British Actors Archives - Page 118 of 124

Norman Bird

Norman Bird seemed to have cornered the market in British films as nervous fusspots or hen-pecked husbands. Life always seemed such a worry to him. He was born in 1920 in Coalville, England. He made his West End debut in Peter Brook’s “A Winter’s Tale” in 1951. His many film credits include “The Angry Silence”, “Whistle Down the Wind”, “Victim” and “Term of Trial”. He made over 200 film appearances, the last been “Shadowlands” with Anthony Hopkins in 1993. Norman Bird died in 2005.

Tom Vallance’s obituary on Norman Bird in “The Independent”:

Norman Bird, actor: born Coalville, Leicestershire 30 October 1920; married 1954 Nona Blair (two daughters); died Wolverhampton, West Midlands 22 April 2005.

One of the British cinema’s most reliable character actors, Norman Bird was a moustached, anxious-looking, doleful figure who once described himself as “the man with the cardigan”. He excelled at playing working-class men, such as minor officials, sales clerks or henpecked husbands, a body of work succinctly described by Brian McFarlane’s Encyclopedia of British Film as “a wonderful gallery of under-achievers.”

Two of his best roles were those of factory workers – as a striker in Guy Green’s The Angry Silence (1960), and as shop steward Sid Stubbins in the television series Up The Workers (1973). He was memorably effective as the shifty farm labourer in Bryan Forbes’s beautiful study of childhood faith, Whistle Down the Wind (1961), and he will also be remembered as Mr Braithwaite (with Megs Jenkins as his wife) in the popular television series Worzel Gummidge (1979/80).

Born in 1920 (some sources say 1924) in Leicestershire, he did office work briefly before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He spent the war years in the RAF, then worked in repertory, where he met his wife, Nona Blair, later to be the voice of Joan Hood on The Archers. In 1950 he joined John Gielgud’s company to be an understudy in Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not for Burning, and he toured the United States with the play. The following year he made his London stage début in The Winter’s Tale, directed by Peter Brook.

He made his first appearance on screen in Guy Hamilton’s An Inspector Calls (1954), playing a factory foreman in this adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s play starring Alastair Sim. It was the first of over 60 film roles, and he was even more prolific on television, claiming to have made over 200 appearances.

While at Rada, he had formed a lifelong friendship with Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes, and his second film was their production League of Gentlemen (1959), directed by Basil Dearden. In this delightful caper movie (the sixth biggest UK box-office hit of its year) he was the former bomb disposal officer who was responsible for the deaths of four men in his unit while drunk on duty. Now living with a nagging wife who dotes on her senile father, a TV soap-opera addict, he is a willing recruit into a team of former military men who apply their wartime skills to bring off an elaborate heist.

Next came The Angry Silence (1960), the first film to be made by Beaver Films, a production company formed by Attenborough and Forbes, and Bird played in several other films directed by Forbes, including Whistle Down the Wind, The Wrong Box (1966), The Raging Moon (1970) and The Slipper and the Rose (1976). He was also in Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) and Young Winston (1972) and his last screen role was that of a taxi-driver in Attenborough’s Shadowlands (1993).

Other notable roles included a closet homosexual being blackmailed in Basil Dearden’s ground-breaking drama Victim (1961), the commandant of a military stockade in Sidney Lumet’s The Hill (1965), and he was the voice of Bilbo Baggins in Ralph Bakshi’s animated version of Lord of the Rings (1978).

His television roles included Z Cars, The Saint, The Avengers (a 1966 episode titled “Silent Dust”), Dixon of Dock Green, Steptoe and Son, Coronation Street (the role of Joe Hibbert in 1978), Yes, Minister (as another trade union official), and Boon. His last television role was that of a grandfather in the political drama, Crossing the Floor (1996).

In 1992 Bird and his wife, who lived in Middlesex, moved to Bridgnorth, Shropshire, to be near their two daughters and five grandchildren.

