Aherne, Caroline Mary (1963–2016), comedian, actress, and writer, was born on 24 December 1963 at Perivale maternity hospital, London, the second child of Bartholomew Edmond (Bert) Aherne (1933–1994), a railwayman with London Transport, and his wife Mary Frances (Maureen), née Regan...
Article
Aherne, Caroline Mary (1963–2016), comedian, actress, and writer
Jeff Evans
Article
Askey, Arthur Bowden (1900–1982), actor and entertainer
Richard Murdoch
revised
Askey, Arthur Bowden (1900–1982), actor and entertainer, was born on 6 June 1900 at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, the elder child and only son of Samuel Askey (d. 1958), secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden (...
Article
Badel, Alan Fernand (1923–1982), actor and theatre producer
Donald Roy
Badel, Alan Fernand (1923–1982), actor and theatre producer, was born in Rusholme, Manchester, on 11 September 1923, the son of Auguste Firman Joseph Badel (1891–1962), a shipping clerk and office manager of French birth, and his wife of Huguenot descent, Elizabeth Olive Till (...
Article
Cusack, Cyril James (1910–1993), actor
David Parkinson
Cusack, Cyril James (1910–1993), actor, was born on 26 November 1910 in Durban, South Africa, the son of James Cusack, an Irish officer with the Natal mounted police, and his wife, Alice, née Cole, a Cockney music-hall dancer. After the break-up of his parents' marriage in 1916 ...
Article
Cushing, Peter Wilton (1913–1994), actor
David Parkinson
Cushing, Peter Wilton (1913–1994), actor, was born at Normandy, Godstone Road, Kenley, Surrey, on 26 May 1913, the second son of George Edward Cushing (1881–1956), quantity surveyor, and his wife, Nellie Maria, née King (1880–1961). His grandfather Henry Cushing had been a member of ...
Article
Dors [married names Hamilton, Dawson, Lake], Diana [real name Diana Mary Fluck] (1931–1984), actress
Peter Waymark
Dors [married names Hamilton, Dawson, Lake], Diana [real name Diana Mary Fluck] (1931–1984), actress, was born on 23 October 1931 in Swindon, Wiltshire, the only child of Albert Edward Sidney Fluck (1893–1963) of Swindon, a railway clerk and former army captain, and his wife, ...
Article
Elliott, Denholm Mitchell (1922–1992), actor
David Parkinson
Elliott, Denholm Mitchell (1922–1992), actor, was born on 31 May 1922 at 48 Lexham Gardens, Kensington, London, the second son of Myles Layman Farr Elliott (d. 1933), barrister, and his wife, Nina, née Mitchell (d. 1966), the daughter of an Ayrshire...
Article
Fields, Dame Gracie [real name Grace Stansfield] (1898–1979), music-hall entertainer and film actress
Jeffrey Richards
Fields, Dame Gracie [real name Grace Stansfield] (1898–1979), music-hall entertainer and film actress, was born at 9 Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, on 9 January 1898, the eldest of the four children (three daughters and one son) of Fred Stansfield (1874–1956), engineer, and his wife, ...
Article
Formby, George [real name George Hoy Booth] (1904–1961), music-hall entertainer and actor
Jeffrey Richards
Formby, George [real name George Hoy Booth] (1904–1961), music-hall entertainer and actor, was born at 3 Westminster Street, Wigan, Lancashire, on 26 May 1904, the eldest of the seven surviving children (four girls and three boys) of James Lawler Booth (1875–1922), music-hall entertainer, and his wife, ...
Article
Garson, (Eileen Evelyn) Greer (1904–1996), film actress
David Parkinson
Garson, (Eileen Evelyn) Greer (1904–1996), film actress, was born on 29 September 1904 at 88 First Avenue, Manor Park, Essex, the daughter of George Garson (1865–1906), a commercial clerk, and his wife, Nancy Sophia (Nina), née Greer (d. 1958), who claimed descent from ...
