Three British greats....

[Windthrop]

name='Steve Crook']Thanks for the reminder. He appeared in lots of other films but it was only in P&P films that he managed to get a really starring performance. Odd to think that at one time he was one of the most popular actors in the country!



There are a few others who were born in 1908 like William "Billy" Hartnell, David Lean, Ian Fleming, Alastair Cooke, and some Americans like Jimmy Stewart and Bette Davis. They are all worth celebrating as are many others born then



Steve

Robert Morley's centenery is also this year

[suzepulcheria]

I have recently (courtesy of a senior member) seen David Farrar in a real curiosity, namely "The Trojan Brothers" aka "Murder in the Footlights". Well worth a look. DF is the front half of a pantomime horse!

[Steve Crook]

name='suzepulcheria']I have recently (courtesy of a senior member) seen David Farrar in a real curiosity, namely "The Trojan Brothers" aka "Murder in the Footlights". Well worth a look. DF is the front half of a pantomime horse!

Does he have his sexy legs on display? He did like to show them off, in Black Narcissus and 300 Spartans.



Steve

[penfold]

name='Steve Crook']Does he have his sexy legs on display? He did like to show them off, in Black Narcissus and 300 Spartans.



Steve

Have you seen him in his trapeze costume in The Dark Tower yet??

[suzepulcheria]

name='Steve Crook']Does he have his sexy legs on display? He did like to show them off, in Black Narcissus and 300 Spartans.



Steve

Don't recall the legs- there are certainly a few shots of him showing off his torso! I must see the Dark Tower- thanks!

[judylou]

Getting back to Rex Harrison, I saw My Fair Lady on stage in Melbourne in 1959. Prof Higgins was played by Robin Bailey, who I think was every bit as good as Rex.

I know it's not his centenary and he is still alive, but I think Richard Attenborough deserves a mention as a fine British actor.

[Brief Encounter]

Great fan of Harrison and Redgrave, as they are good leading men for Margaret Lockwood in Night Train to Munich (1940) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) respectively. Did find it odd that Harrison doesn't actually get together with her though.

[CaptainWaggett]

name='Brief Encounter']Great fan of Harrison and Redgrave, as they are good leading men for Margaret Lockwood in Night Train to Munich (1940) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) respectively. Did find it odd that Harrison doesn't actually get together with her though.

In real life or in the film? I thought it was pretty clear at the end of Night Train to Munich that Rex Harrison's character gets into a tight clinch with Lockwood when he gets off the cable car (that other happy couple, Charters and Caldicott, have already disappeared together...)

[Windthrop]

name='judylou']I know it's not his centenary and he is still alive, but I think Richard Attenborough deserves a mention as a fine British actor.

I agree and rather think his other achievements have rather overshadowed his acting reputation. Along with Stanley Baker and Dirk Bogarde he was one a new and slightly more interesting breed of film actor to come about after the war. IMHO he was just as versatile as Peter Sellers in his own way.

[penfold]

name='CaptainWaggett']In real life or in the film? I thought it was pretty clear at the end of Night Train to Munich that Rex Harrison's character gets into a tight clinch with Lockwood when he gets off the cable car (that other happy couple, Charters and Caldicott, have already disappeared together...)

I don't think it's that kind of film, dear boy....

[TimR]

I suppose Rex Harrison's range was narrow, but his performance in My Fair Lady was one of the outstanding stage events in both London and New York during the twentieth century. My mother saw him in My Fair Ladya few weeks after it opened and it remains her favorits stage production, half a century later.



Also, his acting was by far the best part of the infamous Cleopatra; he created a three-dimensional, complex Julius Caesar in the midst of all that expensive chaos.

[batman]

name='TimR']I suppose Rex Harrison's range was narrow .... Also, his acting was by far the best part of the infamous Cleopatra; he created a three-dimensional, complex Julius Caesar in the midst of all that expensive chaos.

Rex did have a narrow range but in the right role ... ie Julius Caesar or Higgins ... he was perfectly OK. Many 'star' actors are the same in films .... for example, outside his 'classic' performances Brando could be extremely average and downright bad at times.

[Brief Encounter]

name='CaptainWaggett']In real life or in the film? I thought it was pretty clear at the end of Night Train to Munich that Rex Harrison's character gets into a tight clinch with Lockwood when he gets off the cable car (that other happy couple, Charters and Caldicott, have already disappeared together...)

In the film. I didn't notice anything between them! I'll have to watch it again...

[TimR]

name='batman']Rex did have a narrow range but in the right role ... ie Julius Caesar or Higgins ... he was perfectly OK. Many 'star' actors are the same in films .... for example, outside his 'classic' performances Brando could be extremely average and downright bad at times.

Very true. A Countess From Hong Kong and Reflections in A Golden Eye come to mind.



I think Harrison was usually careful to play roles that suited him. Cleopatrawas a stretch - but it worked.

[batman]

name='TimR']Very true. A Countess From Hong Kong and Reflections in A Golden Eye come to mind.



I think Harrison was usually careful to play roles that suited him. Cleopatrawas a stretch - but it worked.

I quite like Reflections In A Golden Eye .... I was thinking more of The Appaloosa, Candy and Free Money.

[stevie boy]

name='batman']I quite like Reflections In A Golden Eye .... I was thinking more of The Appaloosa, Candy and Free Money.

I like Brando in Reflections, that proved he was a great actor, when he put his mind to it.