. So before the film was released Tarzan became Thaur. Back in England he was in the rather more prestigious The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which starred Tom Courtenay.“

Meanwhile, he and his brother Douglas, both good stuntmen and stunt arrangers, ran a gymnasium in Old Compton Street in Soho, teaching actors how to fall and avoid injuries in action sequences, as well as instructing them in judo. Their pupils included Sean Connery, Brian Blessed, Peter Bowles and Honor Blackman, and the brothers collaborated with her to create Honor Blackman’s Book of Self Defence.

In 1963 Robinson had hoped to get the part of Grant, the Russian killer in the second James Bond film, From Russia with Love, but it went to Robert Shaw. Robinson believed it was because he was Connery’s golfing partner and that Connery felt bad about it. In 1971 Robinson did, however, get the part of the diamond smuggler Peter Franks in Diamonds are Forever and Connery managed to get his fee raised from £2,000 to £9,000. His fight, which he staged in a lift with Connery and in which he is getting the better of Bond until he is doused with foam from a fire extinguisher and then thrown six floors down, is regarded as one the best of the Bond fight sequences. He would tell the story of how when he landed he found the beautiful Jill St John was bending over him and he could not help but open an eye. “Joe, you’re dead,” said Connery. Robinson was often fêted at Bond fan reunions.

Always devoted to martial arts, and profiting from the kung fu films of the time, he opened a martial arts dojo in Brighton. The centre ran for 20 years and one early pupil was Brian Jacks, who became Britain’s first judoka to win a medal at a world championship. Robinson also taught at Roedean and other schools across Sussex. He was not good at saying no to work, his daughter Kate recalled. “If someone wanted a lesson at ten o’clock at night off he would go to give it.”

A popular and warm man always willing to pose for photographs and sign autographs, Robinson toured the world in retirement, attending trade fairs and conferences. For some reason he was often shy about his age. “I was born the same day as Clint Eastwood [but three years earlier] and I’m younger than Roger Moore,” he said in 2004.

While visiting relations in South Africa, in his seventies, he was attacked by half a dozen muggers armed with a baseball bat and knives on a street corner. He broke the arm of the first with a judo throw, drop-kicked another and, as they scattered, he “then ran like hell”. He later admitted that he had suffered a good deal of trauma. “I used to wake up screaming.”

He married twice, the first time when young and then in 1961 to the model Annie Alliston. They separated, but remained friends and she visited him in hospital with their daughter Kate shortly before he died. He is survived by her and his four children, Joe and Lisa from his first marriage and, with Annie, Kate and Polly Hardy-Stewart, who became British women’s judo champion in 1990. Of his 11 grandchildren, Kyra is an IBJIF jiu-jitsu champion, while Phoebe is a fitness model and stuntwoman. She recently appeared in Wonder Woman. Not surprisingly, he felt rather proud of her for that.

“Tiger” Joe Robinson, wrestler and actor, was born on May 31, 1927. He died after a short illness on July 3, 2017.

Joe Robinson (1927–2017) was a singular figure in the history of cinema: a world-class professional wrestler turned actor who became the “Physical Blueprint” for the mid-century action star. Known as “Tiger Joe” Robinson, he was a bridge between the theatrical muscle of the 1950s and the sophisticated stunt-choreography of the modern era.

While often cast for his massive physique, a critical analysis reveals an actor of surprising technical discipline who effectively pioneered the “Martial Arts” style in Western film.

Career Overview: From the Ring to the Screen

1. The Professional Athlete (1940s–1950s)

Born into a legendary wrestling dynasty (his father and grandfather were both champions), Robinson was the 1952 European Heavyweight Champion. His entry into film was not as a “stuntman,” but as a legitimate athletic celebrity. His breakout role in Carol Reed’s “A Kid for Two Farthings” (1955) cast him as a struggling wrestler, utilizing his real-life persona to create a sense of neo-realist grit.

2. The “Peplum” and Epic Era (1960–1965)

With the rise of the “Sword and Sandal” (Peplum) genre, Robinson’s physique made him an international commodity. He moved to Rome and starred in epics like “Taur the Mighty” (1963). Unlike many of the American bodybuilders in Italy, Robinson brought a genuine combat fluidity to his fight scenes that set him apart.

