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Taron Egerton is a British actor and singer, known for his roles in the British television series The Smoke, the 2014 action comedy film Kingsman: The Secret Service, and the film Rocketman (2019). He has also played Edward Brittain in the 2014 drama film Testament of Youth, appeared in the 2015 crime thriller film Legend, starred as Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards in the 2016 biographical film Eddie the Eagle, voiced Johnny in the 2016 animated musical film Sing, and reprised his role in the 2017 Kingsman sequel, The Golden Circle.

Taron David Egerton was born on 10 November 1989 in Birkenhead, Merseyside, to parents from nearby Liverpool. His grandmother is Welsh. His first name is a variation of "taran," which means "thunder" in the Welsh language. His father and family ran a bed-and-breakfast and his mother works in social services. He spent some of his early childhood on the Wirral Peninsula, and moved with his family to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, on the Welsh island of Anglesey, where he went to primary school.

Egerton moved to Aberystwyth, also in Wales, when he was twelve. Egerton considers himself to be Welsh "through and through," and is conversant in the Welsh language, albeit admitting that his Welsh is not as good as it previously was. He attended Ysgol Penglais School before he went on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he graduated with a BA (Hons) Acting in 2012.

Egerton made his acting debut in 2011 with a small role in two episodes of the ITV series Lewis as Liam Jay. Later, he was added to the main cast of the Sky1 series The Smoke. Egerton played Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, the young protégé of Harry Hart (Colin Firth), in Matthew Vaughn's film Kingsman: The Secret Service and its sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle. The first movie's success launched Egerton into fame and resulted in him signing a three-movie contract with 20th Century Fox.

Egerton co-starred in Testament of Youth, based on the life of Vera Brittain, and appeared in the two-part episode "The Ramblin' Boy" in the seventh series of Lewis as Liam Jay. In 2015, it was announced that Egerton would be starring in Billionaire Boys Club. He was named one of GQ's 50 best-dressed British men in 2015 and 2016. In 2018, Egerton was picked to play Elton John in the 2019 biopic Rocketman.

Daughter of Catherine and Isaac Routledge. Her father was a haberdasher, and, during WWII, the family lived weeks at a time in the basement of her father's shop. She attended Birkenhead High School, where she sang in the choir and ran the Sunday School. She studied English at Liverpool University, and, after graduation, worked without pay at the Liverpool Playhouse. She was asked to join the company, and she later studied at Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol. She then moved to London, where she built an impressive stage career over the next several years, also appearing on Broadway 1966-1968. Patricia has worked in TV since the early 1950s, most recently in Keeping Up Appearances (1990). She also recorded an album, "Presenting Patricia Routledge", and worked in film and radio. She has never married or had children, has said that she will not retire, and lives in Kensington and Surrey when not working.

The most beautiful star of the greatest horror masterpiece of Italian film, Black Sunday (1960): Barbara Steele was born on December 29, 1937 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. Barbara is loved by her fans for her talent, intelligence, and a dark mysterious beauty that is unique; her face epitomizes either sweet innocence, or malign evil (she is wonderful to watch either way). At first, Barbara studied to become a painter. In 1957, she joined an acting repertory company. Her feature acting debut was in the British comedy Bachelor of Hearts (1958). At age 21, this strikingly lovely lady, with the hauntingly beautiful face, large eyes, sensuous lips and long dark hair got her breakout role by starring in Black Sunday (1960), the quintessential Italian film about witchcraft (it was the directorial debut for cinematographer Mario Bava; with his background, it was exquisitely photographed and atmospheric).

We got to see Barbara, but did not hear her; her voice was dubbed by another actress for international audiences. After its American success, AIP brought Barbara to America, to star in Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum (1961); (though the film was shot entirely in English, again Barbara's own voice was not used). By now, Barbara was typecast by American audiences as a horror star. In 1962, she answered an open-casting call and won a role in Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963); she only had a small role, but it was memorable. Reportedly, Fellini wanted to use her more in the film, but she was contracted to leave Rome to start work on her next horror movie, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962). Being a slow and meticulous director, Fellini's 8½ (1963) was not released until 1963. (Later, when Barbara was cast in lesser roles in lesser movies, she would tell the directors: "I've worked with some of the best directors in the world. I've worked with Fellini!")

