Asherson, Renée [real name Dorothy Renée Ascherson] (1915–2014), actress, was born on 19 May 1915 at 2 Cornwall Gardens, Kensington, London, the younger daughter of Charles Stephen Ascherson (1877–1945), a shipowner of German Jewish descent, and his second wife, ...
Article
Asherson, Renée [real name Dorothy Renée Ascherson] (1915–2014), actress
Alex Jennings
Article
Asquith, Anthony (1902–1968), film director and aesthete
D. J. Wenden
revised
Asquith, Anthony (1902–1968), film director and aesthete, was born on 9 November 1902 in London, the youngest son of Herbert Henry Asquith, first earl of Oxford and Asquith (1852–1928), the Liberal statesman and future prime minister, and his second wife, Margaret Emma Alice (Margot) Asquith (1864–1945)...
Article
Bainbridge, Dame Beryl Margaret (1932–2010), actress, writer, and artist
Mark Bostridge
Bainbridge, Dame Beryl Margaret (1932–2010), actress, writer, and artist, was born on 21 November 1932 at 294 Menlove Avenue, Allerton, Liverpool, the younger child of Richard Bainbridge, commercial agent, and his wife, Winifred, née Baines. Her father was a self-made man who left school at ten, established himself successfully in business, but then went bankrupt as a result of the 1929 financial crash. His wife, who considered that her husband had married above himself, was disappointed and embittered by the family's reduced circumstances, and the young ...
Article
Beaton, Sir Cecil Walter Hardy (1904–1980), photographer and designer for screen and theatre
Hugo Vickers
Beaton, Sir Cecil Walter Hardy (1904–1980), photographer and designer for screen and theatre, was born at 21 Langland Gardens, Hampstead, London, on 14 January 1904, the eldest of the two sons and two daughters of Ernest Walter Hardy Beaton (1867–1936), timber merchant, and his wife, ...
Article
Beckett, Wendy Mary (1930–2018), nun, art historian, and broadcaster
Peter Stanford
Beckett, Wendy Mary (1930–2018), nun, art historian, and broadcaster, was born on 25 February 1930 in Johannesburg, South Africa, one of three children of Aubrey Cecil Beckett (1897–1961), a banker’s clerk of Irish origin, and his wife, Dorothy, née Sheehan. Through her father she was a distant cousin of the playwright ...
Article
Berger, John Peter (1926–2017), art critic, novelist, and film-maker
Colin MacCabe
Berger, John Peter (1926–2017), art critic, novelist, and film-maker, was born at 1 Filey Avenue, Clapton, London, on 5 November 1926, the elder son of Stanley Joseph Docking Berger (1893–1976), secretary of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants, and his wife ...
Article
Betjeman, Sir John (1906–1984), poet, writer, and broadcaster courtier
Kingsley Amis
revised by M. Clare Loughlin-Chow
revised
Betjeman, Sir John (1906–1984), poet, writer, and broadcaster, was born on 28 August 1906 at 52 Parliament Hill Mansions, north London, the only child of Ernest Edward Betjemann (1872–1934), a furniture manufacturer, and his wife, Mabel Bessie Dawson (1879–1952). The family name, of Dutch or German origin, can be traced back to an immigration in the late eighteenth century. The poet adopted his style of it about the age of twenty-one....
Article
Biggar [married name Montlake], Helen Manson (1909–1953), sculptor, film-maker, theatre designer, and political activist
Douglas J. Allen
Biggar [married name Montlake], Helen Manson (1909–1953), sculptor, film-maker, theatre designer, and political activist, was born on 25 May 1909 at Dudley Drive, Hyndland, Glasgow, the eldest of three daughters of Hugh and Florence Biggar. She grew up in a socialist household, her father being a Christian socialist and founder member of the ...
Article
Boty [married name Goodwin], Pauline Veronica (1938–1966), artist and actress
Mark Stocker and Natalie Smith
Boty [married name Goodwin], Pauline Veronica (1938–1966), artist and actress, was born at 12 Dingwall Avenue, Croydon, south London, on 6 March 1938, the daughter of Albert Alexandre Auguste Boty (1906–1993), a chartered accountant born in Iran with Belgian ancestry, and his wife, ...