**3. The Bond Villainy: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)**

Robinson’s most enduring cinematic legacy is his role as Peter Franks in the James Bond classic Diamonds Are Forever. His elevator fight scene with Sean Connery remains one of the most celebrated hand-to-hand combat sequences in the history of the franchise.

4. The Martial Arts Pioneer

Outside of acting, Robinson was a co-founder of a prestigious judo and karate center in London. He famously trained many of his co-stars, including Honor Blackman for The Avengers, effectively introducing “Spy-Chic” combat to British television.

Detailed Critical Analysis: The “Combat Realist”

1. The “Anti-Theatrical” Fighter

In the 1950s and 60s, movie fights were often highly stylized and “staged.” Robinson introduced “Functional Physicality.”

Analysis: In A Kid for Two Farthings, Robinson didn’t just throw “movie punches.” He used his wrestling background to show the weight and exhaustion of combat. Critics noted that he brought a “documentary-like” quality to his physical scenes. He was one of the first actors to make the audience feel the impact of a blow rather than just the spectacle of it.

2. The Elevator Sequence: A Masterclass in Tight Spaces

The fight in Diamonds Are Forever is a technical marvel of choreography and editing.

Technical Detail: Working in the confined space of a lift, Robinson utilized judo and close-quarters grappling.
Critical Insight: Critics hail this scene because Robinson played it with terrifying efficiency. There were no wasted movements. He portrayed Peter Franks not as a “henchman” but as a professional assassin. His ability to maintain a “blank, focused intensity” while performing high-level combat moves influenced the “Bourne-style” fight choreography decades later.

3. The “Peplum” Intellectual

In his Italian epics, Robinson faced the challenge of playing archetypal heroes (like Taur) who were often written as one-dimensional.

Technical Analysis: Robinson utilized a “Statuesque Stoicism.” He understood that in wide-screen epics, his body was his primary dialogue. He used his posture to convey “Mythic Authority.” Critics have argued that among the “Muscle-Men” of the 60s, Robinson was the most naturalistic, avoiding the “posing” of bodybuilders in favor of the “readiness” of a combatant.

4. The “Coach” as Actor

Robinson’s background as a teacher (Sensei) informed his acting style.

Critical View: There was always a sense of calculation in his eyes. Whether playing a hero or a villain, he looked like a man who was “reading” his opponent. This “Intellectual Physicality” made him more dangerous on screen than actors who were simply larger. He brought the discipline of the Dojo to the chaos of the film set.

Key Credits & Critical Milestones

Year	Title	Role	Significance
1955	A Kid for Two Farthings	Sam	A rare “Neo-Realist” look at the wrestling world.
1961	Barabbas	Gladiator	Showcased his combat skills in a high-prestige epic.
1963	Taur the Mighty	Taur	His definitive leading role in the Italian “Peplum” genre.
1971	Diamonds Are Forever	Peter Franks	Created one of the most iconic Bond fight scenes.

. He was an actor who proved that “action” didn’t have to be a substitute for “acting.” By bringing authentic technique, disciplined movement, and a fierce, intelligent presence to the screen, he helped transition cinema from the era of “theatrical brawling” to the era of “combat realism.” He was a man who lived by the code of the athlete and died as a legend of the screen

Veronica Carlson. Wikipedia

Veronica Carlson was born in Yorkshire in 1944. She is best known as one of the beautiful heroines of the Hammer Horror films, these include “Dracula Has Risen From the Grave” in

Striking, pale complexioned, blonde English actress who is best known as the female lead of several late 1960s Hammer horror films. These roles include as the hapless Maria being terrorized by fanged Christopher Lee in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), brutalized by the evil Peter Cushing in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) and chased by monster David Prowse in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970).

After her brief career in a handful of Hammer films, Carlson’s star faded as quickly as it had risen, however she had assured herself a place in horror film history as one of the stunning women that graced the screen during Hammer’s wonderful renaissance of the horror genre. Ms Carlson died in 2022 aged 77. she is survived by her husband, three children and seven grandchildren.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: firehouse44@hotmail.com

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

1968, “Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed” and “”The Horror of Frankenstein”. She now lives with her family in South Carolina.