More horror movies followed, such as The Ghost (1963), Castle of Blood (1964), An Angel for Satan (1966) and others; this success lead to her being typecast in the horror genre, where she more often than not appeared in Italian movies with a dubbed voice. The nadir was appearing in The Crimson Cult (1968), which was mainly eye candy, with scantily-clad women in a cult. Unfortunately, Barbara got sick of being typecast in horror movies. One of the screen's greatest horror stars, she said in an interview: "I never want to climb out of another freakin' coffin again!" This was sad news for her legion of horror fans; it was also a false-step for Barbara as far as a career move. Back in America, she met screenwriter James Poe; they got married, and remained together for many years.

James Poe wrote an excellent role for Barbara in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). The role ended up going to Susannah York, and Barbara wouldn't act in movies again for five years. Barbara returned to movies in Caged Heat (1974); she was miscast: a few years before, Barbara would have been one of the beautiful inmates, not the wheelchair-bound warden, but her performance won positive reviews. In 1977, she appeared in a film by Roger Corman, based on the true story of a mentally ill woman, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). Unfortunately, her scenes wound up on the cutting room floor. Barbara appeared in Pretty Baby (1978), but she was in the background the whole time, and her talents were mostly wasted. Barbara would appear in two more unmemorable movies. She and James Poe got divorced in 1978, he died two years later.

Barbara appeared in the independent film The Silent Scream (1979). Maybe because her ex-husband was now dead, or because her acting career was going nowhere, Barbara retired from acting for a decade. However, she had a great deal of success as a producer. She was an associate producer for the miniseries The Winds of War (1983), and produced War and Remembrance (1988), for which she got an Emmy Award. Her horror fans were delighted when Barbara showed up again, this time on television in Dark Shadows (1991), a revival of the beloved 1960s supernatural soap opera. And she has developed a relative fondness along with a sense of ironic humor about her horror queen status, which was evident in her appearance in Clive Barker's documentary A-Z of Horror (1997).

Few in modern British history have come as far or achieved as much from humble beginnings as Glenda Jackson did. From acclaimed actress to respected MP (Member of Parliament), she was known for her high intelligence and meticulous approach to her work. She was born to a working-class household in Birkenhead, where her father was a bricklayer and her mother was a cleaning lady. When she was very young, her father was recruited into the Navy, where he worked aboard a minesweeper. She graduated from school at 16 and worked for a while in a pharmacy. However, she found this boring and dead-end and wanted better for herself. Her life changed forever when she was accepted into the prestigious Royal Acadamy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at the age of 18. Her work impressed all who observed it. At age 22, she married Roy Hodges.

Her first work came on the stage, where she won a role in an adaptation of "Separate Tables", and made a positive impression on critics and audiences alike. This led to film roles, modest at first, but she approached them with great determination. She first came to the public's notice when she won a supporting role in the controversial film Marat/Sade (1967), and is acknowledged to have stolen the show. She quickly became a member of Britain's A-List. Her first starring role came in the offbeat drama Negatives (1968), in which she out-shone the oddball material. The following year, controversial director Ken Russell gave her a starring role in his adaptation of the 1920s romance Women in Love (1969), in which she co-starred with Oliver Reed. The film was a major success, and Jackson's performance won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. In the process, she became an international celebrity, known world-wide, yet she didn't place as much value on the status and fame as most do. She did, however, become a major admirer of Russell (who had great admiration for her in return) and acted in more of his films. She starred in the controversial The Music Lovers (1971), although it required her to do a nude scene, something that made her very uncomfortable. The film was not a success, but she agreed to do a cameo appearance in his next film, The Boy Friend (1971). Although her role as an obnoxious actress was very small, she once again performed with great aplomb.