Tom Vallance

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

Norman Bird (1924–1994) was the “Everyman” of British cinema and television. A prolific character actor with over 200 credits, he specialized in playing the quiet, often put-upon working-man, the reliable clerk, or the slightly anxious suburbanite. While he rarely saw his name above the title, Bird was a vital “glue” actor whose presence lent an immediate sense of grounded reality and mid-century British authenticity to any production.

Career Overview

Bird’s career was defined by its consistency and his ability to transition seamlessly between the “Kitchen Sink” realism of the 1960s and the light entertainment of the 1970s and 80s.

The Repertory Foundation: Like many of his generation, Bird honed his craft in regional theater and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). His stage work with the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s placed him at the heart of the “Angry Young Men” movement.
The Cinematic Peak (1960s): This was his most critically significant era. He became a favorite of directors like Bryan Forbes and Basil Dearden, appearing in landmark films such as The Angry Silence(1960), Whistle Down the Wind (1961), and Victim (1961).
The Television Mainstay (1970s–1990s): As the British film industry contracted, Bird became a household face through television. He was a frequent guest on everything from Steptoe and Son to Doctor Who, and had a memorable recurring role in the sitcom First of the Summer Wine.

Critical Analysis of His Work

1. The Architecture of the “Little Man”

Bird’s primary critical contribution was his elevation of the “ordinary” character. He didn’t play “bores”; he played men for whom life was a series of small, significant struggles.

Analysis: In “The Angry Silence”, he played a worker caught in the middle of a brutal wildcat strike. Bird mastered a specific kind of “hesitant” acting—using small stammers, shifting eyes, and a slightly stooped posture to convey the moral weight of the British working class. He represented the “silent majority” who were neither heroes nor villains, but simply people trying to survive.

2. The Master of Subtle Pathos

Critically, Bird was often praised for his ability to suggest a deep well of internal sadness or anxiety beneath a professional exterior.

Analysis: In the groundbreaking film “Victim” (1961)—the first British film to treat homosexuality seriously—Bird played a man being blackmailed. He captured the paralyzing fear of the era with devastating precision. He didn’t need grand monologues; he used the “tightness” of his mouth and the frantic polishing of his glasses to show a man whose world was collapsing.

3. The “Forbes/Attenborough” Ensemble Player

Bird was a key member of the informal “Beaver Films” repertory company (led by Bryan Forbes and Richard Attenborough).

Analysis: In films like “Whistle Down the Wind” and “The L-Shaped Room”, Bird provided a necessary counterweight to the more expressive leading actors. He was a “reaction actor.” Critics often noted that the realism of these films depended on Bird’s ability to look like he had just stepped off a real London bus or out of a real factory, rather than a dressing room.

4. Vocal Precision and Animation

Bird possessed a distinctive, somewhat “reedy” voice that was both gentle and slightly sharp.

Analysis: This vocal quality made him highly effective in voice-over work, most notably as the voice of Vreeke the Pigeon in the animated Watership Down (1978). He understood that his voice carried a natural vulnerability, which he could “dial up” for comedy or “dial down” for gritty drama.

Key Filmography for Study

Work	Year	Role	Significance
The Angry Silence	1960	Roberts	A definitive performance of working-class moral ambiguity.
Victim	1961	Harold Doe	A brave, early portrayal of a man under the pressure of social taboo.
Whistle Down the Wind	1961	Eddie	Showcased his ability to blend into rural, gritty realism.
The Hill	1965	Commandant’s Clerk	Demonstrated his ability to hold his own in a high-testosterone, macho ensemble.
The Lord of the Rings	1978	Bilbo Baggins	Provided the voice for Bilbo in Ralph Bakshi’s animated epic.

