Dame Margaret Rutherford, a hugely popular character actress who is often remembered for her sharp and witty spinster roles.
Margaret Rutherford was born on May 11th, 1892, before her birth her father had murdered her grandfather by battering him to death, as a result of this tragedy, Margaret took her mother’s maiden name, unfortunately her mother died when she was three years old. She was raised by her aunt; she attended Wimbledon High School and then RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) which is one of the most renowned drama schools in the world and one of the oldest schools in England.
Margaret worked as an elocution teacher and then went into acting later in life at the age of thirty three, with her slightly fuller shape, she was considered unconventional compared to many female stars of the same era, which caused her to be cast into roles such as spinsters and detectives. Margaret Rutherford along with film roles also enjoyed many theater appearances in London’s West End. She played both Madame Arcati and Miss Prism on stage before she went on to play these roles on the screen in Blithe Spirit (1945) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952).
Margaret Rutherford was quoted as saying that she ‘never intended to play for laughs and was always surprised that the audience thought her funny at all’.
She married actor Stringer Davis in 1945 who appeared in many of her films, most notably was the Agatha Christie movies where Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple in four films, Murder, she Said(1961) Murder at the Gallop (1963), Murder Most Foul (1964), and Murder Ahoy (1964). Her adaptation of the famous character wasn’t the traditional Miss Marple, Margaret brought spunk, sass and feistiness to the character and made her fun. Her husband, Stringer Davis funnily enough played her accomplice in solving the cases, Mr. Stringer. During the filming of these movies, Margaret Rutherford insisted on wearing her own clothes, some may remember the famous cloak she wore that she would famously sling around her front shoulders just before stomping off or making a point.
Margaret Rutherford won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe for her appearance in The V.I.P.s (1963), she played an absent minded Duchess of Brighton, and played opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Her work in Chimes at Midnight in 1966 was so well received that Queen Elizabeth II entitled her a noble lady. She was made Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 and then was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.
Towards the end of her life she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, which caused her to cancel an engagement at the Haymarket Theater in The Rivals when it became clear that she would not be able to fulfill her contract. She passed away May 22nd, 1972. Margaret Rutherford was buried along with her husband Stringer Davis who died a year later in August 1973. They are buried in the graveyard of St James Church in Gerrads Cross, Buckinghamshire.
Most noted for his roles in popular Disney movies such as Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Love Bug.
David Tomlinson was born May 7th, 1917 in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. After attending Tonbridge School he left home to join the Grenadier Guards. After working as a clerk for London’s Shell House he began his acting career by appearing in amateur stage productions up until his film debut in 1940 in ‘Quiet Wedding’. He did experience a break in his acting career during WWII, were he entered the service as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF. There is a story of his flying days continuing after the war had ended and he crashed a Tiger Moth plane very near to his backyard. Luckily his father, a prominent lawyer was able to defend him when he was put on trial for flying too low.
David Tomlinson's most famous role, known to generations of children is that of Mr. George Banks in Mary Poppins, he played the serious senior bank employee who has little time or patience for his children, after a run on the bank caused by his son he is forced to re-evaluate his priorities. The popularity of this movie at Disney enabled David Tomlinson to enjoy further roles in The Love Bug (1969) were he plays the devilishly evil Peter Thorndyke, who is bent on winning at any costs. David Tomlinson had the uncanny knack of playing an evil character that we all knew was the bad guy, but we couldn’t quite dislike him. He also went on to play another devilishly character in bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). David Tomlinson’s gift was in being able to play a character that may not have the most enduring qualities but he was able to bring lightheartedness to it that enabled you to enjoy and even root for his character.
David Tomlinson throughout his career never steered too far from comedies; he decided to retire from acting in 1979 in order to spend more time with his family. He was married for 47 years to Aubrey Freeman and they had four sons. David Tomlinson died peaceful in his sleep at the age of 83 years old on June 24th, 2000 after suffering a series of strokes.
He was interred at Home Grounds at Stratford Saye in Berkshire.
Garrison Follies (1940) • Name Rank and Number (1941)
• Pimpernel Smith (1941)
• Quiet Wedding (1941)
• My Wife's Family (1941)
• The Way to the Stars (1945)
• Journey Together (1946)
• I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
• School for Secrets (1946)
• Master of Bankdam (1947)
• Fame is the Spur (1947)
• Warning to Wantons (1948)
• Easy Money (1948)
• Miranda (1948)
• Broken Journey (1948)
• Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948)
• My Brother's Keeper (1948)
• Love in Waiting (1948)
• Here Come the Huggetts (1948)
• Vote for Huggett (1949)
• Marry Me (1949)
• Helter Skelter (1949)
• The Chiltern Hundreds (1949)
• Landfall (1949)
• So Long at the Fair (1950)
• The Wooden Horse (1950)
• Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951)
• Hotel Sahara (1951)
• The Magic Box (1951)
• Made in Heaven (1952)
• Castle in the Air (1952)
• Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? (1953)
• All for Mary (1955)
• Three Men in a Boat (1956)
• Carry on Admiral (1957) [note: not a Carry On film]
• Up the Creek (1958)
• Further up the Creek (1959)
• Follow That Horse! (1960)
• Tom Jones (1963)
• The Truth About Spring (1964)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• The City Under the Sea (1965)
• The Liquidator (1965)
• The Love Bug (1968)
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
• Bons baisers de Hong Kong (From Hong Kong with Love) (1975)
• Wombling Free (1977)
• The Water Babies (1978)
• Dominuque (1978)
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, I know i did, it was kind of hectic. I have received some emails wondering why I hadn't updated my Blog and if I was still updating my site, let me tell you that I am. Whilst its true that I haven't added any blogs lately I have been busy working on new pages, I have introduced a new subject called 'Spotlight' where I hope to add pages that have short bio's on some famous and some of my favorite British actors, I recently added Margaret Rutherford and David Tomlinson, both were famous for the character acting and left us with some memorable performances. I especially like Margaret Rutherford in her adaptaion of Miss Marple, you will see that I have blogged about her before, she is a favorite. I also have recently added another quiz, this one is to test your knowledge on James Bond, I am hoping to regulary add trivia quizes if time allows. So go ahead, its just for fun, see how much you know.