Article
Granger, Stewart [real name James Lablache Stewart] (1913–1993), actor
David Parkinson
Granger, Stewart [real name James Lablache Stewart] (1913–1993), actor, was born on 6 May 1913 in Old Brompton Road, London, the second of the two children of Major James Stewart (1861–1938), of the Royal Engineers, and his wife, Frederica, née Lablache. His mother hoped that he would emulate her great-grandfather, the celebrated basso profondo ...
Article
Gregson, John [real name Harold Thomas Gregson] (1919–1975), actor
Andrew H. Spicer
Gregson, John [real name Harold Thomas Gregson] (1919–1975), actor, was born at 1 Crawford Avenue, Toxteth Park, Liverpool, on 15 March 1919, the son of Ernest Henry Gregson (1875–1935), a surveyor for Liverpool town council, and his wife, Mary Alicia, née Breen (1879–1948)...
Article
Greville, (Charles Guy) Fulke [performing name Michael Brooke], seventh earl of Warwick and seventh Earl Brooke (1911–1984), socialite and actor
Matthew Kilburn
Greville, (Charles Guy) Fulke [performing name Michael Brooke], seventh earl of Warwick and seventh Earl Brooke (1911–1984), socialite and actor, was born on 4 March 1911 at 13a Lower Grosvenor Place West, London, the eldest son of (Leopold) Guy Francis Maynard Greville, ...
Article
Guinness, Sir Alec (1914–2000), actor
Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson
Guinness, Sir Alec (1914–2000), actor, was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions, Paddington, London, on 2 April 1914, the son of Agnes Cuffe (or de Cuffe, b. 1886/7), daughter of Edward Charles Cuffe RN. When Alec was five his mother married David Daniel Stiven (...
Article
Hawkins, John Edward [Jack] (1910–1973), actor
George W. Brandt
revised
Hawkins, John Edward [Jack] (1910–1973), actor, was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, on 14 September 1910, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe, née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit (though not at all theatrical) family, ...
Article
Helpmann, Sir Robert Murray (1909–1986), ballet dancer and actor
Kathrine Sorley Walker
Helpmann, Sir Robert Murray (1909–1986), ballet dancer and actor, was born on 9 April 1909 at Kingsley House, Bay Road, Mount Gambier, South Australia, the eldest of the three children of James Murray Helpman (1881–1927), stock judge and auctioneer, and his wife, Mary (1883–1970)...
Article
Hill, Alfred Hawthorne [Benny] (1924–1992), comedian
Barry Took
Hill, Alfred Hawthorne [Benny] (1924–1992), comedian, was born in Southampton on 25 January 1924, the younger son and second of three children of Alfred Hill (d. 1971), a former circus performer and the manager of a surgical appliance shop in Southampton, and his wife, ...
Article
Hird, Dame Thora (1911–2003), actress and broadcaster
Dennis Barker
Hird, Dame Thora (1911–2003), actress and broadcaster, was born on 28 May 1911 at 49 Cheapside, Morecambe, Lancashire, the younger daughter and youngest of three children of James Henry Hird, theatrical manager, and his wife, Mary Jane, née Mayor, mezzo-soprano and actress. She described her family life in one of her autobiographies as 'one of the happiest in the world' (...
Article
Hobson [married names Havelock-Allan, Profumo], (Babette Louisa) Valerie (1917–1998), actress
Simon Heffer
Hobson [married names Havelock-Allan, Profumo], (Babette Louisa) Valerie (1917–1998), actress, was born on 14 April 1917 at Sandy Bay, Larne, Ireland, the daughter of Commander Robert Gordon Hobson (1877–1940), naval officer, and his wife, Violette, née Hamilton-Willoughby (fl. c.1890–1955)...
Article
Houston, Renée [real name Caterina Rita Murphy Gribbin] (1902–1980), actress
Frances Gray
Houston, Renée [real name Caterina Rita Murphy Gribbin] (1902–1980), actress, was born on 24 July 1902 at 55 Grahame Street, Johnstone, Renfrewshire, one of at least two daughters of James Gribbin (1876–1939), then a spirit salesman, and his wife, Elizabeth Houston (1875–1942)...