1971 turned out to be a key year for her. She took a risk by appearing in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), as a divorced businesswoman in a dead-end affair with a shallow bisexual artist, but the film turned out to be another major success. She accepted the starring role in the British Broadcasting Corporation's much anticipated biography of Queen Elizabeth I, and her performance in the finished film, Elizabeth R (1971), was praised not only by critics and fans, but is cited by historians as the most accurate portrayal of the beloved former queen ever seen. The same year, she successfully played the role of Queen Elizabeth I again in the historical drama Mary, Queen of Scots (1971). That same year, she appeared in the popular comedy series The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968) in a skit as Queen Cleopatra, which is considered on of the funniest TV skits in British television, and also proof that she could do comedy just as well as costume melodrama. One who saw and raved about her performance was director Melvin Frank, who proceeded to cast her in the romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973), co-starring George Segal. The two stars had a chemistry which brought out the best in each other, and the film was not only a major hit in both the United States and Great Britain, but won her a second Academy Award. She continued to impress by refusing obvious commercial roles and seeking out serious artistic work. She gave strong performances in The Romantic Englishwoman (1975) and The Incredible Sarah (1976), in which she portrayed the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt. However, some of her films didn't register with the public, like The Triple Echo (1972), The Maids (1975), and Nasty Habits (1977). In addition, her marriage fell apart in 1976. But her career remained at the top and in 1978 she was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire. That year, she made a comeback in the comedy House Calls (1978), co-starring Walter Matthau. The success of this film which led to a popular television spin-off in the United States the following year. In 1979, she and Segal re-teamed in Lost and Found (1979), but they were unable to overcome the routine script. She again co-starred with Oliver Reed in The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), but the film was another disappointment.

During the 1980s, she appeared in Hopscotch (1980) also co-starring Walter Matthau, and HealtH (1980) with Lauren Bacall, with disappointing results, although Jackson herself was never blamed. Her performance in the TV biography Sakharov (1984), in which she played Yelena Bonner, devoted wife of imprisoned Russian nuclear scientist Andrei Sakharov opposite Jason Robards, won rave reviews. However, the next film Turtle Diary (1985), was only a modest success, and the ensemble comedy Beyond Therapy (1987) was a critical and box office disaster and Jackson herself got some of the worst reviews of her career.

As the 1980s ended, Jackson continued to act, but became more focused on public affairs. She grew up in a household that was staunchly supportive of the Labour Party. She had disliked the policies of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, even though she admired some of her personal attributes, and strongly disapproved of Thatcher's successor, John Major. She was unhappy with the direction of British government policies, and in 1992 ran for Parliament. Although running in an area (Hampstead and Highgate) which was not heavily supportive of her party, she won by a slim margin and immediately became its most famous newly elective member. However, those who expected that she would rest on her laurels and fame were mistaken. She immediately took an interest in transportation issues, and in 1997 was appointed Junior Transportation Minister by Prime Minister Tony Blair. However, she was critical of some of Blair's policies and is considered an inter-party opponent of Blair's moderate faction. She was considered a traditional Labour Party activist, but is not affiliated with the faction known as The Looney Left. In 2000, she ran for Mayor of London, but lost the Labour nomination to fellow MP Frank Dobson, an ally of Blair, who then lost the election to an independent candidate, Ken Livingstone.

In 2005, she ran again and won the nomination, but lost to Livingstone, winning 38% of the vote. When Blair announced he would not seek reelection as Prime Minister in 2006, Jackson's name was mentioned as a possible successor, although she didn't encourage this speculation. In 2010, she sought reelection to parliament and was almost defeated, winning by only 42 votes.

In 2013, she responded to the death of Margaret Thatcher by strongly denouncing her policies, which was condemned by many as graceless. In 2015, elections for parliament were called again but she didn't seek reelection. She was succeeded in Parliament by Christopher Philp, a Conservative Party member who had been Jackson's opponent in 2010.

An underrated British leading man predominantly of the 1970s and 1980s, Collins made his mark in the 1970s action drama The Professionals (1977). As hard man William Bodie, he became a household name worldwide, which led to him receiving his own movie vehicle in the form of The Final Option (1982); but after the show ended in 1983, he was miscast in a number of cheap straight-to-video foreign actioners.

An engineer's daughter, she had first planned on becoming a ballerina, using her original Christian name Muguette, but abandoned those plans by the age of 17 when she realized that her physique was more in keeping with her other first name, Megs. She trained in Liverpool at the School of Dancing and Dramatic Art and then joined the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1933 before moving to London to appear at the Player's Theatre four years later.