Her IMDB entry:

The Times obituary

Veronica Carlson had only had one supporting role when she was cast in the Hammer horror movie Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed opposite Peter Cushing. She turned up to shoot her first scene just in time to hear Cushing and Terence Fisher, the director, discussing her imminent screen death. “He said: ‘How do you want to kill her, Peter?’ And Peter was saying: ‘I’ve given that a lot of thought, Terry.’ And then he proceeded to tell Terry how he wanted to kill me. I kept trying to interject. It was like I wasn’t there. It was like listening to a bedtime story of how they were going to kill me.”

The cold-blooded nature of the conversation and chilling mood of the scene contrasted with the warm atmosphere of the Hammer movie-making experience for the statuesque blonde actress, who was almost completely inexperienced, having had only a handful of uncredited bit parts before she landed her first job at the famous studio. “The whole beauty of Hammer was that it was like a big family,” she said. “You were cherished.” So much so that after the filming of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Cushing wrote Carlson’s parents a “beautiful” letter, complimenting her on her performance.

The two actors had bonded over the shared trauma of being forced to film a last-minute rape scene, which had been ordered by “the higher-ups, the distributors” who feared that there was not enough sex in the film to entice people into the cinemas. Nobody in the crew was happy about the new scene, least of all Carlson, who had a no-nudity clause in her contract. Indeed, she and Cushing were quite distressed about it.

Carlson in 1969

He clasped her hands and told her to remember that it was not him in the scene but his character. “Peter said: ‘Darling, I don’t like this any more than you do.’ We worked out how to do it, between us. They wanted him to strip me, to take hold of my neckline and tear it down to my waist, you see. Peter said: ‘I’m not going to do this.’ After we shot the scene, Peter just held me. I was trembling and he was trembling. We were both so upset. We just stayed there, very, very still until we composed ourselves and then we got up and walked out. It was the only time that I felt such a sombre atmosphere on a Hammer film.”

She was born Veronica Mary Glazier in Emley, West Yorkshire, in 1944. Her mother, Edith (née Allatt) was a housemaid when she met her father, William Glazier, an RAF officer. After the Second World War, the family moved around but spent a few years in Norfolk, where she and her younger sister, Elizabeth, attended Thetford Girls’ School. Eventually, they moved to High Wycombe, while her father worked for the Ministry of Defence. “It was,” she later said, “a very strict upbringing.”

When the young woman was 16, one of her teachers “rescued” her by telling her mother that she had a gift and should go to art college. “It was wonderful for me,” she said.

It was while she was studying art at High Wycombe College of Technology and Design that she caught the acting bug, and appeared in college revues and operettas. She was still a student when, in 1967, she auditioned for the Morecambe and Wise film The Magnificent Two. She had heard that they needed a girl who could do judo and she had mastered the basics, so she headed to Pinewood, dressed in trousers and a sweater, only to find that every other girl was wearing a bikini.

She was about to withdraw from the audition when the producer called her name and asked her to show them what she could do. “And there was a girl dressed as a bona fide judo person so, knowing some judo moves, I threw her over my head and I got the job!”

Her first speaking part was in her debut Hammer movie, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968), in which she played a clergyman’s niece who is bitten by the vampire count, played by Christopher Lee. She became known as the English rose of the group of buxom young actresses who regularly appeared in the popular horror films.

Jane Carr was born in Essex in 1950. She has two classic film performances to her credit. In 1968 she was the gullable Mary McGregor under the spell of Maggie Smith in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and then in 1970 in “Something for Everyone” as the daughter of Angela Lansbury. She was also hilarious in 1977 on the stage in “Once A Catholic” in London’s West End. Jane Carr moved to the U.S. and starred in the television series “Dear John” and in “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

Gary Brumburgh’s entry:

Since the late 1980s, American audiences have embraced the “veddy British” talents of character actress Jane Carr — she with the close-set eyes, lilting voice, trowel jaw and bubbly disposition. It helps, of course, having natural comedic timing and the necessary vocal skills to be in constant demand.