In summary: Norman Bird was the unsung poet of the “Everyday.” He belonged to a class of British actors who believed that “truth” was found in the mundane details of a character’s life. While he may not have the name recognition of his peers like Attenborough or Mills, his filmography is a comprehensive map of 20th-century British social history

Dorothy Alison

Dorothy Alison was a lovely Australian actress who featured in some fine British films in the 1950’s. She was born in Broken Hill in New South Wales. Her first film was “Sons of Matthew” in 1949 in her home country. Her first British film was “Mandy” in 1952. It is one of Alison’s most fondly remembered film performance as the sympathetic teacher of the hearing-impaired who finally gets a young girl to utter sounds in Alexander Mackendrick’s “Mandy” (1952). She gave warm and winning performances in “The Maggie”, “The Long Arm. “Reach for the Sky” and she was especially touching in “The Nun’s Story” in 1959. She played Meryl Streep’s mother in “A Cry in the Dark” in 1988. She died in London in 1992 at the age of 66.

Dorothy Alison was born on April 4, 1925 in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia as Dorothy Dickson. She was an actress, known for See No Evil (1971), A Town Like Alice(1981) and The Nun’s Story (1959). She was married to Leslie Linder. She died on January 17, 1992 in London, England.

“Encyclopedia of British Film” by Brian McFarlane:

“Incisive but sympathetic, Alison was one of the most reliable character players in 1950s British cinema. After two Australian films, “The Sons of Matthew” (1949) and “Eureka Stockade” (1949), she attracted favourable critical notice as the teacher of the deaf in Ealing’s “Mandy” (1952), as ‘Nurse Brace’ in the Douglas Bader biopic “Reach for the Sky” (1956) and as the young housewife who rescues a deranged Richard Attenborough in “The Man Upstairs” (1958) among others. She returned to ASustralian TV and films in the early 1980s, notable as Meryl Streep’s mother in “”Evil Angels” in 1988″

Dorothy Alison (1925–1992) — born Dorothy Dickson in Broken Hill, New South Wales — was one of Australia’s most accomplished mid‑20th century actors, best known for her empathetic, quietly strong portrayals in British cinema and television. Her career bridged Australia and the UK, spanning stage, radio, film, and television, earning her two BAFTA Awards and later a Logie.

Career Overview

Early years and training

Alison grew up in Broken Hill in a family active in local politics and the arts. She took early dance and drama lessons and later trained with Doris Fitton at Sydney’s Independent Theatre. Before leaving for Britain, she worked in Australian radio and for filmmakers Charles and Elsa Chauvel, appearing in Sons of Matthew (1949) and Eureka Stockade (1949)

Breakthrough in Britain

Relocating to London in 1949, she initially worked as a secretary while seeking acting opportunities. Her international breakthrough came with her moving performance as a teacher of a deaf child in Mandy (1952, released in the U.S. as Crash of Silence). The role won her the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer

imdb.com

. The film’s realism and social conscience aligned Alison with the postwar British cinema of emotional restraint and humanist themes.

Established British career

She remained in Britain during the 1950s and ’60s, taking mainly sympathetic, maternal or professionally grounded roles—nurses, teachers, social workers, and family figures. Critics singled her out for warmth and composure, even in small parts. Her turn as Nurse Brace in Reach for the Sky (1956) earned her a BAFTA for Best British Actress, confirming her reputation for understated emotional truth

Subsequent films—among them The Third Key (1956), Georgy Girl (1966), and Pretty Polly (1967)—kept her visible on screen while she continued steady work on the West End stage.

Return to Australia and later work

In the 1980s, Alison enjoyed a late‑career resurgence in Australia. She appeared in the acclaimed television mini‑series A Town Like Alice (1981), winning the 1982 Logie Award for Best Supporting Actress. Later, she portrayed Lindy Chamberlain’s mother in Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark) (1988) opposite Meryl Streep, demonstrating the continuity of her quiet authority across decades of performance

She died in London in 1992, after a career spanning over 55 film and television roles

Critical Analysis

Acting style and persona

Alison’s hallmark was emotional understatement. She specialized in portraying decency under pressure — professional women or mothers who carry compassion without sentimentality. Her performances are characterized by calm vocal control, a grounded physical stillness, and a subtle awareness of others on screen, as was seen in “The Nun’s Story” in 1959. Directors often used her as a stabilizing moral presence in ensemble casts.

