Adam, Sir Kenneth Hugo [Ken] (1921–2016), art director and production designer for film, was born Klaus Hugo Adam on 5 February 1921 in Berlin, one of four children of Fritz Adam (1880–1936) and his wife Lilli, née Saalfeld (...
Article
Adam, Sir Kenneth Hugo [Ken] (1921–2016), art director and production designer for film
Christopher Frayling
Article
Adams, Douglas Noël (1952–2001), writer
Nick Webb
Adams, Douglas Noël (1952–2001), writer, was born on 11 March 1952 at the maternity hospital in Cambridge, the son of Christopher Douglas Adams (d. 1985) and his wife, Janet Dora Sydney, née Donovan.
Article
Adams, (Wilfred) Robert (c. 1900–1965), actor
Stephen Bourne
Adams, (Wilfred) Robert (c. 1900–1965), actor, was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, the son of Robert Adams, boat builder. He was educated at St Stephen's Scots School, later St Joseph's Intermediate. In 1920 he won a government scholarship to be trained as a teacher at ...
Article
Agate, James Evershed (1877–1947), drama critic
Ivor Brown
revised by Marc Brodie
Agate, James Evershed (1877–1947), drama critic, was born at Pendleton, Lancashire, on 9 September 1877, the eldest of the five sons and one daughter of Charles James Agate (1832–1909), cotton manufacturer's agent, and his wife, Eulalie Julia Young, daughter of a widowed piano teacher. Although generally regarded during his lifetime as the writer from ...
Article
Alan, Ray [real name Raymond Alan Whyberd] (1930–2010), ventriloquist, writer, and television presenter
Cy Young
Alan, Ray [real name Raymond Alan Whyberd] (1930–2010), ventriloquist, writer, and television presenter, was born on 18 September 1930 at 83 Dutton Street, Greenwich, London, the fourth son of Albert William Whyberd (1895–1984), shipping clerk, later a local government officer, and his wife, ...
Article
Albery, Sir Bronson James (1881–1971), theatre director
Wendy Trewin
Albery, Sir Bronson James (1881–1971), theatre director, was born at Greenhithe, Kent, on 6 March 1881, the second in the family of three sons of James Albery (1838–1889), dramatist, and his wife, Mary Charlotte Moore (1861–1931), actress, later Lady Wyndham. He was named after the American dramatist ...
Article
Albery, Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston (1914–1988), theatre manager
Wendy Trewin
revised
Albery, Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston (1914–1988), theatre manager, was born on 19 June 1914 at 33 Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, London, the elder son and second of the four children of Sir Bronson James Albery (1881–1971), theatre director, and his wife, Una Gwynn (...
Article
Aldridge, Ira Frederick (1807?–1867), actor
Heidi J. Holder
Aldridge, Ira Frederick (1807
Article
Alexander, Sir George [real name George Alexander Gibb Samson] (1858–1918), actor and theatre manager
J. P. Wearing
Alexander, Sir George [real name George Alexander Gibb Samson] (1858–1918), actor and theatre manager, was born on 19 June 1858 at 1 Russell Villas, Russell Street, Reading, the eldest son in the family of at least three sons and one daughter of ...
Article
Allan, Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-, fourth baronet (1904–2003), film producer
Alan Burton
Allan, Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-, fourth baronet (1904–2003), film producer, was born on 28 February 1904 at Blackwell Manor, Blackwell, Darlington, co. Durham, the third son of Allan Havelock-Allan (1874–1949), army officer and landowner, and his first wife, Anne Julia, née Chaytor (...
Article
Allen, Dave [real name David Edward John Archer Cullen Tynan-O'Mahony] (1936–2005), comedian
Dennis Barker
Allen, Dave [real name David Edward John Archer Cullen Tynan-O'Mahony] (1936–2005), comedian, was born on 6 July 1936 at Merrion House, Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, the youngest of three sons of (Gerard John) Cullen Tynan-O'Mahony (b. 1900), journalist and managing editor of the ...
Article
Alleyn, Edward (1566–1626), actor, theatre entrepreneur, and founder of Dulwich College
S. P. Cerasano
Alleyn, Edward (1566–1626), actor, theatre entrepreneur, and founder of Dulwich College, was born on 1 September 1566 in the London parish of St Botolph without Bishopsgate, 'near Devonshire House, where now is the sign of the Pye'. He was baptized the following day in the parish church, the son of ...
Article
Alliss, Peter (1931–2020), golfer and broadcaster
Richard Holt
Alliss, Peter (1931–2020), golfer and broadcaster, was born on 28 February 1931 in Berlin, the second son of Percy Alliss (1897–1975), a Yorkshire professional at the prestigious Wannsee Golf Club, and his first wife, Dorothy, née Rust (1891–1971), who was also a scratch golfer. His brother, ...
Article
Anderson, Gerald Alexander [Gerry] (1929–2012), television producer, writer, and director
James Chapman
revised
Anderson, Gerald Alexander [Gerry] (1929–2012), television producer, writer, and director, was born Gerald Alexander Abrahams on 14 April 1929 at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, London, the second son of Joseph Abrahams, commercial clerk, the son of east European Jewish immigrants, and his wife, ...
Article
Anderson, James Robertson (1811–1895), actor and theatre manager
Joseph Knight
revised by Katharine Cockin
Anderson, James Robertson (1811–1895), actor and theatre manager, was born in Glasgow on 8 May 1811, the son of an actor, John Symon Anderson. He was educated at a day school on Leith Walk, Edinburgh. He made his stage début as an infant in 1813 at the ...
Article
Anderson, Lindsay Gordon (1923–1994), film and theatre director
Gavin Lambert
Anderson, Lindsay Gordon (1923–1994), film and theatre director, was born on 17 April 1923 at King Lodge, Bangalore, India, the second of the three sons of Major-General Alexander Vass Anderson (1895–1963) and his first wife, Estelle Bell, née Gasson (1898–1973). Both parents were Scottish, although his mother was born in ...
Article
Andrews, Eamonn (1922–1987), radio and television broadcaster
Malcolm Morris
revised
Andrews, Eamonn (1922–1987), radio and television broadcaster, was born on 19 December 1922 at 11 Synge Street, Dublin, Ireland, the second of five children and elder son of William Andrews, carpenter, and his wife, Margaret Farrell. He was educated at a Dublin convent and the ...
Article
Annakin, Kenneth Cooper [Ken] (1914–2009), film director
Andrew H. Spicer
Annakin, Kenneth Cooper [Ken] (1914–2009), film director, was born on 10 August 1914 in Grovehill Road, Beverley, Yorkshire, the only child of Edward Cooper Annakin (1882/3–1941), government surveyor and valuer, and his wife, Jane Hannah, née Gains (1885–1930), daughter of a farmer. He was educated at ...
Article
Archer, William (1856–1924), theatre critic and journalist
J. P. Wearing
Archer, William (1856–1924), theatre critic and journalist, was born at 6 North Methven Street, Perth, Scotland, on 23 September 1856, the eldest son of the nine children of Thomas Archer (1823–1905) of Glasgow and his wife, Grace Lindsay Morison (1832–1911), the daughter of ...
Article
Arlott, (Leslie Thomas) John (1914–1991), writer and broadcaster
David Rayvern Allen
Arlott, (Leslie Thomas) John (1914–1991), writer and broadcaster, was born at Cemetery Lodge, Chapel Street, Basingstoke, Hampshire, on 25 February 1914, the only son of William John Arlott (1883–1959), cemetery registrar, and his wife, Ellen (Nellie) Jenvey-Clarke (c.1884–1975). He was educated at ...
