Where Did We See Them First?

[cornershop15]

A viewing of The Saint episode The High Fence gave me the idea for this thread a few months ago. Among the cast were Northern character actress Clare Kelly and Stanley Meadows, often cast as an aggressive Londoner. I can remember where I saw - or should I say noticed - these two first. With Stanley it was The Ipcress File, where he had some cheerful exchanges on the 'phone with Michael Caine. I'll include him as a subject later this week. Clare orginally made an impression as the serious-looking Schoolmistress in cult film And Soon the Darkness (1970), which has just been remade*.



I think this might also have been the first time I detected an undercurrent of lesbianism in a film, before seeing Rebecca and Play Misty for Me, where it's also implied in one or two scenes. Pamela Franklin, who is desperate to find her lost friend Michele Dotrice, asks the teacher for a lift in her car and at one point the young girl says she's from London. "Famous for it's pretty girls", remarks Clare, adding "I can see why!". Before they say their Goodbyes, her intentions seem even more obvious when she reveals she lives on her own. "If you do get stuck for somewhere to stay ... well I can always offer you a bed". Pamela's response should have been "I bet you say that to all the girls!". But it's a bland "Thank you, I'll remember that"



I don't have the DVD myself (a little expensive at £7.47 at Amazon, presently) but it is available on YouTube. However, the version there is entirely in black and white. The irony is incredible. Sandor Eles is the male star of this film and us Timeslip fans will know that his episodes were made in colour but only survive as B&W telerecordings. So to see And Soon the Darkness drained of it's distinctive colours has been really disturbing. This is the best I could do with one of Clare's close-ups, where she seems to be admiring Pamela's lovely legs:

The thriller was shown on TV during the Summer of 1984, along with several other rare gems that BBC2 put on as an alternative to the Olympics (Love with the Proper Stranger, Save the Tiger, The Music Lovers ...), and I have vivid memories of the excitement of discovering some of those films. Later that year, just before Christmas, I recorded ITV's screening of Georgy Girl. Clare was in this too, as Bill Owen's wife, but, most frustratingly, I'm unsure if I realised she was the same actress I'd seen in And Soon the Darkness a few months earlier. Too late to find out now.



One of these days, I will get round to creating a thread for Clare Kelly, as I have enough of her DVD appearances, to post any number of images, but I will just add that one of the recurring roles that stands out in her long list of credits is 70s sitcom The Cuckoo Waltz. I remember this programme and am surprised Clare didn't make enough of an impression for me to recognise her in the aforementioned films. After all, I did recognise David Roper easily enough when he turned up in EastEnders, 15 years after The Cuckoo Waltz ended.



You might also remember Clare as Steve Hodson's ne'er do well mum in Follyfoot (two episodes) and from one of my favourite TV plays, Another Sunday and Sweet F.A. She was seen walking with Lynne Carol (Martha Longhurst in Coronation Street) while an amateur football match was taking place nearby.



Other actors and actresses I remember seeing for the first time (and hope to include as subjects eventually) include Marne Maitland in I'm All Right, Jack, Jack Gilford in Save the Tiger, Rod Taylor in The V.I.P.s, Luan Peters and Nicky Henson in Fawlty Towers and probably the entire cast of The Cedar Tree - to name but a few. That's as actors. But there are plenty of stars who, because of my youth and naivety, first came to my attention in all sorts of varied activities.



For instance, Sydney Tafler was one of the celebrities who would read something late at night on ITV before Closedown (others included Leonard Cheshire, Moshe Dayan and Barbara Leigh-Hunt - that was the first time I saw her too!). I was most upset when Sydney died shortly after his last reading. As an actor, The Birthday Party might be where he first made an impression on me. With Patrick Allen and dear old Roland Culver, it was adverts. Patrick first came to my attention with the commercials he did for Barratt Homes (flying over them in a helicopter), while Roland used to promote some brand of margarine (or butter). My God, they were both such fantastic actors, but that's all I knew them for at one time.



If you think that's embarassing, how about my introduction to Anna Neagle? It might have been Stars on Sunday, come to think of it, but her appearances on Celebrity Squares were what I knew the older Anna for, NOT her films with Michael Wilding and husband Herbert Wilcox. Oh, of course ... Edith Evans is another. She was a great guest on Michael Parkinson's show - years 'before' Tom Jones and The Importance of Being Earnest. I suppose Ronald Reagan also falls into this unwanted category, so too Zsa Zsa Gabor and Stanley Holloway.