Range and versatility

Although she became associated with maternal warmth, Alison possessed considerable range — equally credible in comedies, war films, and serious dramas. Her precise diction and unforced intelligence let her shift between domestic realism (A Town Like Alice), modern social satire (Georgy Girl), and melodrama (Reach for the Sky). This adaptability allowed her to sustain a multi-decade career as a character actress rather than a fleeting star.

Critical reputation and influence

Contemporaries and later critics often cited Alison as one of the understated craftsmen of postwar British film — less famous than her co‑stars but essential to the credibility of the worlds they inhabited. Her work anticipated the later prominence of nuanced female character acting in British television drama. In Australia, she stands as one of the earliest examples of a performer who achieved sustained international recognition.

Limitations and context

The restraint that defined her best performances also contributed to her relative under‑recognition. She was rarely given showy or leading roles; her filmography is dominated by supporting parts. However, this very modesty became her artistic strength — her ability to infuse small roles with humanity frequently elevated entire films.

Legacy

Dorothy Alison’s career traces the route of a classically trained Australian actor who found in Britain’s mid‑century cinema a natural home for empathy and professionalism. Her work in Mandy and Reach for the Sky remains central to women’s and humanitarian representation in postwar British film. Later generations of Australian actors who crossed into international markets — such as Rachel Griffiths or Judy Davis — followed a path she helped establish: integrity, nuance, and cross‑cultural adaptability anchored by craft rather than celebrity

David Whitfield was born in 1925 in Kingston on Hull in Yorkshire. He had many popular Top Ten hits in Britain in the 1950’s per the rock’n’roll era. Among his most famous songs are “Cara Mia”, “Answer Me” and “Marta”. He made only one film “Sea Wife” which starred Richard Burton and Joan Collins. He was featured in may episodes of the television series “William Tell”. He died in 1980 aged 54 in Sydney, Australia.

Artist Biography by Sharon Mawer in “All Music”:

David Whitfield was born on the 2nd of February 1925 in Kingston Upon Hull and as a child, became a choir boy in St. Peter’s Church and began a lifelong love of singing which made him Britain’s most successful solo male star of the chart’s early years 1953-1956 until the advent of Rock n Roll. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 17 and served in the Far East as well as being part of the D Day landings in France in 1944. During his days in the Navy, he would entertain shipmates and also at base hospitals. Returning to civilian life after the war, he began working in the concrete business until a break came as he appeared on the talent show Opportunity Knocks on Radio Luxembourg. The host of the show, Hughie Green got him a booking at the Washington Hotel in the West End of London where a talent scout from Decca records heard him singing and signed him to the label. His first couple of releases were not successful, but the third song, a recording of Bridge Of Sighs finally broke him into the top 10 (the chart was only a top 12 at that time) and the next release, Answer Me went all the way to no.1 despite a partial ban by the BBC for the song’s religious connotations. It had to share the top position with Frankie Laine’s version of the same song and after further top 10 hits, Rags To Riches and The Book (another religious song), he delivered the big one, an absolute cracker of a tenor ballad called Cara Mia backed by Mantovani & His Orchestra which spend 10 weeks at no.1 during July and August 1954 and was the record that earned him a golden disc for one million sales. Cara Mia was also a hit in the US and Whitfield was invited to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show as well as being one of the stars of the 1954 Royal Command Performance alongside Bob Hope, Frankie Howerd, Guy Mitchell, Norman Wisdom, Max Bygraves, Frankie Laine and Howard Keel. Many more hits followed throughout the 1950s but Rock n Roll was destroying the career of many singers who appeared old fashioned and part of the establishment. His final hit was a re-issue of one his earlier songs I Believe in 1960 but that only reached no.49. He recorded I’ll Find You, the song that was used as the theme to the film Sea Wife and continued touring throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His only album chart entry was the Decca compilation World Of David Whitfield which hit no.19 on the separate mid price charts which ran in the UK during the early 1970s. While on tour in Australia in 1980, he suffered a brain haemorrhage and died on the 16th January. His ashes were flown back to the UK where they were carried out to sea, south of Spurn Point near his birthplace of Hull. Over 50 years on, he is still one of only six artists to have spent 10 or more consecutive weeks at no.1 on the singles charts.

