'Crossroads' Legends in Other Roles

[ChuckEddie]

You mean 'Carlos' wasn't Spanish!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stuart.scot]

Johny Briiggs before Corrie
Anthony Steele
Derek Farr as Timothy Hunter
Diane Keen and Paul Greenwood
Jean Kent

[cornershop15]

Catching Up with Posts

I think it was a case of 'Legends in Crossroads Roles' in most of those instances, Stuart! Was that where the once-married Paul and Diane first met?

Anthony Morton (Carlos Rafael) was good in Performance.

Jeremy Sinden had a major role early in his career as the slimy Anthony Mortimer, Meg's stepson.

Thanks to Robin and Graeme for reminding me of those actors. Performance was definitely where I saw Anthony Morton first (also Johnny Shannon, so you know which thread they should turn up at one day). It's only in recent years that I learned he was Carlos the Chef in a 'former life', probably through 1960s TVTimes articles and listings. I posted one at the http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/br...rossroads.html thread. There was another Carlos the Chef in Emmerdale a few years ago (Gary Turner).

I also remember Anthony from The Sweeney episode Golden Boy. If memory serves, he was chased down some alley way, beaten up, and left for dead among the rubbish, which all seemed rather unnecessary. He was earlier seen with a couple of 'good time' girls, wasn't he? It's all coming back now. A memorable guest role. In the last few months I've seen his performances in The Saint, as a Puerto Rican I think, and Ghost Squad ... where he might have been Polish!

I was shocked and terribly saddened when I learned of Jeremy Sinden's death. He was a good-looking fella when young but some of his obituary photographs showed an unrecognisably portly character actor, as Toad in a theatre production of The Wind and the Willows. I suppose I must have seen Jeremy in Crossroads first too, as this was before Danger UXB, which I watched again on DVD last year. He was in an episode of The Sweeney as well.

Here are Anthony Morton and Jeremy Sinden in Other Roles, courtesy of The Actors Compendium:

As Dennis in Performance (1970) and, ten years later, Det. Sgt. Green in Dangerous Davies

Di Sherlock, aka Oona Stocks. Tall and friendly with a lovely smile. The show didn't do that well, unfortunately.

I remember her, Rowdon. Curly-haired and married to a bloke who looked a bit like Lou in Neighbours? Jim Dunk is the actor's name. They were well-matched. I'd call them 'Legends', very much in the mould of Stan and Hilda Ogden.

John Bentley, aka Hugh Mortimer, had quite an extensive career - he was even briefly in Hollywood - but is certainly fondly remembered as Paul Temple and as the hero in numerous other "B" films.

I seem to recall that when Meg and Hugh finally got married, Noele Gordon was furious with John and wouldn't speak to him for ages because he refused to go abroad for "honeymoon photographs" as he had a great dislike of air travel.

Really, Gerald? I didn't know any of that. Their wedding day was much-publicised and, as a 10-year-old, I was one of the millions who watched. Larry Grayson made a surprise appearance as their chauffeur. It always puzzled me why I never saw Mr. Mortimer again. Now I know! He has an obituary thread here: http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/ob...16-2009-a.html

Added Bonus: Janet Hargreaves in The Deadly Affair (1966)

We haven't seen Mark here yet but this is the capture I promised him, some months ago*, of Janet, who
played David Hunter's first wife Rosemary, in the Unnoticed role of a Ticket Clerk serving Simone Signoret:

If Simone's character hadn't have bought the ticket, to watch Marlowe's Edward II, she would have lived!

*It's amazing how many times I've put 'Christine' instead of Janet Hargreaves every time I mention this actress. At what turned out to be a thread where Rose Hill ('Allo 'Allo) was identified (http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/br...ry-sketch.html), I first mentioned the screencap I'd done, which was (and still is) intended to be part of a Deadly Affair Special at 'Unnoticed Actors and Actresses', with Leslie Sands and Denis Shaw among the others we only see for about two seconds.

More of 'ex-husband' David Hunter (Ronald Allen) in my next post.

[Mark O]

Thanks for the pic of pre-Crossroads Janet cornershop, it's much appreciated, good to see she's still acting, I can't think of many appearances of Hugh after the much publicised wedding, there was the Christmas episode soon after the wedding which is on one of the individually released DVD's Hugh was in, where Meg asked Amy back to the Motel for a cup of tea after the church service and Tish had left her husband, but I honestly can't think of any eps he's in after, maybe one of the owners the Box-set could tell us?..........all I recall is that Hugh was kidnapped (off-screen) in 1979 and had a heart attack, I think David Hunter's son had something to do with it but my memory is hazy.