So that's the idea. I still want to retain the title 'Where Did We See Them First?', as opposed to 'Noticed', just because it feels as if it's the first time, certainly in terms of an impact they've made. I do believe I can give you the perfect example - at this late stage of my first post - and that's Brenda de Banzie. I am CERTAIN that the first time I would have seen this actress was in The Pink Panther (probably 1983), but I first noticed her as Bernard Miles' wife in the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much, when they kidnapped Doris Day's son. A much better part for Brenda, who, like Clare Kelly, was from Manchester. Full Circle. And I think I first saw Bernard in an advert as well!

COMING SOON: Emergency Ward 10 star Peter Howell

* The American remake of And Soon the Darkness stars Amber Heard and Odette Yustman in the roles originally played by Michele Dotrice and Pamela Franklin, with the girls on a cycling holiday in Argentina rather than France. Karl Urban has the Sandor Eles role. Odette Yustman is one of the stars of October Road, a series that's currently being shown on ITV.



Glad that's over with ... I started this thread at about quarter past 7 in the morning. It's now just after 3 in the afternoon. It is also extremely hot.

[Tonch]

Hi CS, glad to see you back and thanks for the typically detailed and well thought out post above.



A couple of examples which immediately spring to mind for me are Bob Hoskins and Martin Shaw who (I think?) both appeared back in the mid seventies in a sort of adult educational programme aimed at encouraging adults to learn to read, called On The Move. They played removal men, and, although I was a teenager and could read perfectly well, it was an entertaining little show in its own right. I hadn't seen or heard of either actor prior to this and of course, each went on to become a household name and separately carve out highly successful acting careers.



I questioned myself above because, though I know Bob Hoskins was in the programme, no one else I've mentioned this to seems able to remember Martin Shaw being there? Is my memory playing tricks on me? Was there a similar but independent programme in which he featured? I am almost certain he was in there - perhaps someone can straighten this out for me?



This was some years before The Professionals and coincidentally I also first recall Shaw's partner from that show, Lewis Collins from the sitcom The Cuckoo Waltz which Cornershop has referred to above, and which would have been running at about the same time as On The Move. Once again, he was (to me at least) an "unknown" back then and I recall initially struggling to accept him in his hard man role of Bodie, since I always detected the light comedy touch he carried off so well in The Cuckoo Waltz.

[Gerald Lovell]

name='Tonch' date='12 July 2010 - 10:24 AM' timestamp='1278926699' post='450717']

Hi CS, glad to see you back and thanks for the typically detailed and well thought out post above.



A couple of examples which immediately spring to mind for me are Bob Hoskins and Martin Shaw who (I think?) both appeared back in the mid seventies in a sort of adult educational programme aimed at encouraging adults to learn to read, called On The Move. They played removal men, and, although I was a teenager and could read perfectly well, it was an entertaining little show in its own right. I hadn't seen or heard of either actor prior to this and of course, each went on to become a household name and separately carve out highly successful acting careers.



I questioned myself above because, though I know Bob Hoskins was in the programme, no one else I've mentioned this to seems able to remember Martin Shaw being there? Is my memory playing tricks on me? Was there a similar but independent programme in which he featured? I am almost certain he was in there - perhaps someone can straighten this out for me?



This was some years before The Professionals and coincidentally I also first recall Shaw's partner from that show, Lewis Collins from the sitcom The Cuckoo Waltz which Cornershop has referred to above, and which would have been running at about the same time as On The Move. Once again, he was (to me at least) an "unknown" back then and I recall initially struggling to accept him in his hard man role of Bodie, since I always detected the light comedy touch he carried off so well in The Cuckoo Waltz.

ON THE MOVE was where I first encountered Bob Hoskins too, but his oppo on it as I recall was Donald Gee and not Martin Shaw.

[will.15]

Another old movie with a definite undercurrent of lesbianism is all About Eve. Not Margo, Eve, whose motivation for allowing that girl to stay with her at the end definitely isn't platonic.

[Number Six]

name='Gerald Lovell' date='12 July 2010 - 10:36 AM' timestamp='1278927370' post='450726']

ON THE MOVE was where I first encountered Bob Hoskins too, but his oppo on it as I recall was Donald Gee and not Martin Shaw.

Definately was Donald Gee. Now 73, he played Bert in 'On The Move'. He had earlier appeared in The Avengers, Z Cars, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, Dr Who and many others. Below he is shown as PC Walker Z Cars in 1965, as Vickers in The Avengers episode Super Secret Cypher Snatch in 1968, as Dan Patterson in the thriller Murder In Mind in 1973 and finally as he was in 2007.