The above article can also be accessed online here.

Suzan Farmer was born in Kent in 1942. Her first film was “The Supreme Secret” in 1958. Her other films include “The Wild and the Willing” with Ian McShane to whom she was married from 1965 until 1968. She featured in several Hammer productions such as “The Scarlet Blade” and “Devil Ship Pirates”. Thread on Suzan Farmer on “Britmovie” website here.

James MacPherson is best known for his role as D.I. Jardine in the long running television series “Taggart”. He was born in Hamilton, Scotland in 1960. He first appeared on “Taggart” and featured in 48 episodes of the series. In 2002 he starred in a number of episodes of “The Bill” and in 2005 was in the film “Summer Solstice”.

IMDB mini biography:

James MacPherson was born on March 18, 1960 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He is an actor, known for Taggart (1983), The Scots Detective (2000) and Hurricanes (1993). He has been married to Jacqueline since 1986. They have three children.

George Baker obituary in “The Guardian”

George Baker was born in 1931 in Varna, Bulgaria. He trained at the Old Vic. He made his film debut in 1953 in “The Intruder”. He made his breakthrough in “The Ship that Died of Shame”. Other film highlights include “The Dam Busters”, “The Moonraker”, “A Hill in Korea” and “Goodbye Mr Chips”. He is of course most famous for his long running television series “Inspector Wexford”.

George Baker’s “Independent” obituary:

In 1987, two detectives from contemporary literature were transferred to television and their screen lives ran in parallel for 14 years.

While John Thaw stepped into the opera-loving shoes of Colin Dexter’s Oxford sleuth Inspector Morse, George Baker had his first outing as Ruth Rendell’s Shakespeare-quoting Detective Chief Inspector Wexford in “Wolf to the Slaughter”.

The 6ft 4in Baker traded his crisp vowels for a regional burr in the roleof the affable, fatherly figure investigating crimes in the fictional south of England market town Kingsmarkham. With his dour sidekick, Detective Inspector Mike Burden (Christopher Ravenscroft), he plodded thoughtfully through an alarmingly high number of murder cases.

Reg Wexford was also a dependable husband and doting father, and Rendell revealed that the character traits were taken from her own father. She was so enamoured with Baker’s portrayal that she admitted to writing The Veiled One, the first new Wexford novel published after the television adaptations began, with him in mind.

Following the stand-alone first mini-series, the programmes – featuring 23 stories in all and running until 2000 – were screened as The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and, occasionally, The Ruth Rendell Mystery Movie. Location filming was done in and around the Hampshire town of Romsey, not far from Baker’s own home in Wiltshire.

In 1992, his second wife, the actress Sally Home, died after a three-year fight against cancer. The following year, he married Louie Ramsay – who played his screen wife, Dora, in the Wexford dramas and was a long-time friend of the couple – calling her his “soulmate” and adding: “Sally was the love of my life. With Louie, the love is quite different, but it’s almost as strong.” Ramsay died last March.

Baker was born at the British Embassy in Varna, Bulgaria, where his father, Frank – originally from Wetherby, West Yorkshire – was the honorary British vice-consul. A literate, cultured individual who was a writer and expert wine-taster, Baker was at pains to point out that, according to diplomatic etiquette, he was born on British soil.