P.S. I hope you noticed the new addition to my site, when you look in the address box and the tab, to see the moving film strip, I can't take credit for it, a good webmaster friend who is rather artistic shared the coding with me, so I have to give her a shout out, if you like creating please check out her site at Crafty Artworld
Working on my site extends to me the pleasure of often learning new things about people of films that I didn’t know about before, a few days ago whilst visiting another movie site to read their news I was surprised to find that Donald Pleasance OBE was born in Nottingham. Why should that be so interesting to me, I hear you ask?
Well, let me tell you, even though I now reside in the States I was born and raised in Nottingham, UK. Even though I have been a British expatriate for a few years now, you can never totally take out the feeling of your home roots.
There are a few famous people from Nottingham, Eric Coates (1886-1957)the famous composer ( composed the theme music for the movie The Dam Busters) is from the same mining town that I am from, the famous bare knuckle fighter Ben Caunt (1815-1861) was also a local celebrity from my home town of Hucknall, and let’s not forget Lord Byron whose ancestral home is approximately 2 miles down the road from my family home. If your ever bored Google or Wikipedia -Hucknall, you will find a local church St Mary Magdelene church where I was married, it’s a beautiful building the first portion was built around 1320. For more information and pictures check out this blog
Back to Donald Pleasance, you will mostly remember him as the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond Movie and then as the Dr. Sam Loomis in Halloween.
He was born on October 5th, 1919 and sadly passed away February 2nd, 1995. Donald Pleasence OBE had appeared in over 200 movies, often playing the villain or psychopath. He was born in Worksop, Nottingham, his father was a stationmaster. He began acting in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, but this was interrupted by World War II. At first he was a conscientious objector but later changed his mind and joined the Royal Air Force. He was shot down in 1944 and taken prisoner and tortured then placed in a prisoner-of-war camp, it was here that he produced and acted in plays. Some of you will remember that he later played a flight Lieutenant in the infamous movie The Great Escape.
After the war and with his bald head, hypnotic eye and intense voice he was often cast as an insane character, anyone who has seen his movies knows just how creepy and cool he played these characters. Surprising though is that Donald Pleasence also did voice over for Talespinners (a UK children’s story series) He played in many other British productions such as the BBC 1982 production of The Barchester Chronicles, he also did the voiceover for a British Public Information film ( The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water) this was intended to warn children against playing near water, apparently though it did give some children nightmares, he also played a murderer in an episode of Columbo, along with many other famous roles.
In Donald Pleasances' personal life, he was married four times and had five daughters; he died aged 75 in France from complication after a heart valve replacement surgery.
Donald Pleasance, you may have come from humble beginnings but you will forever be remembered for your fine acting skills and the ability to scare the crap out of us and making it look so easy.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people won't watch a movie because its black and white, my kids and husband especially, the idea that because its old or not in color means that its boring is so incorrect. I think we can learn a lot from old classic movies, we can see some history, and by that I mean that we can see how society was at the time a movie was made, we can see what was acceptable or not to show on the big screen, we can get a sense of how movie technology has changed. Any flashy thrilling movie that you watch today is only there because people pioneered in years past to create and advance these technologies. I am so sad when my kids refuse to watch a classic movie with me, some of my best memories were as a child watching a Saturday afternoon flick with my mum. Alas, I guess thats a sign of getting older, when you look at a younger generation and start to reminisce about yesteryear. Maybe I am stuck in the past trying to regain some thing from my youth, who knows. All I know is that i get such enjoyment out of watching an old flick, the melodrama that is over acted by todays standards and the extravagant costumes and sets that were used I just find irresistible. So, if you have never watched an old move then go ahead and give it a chance, expand your horizons. You might just be surprised that you like them.
Dame Margaret Rutherford, a hugely popular character actress who is often remembered for her sharp and witty spinster roles.
She married actor Stringer Davis in 1945 who appeared in many of her films, most notably was the Agatha Christie movies where Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple in four films, 
Most noted for his roles in popular Disney movies such as Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Love Bug.
Working on my site extends to me the pleasure of often learning new things about people of films that I didn’t know about before, a few days ago whilst visiting another movie site to read their news I was surprised to find that Donald Pleasance OBE was born in Nottingham. Why should that be so interesting to me, I hear you ask?.png)