During the 1950's, Megs was busy acting on stage and had considerable critical success in two plays by Emlyn Williams, 'Light of Heart' (1940) and 'The Wind of Heaven' (1945). Against character, she also played the vicious, unstable Alma Winemiller in 'Summer and Smoke' (1951) by Tennessee Williams. In 1956, she was awarded the Clarence Derwent Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the stoic wife of a longshoreman harbouring incestuous feelings for his niece in 'A View from the Bridge' by Arthur Miller. The previous year, she had made her Broadway debut in Chekhov's 'A Day by the Sea' as a supportive governess to an alcoholic physician.

Among her screen roles, best remembered are those of Nurse Woods in the excellent murder mystery Green for Danger (1946); her plump, homely innkeeper providing final happiness to the title character at the end of The History of Mr. Polly (1949)); and three of her many housekeepers : the proper one of Indiscreet (1958), the nervously anxious one, sensing danger in The Innocents (1961) and the warm, dependable one in the musical Oliver! (1968). From the 1960's, Megs did a lot of television work, starred in her own series, Weavers Green (1966), as a country veterinarian, and even made tea bag commercials. Her versatility and popularity as an actress ensured that she was never out of work.

Genteel Cathleen Nesbitt was a grand dame of the theatre on both sides of the Atlantic in a career spanning seven decades. Among almost 300 roles on stage, she excelled at comic portrayals of sophisticated socialites and elegant mothers. Hollywood used her, whenever a gentler, sweeter version of Gladys Cooper was needed, yet someone still possessed of a subtly sarcastic wit and turn of phrase. She attended Queen's University in Belfast and the Sorbonne in Paris.

Encouraged by a friend of her father - none other than the legendary Sarah Bernhardt - to enter the acting profession, she was taken on by Victorian actress and drama teacher Rosina Filippi (1866-1930). Cathleen's first appearance on stage was in 1910 at the Royalty Theatre in London. This was followed in November 1911 by her Broadway debut with the touring Abbey Theatre Players in 'The Well of the Saints'. From here on, and for the rest of her long life, she was never out of a job, demonstrating her range and versatility by playing everything from villainesses to being a much acclaimed Kate in Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew', Perdita in Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale', the great-aunt and tutor in the art of courtesanship of the title character in 'Gigi', the Dowager Empress in 'Anastasia', and the gossipy 'humorously animated' Julia Shuttlethwaite of T.S. Eliot's 'The Cocktail Party'. Her Mrs. Higgins in 'My Fair Lady', Brooks Atkinson described as played with 'grace and elegance', which also pretty much sums up Cathleen's career in films.

Her first motion picture role was a lead in the drama The Faithful Heart (1922), adapted from an Irish play. She then absented herself from the screen for the next decade, resurfacing in supporting roles in British films, though rarely cast in worthy parts, possible exceptions being Man of Evil (1944) and Jassy (1947). Her strengths were rather better showcased during her sojourn in Hollywood, which began in 1952. In addition to prolific appearances in anthology television, she also appeared in several big budget films, most memorably as Cary Grant's perspicacious grandmother in An Affair to Remember (1957) and as gossipy Lady Matheson (alongside Gladys Cooper ) in Separate Tables (1958). One of her last roles of note was as the elderly wealthy Julia Rainbird, who instigates the plot in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot (1976).

At the instigation of her friend, Anita Loos, author of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", Nesbitt wrote her memoir, 'A Little Love and Good Company', in 1977. For her extraordinarily long career in the acting profession, she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Honours List the following year. She retired just two years prior to her death in 1983 at the age of 94.

Stringer Davis was born on 4 June 1899 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Murder She Said (1961), Murder Most Foul (1964) and Murder at the Gallop (1963). He was married to Margaret Rutherford. He died on 29 August 1973 in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.

Skilbeck attended Oxford University. There she studied French and Spanish. She presented an early BBC Spanish programme called Zarabanda. She has worked extensively in theatre and radio.

She has done done repertory all over the UK, toured Morocco with Pinter, Spain with Dryden, Hong-Kong with Vaclav Havel, and many American universities for Actors From the London Stage.