When the Second World War broke out, he, his Irish mother Eva and four brothers and sisters moved to Yorkshire. Baker attended Lancing College, West Sussex, before joining Deal repertory company, in Kent, when he was just 15. During national service in Hong Kong he served with the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment. As a horse rider he was made regimental equitation officer but returned to Britain after contracting the intestinal disease sprue, and finished his Army service on a training range in Pembrokeshire.

Baker then acted in repertory theatre across Britain before making his London début as Arthur Wells in a revival of the Frederick Lonsdale drawing-room comedy Aren’t We All? (Haymarket Theatre, 1953). Many roles followed in the West End, and with the Old Vic company (1959-60) and the RSC (1975). He also directed some plays himself, including The Sleeping Prince (St Martin’s Theatre, 1968) and The Lady’s Not for Burning (Old Vic Theatre, 1978). As artistic director, Baker launched his own provincial touring company, Candida Plays (named after his eldest daughter), in 1966.

Film casting directors spotted his matinee-idol looks early on. His first screen appearance, alongside Jack Hawkins, was in The Intruder (1953) and he followed it with a role in theSecond World War drama The Dam Busters (1955). Then came star billing in another war film, A Hill in Korea (1956), and the Civil War adventure The Moonraker (1958).

Baker’s six-week affair with Brigitte Bardot while he was at Pinewood Studios filming The Woman for Joe (1955) and she was making Doctor at Sea put a strain on his marriage to the costume designer Julia Squire, which also suffered from the constant pressure of being in debt. He lived with Sally Home for 10 years before she became his second wife. His confidence was knocked by the film director Tony Richardson’s description of him as the worst actor in England and another disappointment was the James Bond author Ian Fleming’s assertion that Baker would make the perfect 007, before the part went to Sean Connery.

However, Baker appeared in three Bond films: as a Nasa engineer in You Only Live Twice (1967), Captain Benson in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Sir Hilary Bray in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), in which he also dubbed the voice of George Lazenby – in that actor’s one screen appearance as the secret agent – for a scene in which 007 impersonates his character.

Television began to play a bigger part in Baker’s career, with dramatic roles such as the second Number Two in The Prisoner (1967), Tiberius in I, Claudius (1976) and Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn in four feature-length adaptations of Ngaio Marsh’s novels, made in New Zealand in 1977.

He also had some success in sitcoms. After playing Peter Craven’s boss in The Fenn Street Gang (1972), Baker was spun off into his own series, Bowler (1973), in which he was seen as a spiv and petty villain trying to exude class but failing abysmally. Later, alongside Penelope Keith in the first two series of No Job for a Lady (1990-91), he played the Conservative MP Godfrey Eagan, sparring with the newly elected Labour MP Jean Price.

As a writer, Baker adapted four of the Ruth Rendell stories himself and scripted many radio dramas and the television play The Fatal Spring (1980), about the First World War poets Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves, which won the United Nations Media Prize Award of Merit.

In 1999, Baker underwent surgery to remove his prostate gland after being diagnosed with cancer. His autobiography, The Way to Wexford, was published three years later. He also collected together recipes from his own culinary exploits in A Cook for All Seasons (1989). In 2007, Baker was made an MBE for youth club fund-raising activities in his then home village of West Lavington, Wiltshire.

This obituary can also be accessed online here.

Anne Shelton was after Vera Lynn, the most popular female vocalist in Britain during World War Two. She was born in 1923 in Dulwich in London. She began singing in military bases in 1942. She sang with Glenn Miller and his orchestra in Europe. Among her more popular songs were “I’ll be Seeing You”, “Galway Bay”, “Isle of Innisfree” and “Lay Down Your Arms”. Anne Shelton made some films including “Jeannie” in 1941 followed by “King Arthur Was A Gentleman” and “Bees in Paradise”. Anne Shelton died in 1994 at the age of 70.

Her “Independent” obituary:

Patricia Sibley (Anne Shelton), singer: born Dulwich, London 10 November 1973; OBE 1990; married 1953 David Reid (died 1990); died Herstmonceux, East Sussex 31 July 1994.

