Stage and screen actor best known for her roles in the Carry On films and as Cynthia Kite in the 1959 classic I’m All Right Jack
The actor Liz Fraser, who has died aged 88, specialised in comedy in a career that stretched from cough and spit parts in 1950s Ealing Studios films to a guest star suspect in the latest series of Midsomer Murders (2018). She also worked with Tony Hancock and Sid James, and starred in the classic I’m All Right Jack (1959) with Peter Sellers, but her long and varied career was almost inevitably overshadowed by her membership of the Carry On team.
The slap and tickle British film institution of innuendo and pratfall, awash with music hall one-liners, Carry On celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and remains as popular as ever, a reassuring never-never land of off-colourjokes, whose occasional sexism, racism and homophobia is somehow muted by...
The actor Liz Fraser, who has died aged 88, specialised in comedy in a career that stretched from cough and spit parts in 1950s Ealing Studios films to a guest star suspect in the latest series of Midsomer Murders (2018). She also worked with Tony Hancock and Sid James, and starred in the classic I’m All Right Jack (1959) with Peter Sellers, but her long and varied career was almost inevitably overshadowed by her membership of the Carry On team.
The slap and tickle British film institution of innuendo and pratfall, awash with music hall one-liners, Carry On celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and remains as popular as ever, a reassuring never-never land of off-colourjokes, whose occasional sexism, racism and homophobia is somehow muted by...
- 9/10/2018
- by Robert Ross
- The Guardian - Film News
Prolific comedy actor who worked with Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan and Hattie Jacques
The stony-faced, beaky comedy actor Graham Stark, who has died aged 91, is best remembered for his appearances alongside Peter Sellers, notably in the Pink Panther movies. His familiar face and voice, on television and radio, were part of the essential furniture in the sitting room of our popular culture for more than half a century. A stalwart in the national postwar comedy boom led by Sellers, Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Dick Emery, Eric Sykes and Benny Hill, he worked with them all in a sort of unofficial supporting repertory company that also included Hattie Jacques, Deryck Guyler, Patricia Hayes and Arthur Mullard. He was also a man of surprising and various parts: child actor, trained dancer, film-maker, occasional writer, and dedicated and critically acclaimed photographer.
Like Gypsy Rose Lee, he had a resourceful and determined...
The stony-faced, beaky comedy actor Graham Stark, who has died aged 91, is best remembered for his appearances alongside Peter Sellers, notably in the Pink Panther movies. His familiar face and voice, on television and radio, were part of the essential furniture in the sitting room of our popular culture for more than half a century. A stalwart in the national postwar comedy boom led by Sellers, Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Dick Emery, Eric Sykes and Benny Hill, he worked with them all in a sort of unofficial supporting repertory company that also included Hattie Jacques, Deryck Guyler, Patricia Hayes and Arthur Mullard. He was also a man of surprising and various parts: child actor, trained dancer, film-maker, occasional writer, and dedicated and critically acclaimed photographer.
Like Gypsy Rose Lee, he had a resourceful and determined...
- 11/1/2013
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Alec Guinness: Before Obi-Wan Kenobi, there were the eight D’Ascoyne family members (photo: Alec Guiness, Dennis Price in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’) (See previous post: “Alec Guinness Movies: Pre-Star Wars Career.”) TCM won’t be showing The Bridge on the River Kwai on Alec Guinness day, though obviously not because the cable network programmers believe that one four-hour David Lean epic per day should be enough. After all, prior to Lawrence of Arabia TCM will be presenting the three-and-a-half-hour-long Doctor Zhivago (1965), a great-looking but never-ending romantic drama in which Guinness — quite poorly — plays a Kgb official. He’s slightly less miscast as a mere Englishman — one much too young for the then 32-year-old actor — in Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), a movie that fully belongs to boy-loving (in a chaste, fatherly manner) fugitive Finlay Currie. And finally, make sure to watch Robert Hamer’s dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets...
- 8/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Thunderbirds creator who made some of the most popular children's TV shows of the 1960s
Gerry Anderson, who has died aged 83 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was the main mover behind a number of puppet series commissioned by Lew Grade's Independent Television Corporation. They made the company a fortune from the space age: perhaps the best known was Thunderbirds (1965-66), and among the others were Fireball XL5 (1962-63), Stingray (1964) and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-68).