[cornershop15]

My pleasure, Mark. I vaguely remember that 'kidnapping' storyline. I'll have another of Janet's pre-Crossroads appearances for you soon.

Ronald Allen in 'The Projected Man' (1966). Guest: Mary Peach

As mentioned in the first post, Ronald played Dr. Chris Mitchell (I'm sure it was two Ls!), the assistant to scientist Dr. Paul Steiner (Bryant Halliday) at the Faber Research Foundation. The senior partner is trying to create a 'teleportation machine', which, upsettingly for me, involves using animals. His experiments remind me of David Hedison's disastrous antics in The Fly as he also ends up as half man, half beast.

In the beginning, he asks for the help of researcher Dr. Patricia Hill (Mary Peach). She arrives at the same time as Mitchell, whose car almost
crashes into hers, provoking an angry reaction from her ("You want to watch where you're going!") and a cheerfully sexist response from him:

"Pretty you may be!"

All is forgiven when the doctors get to work. Chris is asked by Steiner to demonstrate
to Patricia how the laser works, which requires her to wear a 'heat suit' for protection:


Chris is puzzled by the request of Dr. Blanchard (Norman Wooland), the research centre's director,
to keep the visit of an eminent scientist from Switzerland (Gerard Heinz) a secret from Dr. Steiner:


The young doctors are relaxed in each other's company at a party, which does not please ex-boyfriend Steiner:


More images soon. A more comprehensive summary of the film here:

1000 Misspent Hours: The Projected Man

[cornershop15]

A few days later, it became so much of a struggle trying to describe the following images that I gave up mid-post, lost momentum and haven't returned to the thread until now. I hope you like the pictures anyway.

Re: Ronald Allen and Mary Peach in 'The Projected Man' (1966)

All I can tell you about this scene is that it's during a confrontation with Dr. Blanchard (Norman Wooland):


This is just after they've parted company with the Professor, who goes to laboratory while they head home:


1000 Misspent Hours: The Projected Man

More 'Crossroads Legends in Other Roles' (that are easier to describe, hopefully) very soon.
And there'll be more of Ronald too, following his 'recent' appearance in The Four Just Men.

[wadey]

Thanks cornershop for posting the stills

[Gerald Lovell]

One of Ronald Allen's most offbeat roles must've been as the chief alien nasty Rago in the DOCTOR WHO serial "The Dominators" in 1968:

Here he is on the right with his disobedient underling Toba played by Kenneth Ives.

Apparently Ronnie very much enjoyed his time on DOCTOR WHO and reappeared a couple of years later, but this time as heroic space project controller Ralph Cornish in "The Ambassadors of Death". According to Caroline John, he so enjoyed himself on this, Ronnie pitched up for the next story "Inferno" too, although he didn't appear in it!

[cornershop15]

Belated Thanks to Gerald, and wadey. Sad times for Crossroads fans, following the death last week of Ronald's wife and co-star Sue Lloyd.

Her obituary thread:

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/ob...lloyd-rip.html

More 'Crossroads Legends in Other Roles' (that are easier to describe, hopefully) very soon.

In the event, it's taken four months to return to this thread, with so much to do elsewhere. This is easy enough, and will interest MarkO.

Zeph Gladstone in 'Oh! What a Lovely War' (filmed in August 1968)

Best known as hairdresser Vera Downend in the Soap, Zeph played Cecil Parker's 'Chauffeuse' (referred to as Mavis):

("Everything alright up there?") - "I'm attending to it, sir"

This turned out to be Cecil's final screen appearance (as 'Sir John'). In the middle is Colin Farrell, one of the Smith family:

I was a regular viewer of Crossroads in the second half of the 1970s, and yet I can't remember Zeph's character at all. Same with Fiona Curzon and Justine Lord. Very odd. Aside from the real Legends, like Meg and Benny, I have vague memories of glamorous Helen Booth (Annette Lynton), Jane the waitress, the Brownlows, and the men who worked at the garage (Stan Stennett, John Forgeham and the black actor who died so tragically). But I seem to have drawn a blank with Zeph. Even her unconventional name seems to have passed me by. I usually looked for Paul McCartney's when his version of the theme tune was used in the end credits.

Can you help with this, Mark? Had Zeph Gladstone left before most of those characters were established? I certainly missed most of her seven years on the show. Once again, it was DVD that introduced me to this actress, initially (and inevitably!) with her brief appearance in Public Eye. She had much better roles in two episodes of The Baron, with the aforementioned Sue Lloyd. I must do a nice capture of them for this thread. It will be nice to be reminded of their scenes together.

