Early and forgotten British celebs

[Goldilocks3108]

Many years ago, when I was 8 or 9 Diana Dors was signing copies of her book in Guildford (I think in Debenhams). My mum was seriously I’ll with cancer at the time and I think Diana Dors was being treated for breast cancer. She was so lovely! Huge, tanned, all in hot pink with white blonde hair. She signed my mums book and saw that I’d been bought a book too (Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox) and signed that for me too! Biggest regret is not keeping it! She died not very long afterwards

 

[NomDeGuerre]

She’s in it for less than five minutes but it’s a completely scene stealing performance. The switch from vulnerable to menacing and back again demonstrates what an extraordinary actress she was.

 

[House of Tea]

Sylvia Syms. Really outstanding character actor.

I was going to add her earlier. She was so beautiful too.

 

[Cosmo69]

Not British but remember some of the horror films ‘60’s and 70’s I loved the actor Vincent Price,loved his voice,i remember I was about 15 and see my first X film,Fall of the house of Usher,loved it.He had a menacing way,he was supposed to be a lovely man,very friendly and knowledgable married for many years to actress Coral Browne(who had been in some good films herself)

When Coral died and Vincent was planning the funeral, the priest asked him, 'Did she have some favourite hymns?' To which he replied, 'Yes. And quite a few favourite hers, too'.

 

[Pipsy]

Thread for celebs of the past.

A new discovery for me, Yvonne Buckingham who played Christine Keeler.

 

[NomDeGuerre]

Yootha Joyce - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yootha Joyce. I think she was highly underrated.

She was truly a fabulous actress (and has been my longtime avatar on here!)

There's an old film, The Pumpkin Eater, in which she does a fabulously menacing turn. There's a one woman play doing the rounds at the moment all about her later life - it's called The Testament of Yootha and is brilliant.

 

[House of Tea]

Many years ago I was close friends to a gay man
,we went everywhere as he lived in Holborn area loads of clubs and pubs.Well before the flat he rent he told me he rented a flat and downstairs lived Yootha,he said she was a really love,y lady but would get nasty when she was pissed which was quite a lot.

She was only 53 when she died. She looked older. She had drunk 1/2 bottle of brandy every day in the 10 years before her death. Liver issues. Shame.

She was married to the actor who played Dave the Barman in Minder for a bit.

 

[House of Tea]

Wasn’t Hattie Jacques married to John Le Mesurier - odd pairing??!!

 

[Lalla]

Remember the actress Kay Kendall Married to Rex Harrison died in ‘59 of Leukemia.

Kay Kendall's story is so sad, she was only 32. She and Rex Harrison had an affair while he was married; Kay then fell ill and Rex and his wife Lilli agreed to divorce so he could marry Kay and care for her til the end of her life - on the basis they would get married again after Kay died (they didn't in the end though).

They never told her she was terminally ill, she thought she had an iron deficiency.

 

[dorydaryl]

I still watch the Carry On films whenever I can. I just find them so relaxing and laugh out loud at all the jokes again and again. One of my favourites is Carry on Cabby with Hattie Jaques and Sid James. She plays the downtrodden wife who starts her own rival cab company. Early Feminism at work in the 60s

Ah, for the 'pre-woke' days in which people didn't read subtext into everything gender based and the 'jokes' were on the men as much as the women.

 

[Cosmo69]

I loved Yootha Joyce and was fascinated by her when I was a kid. Something quite domineering but glamorous about her (though, I suppose her reality may not have been quite so).

Talking of old books, one charity shop find that sticks in my mind was Quentin Crisp's "How To Become A Virgin" which I bought about 30-odd years ago and even then it was pretty ancient. I suppose, in the days before clickbait, this was the closest we got!! Was a great read. Quentin always made a fun, offbeat interviewee. I really should seek out more of his books.
View attachment 1346263

I knew him a little. I could never quite believe how someone who was treated so badly earlier in his life could be so kind and trusting to strangers, but he always was. Very intelligent, very insightful and a heart of gold.

One of my weirdest memories: I was talking to him once in Covent Garden when, of all people, SU POLLARD arrived from nowhere, wearing the most bizarre outfit and shouting with excitement. Quentin was his usual polite self but you could see the alarm in his eyes!

