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
Adams, (Wilfred) Robert (c. 1900–1965), actor
Stephen Bourne
Article
Aherne, Caroline Mary (1963–2016), comedian, actress, and writer
Jeff Evans
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
Ashcroft, Dame Edith Margaret Emily [Peggy] (1907–1991), actress
Michael Billington
Ashcroft, Dame Edith Margaret Emily [Peggy] (1907–1991), actress, was born on 22 December 1907 in Croydon, Surrey, the second of two children of William Worsley Ashcroft (1878–1918), a land agent, and his wife, Violetta Maud, née Bernheim (1874–1926), a keen amateur actress of Danish and German-Jewish descent. Known from childhood as ...
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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
Attenborough, Richard Samuel, Baron Attenborough (1923–2014), actor, film director, and film producer
Brian McFarlane
Attenborough, Richard Samuel, Baron Attenborough (1923–2014), actor, film director, and film producer, was born at 9 Brunswick Walk, Cambridge, on 29 August 1923, the eldest son of Frederick Levi Attenborough (1887–1973), historian and academic administrator, first at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and subsequently as principal of the ...
Article
Baddeley, Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton (1906–1986), actress
Ned Sherrin
revised
Baddeley, Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton (1906–1986), actress, was born on 13 November 1906 in Broseley, Shropshire, the youngest of four daughters (there were no sons) of William Herman Clinton-Baddeley, composer and journalist, and his wife, Louise Rosalie Bourdin. A descendant both of Sir Henry Clinton (1738?–1795)...
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 (...
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Baker, Sir (William) Stanley (1928–1976), actor and film producer
John Elsom
Baker, Sir (William) Stanley (1928–1976), actor and film producer, was born at 32 Albany Street in Ferndale, a village in the Rhondda valley in south Wales, on 28 February 1928, the third of the three children of John Henry Baker and his wife, ...
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Balcon, Jill Angela Henriette (1925–2009), actress
Melanie Williams
Balcon, Jill Angela Henriette (1925–2009), actress, was born on 3 January 1925 at 50 Ashley Gardens, Westminster, the elder child and only daughter of Sir Michael Elias Balcon (1896–1977), film producer, and his wife, Aileen Freda, formerly Jacobs, née Leatherman (1904–1988), both of Baltic–Jewish descent. Educated at ...
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Balfour, Betty (1902–1977), actress
Christine Gledhill
Balfour, Betty (1902–1977), actress, was born Florence Lilian Woods, on 27 March 1902, at 112 Kennington Road, Lambeth, London, the daughter of Alfred Woods (1868–1924), commission agent and later an attendant at a music hall, and his wife Lilian Katie, née...
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Baptiste, (Frederick Eustance) Thomas Anthony (1929–2018), actor and singer
Stephen Bourne
Baptiste, (Frederick Eustance) Thomas Anthony (1929–2018), actor and singer, was born on 17 March 1929 in Georgetown, British Guiana, the son of Frederick Baptiste, a wealthy landowner, and his wife, Pearl. When Baptiste left home, he told his father that he intended to study agriculture but, on his arrival in ...
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Bartholomew, Frederick Cecil [Freddie] (1924–1992), actor
David Parkinson
Bartholomew, Frederick Cecil [Freddie] (1924–1992), actor, was born on 28 March 1924 in Harlesden, London, the son of Cecil Llewellyn Bartholomew (1893–1968), a civil servant who was a clerk in the ministry of agriculture, and his wife, Lilian May, née Clarke...
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Bates, Sir Alan Arthur (1934–2003), actor
Anthony Hayward
Bates, Sir Alan Arthur (1934–2003), actor, was born at Queen Mary Nursing Home, Derby, on 17 February 1934, the eldest of the three sons of Harold Arthur Bates, an insurance superintendent, and his wife, Florence Mary, née Wheatcroft. At the time of his birth his parents lived at ...
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Beaton, Norman Lugard (1934–1994), actor
Stephen Bourne
Beaton, Norman Lugard (1934–1994), actor, was born on 31 October 1934 in Georgetown, British Guiana, the son of William Solomon Beaton (d. 1983), civil servant, and his wife, Ada, née Mackintosh (d. 1962). He was educated at St Stephen's School and ...
Article
Bellingham, Lynda [née Meredith Lee Hughes] (1948–2014), actress, broadcaster, and writer
Gilli Bush-Bailey
Bellingham, Lynda [née Meredith Lee Hughes] (1948–2014), actress, broadcaster, and writer, was born on 31 May 1948 in Montreal, Canada, the daughter of Carl Seymour Hutton (1896/7–1959) and Marjorie Bond, née Hughes (1917–2012). At the age of four months she was adopted by an English couple, Capt. ...
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Bennett, (Nora Noel) Jill (1926–1990), actress
Dulcie Gray
revised
Bennett, (Nora Noel) Jill (1926–1990), actress, was born in Penang, Malaya, on 24 December 1926, the only child of (James) Randle Bennett (1887–1969), an owner of rubber plantations, and his wife, Nora Adeline, née Beckett (1887–1978). Her death certificate claims that she was born in 1931, but she was reticent about her date of birth. In ...
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Blackman, Honor (1925–2020), actress
Brian McFarlane
Blackman, Honor (1925–2020), actress, was born at 200 Cumberland Road, Canning Town, London, on 22 August 1925, the third of four children of Frederick Thomas Blackman (1891–1961), a statistician for HM customs and excise, and his wife, (Edith) Eliza, née Stokes...
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Bogarde, Sir Dirk [real name Derek Niven van den Bogaerde] (1921–1999), actor and author
David Parkinson
Bogarde, Sir Dirk [real name Derek Niven van den Bogaerde] (1921–1999), actor and author, was born on 28 March 1921 in a taxi in Hampstead, the son of Ulric van den Bogaerde (d. 1973), the Dutch-born arts editor of The Times...
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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, ...
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Bowie, David [real name David Robert Jones] (1947–2016), singer and actor
Richard Weight
Bowie, David [real name David Robert Jones] (1947–2016), singer and actor, was born on 8 January 1947 at 40, Stansfield Road, Brixton, south London, as David Robert Burns, the son of Hayward Stenton (John) Jones (1912–1969) and Margaret Mary Burns...