ANNE SHELTON was, with Vera Lynn, one of Britain’s best-loved popular singers of her generation. She is chiefly remembered as a ‘Forces sweetheart’, who regularly entertained the troops during the Second World War, and who sustained a loyal following that continued well into peacetime. Although she never achieved Lynn’s prominence and popularity, Shelton became a well-loved icon of the period, a promoter of wartime comradeship and tenacity.

She was born Patricia Sibley in Dulwich, south London, in 1923. When only 12 she sang ‘Let the Curtain Come Down’ on the BBC radio evening show Monday Night at Eight. The dance-band leader Albert Ambrose heard her performance, and persuaded her to sing with his prestigious and popular ‘Ambrose Orchestra’. Instead of becoming a child evacuee with her friends, Shelton was given a regular spot (still in her school uniform) in Ambrose’s radio shows. She continued to work for Ambrose during the war, but also enjoyed considerable success in her own right, and with other major bands. On the occasions that Glenn Miller visited Britain she regularly appeared with his band.

Introducing Anne, her own radio show, became highly popular amongst troops. The programme was primarily devised for soldiers serving in the North African desert and ran for over four years. She also presented, with Ronald Shiner, Calling Malta, a show that was a lifeline to troops serving on the island, particularly during the 1942 air bombardment and siege. As with many of her other shows and material, Calling Malta, served as a perfect platform for a style of music that captured the pathos and tone at the time. She had a strong melodious voice which had a dynamic presence. The sentiments and subject-matter of her songs became a ‘bonding’ medium which carried with it its own special nostalgia.

This ‘nostalgic’ quality carried over into her recordings. She had adopted ‘Lili Marlene’ as a signature piece (previously only heard on the radio). An English lyric was added by Tommy Connor and her recording, released in 1944, became an immediate success. She was constantly in demand by this time and appeared in a crop of films which were mainly a fixture of musicals and comedy: King Arthur was a Gentleman (starring the comedian Arthur Askey), Miss London Ltd (1943) and Bees in Paradise (1943).

Immediately after the war, Shelton capitalised on her success as a wartime radio personality, touring Britain extensively. She made numerous guest appearances, including singing alongside Bing Crosby. My parents, who performed in variety, toured with Shelton on many occasions. These included appearances at the London Palladium and with the Royal Commission (which had previously been ENSA). My mother danced with Anne Shelton’s show and remembers her appearance for the army of occupation at the Garrison Theatre, Hamburg. Shelton’s show-stopping number was a little-known song, ‘My Tenement Symphony’, which never failed to evoke audience reaction, usually with the entire front stalls of soldiers cheering and stamping.

In 1949 she recorded an updated version of ‘Lili Marlene’ with ‘The Wedding of Lili Marlene’ and subsequently became the first British artist to cover the entire United States, coast to coast with a tour that lasted a year. Shelton had a degree of early success as a recording artist in America, which was unique for a British artist, recording versions of ‘Galway Bay’ and ‘Be Mine’. Back in Britain in the early Fifties she continued to court the sentimental and nostalgic with ‘My Yiddisha Momma’, ‘I Remember the Cornfields’, ‘Arriverderci Darling’ and ‘Seven Days’. However, in the later Fifties, finding the right material became increasingly difficult for her. It was still the military association which worked best and a Swedish song with English lyrics by Paddy Roberts topped the British charts in 1959 – ‘Lay Down Your Arms’. Her last British success was a cover version of Petula Clark’s hit ‘Sailor’ in 1961 (again – an armed forces connection). She sang ‘You’ll Never Know’ for the Queen Mother (reputedly her favourite song) on her 80th birthday. In the same year 1980, Shelton performed ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ in Yanks, John Schlesinger’s film about GIs in wartime Britain.

Anne Shelton toured extensively, appearing in cabaret, television and world-wide variety. She devoted an increasing amount of her time to charity work and reunion projects for the British Legion and the British Services organisations. In 1990 she was appointed OBE for services to the Not Forgotten Association, a charity which provides care and support for disabled ex-service personnel. Her husband Lieutenant- Commander David Reid died in the same year.

