After directing the much-derided soap opera Crossroads, Alan Coleman helped to launch the careers of a number of television writers. Once he had emigrated to Australia, he produced the hit s…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:55AMWorking for both television and the cinema, the director and producer Alan Bridges reached the pinnacle of his career with the feature film The Hireling (1973), based on a novel by LP Hartle…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:54AMAs the founder of broadcasting campaigner Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Jocelyn Hay was admired as much by producers of programmes on radio and television as she was by her association�…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:53AMAlthough a highly respected Shakespearean actor, Jerome Willis will be chiefly remembered as the deputy governor of the fictional Stone Park prison in Within These Walls (1974-78), a London …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:08AMThe first lady of musical theatre in South Africa, Joan Brickhill was nominated for a Tony award for the 1990 Broadway adaptation of the Judy Garland movie Meet Me in St Louis. In her native…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:57AMAfter playing the lead in Lennon – a Legend Reborn (1985) at the old Astoria theatre in London, Jonathan Barlow went on to be cast two years later as a boyfriend of the much-married Corona…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:55AMThe one-time principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, also served at different times as the director of music with two of the world’s most famous opera houses,…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:52AMIn spite of making countless appearances in films and on television, John Horsley was destined to be remembered for just one role, that of the incompetent medic Doc Morrissey in Leonard Ross…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:03AMA master of the talent show, Rex Graham became known as Mr Giveaway for comedy shows he presented in which distributed goods, including Dewar’s whisky, Double Diamond beer, Weetabix, Ridgw…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:55AMThe scope of Geoffrey Wheeler’s talents as a broadcaster is best exemplified by his presentation of two very different television shows – Songs of Praise, the world’s longest-running r…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:07PMA one-time hairdresser who went on to win plaudits for producing the controversial musical Jerry Springer – The Opera, Allan McKeown was one of the wealthiest men in showbusiness. He and h…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:22AMFrom the satire boom of the 1960s to the heyday of the impressionist Rory Bremner 40 years later, John Fortune was a leading figure in television comedy. He was at his best working with John…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:01AMJohn Fortune, the comedian and satirist best known for his television work with Rory Bremner and John Bird, has died at the age of 74. His agent, Vivienne Clore, said he passed away on New...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:05AMTelevision and theatre producer Allan McKeown has died of prostate cancer in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve at the age of 67. His production company, Witzend, made the cinema adaptation of Ron…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:39AMA man of many talents, Austin John Marshall was crucial to the revival of English folk music during the 1960s. He was best known as the producer of several albums by his wife, Shirley Collin…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:15PMPlaying a crucial role in the success of two pioneering rock groups, Dr Feelgood and later the Yardbirds, Gypie Mayo was regarded as a virtuoso lead guitarist. He became passionate about mus…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:14PMThe last radio programme to attract a bigger audience than television was the sci-fi series Journey Into Space (1953-58), one of the stars of which was Bruce Beeby. He played Stephen “Mitc…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:48AMVeteran entertainer, Stan Stennett, best known for his comedy spots on BBC Television’s The Black and White Minstrel Show, has died at the age of 88. He was due to have appeared this Chris…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:31AMOne of the most prominent black actors in Britain, Alton Kumalo became disillusioned with the minor roles he was offered by the Royal Shakespeare Company and so started his own company, Temb…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:48AMThe music of John Tavener, one of the leading composers of his generation, underwent a transformation. In his youth, when he had something of the playboy image about him, he was championed b…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:27AMAs Spain moved to encourage tourism more enthusiastically in the last years of the dictator General Franco, one song more than any other, Y Viva Espana, the definitive singer of which was Ma…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:08AMThe distinctive tone of BBC Radio 3 is largely set by its coterie of announcers, one of whom was John Holmstrom, a man of many talents. As an undergraduate at King’s College, Cambridge, he…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:18AMAn inquest into the death of the actor Paul Bhattacharjee has found that he killed himself after being declared bankrupt. His body was discovered at cliffs in Seaford in east Sussex in July…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:08AMComposer John Tavener has died at the age of 69. A statement said he had passed away peacefully at home in Dorset. He had suffered ill health for much of his life. Six years ago,...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:30AMThe master of a plethora of comic accents, the actor Graham Stark pursued a career that ran in tandem with one of his closest friends, Peter Sellers. From the madcap radio series The Goon Sh…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:12AMPerfecting illusions that became familiar around the world, the magician John Calvert produced eggs from nowhere, tried to control handkerchiefs that appeared to have a life of their own and…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:20AMMostly dealing with difficult social issues, the television and film director Antonia Bird first began to be noticed with Safe (1993), a BBC2 drama about homeless teenagers. It won the Edinb…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:06AMIn turn a couturier, a tap dancer, an award-winning television documentary maker and the author of several theatrical biographies, Charles Castle was one of those fortunate men who made a su…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:05AMA character actor of great power and magnetism, Nigel Davenport was a founder member of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court in 1956. During its first season, he appeared in every pr…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:00AMFuelled by a love of travelling, the actor Christopher Burgess liked nothing better than joining an overseas tour, funded by the British Council, and then making his way back to Britain visi…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:34AMWith a background in law, Felix Dexter emerged as one of the most versatile comedy actors of his generation. He came to prominence in the BBC television sketch show The Real McCoy (1991-96),…
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