Early and forgotten British celebs

[House of Tea]

Pat Coombes ended up here, a care home for theatricals. I have never heard of this one, I have only heard of Brinsworth. This one has an illustrious rollcall of formal residents if you read the wiki.

Denville Hall - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

Victoria Wood what can I say - so talented and funny and a great actress. Anybody remember her in Housewife 49 ? Think it was 49 anyway. She passed away far too soon from cancer sadly. Yes I remember that iconic episode well

Oh I was thinking of that one Housewife 49,that’s was really good So sad we lost her

 

[LucyEyelesbarrow]

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’

She used to speak about encounters with people and finish with "still, that's what an education at a secondary modern gets you," or some such

 

[Ineedmorecoffee]

She used to speak about encounters with people and finish with "still, that's what an education at a secondary modern gets you," or some such

It was ‘That’s the comprehensive system for you’. A comment regarding a young man who had turned up to try and repair her television, but all he did was waggle her aerial and wolf her gypsy creams

Edited to add: can you tell I’m a bit of fan.

 

[rivermonster]

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

Yes but she was having an affair with a car dealer called John Schofield whilst she was married to him.

 

[House of Tea]

I think alot of these "lovely " men have split personalities, I recall a woman I knew leaving her husband who was perceived as being too good for her and an absolutely wonderful person, kind and very generous and so funny. But years later after she had remarried she said he used to beat her black and blue at home and Mr Nice-guy was a mask he put on for the outside world.

House devil, street Angel.

 

[Reverend]

I bought a biography of Charles Hawtrey to read over the weekend. What a guy! Getting banner from every pub in Deal is something only us mortals could aspire to.

Refusing to be rescued from a fire because he couldn't find his hairpiece is another favoured anecdote....

 

[LucyEyelesbarrow]

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.

Richard Attenborough is superb in that , and the film itself conveys a house and a life that is grubby and squalid

Poor Timothy Evans the innocent soul he was hanged wasn't he?

Yes he was. He was granted a posthumous pardon.

 

[Also_smoke_and_mirrors]

Ahhh, Beryl Reid. Did she once play or do the voice for the Queen Mum? Loved her voice.

I also loved Mollie Sugden. I know she was in many other productions but her Mrs. Slocombe was legendary (perhaps not quite yet 'forgotten', though, for anyone over 35).

My husband calls me Mrs Slocombe because of my vintage hair styles in frequently changed pastel colours. I take it as a massive compliment! She was the best

 

[Sir Lancelot]

When I was a kid, BBC Two would always have old b&w movies on in the mornings/afternoons along with Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, etc.

Such a shame they rarely do that these days.

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

Richard Attenborough is superb in that , and the film itself conveys a house and a life that is grubby and squalid


Yes he was. He was granted a posthumous pardon.

He was very backward as well,very low mental age poor soul.

 

[Jerry Garcia]

We were talking about Thora Hird the other day,remember the plays on Tv by Alan Bennet I believe,usually the actress was solitary,she played a fantastic part.

I've long been dreading the day we have a world with Alan Bennett no longer in it. I'm a lifelong fan of all his work. My favourite one of his Talking Heads series was Patricia Routledge in A Woman of Letters.

I do like her - a very underrated actress, in my view.

I hope a number of the Play for Today series (and similar) will come to the streaming services such as Britbox. They'll never be shown on terrestrial again and it would be great to see them again and spot stars in much earlier roles.

Keep an eye on BBC 4 ( before they remove it) they've been showing the odd one over the last six months or so.

 

[lamaitresse]

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.

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

Beautiful actress,played Estelle didn’t she in Great Expectations.

Also in later life in a Miss Marple Agatha Christie.Married at one time to Stewart Granger.

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

Yes but she was having an affair with a car dealer called John Schofield whilst she was married to him.

Didn’t he move in with her and husband John at one time?

 

[MrsBsDayOff]

Does anyone get the impression that David Jason is not portrayed by the media as ' a national treasure' in the way you might expect for an actor with his repertoire? Maybe they are reluctant to do so because of the rumours

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

I’m a big fan of Dusty. She was immensely talented. I really enjoyed the documentary.

She was lovely,adored her cats.Remember so much me about her being a sixties girl,loved her on RSG..My friend named her cat Dusty.Honestly there is nobody in this time music way anything like her.She was class.

 

[Cassandra333]

I read that the studios arranged marriages and divorces to publicise their films. It was probably true.

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.

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

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.

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.

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

Dora Bryan, she was a little power house. Still doing the splits into old age!

She was great in that film Taste of Honey Rita Tushinghams first film.Always loved Dora