Last November Anne Shelton was invited to record a commemorative album for EMI, Wartime Memories, which was released in April. This was recorded with Dennis Lotis and the Royal Airforce Squadronaires – the band which emerged from Albert Ambrose’s Orchestra in 1939, her first backing.

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

Angela Down was born in 1946 in Hampstead, North London. Her movies include “Mahler” made in 1974 and “Emma” in 1996 directed by Ken Russell. She and her husband have two daughters, Daisy (born 1978) and Emilia (born 1981). Turned down a major cameo in Doctor Who: Attack Of The Cybermen.

Mr Michael Wilding, one of the most popular film stars of the late 1940s, died in hospital on July 9 after a fall at his home near Chichester. He was 66.

His fame rested principally on a series of romantic comedies — The Courtneys of Curzon Street, Spring in Park Lane and Maytime in Mayfair — which, set in an artificial world inhabited by earls and dukes, provided perfect escapism for British cinema-goers suffering the deprivations of rationing and austerity. Enormously successful at the box office, these films teamed Wilding, usually cast as the elegant aristocrat with Anna Neagle, and they were directed by her husband Herbert Wilcox.

In 1949 Wilding was voted the top British star and he was in the leading 10 each year from 1947 to 1950. His stay at the top however proved to be a brief one and he later confessed surprise that his limited talents had taken him so far and brought him the sort of adulation that was later reserved for pop singers. But while he never pretended to any great range or depth, he managed to radiate a certain romantic charm which for a time, at least, millions of film-goers found irresistible.

Wilding was born in West-cliff, Essex, on July 23, 1912, and educated at Christ’s Hospital School. He studied art, and it was as a designer that he first entered the cinema. He established himself in films in notable pictures of the early war period, such as Convoy, Kipps, Cottage to Let, the Big Blockade and Noel Coward‘s In Which We Serve. He married for the first time, in 1937, Miss Kay Young. The marriage was dissolved in 1952.

He joined the Neagle-Wilcox team in 1946 to make Piccadilly Incident, the story of a wartime romance, and though Maytime in Mayfair was the summit of the partnership it was to continue through until 1952 with The Lady with the Lamp — a biography of Florence Nightingale — and Derby Day. In between Wilding was in Sir Alexander Korda’s lush production of An Ideal Husband and made two films for Hitchcock, Under Capricorn and Stage Fright. In 1952 he gave his numerous fans the chance to share a real-life romance when at the age of 40 he married the 20-year-old Elizabeth Taylor. The marriage produced two sons but both it and Wilding’s film career foundered. The marriage was dissolved in 1957 and he spent an unhappy time trying to establish himself in Hollywood, returned to Britain for a succession of mostly undistinguished pictures, and in 1963 announced that he was giving up acting to become an agent.

He did this for three years, but later made a partial comeback in the cinema, playing General Ponsonby in the 1969 picture, Waterloo, and other supporting roles in Lady Caroline Lamb and Dr Frankenstein. He married, in 1958, Mrs Susan Nell. This marriage was dissolved.

Wilding’s fourth marriage, in 1964, was to the actress Margaret Leighton, who died in January, 1976.

Collection of Classic Brittish Actors

Norman Bird

Career Overview

Critical Analysis of His Work

1. The Architecture of the “Little Man”

2. The Master of Subtle Pathos

3. The “Forbes/Attenborough” Ensemble Player

4. Vocal Precision and Animation

Key Filmography for Study

Dorothy Alison

Dorothy Alison

David Whitfield

Artist Biography by Sharon Mawer in “All Music”:

Suzan Farmer

James MacPherson

George Baker

George Baker obituary in “The Guardian”

Anne Shelton

Angela Down

Michael Wilding

ABOUT ME

CATEGORIES

RECENT POSTS