She was born Ellen Jane Carr on August 13, 1950, in Loughton, Essex. The daughter of Patrick Carr, a steel erector, and Gwendoline Rose (née Clark), a postal employee, an innate gift for performing was discovered early on by a teacher. As a result, she took acting classes at the Arts Educational School and Corona Stage School, both in London.

Jane made her stage debut at age 14 in a production of “The Spider’s Web”, then went on to appear as the impressionable, ill-fated student “Mary McGregor” in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, starring Vanessa Redgrave at the Wyndham’s Theatre in 1966. Earning smashing reviews, Jane recreated her shy, stuttering misfit with a delicate mixture of pathos and poignancy in the film version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), this time with Oscar-winning Maggie Smith at the helm as the dangerously influential schoolteacher. A year later, Jane displayed just how extensive her range is projecting devilish menace and merriment in the little known but excellent cult black comedySomething for Everyone (1970), which became a cinematic highlight in the careers of both Michael York and Angela Lansbury, as well.

In the early 70s, Jane made fine use of her prim, “plain Jane” looks for comic effect on several British TV series and in guest appearances. Loftier moments came with the superb series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) and a production of Daphne Laureola (1978), that starred esteemed acting couple Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright.

Never far from the stage, Jane appeared in “Spring Awakening” in 1974 and earned a 1977 Laurence Olivier nomination for her work in “Once a Catholic”. In 1978, she became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and added a solid body of classics to her theatrical resumé, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Olivier nomination), “The Tempest”, “As You Like It”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “The Merchant of Venice” (withAlec Guinness) and “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. She also reconnected with her “Jean Brodie” co-star Maggie Smith in a production of “The Way of the World” in 1985.

It was not until 1986 that Jane came to the States playing multiple key roles in the epic RSC revival of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” on Broadway. When the touring company returned to England, Jane elected to stay in Los Angeles. The following year, she married Chicago-born actor Mark Arnott. They have a son, Dash Arnott (aka Dashiel James Arnott).

Jane proceeded to develop an American fanbase after being cast in the role of warm and fizzy Louise Mercer in the sitcom Dear John (1988), which lasted four seasons. With her chirpy British tones, she also managed to carve a career for herself in animated voicework. While she continues to appear occasionally on TV and in films, she hasn’t found quite the showcase she did with Dear John (1988), but has enhanced a number of such off-kiltered shows as Curb Your Enthusiasm (1999) and Monk (2002) with her unique brand of comedy.

Recent plays have included “The Cider House Rules”, “Noises Off”, “Blithe Spirit” (as “Madame Arcati”), “Habeas Corpus” and David Hare‘s “Stuff Happens (as “First Lady Laura Bush” opposite Keith Carradine‘s bemused “President Bush”). Jane’s latest venture on Broadway has been as “Mrs. Brill” in the musical, “Mary Poppins”.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Frank Lawton was born in 1904 in London. His career was mainly in Britain but he did go to Hollywood to play the young adult David in George Cukor’s “David Copperfield” opposite Maureen O’Sullivan in 1935. His other films include “The Mill on the Floss”, “The Four Just Men” and “Went the Day Well” in 1942. He was long married to the actress Evelyn Laye. Frank Lawton died in London in 1969.

The Devil Doll, poster, Frank Lawton, Maureen O’Sullivan, 1936. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

Mark Strong. TCM Overview.

Mark Strong is one of the best of film actors currently on the screen. He is also one of the busiest and it is hoped that he would soon be in leading man roles. He was born in 1963 in London to an Italian father and an Austrian mother. He studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

He first came to prominence in the third of the “Prime Suspect” series with Helen Mirren. In 1996 he was in the superb TV drama “Our Friends From the North” with Gina McKee, Daniel Craig and Christopher Eccleston. His film roles include “Century” in 1993, “Fever Pitch”, “The Long Firm”, “Low Winter Sun”, “RocknRolla”, “Body of Lies”, “Sherlock Holmes” and “Robin Hood”. He is an actor to watch.