A link to one of her obituaries:
Zeph Gladstone - Obituaries, News - The Independent

[mallee59]

What about Shughie McPhee? Wasn't he shot while trying to escape the crossroads set, scaling the wire.......filmed in a docudrama called the great escape I think....

[cully]

Jane Gurnett, who was in 54 episodes, has a long and distinguished CV at the IMDB.

[Timmy_Lea]

Legends?!?

[Freddy]

Courtesy of IMDb 127 actors have starred in Crossroads and Coronation Street.

Singing stars in Crossroads include Jess Conrad and Elaine Paige.

89 actors have starred in Doctors and Crossroads including Edward Clayton who played Stan Harvey the electrician. He pops up in the EDF/Olympics advert

[Mark O]

I was a regular viewer of Crossroads in the second half of the 1970s, and yet I can't remember Zeph's character at all. Same with Fiona Curzon and Justine Lord. Very odd. Aside from the real Legends, like Meg and Benny, I have vague memories of glamorous Helen Booth (Annette Lynton), Jane the waitress, the Brownlows, and the men who worked at the garage (Stan Stennett, John Forgeham and the black actor who died so tragically). But I seem to have drawn a blank with Zeph. Even her unconventional name seems to have passed me by. I usually looked for Paul McCartney's when his version of the theme tune was used in the end credits.

Can you help with this, Mark? Had Zeph Gladstone left before most of those characters were established? I certainly missed most of her seven years on the show. Once again, it was DVD that introduced me to this actress, initially (and inevitably!) with her brief appearance in Public Eye. She had much better roles in two episodes of The Baron, with the aforementioned Sue Lloyd. I must do a nice capture of them for this thread. It will be nice to be reminded of their scenes together.

Hi cornershop, thanks for the pics of my beloved Zeph, I've not seen Oh what a lovely war as yet, one more to add to the list!

Vera's character had left the Motel before most of the names mentioned became established, towards the end of 1977 when her long lost son arrived to upset the applecart, Frances White was established at that time though, along with her difficult daughter, Glenda Brownlow was in it too but not her family, Kathy Staff as Miss Luke made her first appearance early 1978, it was out with the old guard and in with the new around that time, Mr Lovejoy, Sheila, Amy, etc; all no longer required, getting rid of these popular characters upset many fans, Meg soldiered on, appearing less and less for a few more years until it was time to give her character the axe also, again, it upset we fans, and Crossroads went downhill from then on, the irony is Noele was due to return the very week she died, I'm still keeping my eyes peeled on that box-set, maybe one day it'll be a more reasonable price!

[cornershop15]

Many Thanks, Mark. The perfect response. This indicates that I was a regular viewer in the Late 1970s, certainly when Kathy Staff was there, and only occasionally before then, with more vaguely-remembered characters like Hugh Mortimer (Meg's husband, played by John Bentley) and Stan Harvey, who was Diane's, the aforementioned Edward Clayton.

The black actor I was trying to think of in my previous post was Carl Andrews. He's one of two actors in the Soap to have died from AIDS. The other was Dudley Stevens (John Sackville). An absolute tragedy. I've written about Dudley elsewhere, at 'Where Did We See Them First?' I think. He was in the sketch show End of Part One, which is all on YouTube. I didn't remember him as well as the others (Sue Holderness, Denise Coffey, Fred Harris and Tony Aitken), more than 30 years later, and thought he resembled a young Harry Enfield.

Unfortunately, he's missing from the list at this webpage:

In Memory (crossroadsnetwork.co.uk)

I didn't know Alan Gifford was in Crossroads!

What about Beryl Johnstone? Do you remember this actress? Sad to discover she died in her sleep in 1969.

As Zeph Gladstone pictures are a bit thin on the ground, I might as well repost this one, with her dog Horatio:


From the 27th August - 2nd September 1977 issue of TVTimes. Originally posted at 'Stars and Animals'.

[wadsy]

article-1076635-02F77A0700000578-677_468x501.jpg

The very attractive Anita West appeared in "Crossroads" in 1976 as Dr Hillary Maddox in a storyline where

she was romantically involved with Maurice Kaufmann's character Bob Powell. Anita had previously been chosen

as a presenter of "Blue Peter" but gave way to Valerie Singleton because of marital difficulties. She was going

through a divorce at the time with her husband, band leader Ray Ellington!