[Number Six]

name='Tonch' date='12 July 2010 - 10:24 AM' timestamp='1278926699' post='450717']...This was some years before The Professionals and coincidentally I also first recall Shaw's partner from that show, Lewis Collins from the sitcom The Cuckoo Waltz which Cornershop has referred to above, and which would have been running at about the same time as On The Move. Once again, he was (to me at least) an "unknown" back then and I recall initially struggling to accept him in his hard man role of Bodie, since I always detected the light comedy touch he carried off so well in The Cuckoo Waltz.

That's where I remember first seeing him Tonch, with a young David Roper and Diane Keen. It would be interesting to see how that has held up over the years!

[Number Six]

A very good actor, much in demand on TV nowadays and one I've always enjoyed watching is Peter Firth. This is how I remember first seeing him!







How things have changed!!

[Number Six]

Having just posted on another thread about the lovely Suzannah York, I thought I'd post this montage of images of her from the film I first saw her in - 'Battle of Britain'. I remember as an eight year old being besotted with her!

[Number Six]

Also from the film Battle of Britain, it was the first time I can remember seeing Duncan Lamont. Ever since that first viewing of the film, I've always remembered his line when a trainee pilot makes a complete hash of his landing in a Spitfire:



'Boom-see-daisy - It's enough to make you weep!'

[Onedin]

I saw this man for the first time in my life in 'Prime Suspect 3', in what must've been 1997 - only weeks later I saw him as Mr. Rochester in 'Jane Eyre' and Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert in 'Ivanhoe'.





I am still in love with his eyes till this day.







And yes, he too was in 'Excalibur' with our Cherie.............

[Number Six]

Hi Onedin



I know it's not a British film, but I thought Ciarán Hinds was great as President Nemerov in 'The Sum of All Fears'

[Onedin]

name='Number Six' date='12 July 2010 - 10:07 PM' timestamp='1278968820' post='451029']

Hi Onedin



I know it's not a British film, but I thought Ciarán Hinds was great as President Nemerov in 'The Sum of All Fears'

Ta #6 ()



Got that one on DVD.......... just not my 'genre'..........





Go watch him in 'Titanic Town' with Julie Walters........ or even 'The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover' and yup......... one of the MANY other times he played with that other great actress (Dame Helen) in 'Calendar Girls'.







And fyi, he also played with Helen in 'Some Mother's Son'............







Thank you Helen (I have to say this) for introducing Cherie and Ciarán to me............... all those years ago............









Ok, so I may (co-)run Lunghitude with someone else on here, but meanwhile it is me who suffers from Ciaránitis.....................................

[wellendcanons]

Oh my God cornershop! I thought you were meant to be taking it easy. What a superb idea for a thread.



I've been wracking my brains trying to think of a few ideas and these three actors came to mind.



[attachment=177:david gwillim.gif] I first remember seeing David Gwillim in the excellent TV Drama Something In Disguise but have since realized I had first seen him in an episode of Thriller.



[attachment=178:dennis waterman.jpg] The same applies to Dennis Waterman, who I thought I'd first seen in The Sweeney, but I had actually first seen him in Thriller.



[attachment=179:gareth_hunt_avengers_1976.jpg] The late Gareth Hunt was excellent as Gambit in The New Avengers, but I must have seen him first in the Dr Who story Planet Of The Spiders.



However, it was a long time ago, I don't remember seeing him in it and I haven't seen it since.



Sorry the pics are so small. My computer skills don't get any better.



wellendcanons.

[wellendcanons]

name='Number Six' date='12 July 2010 - 08:44 PM' timestamp='1278963897' post='450984']

Also from the film Battle of Britain, it was the first time I can remember seeing Duncan Lamont. Ever since that first viewing of the film, I've always remembered his line when a trainee pilot makes a complete hash of his landing in a Spitfire:



'Boom-see-daisy - It's enough to make you weep!'

Duncan Lamont first came to my attention in an episode of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), though I had first seen him in Dr Who, or possibly even Murder At The Gallop.



wellendcanons.

[wellendcanons]

Some more first time seen actors and actresses.



[attachment=181:annette, kenneth & mike.jpg]



I first must have seen Kenneth Cope in the film Juggernaut, a film my Dad and brother went with me to see. That was before the re-runs of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) in my region a year later. However, I really saw Kenneth with Mike and Annette for the very first time in the episode That's How Murder Snowballs when I was 6 or 7 years old. I remember because the episode scared me out of my wits at the time! I wasn't allowed to watch anymore. Until the re-runs in 1975. The rest is history!