Paul James O'Grady was born on 14 June 1955 in Birkenhead, England. He attended St Anselm's Christian Brothers School. After his graduation, he worked as a clerk in a magistrate's court.

During that time he met a woman named Diane Jansen with whom he had a brief affair. Their daughter, Sharyn, was born in 1974. However, Paul felt that he was too young to be a father and decided to travel to Europe where he worked (among other occupations) as a waiter in a brothel in Manila.

He returned to England in the 1980s and, in 1985, debuted his drag character, Lily Savage, in the gay bars and clubs throughout London. The character became extremely popular and afforded Paul his own television show, Live from the Lilydrome (1995), which debuted in 1995. In 2000, he retired the character of Lily Savage and began appearing on television solely as Paul O'Grady.

In 2002, Paul suffered a heart attack in his London flat. He moved to a farm near Kent, England. Paul was devoted to his daughter. He died in 2023, aged 67, from undisclosed causes.

Nicholas Amer was born Thomas Harold Amer in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England in 1923. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the Royal Navy and served as a wireless officer for four years during World War II. He saw plenty of action, serving mainly on Motor Torpedo Boats, at first in North Africa. He was wounded in action during the Allied Invasion of Sicily in 1943.

Following demobilisation in 1945 he became an actor, studying at the Webber-Douglas Academy Drama School from 1946 to 1948 and winning, in his final year, their Best Actor Award, presented to him by Sir Donald Wolfit. Thereafter he devoted himself to the plays of William Shakespeare and performed with The Old Vic Company, The Oxford Playhouse Company and others in 31 different countries, and winning the Best Foreign Actor Award in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Amer's big break came in 1953 when John Gielgud asked him to play 'Green' in his production of Richard II, starring Paul Scofield. After the London run he made his first overseas tour by going with Sir John and the Company to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). His most recent tour overseas was to the USA with the Old Vic Company in 1996, playing Duncan in Macbeth. In between he played many of Shakespeare's juveniles, including Romeo, Laertes (three times), Ferdinand in The Tempest (twice) and finally, in 1958, Hamlet at the Wimbledon Theatre. Other West End appearances include The Wolf with Judi Dench and Leo McKern, Captain Brassbound's Conversion with Penelope Keith, and A Man for All Seasons with Charlton Heston.

In 1960, with The Oxford Playhouse Company, he toured India, Pakistan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) playing Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night. Three years later, in 1963, he formed, along with fellow actors Harold Lang and Greville Hallam, their own company, Voyage Theatre. They produced the play Macbeth in Camera, which they wrote themselves to demonstrate the various techniques that actors use to bring Shakespeare's printed words to life. This they offered to the British Council who liked it so much that they sent them, eventually, on three long world tours.

Nicholas Amer's TV career began in the early days of television with the first medical soap, Emergency-Ward 10 (1957). Among many appearances since then are Messalina's lover Mnester in I, Claudius (1976), The Aedile in The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984) (part of the BBC's complete TV cycle) and Fortunes of War (1987) with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thomson. In 2011 he appeared in an episode of Borgia (2011), filmed in Prague, playing the rich and evil Prospero Santacroce on his death bed trying desperately to persuade Cesare Borgia to grant him absolution, so that, free of his wicked life, he might enter Paradise.

The following year he travelled to Thailand to play the role of returning veteran Jack Jennings in Heroes Return (2012), a TV short directed by John Hillcoat that was part of Camelot UK's campaign to provide Lottery funding to help World War II veterans take part in commemorative visits to mark the anniversary of events that led to the end of the war.

His first film role was as a pot boy in The Mudlark (1950) (uncredited) with Irene Dunne and Alec Guinness. Other films include The Message (1976) with Anthony Quinn, The Prince and the Pauper (1976) with Rex Harrison, Nelson's Touch (1979), in which he played the great Admiral himself, Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), The Whipping Boy (1994) for Disney studios, a remake of A Man for All Seasons (1988) with Charlton Heston and Vanessa Redgrave, Treasure Island (1990), in which he played Ben Gunn, also with Charlton Heston, The Awakening (2011) with Rebecca Hall, Terence Davies's The Deep Blue Sea (2011), as the grandfather in Segment "G is for Grandad" of ABCs of Death 2 (2014) and as Oggie in Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016).

