Early and forgotten British celebs

[dorydaryl]

Brian Murphy is married to Linda Regan, who played the whiny, lovesick April in 'Hi-de-Hi'. I'm always interested when some of the former cast pop up here and there. Some are still working, like Su Pollard (Peggy), Ruth Madoc (Gladys) and Jeffrey Holland (Spike). Others we know have died (Felix Bowness, Paul Shane, Kenneth Connor, Diane Holland, Barry Howard, etc.). Other ones still living we don't hear much of, such as David Griffin (Clive, also played Emmet in 'Keeping Up Appearances'), Nikki Kelly (although she did pop on a recent lockdown podcast thingummy remembering 'Hi-De-Hi') and Rikki Howard.

I love the old comedies/ sit-coms such as 'Are You Being Served?', 'Allo, 'Allo!', 'Hi-de-Hi', 'Fawlty Towers' and so on. Far less PC but so very funny. It was a time when people took the piss out of each other and themselves and actually made farce out of prejudice/ misogyny. The 'joke' was often on the perpetrator(s). I definitely wouldn't go as far as appreciating some of the Stand Up comedy (i.e. Bernard Manning- vile, Jim Davidson- also pretty vile) of the era but too much subtext is read into humour these days and it's stifling.

 

[LucyEyelesbarrow]

Yootha Joyce - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yootha Joyce. I think she was highly underrated.

I was going to mention her. I liked her a lot and she always seemed to be in things during my childhood. I have a bit of a weakness for atrocious spin-off films of those kind of sit-coms and the George and Mildred one finds George Roper being mistaken for an international hitman, with predictable consequences....

 

[House of Tea]

Anyone old enough to remember the Galloping Gourmet

 

[NomDeGuerre]

Over the Christmas holidays, I rewatched Fanny Cradock's Christmas special from the 1970s, in which she makes a mincemeat omelette (as rank as it sounds).

She was definitely a formidable woman! Her poor assistant, Sarah, is shaking like a shitting dog throughout the whole production; understandable when Fanny and her alarmingly pencilled eyebrows are barking at her from about a foot away.

Apparently her house was absolutely filthy and she pissed on her tomatoes to fertilise them. Grotesque.

 

[Ineedmorecoffee]

Going back to Patricia Routledge. And as someone mentioned Victoria Wood.

Does anyone remember ‘Kitty’, the character Vic wrote for her as part of the ‘As seen on tv ‘ series? Oh, she was an absolute scream. And Patricia’s comic timing on these monologues was just impeccable.

‘I’d just settled down with a Claire Rayner and a quarter of radishes, so I wasn’t best pleased’

 

[dorydaryl]

Looking at many previous comments and memories, there was that episode of Victoria Wood's 'Dinnerladies' when the staff had a 'Bring your parent' day. It was like a comedy masterclass. The 'parents' included Thora Hird, Dora Bryan, Eric Sykes and Elspet Grey. They were a hoot. I mean, there were also Thelma Barlow, Anne Reid, Duncan Preston, Julie Walters, Vic Wood herself and a young Maxine Peake. The other programme that used to showcase older, sometimes forgotten talent was 'Last of The Summer Wine', with it's varied permanent and guest actors. You could say it was the 'last saloon' of many an older, faded, actor but I love it and still watch repeats now. Didn't really discover it until after they'd finished filming in 2010. Most of the cast are gone now but many of the characters were iconic. I mean, where else would you find that Cato and Commandant Yamahuci from 'Tenko' becomes 'Entwistle, the wily electrician 'from the East' (Hull) in the form of Burt Kwouk?! I adored Burt Kwouk!

 

[Captainmouse]

If you go back to the early days of the Studio System in Hollywood, they did much worse than that. They used to force women to have abortions, decide who could date who and who could go where. The most appalling abuse went on. Look at Judy Garland who was given 'uppers' so she would perform and 'downers' so she could sleep. No wonder she was a drug addict for the rest of her life.

I was on a bus as a child going passed Chelsea registry office and saw judy garland when she married there.

 

[LucyEyelesbarrow]

I’ll never forget that classic episode when Stan died & his glasses were on the table whilst Hilda sobbed. I watched avidly back then. Fantastic writing. God bless Tony Warren.

One of my favourite ever TV moments, when Hilda opens Stan's glasses case. Such a seemingly small thing that symbolised so much. She has held herself together through Stan dying and looking over his things from the hospital, but when she opens that case, she's gone. So, so powerful.

 

[ForeverMakingJibesWicked]

Not sure why the Mail won’t open for me. It did the first time, but not since!!??

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.

YIELD TO THE NIGHT

holy shit, @House of Tea ive been wracking my brains about this film for years, I knew it was Diana Dors in a “serious” role and every time I’ve gone to Google it I’ve forgotten why I’m there

I saw it when I was a teen and an absolutely humungous Morrissey/Smiths fan and I really loved it, that and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

THANK YOU

 

[D.W's Library Card]

Anybody a fan of the Ealing Comedies?

Personal favourites are Lavender Hill Mob and The LadyKillers.

Alec Guinness was quite the actor.

 

[House of Tea]

She got lots of kudos for a change of direction in that role, as far as I can make out. It would have been interesting to see how her career would have been later in the 80s and 90s had she lived longer.

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.

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

A lot of men fancied her. Apparently she was very sensual.

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.

 

[thegirlscout]

Janet Munro - was in Swiss Family Robinson and Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Reminds me of Kay Kendall because they both died in their 30’s - Munro was 38.

 

[dorydaryl]

Have you watched the
Hattie Jaques docu/play,she was a very naughty lady..Lots of the people from her Carry ons said she was lovely,one said yes Lots knew she was carrying on eith men,one time caravan she was staying in was rocking backwards and forwards,Oh dear.

The one with Ruth Jones as Hattie? If so, yes. 'Twas a bit of an eye opener, indeed!

 

[Purrrrrrr]

What do we know of Hammer actresses Jenny Hanley and Hazel Court?

View attachment 1324544View attachment 1324545

Jenny was a presenter on Magpie. You were either a Blue peter or Magpie fan I was a Magpie fan it was blue Peter wearing biker boots.
Hated Blue Peter. except for John Noakes

 

[Noseyparker68]

I love Passport to Pimlico, The Maggie, Whisky Galore and many more. Google Withers was in a good one about WW2 but I've forgotten title. They even did a horror, Dead of Night

Eric Morecambe used to say, "stand in front of the fire and see if your googie wither s"

 

[Lalla]

Brian Murphy - still very much with us. Yes, Yootha's life in general seemed very sad - another one it would have been interesting to see in later years.

He's 90 this year! Lives near Bromley, or certainly did a couple of years ago. Nice old chap, used to see him happily pottering around Waitrose

 

[Ubu1uk]

I met Diana Dors at her house in Sunningdale when I delivered their Great Dane puppy which had come to us to be housetrained. She was extremely nice but the thing that really stood out was how handsome and sexy Alan Lake was. He was charming too but oozed sex appeal. He shot himself after she died as he was so upset about her death, I seem to recall their son spent years trying to track down her money which had disappeared after her death but he never found it.

 

[Mrs Moon]

I wish they would make new Tales Of The Unexpected with some of our great senior actors who are still around.

 

[Mrs Moon]

Ken Loach and Nell Dunn - what a combination of genius! I also love Up the Junction, which youll certainly know, again so real you'd think it was a documentary.

Another great film of the early 70s was 10 Rillington Place. It was very much on the dark side and starred Richard Attenborough, John Hurt and Judy Geeson and was also a true story. Heartbreaking and very scary in parts.