[attachment=182:susan penhaligon.jpg]



I first consciously saw Susan Penhaligon in Bouquet Of Barbed Wire. However, I actually saw her in the film The Land That Time Forgot at the same cinema as Juggernaut, again with Dad and my brother.



[attachment=183hilip madoc.jpg]



I was first aware of seeing Philip Madoc in Another Bouquet. I later realized I had already seen him in episodes of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) and The Sweeney prior to this.



cornershop, I meant to add in my last post "thanks" for all the hard work you have put into opening this thread.



Cheers.

wellendcanons.

[Number Six]

Here are the pics of Donald Gee that disappeared when I reorganised my folders:

[Gerald Lovell]

name='Number Six' date='13 July 2010 - 10:41 AM' timestamp='1279014074' post='451167']

Here are the pics of Donald Gee that disappeared when I reorganised my folders:

Nice pictures of Donald, Number Six. He contributed to a lively and amusing commentary on the DOCTOR WHO DVD of "The Monster of Peladon".

[wellendcanons]

Some of my favourite actresses first time spotted.



[attachment=184:alexandra.jpg]



I first must have seen Alexandra Bastedo in The Champions. Likely the pilot.



[attachment=185:anneke wills psychedelic pose.jpg]



The first time I spotted Anneke Wills was in an episode of Strange Report which guest starred John Thaw. However, I have seen the film The Pleasure Girls. I think I saw the film later, but I'm puzzled why I wouldn't have spotted Anneke in it.



[attachment=186:deborah grant.jpg]



I'm almost certain that my first sight of Deborah Grant was in Bouquet Of Barbed Wire.



[attachment=187:hilary tindall.gif]



I consciously first saw Hilary Tindall in Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), although it's likely I would have already seen her in The Brothers, which my parents watched, or The Champions.



[attachment=188:isla blair.gif]



I first saw Isla Blair in a Play For Today.



[attachment=189:jennie linden now.jpg]



I was first consciously aware of Jennie Linden in The Persuaders! and later Thriller. I may well have seen her first in The Champions.



[attachment=190:kate the gladiator.jpg]



My first sighting of Kate O'Mara would appear to be in The Persuaders! I may have seen her in The Champions, The Saint or The Brothers first.



[attachment=191:katy manning.jpg]



No doubt about Katy Manning. Dr Who.



[attachment=192:Marina Sirtis 3.jpg]



My first sighting of Marina Sirtis was likely to be in Minder. I also saw her in the film The Wicked Lady but I think that was later.



[attachment=193:nike arrighi.gif]



I'm fairly sure I first saw Nike Arrighi in the film The Devil Rides Out. Following that was Women In Love.



[attachment=194:sarah sutton 1.jpg]



Same as Katy Manning, I first saw Sarah Sutton in Dr Who.



[attachment=195:sheila allen b&w.jpg]



I first noticed Sheila Allen in Bouquet Of Barbed Wire. I think I first saw the film Three Into Two Won't Go soon afterwards.



Cheers.

wellendcanons.

[Number Six]

name='Gerald Lovell' date='13 July 2010 - 10:51 AM' timestamp='1279014674' post='451176']

Nice pictures of Donald, Number Six. He contributed to a lively and amusing commentary on the DOCTOR WHO DVD of "The Monster of Peladon".

Thanks Gerald - I certainly remember watching him in The Avengers episode in 1968. Z Cars was a bit too early for me though!

[Gerald Lovell]

One of my favourite actors has always been Douglas Wilmer. I have very clear memories of the first time I encountered him, which was in his SHERLOCK HOLMES series. He was in fact "my first Sherlock".





Around then (1964), I must have encountered Douglas again when seeing Jason and the Argonauts and I recall being disappointed he only featured in the early part of the film.





There must then have been a re-release of El Cid, because there was Douglas again, this time in a more prominent role.





Although Douglas did not continue in the Holmes role (apart from an offbeat return on Gene Wilder's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother), his playing of Nayland Smith in a couple of the mid-sixties Fu Manchu films was very much in the same vein. Indeed, a former Doctor Watson, Howard Marion Crawford, played his Doctor Petrie.





Douglas's career was extensive with very impressive credits on stage, screen and television. He was adept at costume roles, as well as in contemporary pieces. I would have very much liked to have seen him on stage. Long retired, Douglas is happily still with us and his recent autobiography was a enjoyable read.





I regret never having met him (yet!), but want to thank Douglas for all the wonderful performances and pleasure he has given, as far as I am concerned, for over forty years.