Anderson embarked on Thunderbirds in 1964. For Grade, international sales – particularly into the Us market – were a key concern. So Thunderbirds focused on the Tracy brothers, with first names borrowed from the Us astronauts Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn and Gordon Cooper. Enormously popular in its time, the series is still being repeated today.
Scott and the others were members of International Rescue, based on a south Pacific island, set up,...
Gerry Anderson, who has died aged 83 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was the main mover behind a number of puppet series commissioned by Lew Grade's Independent Television Corporation. They made the company a fortune from the space age: perhaps the best known was Thunderbirds (1965-66), and among the others were Fireball XL5 (1962-63), Stingray (1964) and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-68).
Anderson embarked on Thunderbirds in 1964. For Grade, international sales – particularly into the Us market – were a key concern. So Thunderbirds focused on the Tracy brothers, with first names borrowed from the Us astronauts Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn and Gordon Cooper. Enormously popular in its time, the series is still being repeated today.
Scott and the others were members of International Rescue, based on a south Pacific island, set up,...
- 12/27/2012
- by Nigel Fountain
- The Guardian - Film News
With the much anticipated release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in theatres today, WhatCulture! were challenged with coming up with our 10 best British ensemble casts. With Tinker’s all star British cast – including the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch – it was a bloody hard challenge to come up with ten that could even come close to rivalling such a solid cast!
Read on to discover what we came up with!
10. Gosford Park (2001)
The murder mystery genre is always one that employs a vast and impressive ensemble cast and Gosford Park is a prime example of how effective a film can be when this is done proficiently. A range of talented British stars fill the screen, disclosing the everyday workings of a 1930s mansion house from the privileged inhabitants and their wealthy guests, right down to the most invisible of servants.
Read on to discover what we came up with!
10. Gosford Park (2001)
The murder mystery genre is always one that employs a vast and impressive ensemble cast and Gosford Park is a prime example of how effective a film can be when this is done proficiently. A range of talented British stars fill the screen, disclosing the everyday workings of a 1930s mansion house from the privileged inhabitants and their wealthy guests, right down to the most invisible of servants.
- 9/16/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
Cinematographer known for his work on the Carry On films
Despite, or because of, the ancient, dirty jokes, schoolboy humour, double entendres, and a string of hammy actors tele- graphing each jest with pursed lips, rolling eyes or a snigger, the Carry On films have an army of devotees. Among the most regular actors were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Sid James, Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor, and behind the camera, on almost all of the 30 Carry On movies, was the cinematographer Alan Hume, who has died aged 85.
Hume started as camera operator on the very first, Carry On Sergeant (1958), soon becoming director of photography (Dp) on Carry On Regardless (1961), and continuing as Dp until Carry On Columbus (1992) ended the franchise. Though few would make any artistic claims for the films, they were competently shot, rapidly, on a shoestring. Because of the rapport Hume built up over a long period with...
Despite, or because of, the ancient, dirty jokes, schoolboy humour, double entendres, and a string of hammy actors tele- graphing each jest with pursed lips, rolling eyes or a snigger, the Carry On films have an army of devotees. Among the most regular actors were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Sid James, Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor, and behind the camera, on almost all of the 30 Carry On movies, was the cinematographer Alan Hume, who has died aged 85.
Hume started as camera operator on the very first, Carry On Sergeant (1958), soon becoming director of photography (Dp) on Carry On Regardless (1961), and continuing as Dp until Carry On Columbus (1992) ended the franchise. Though few would make any artistic claims for the films, they were competently shot, rapidly, on a shoestring. Because of the rapport Hume built up over a long period with...
- 8/17/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Peter Rogers, the producer and creator of the much-loved Carry On… series of films, has died. He was 95.Rogers, who died at his home in Buckinghamshire on Tuesday, following a short illness, was the brains behind all 31 instalments of the hugely popular British comedy franchise, from Carry On Sergeant in 1958, right through to the final Carry On, 1992’s Carry On Columbus, which he executive produced.Rogers, who was born on February 20, 1914, started his career as a journalist, before becoming a screenwriter for J. Arthur Rank. From there, he quickly moved into producing, turning a serious script called The Bull Boys into a jolly comedy called Carry On Sergeant, which starred a young Bob Monkhouse and Carry On regulars Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey.Critically derided, the film was nonetheless a success, and so Rogers started work on Carry On Nurse almost immediately. From there, an increasingly risqué and ribald formula was created,...
- 4/16/2009
- EmpireOnline
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.