TCM Overview:

Austere yet handsome, Mark Strong’s chameleon-like talents made him a hugely sought-after villain in both big-budget action and independent films after a lengthy career in his native England. He gave good bad guy in Guy Ritchie’s “Revolver” (2005), the dramatic thriller “Syriana” (2005), and Matthew Vaughnâ’s fantasy “Stardust” (2007). Strong played the heavy in the comedy “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” (2008) before reuniting twice with Ritchie to anchor “RocknRolla” (2008) and essay the satanic Lord Blackwood in the Robert Downey, Jr./Jude Law hit adventure, “Sherlock Holmes” (2009).

Continuing to work with a laundry list of great film directors, Strong worked twice under the direction of Ridley Scott as the Jordanian Head of Intelligence in “Body of Lies” (2008), and then wreaked further havoc as Godfrey opposite Russell Crowe in “Robin Hood” (2010). Also that year, Strong scared a younger audience as the mob boss in the kids-turned-superheroes hit “Kick-Ass” (2010). With an admitted penchant for playing his deliciously evil roles to the hilt, Strong counted greats such as Sir Ian McKellen among his many fans. Going bad only ended up being a good thing for this talented actor.

Marco Giuseppe Salussolia was born Aug. 30, 1963 in London, England to a teenage Austrian mother and an Italian father who walked out the family shortly afterwards. Strong’s mother changed his last name to help her son better fit in with his peers. At age five, Strong who spoke both English and German was sent away to a state-funded boarding school in Surrey, as his single mother found it difficult to handle some of his behaviors. Though he desperately missed home, Strong thrived in his new environment and occupied his alone time with much reflection and people-watching. He became adept at solo travel and music, singing lead in a noisy punk bank called Private Party. Strong performed in one play, but found that it held little luster for him.

After he graduated, he headed to Munich to study law, but bailed after a year and returned to London. He happened upon drama courses at Royal Holloway, where he earned a degree, and which led to post-grad work at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School.

Strong spent the next eight years on stage and carved out a significant career with high-profile parts in productions of “The Iceman Cometh” with Kevin Spacey, David Mamet’s “Speed the Plow” in the West End, and Sam Mendes’s “Twelfth Night,” for which he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role.

In 1989, Strong began work on television in a variety of guest-spots, which included an installment of the highly regarded crime-drama series “Prime Suspect 3” (ITV, 1993), as an inspector opposite Helen Mirren’s formidable Jane Tennison.

The actor won more notice on the BAFTA-winning, “Our Friends in the North” (BBC, 1996), as Tosker, whose get-rich-quick schemes invariably fail. Strong brought an earthly strength to his role as Mr. Knightley opposite Kate Beckinsale in the televised adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” (ITV, 1996), and was the sports-obsessed best friend to Colin Firth in the big screen romantic comedy set against the world of soccer in “Fever Pitch” (1997).

Strong also became a fixture on television, resuming his character Larry Hall now promoted to Detective Chief Superintendent on “Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness” (ITV, 2003), that he was gifted with a career-changing role on the four-part crime-drama series “The Long Firm” (BBC, 2004). Strong played East End gangster Harry Starks, who had no qualms about silencing enemies with a white-hot poker down the throat. Strong, however, had to convince both the writer and director that he could plumb the darker waters Starks occupied. In doing so, he won the 2005 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor, and was also nominated for the 2005 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor.

Deciding to focus on film over television, Strong perfected his menace with Guy Ritchie’s crime thriller “Revolver” (2005), where he was the steely sharp assassin Sorter, and then inhabited the Lebanese-Muslim Mussawi in the thrill-ride look at international corruption within the oil industry in “Syriana” (2005), opposite George Clooney. In the Ridley and Tony Scott-produced medieval romantic legend “Tristan & Isolde” (2006),

Strong was the murderous, power seeking Lord Wictred, and in the action fantasy “Stardust” (2007) directed by Matthew Vaughn, the actor played a cruel prince in pursuit of both the throne and immortality. In “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” (2008), Strong was a controlling 1930s nightclub owner addicted to cocaine, and in “RocknRolla” (2008), he played a gangster.

He was nominated for the 2009 British Supporting Actor of the Year by the London Critics Circle Film Awards for the dramatic thriller “Body of Lies” (2008). Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Russell Crowe, the spy film featured Strong as Hani Salaam, the deceptive head of Jordanian General Intelligence Department.

