Baker made a brief appearance in Only Fools and Horses, in the episode “The Second Time Around“, as Del Boy (David Jason)’s ex-fiance, Pauline Harris. She was married to actor Bob Peck from 1982 until his death in 1999. They had three children.
Article on May Hallatt from Tina Aumont’s Eyes” website:
Cheery and diminutive, the British actress May Hallatt only appeared in a handful of prominent movies in her thirty year career, but she managed to create some memorable characters along the way. A versatile actress with stage experience she could be spotted in some notable box office favourites as well as works by such eminent writers, including Dickens, Jane Austen and Mark Twain.
Born Marie Effie Hullatt in Scarborough, England, on May 1st 1876, May Hallatt made her screen debut in 1934, although her first role of note came five years later when she played the wife of Wilfred Hyde-White’s Lord Battersby in ‘The Lambeth Walk’ (’39). A jolly little musical based on the play ‘Me and My Girl’; it told the story of a lowly cockney (comedian Lupino Lane) who unwittingly inherits a title and castle. After playing a canal boat worker in Charles Crichton’s Ealing Studio quickie ‘Painted Boats’ (’45), Hallatt’s first memorable role was as the feisty caretaker Angu Ayah in Powell & Pressburger’s religious drama ‘Black Narcissus’ (47). Following bit parts in the music hall drama ‘Trottie True’ (’49) and the excellent ‘The Pickwick Papers’ (’52), May played an eccentric passenger on board a train packed with gold, in the mediocre ‘Lady Vanishes’ knock-off ‘The Gold Express’ (’55).
The role that Hallatt will forever be remembered for is her wonderful turn as the solitary Miss Meacham, in Delbert Mann’s Oscar-winning drama ‘Separate Tables’ (’58). A part she originated on stage, Hallatt was a joy to watch and stole every scene she was in as the shuffling, sports-loving spinster. Other notable movies at this time included Alec Guinness’s pet project ‘The Horses Mouth’ (’58), and Jack Clayton’s superb adult drama ‘Room at the Top’ (’59).
After playing chatty neighbour Mrs Bates in a 1960 television production of Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’, Hallatt had a small yet funny part in the terrific Terry-Thomas comedy ‘Make Mine Mink’ (’60). Aged 87, Hallatt’s final movie appearance was as aunt Sarah in the entertaining drama ‘Bitter Harvest’ (’63), which starred the tragic Janet Munro as a young Welsh dreamer in search of happiness.
The mother of familiar Seventies actor Neil Hallett, May died in London on May 20th 1969, she was 93. Another of those wonderfully eccentric characters, May Hallatt only appeared in a couple of dozen features, but she brought so much to even the smallest of roles, and I think she would have made an ideal tweed-wearing Miss Marple.
Favourite Movie: Separate Tables Favourite Performance: Separate Tables
The above article can also be accessed online here.
Charlie Creed-Miles was born on March 24, 1972 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. He is an actor and writer, known for The Fifth Element (1997), Harry Brown(2009) and Wild Bill (2011).
Tom Ward was born on January 11, 1971 in Swansea, Wales. He is an actor, known forSilent Witness (1996), Quills (2000) and The Lost World (2001). He has been married to Emily Hohler since 2001. They have three children.
Carlo Giustini was born on May 4, 1923 in Viterbo, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor, known forEl Cid (1961), The Savage Innocents (1960) and Barabbas (1961).
Pleasingly pretty Barbara Lyon was the Hollywood-born daughter of popular film couple,Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels but, to millions of British radio listeners, she would forever symbolize the perennial, over-emotive teen — the “Judy Jetson” of the post-World War II set, as it were. Born on September 9, 1931, Barbara was 19 when “Life with the Lyons” first took to the radio waves on November 5, 1950, and was still playing the part, broaching age 30, when the TV version finally left the air. Cast along with real-life younger brother, Richard Lyons, as Ben and Bebe’s children, the opening lines remained the same throughout the show’s run: “I’m Richard Lyon! I’m Barbara Lyon! I’m Ben Lyon! And I’m Bebe Daniels Lyon! As the eternal teenager who suffered the slings and arrows of school-life misfortune, swooning Barbara’s famous catchphrase on the show became part of a teen lexicon of the 1950s: “I’ll die — I’ll just die!”
Barbara initially arrived in Europe, with her parents, when they made their British film debuts in 1933. Prompted by the popular radio success of the Nelson family in America, “Life with the Lyons” went on to become the very first situation comedy in Britain and the new concept was a sure-fire hit. Brother Richard had already become a seasoned young actor in a number of Hollywood films by the time he appeared on the show. The Lyon family was soon accepted and firmly established as part of the British entertainment scene. The success of the series spawned both a stage play and two feature films: Family Affair (1954) and The Lyons Abroad (1955). The radio series moved to BBC Television and Life with the Lyons (1955), then crossed over to the new Independent Television in 1957, the first series ever to do so. The series ended in 1960.
In her mid-20s, Barbara decided to venture outside her established mold and pursue work as a singer. She earned a Columbia Record Company contract in 1955, as well as a “Top Twenty” hit song with “Stowaway”. A second hit came with “Letter from a Soldier”, which made it to #27. Other popular numbers Barbara recorded for Columbia included such “boy songs” as “I’m Just Wild About Harry”, “Puppy Love” and “Johnny is the Boy for Me”. Her singing career, however, was brief and never matched her success on TV.
The dark-haired and glamorous Barbara was given her own short-lived TV series, “Dream Time With Barbara” (1955), in which she also sang and, the following year, she married the show’s producer, Russell Turner. The marriage did not last. In 1968, she married an accountant, Colin Burkitt, a union that produced one son. That, too, ended in divorce. Barbara faded from the scene following her 1962 TV guest appearances on McHale’s Navy (1962) and My Three Sons (1960). Her later years, unfortunately, were not happy ones. Forgotten and dogged by physical and financial ills, she died of a brain hemorrhage in West Middlesex, England, on July 10, 1995, at just 63.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Townsend was born and brought up in Dublin. After attending Wesley College, Dublin, he studied mathematics and civil engineering at Trinity College. While there he joined the Dublin University Players, the college’s Amateur Dramatic Society. He later co-founded co-operative theatre company Rough Magic with writer/director Declan Hughes and theatre director Lynne Parker, performing in numerous productions includingThe Country Wife, Nightshade, andSexual Perversity in Chicago. He subsequently went on to perform in several productions at The Gate and The Abbey Theatres in Dublin. In London, he has worked with such directors as Sam Mendes in The Plough and the Stars, Richard Eyre in Guys and Dolls and Rufus Norris in Under the Blue Sky. Theatre appearances at the Royal Court include The Alice Trilogy directed by Ian Rickson and Shining City directed by Conor McPherson, for which he won an Irish Theatre Award and was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor in 2004.[1]
Career
Townsend’s television work began on a number of shows for RTÉ in Dublin. Since moving to London, television appearances have included Spooks, The Commander, Hustle, Waking the Dead, and Omagh Bombing.
Antonia Campbell-Hughes was born in 1982 in Northern Ireland. She is an actress and writer, known for Albert Nobbs (2011), Bright Star (2009) and The Canal (2014)
Born to an Irish mother and English father, Antonia grew up in USA, Germany and Switzerland. She was named one of Screen Internationals Stars of Tomorrow in 2011, and was awarded the Berlinale Shooting Star award in 2012.