 

[regularvoltaire]

Diana Dors, very famous, but probably not to a lot of people. She was a caricature character but I saw her in an old black and white movie Yield to the Night which was riveting.
[/QUOTE]
My grandad had an affair with her. He also had flowers sent to him by elvis after one of his wrestling shows. He was amazing.

 

[panda_eyes]

This article is hilarious:

Rex Harrison: His greatest hits - Comedy Chronicles - British Comedy Guide

The jaw-dropping tale of Rex Harrison, who may have been one of Hollywood's biggest stars but elicited far more anger than admiration amongst those he met.

www.comedy.co.uk

I haven't even finished reading it and I completely agree. He sounds AWFUL but it's so funny hearing people lose it with him.

"...an elderly fur-wrapped woman, who had been standing alone in the rain outside the stage door for the best part of an hour, made the mistake of asking Harrison for his autograph. Rex, impatient to rush off to his next row at a restaurant, told her to 'sod off' and went to walk past to his smart chauffeur-driven car. This so enraged the woman that she promptly rolled up her programme and hit him with it, not once but repeatedly, hard on the head and shoulders, much to the amusement of his co-star, Stanley Holloway, who had just emerged from inside the theatre. Holloway later declared that it was a rare but welcome case of the 'fan hitting the shit'."

 

[Pipsy]

Jean Simmons, who outshone Laurence Olivier in Hamlet imo. I seem to remember reading he cast her as Ophelia because she reminded him of Vivien. She's another English actress probably better known in the US. I love her characterful face.

 

[Cosmo69]

I have an autobiography to read about Rex Harrison. Apparently he was a bastard. Nobody liked him.

I liked the Stanley Holloway quote on this - I thought Noel C was supposed to have said it rather than SH.

Rex Harrison - Trivia - IMDb

Rex Harrison. Actor: My Fair Lady. Rex Harrison was born Reginald Carey Harrison in Huyton, Lancashire, England, to Edith Mary (Carey) and William Reginald Harrison, a cotton broker. He changed his name to Rex as a young boy, knowing it was the Latin word for "King". Starting out on his theater...

m.imdb.com

This article is hilarious:

Rex Harrison: His greatest hits - Comedy Chronicles - British Comedy Guide

The jaw-dropping tale of Rex Harrison, who may have been one of Hollywood's biggest stars but elicited far more anger than admiration amongst those he met.

www.comedy.co.uk

Very odd pairing. He seemed like a really stuffy posh sort. The mind boggles

He wasn't stuffy. He was very easygoing, smoked jazz cigarettes, disappeared for days clubbing and was a big fan of Earth Wind and Fire!

 

[PeteM]

I just saw the publicity for the BBC programme on Dusty Springfield. I had no idea she was a lesbian.

You're gonna shit the bed when you find out that George Michael was gay.

 

[Eirawen]

Cilla is to Dusty what Kwik Save is to Waitrose.

Dusty was a fabulous singer Cilla was rubbish In Can't understand why she was so successful her career should have been singing to campers in a Rhyl caravan site.

 

[Purrrrrrr]

Agreed. She was starting to get roles as a character actress rather than the ex blonde bombshell. She had quite the life, with lots of tragedies. Her widower came to a tragic end too, and her son too.

I loved Diana, one of my favourite characters she played was Mrs Wickens. She played some really good parts and she was a very witty clever lady. I was very sad when she died.

 

[House of Tea]

I love Eric Morecambe. He had the loveliest, twinkle in his eye. Nobody comes close to Morecambe and Wise.

 

[dorydaryl]

Does anyone remember a group of ladies called the Rolly Pollies? I often wonder if any of them are still with us?

My dad was a working men's club secretary and often booked Mo Moreland (the little blonde one with glasses who was the central 'character') as she did cabaret work with her husband (Roy), their friend (Tony) and a little singing dog. She was amazing. She sang, too, and we got her LP when dad took me to meet her at the Central Club in Blackpool (Les Dawson often performed there and they had been good friends for years). It was about 1980 and I sat on her knee as we posed for a photo. I was fascinated by her and she was so lovely. She and my dad were chatting like old friends. She lived in Lytham St Anne's (Blackpool's 'posh' end) and, I think, still does. I think she's alive as there are no reports of her passing, although her husband, Roy, has gone. She is well into her eighties, now, if so (born 1936). Last I heard she'd been somewhat unwell and obviously retired.

Don't know anything about the other Roly Polys, unfortunately.