Article
Cartwright, William (1606–1686), actor and art collector
Andrew Gurr
Cartwright, William (1606–1686), actor and art collector, was born at the end of December 1606, the son of William Cartwright, actor, and was baptized at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London, on 1 January 1607. The elder Cartwright was playing for the ...
Article
Chappell, William Evelyn [Billy] (1907–1994), dancer and theatre designer
Charles Hedges
Chappell, William Evelyn [Billy] (1907–1994), dancer and theatre designer, was born on 27 September 1907 in Wolverhampton, the only son of Archibald Chappell and his wife, Edith Eva Clara, née Blair-Staples. He was educated in Wolverhampton and Clapham, London, and at the Chelsea School of Art...
Article
Craig, Edward Anthony [Teddy] [pseud. Edward Carrick] (1905–1998), film and stage designer and artist
Catherine A. Surowiec
Craig, Edward Anthony [Teddy] [pseud. Edward Carrick] (1905–1998), film and stage designer and artist, was born on 3 January 1905 in London, the third child and first son of (Edward Henry) Gordon Craig (1872–1966), the renowned theatrical designer, and Elena Fortuna Meo (1879–1957)...
Article
Craig, (Edward Henry) Gordon (1872–1966), theatre director and designer and wood-engraver
James Hamilton
Craig, (Edward Henry) Gordon (1872–1966), theatre director and designer and wood-engraver, was born on 16 January 1872 in Railway Street, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the only son and second child of the architect and radical Edward William Godwin (1833–1886) and the actress Ellen Alice Terry (1847–1928)...
Article
Craven, Hawes (1837–1910), scene painter
[Anon.]
revised by Raymond Ingram
Craven, Hawes (1837–1910), scene painter, was born Henry Hawes Craven Green on 3 July 1837 at Kirkgate, Leeds. His parents, James Green (d. 1881), a comedian, and Eliza Craven Green (1803–1866), an actress and, later, a poet, were performers on the York...
Article
Enthoven [née Romaine], (Augusta) Gabrielle Eden (1868–1950), theatre archivist and playwright
Kate Dorney
Enthoven [née Romaine], (Augusta) Gabrielle Eden (1868–1950), theatre archivist and playwright, was born at 21 New Street, Spring Gardens, Westminster, London, on 12 January 1868, the daughter of William Govett Romaine (1815–1893), secretary to the Admiralty, and his wife, Frances Phoebe, née...
Article
Fagon, Alfred (1937–1986), actor, playwright, and poet
Stephen Bourne
Fagon, Alfred (1937–1986), actor, playwright, and poet, was born on 25 June 1937 in Clarendon, Jamaica, where his parents were smallholders and also kept a post office and store. He had eight brothers and two sisters. After leaving school at thirteen he worked with his father as a cultivator on his orange plantation....
Article
Gilchrist [married name Fitzmaurice], Constance Macdonald, countess of Orkney [Connie] (1865–1946), artist’s model, dancer, and actress
Eilidh Innes
Gilchrist [married name Fitzmaurice], Constance Macdonald, countess of Orkney [Connie] (1865–1946), artist’s model, dancer, and actress, was born at 18 Winchester Street, Agar Town, London, on 23 January 1865, the youngest of five daughters of David Gilchrist (1818–1868...
Article
Godfrey, Roland Frederick [Bob] (1921–2013), animator, director, and film-maker
Paul Wells
Godfrey, Roland Frederick [Bob] (1921–2013), animator, director, and film-maker, was born on 27 May 1921 in Horse Shoe Bend, West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia, the son of Roland Charles Godfrey, a Banbury operator employed in the making of chemical blends for motor vehicle tyres. Known throughout his life as ...
Article
Green, (Phyllis) Pamela (1929–2010), model and actress
Justin Smith
Green, (Phyllis) Pamela (1929–2010), model and actress, was born on 28 March 1929 at 209 Richmond Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, the only child of Leonard Henry Green (1902–1971), architect, and his Dutch wife, Catherine Hermance, née Dagevos (1903–1985). She left school at fourteen. From 1945 to 1947 she attended ...
Article
Greene, William Friese- (1855–1921), developer of moving pictures and photographer
Peter Carpenter
Greene, William Friese- (1855–1921), developer of moving pictures and photographer, was born as William Edward Green on 7 September 1855 at 68 College Street, Bristol, one of seven children of James Green (b. 1816), a metalworker and goldsmith, and his wife, Elizabeth Sage (...