Buoyed by successful, versatile portrayals, the demand for Strong in bigger and meatier fare saw the actor as both ambitious and malicious as Sir John Conroy, advisor to the Queen in the highly touted historical drama “Young Victoria” (2009).

Strong was a standout in his third pairing with Ritchie in the action-mystery “Sherlock Holmes” (2009), based on the tale of the famous detective. Opposite Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, Strong played the main antagonist, the aristocratic Satanist and serial killer, Lord Blackwood, and was universally praised as a convincing and creepy villain that gave the film its only dark edge.

Strong kept with the sinister, but moved to a new genre with the kid-powered yet surprisingly violent action-comedy “Kick-Ass” (2010), based on the comic book of the same name. The critically and commercially successful film a re-team with director Vaughn featured Strong as the main heavy, Frank D’Amico, a Mafioso, whose facade of respectability was crushed by an adult and two children dressed like superheroes intent on justice.

With “Sherlock” under his belt, Strong tackled another English legend this time, “Robin Hood” (2010), as directed by Ridley Scott and embodied by Russell Crowe, with Cate Blanchett onboard as Maid Marian. This retelling of the myth of Sherwood Forest featured Strong once again as the antagonist, Anglo-French double agent, Sir Godfrey, henchman to the ruthless King John (Kevin Durand).

This was followed by key roles in the well-received espionage story “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (2011) and Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden story “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012). Unfortunately, Strong also co-starred in the notorious science fiction flop “John Carter” (2012) during this time. In 2013, Strong landed his first major role in American television, playing Detroit policeman Frank Agnew in the corruption drama “Low Winter Sun” (AMC 2013- )

By J.F. Pryor

The above TCM Overview can also be accessed online here.

Low Winter Sun 1 Sheet – Low Winter Sun _ Season 1 _ Keyart – Courtesy of AMC

Georgina Hale. IMDB.

Georgina Hale was born in 1943 in Ilford, Essex. She began acting in British television in the mid 1960’s. Ken Russell recognised her talents and cast her in 1971 in “The Devils”, “The Boyfriend”, “Mahler” and “Liztomania”. She has also starred with Alan Bates in “Butley” by Simon Gray. She is currently in the populat television series “Hollyoaks”. Georgina Hale is one of my favourite actresses.

Her IMDB biography:

Georgina Hale is an accomplished stage actress who has made many memorable forays in cinema. Most notably in the films of Ken Russell including her performance as Alma Mahler, in a wonderful and visually rich biopic on the composer Mahler (1974) which she won a BAFTA (British Academy Award) for. Two other standout performances were in Russell’s notorious The Devils (1971) and the Twiggy musical The Boyfriend in which she deliciously plays Fay, camping it up, in a backstage lesbian sub plot. She has made in-joke cameos in two further Russell films: Lisztomania (1975) and Valentino (1977).

Unfortunately roles were not forthcoming after her BAFTA win (who knows why?) and she made some pretty bad movie choices such as the film version of the tacky Joan Collinsnovel The World Is Full of Married Men (1979) and McVicar (1980) as well as the occasional stunner such as Butley (1974), written by playwright Simon Gray. Georgina has appeared in many of Gray’s stage plays (many have been filmed for British television with her starring) along side Alan Bates and Glenda Jackson and continues to work in British theatre. Georgina has made many appearances as guest star in television series including: Upstairs, Downstairs (1971), The Protectors (1972), Ladykillers (1980), Minder(1979), Boon (1986), One Foot in the Grave (1990), Murder Most Horrid (1991), The Vicar of Dibley (1994), three episodes of Doctor Who (1963) and many many more.

She has starred in two television series: Budgie (1971), a successful series in the seventies, and in the early nineties a cult children’s series based around a witch like figure called T-Bag. Most recently she has appeared in a comic role in Preaching to the Perverted (1997) in which her character points out that sometimes one has to debase one’s self to further one’s career. This film may not further her career (at age 55 she does a Sharon Stoneunder-table leg trick) but it will add to her growing reputation as one of the UK’s favorite cult actresses.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: strangeboy76@hotmail.com

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

Sadly Georgina Hale died in January in 2024 at the age of 80.