Nicholas Amer has been a teacher at many of the London drama schools, including the Central School in Swiss Cottage, the Webber-Douglas School in South Kensington and also the Rose Bruford School and Drama Centre. In Australia, the Drama Academy N.I.D.A. in Sydney asked him to give classes to their students, and in Egypt too he was asked to do the same. While filming The Message (1976) in Libya, he was delighted when a fellow actor, appearing in a leading part in the Arabic version of the film, surprised him by reminding him that he been taught by Nicholas in Cairo.

Doreen Sloane was born on 24 February 1934 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Chariots of Fire (1981), Coronation Street (1960) and Brookside (1982). She died on 8 April 1990 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK.

Tony Pierce-Roberts was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He is a cinematographer, known for A Room with a View (1985), Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993). He has been married to Elizabeth Waller since 1974. They have one child.

Gerald Cross was born on 20 February 1912 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Newcomers (1965), Murder She Said (1961) and A Time of Day (1957). He was married to Nuna Davey. He died on 26 February 1981 in Camden, London, England, UK.

Jim Wiggins was born on 13 March 1922 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Brookside (1982), Five Days from Home (1978) and Kinvig (1981). He died in 1999 in London, England, UK.

Dennis Vance was born on 18 March 1924 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was a producer and director, known for The Bass Player and the Blonde (1978), The Avengers (1961) and BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950). He was married to Lorna Mason, Denise Shaw, Jane Raworth, Claire Nielson, Theresa Hawkins and Amy Wolfe. He died on 12 October 1983 in London, England, UK.

Vince Earl was born on 11 June 1944 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for No Surrender (1985), Brookside (1982) and Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).

Freddy Marks was born on 10 September 1949 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Rainbow (1972), Rod, Jane and Freddy (1981) and Churchill's People (1974). He was married to Jane Tucker. He died on 20 May 2021 in Esher, Surrey, England, UK.

John Gorman was born on 4 January 1936 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for The Chastity Belt (1972), Jabberwocky (1977) and Melody (1971).

Irene Marot was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. She is known for The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (1988), Cracker (1993) and Getting It Right (1989).

Robert Vahey was born in 1932 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), Angel Pavement (1957) and Howards' Way (1985). He was married to Valerie Griffiths. He died on 29 October 2013 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK.

Ann Marie Davies was born on 22 October 1975 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Mia, Dead Ringer (2018) and Dangerous Game (2017).

John Kidd was born on 21 July 1907 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Other Man (1956), The Pickwick Papers (1952) and The Six Proud Walkers (1962). He was married to Meg Simmons. He died on 21 January 1995 in Camden, London, England, UK.

Brenda Hogan was born on 6 September 1928 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Jane Eyre (1956), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and The Vise (1954). She was previously married to Donald Houston.

Sir Lewis Casson was a British actor and theatrical director who was married to the legendary actress Dame Sybil Thorndike. He played a role in modernizing the British theatre, expanding it to embrace social critiques as well as new techniques, and was an advocate for a National Theatre.

Lewis was born on October 26, 1875 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England to Thomas Casson, a bank manager who had been born in Wales, and Laura Ann. The family moved to Denbigh, Wales when Lewis was still a boy. His father's passion was building organs, and in 1891, the family moved to London where Thomas became a professional builder of theatrical organs. Lewis worked for his father but eventually attended university to study chemistry but left school without completing his degree. He then trained to become a teacher at St Mark's College, Chelsea. After getting his teaching certificate, he returned to his father's organ-making business in 1900.

The young Casson was attracted to socialism and became a supporter of Keir Hardie, the leader of the new Labour Party. Lewis had always been interested in acting and had participated in amateur theatricals while young. He became a tutor at St. Mark's and acted in semi-professional productions staged in non-theatrical venues London's East End.

He turned professional in 1903 when he was recruited by the managers of the Royal Court Theatre. Whilst at the Royal Court he appeared in George Bernard Shaw's "Man and Superman" and "Major Barbara", eventually befriending Shaw, who was a socialist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society that had helped create the Labour Party.

In 1907, he joined the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, which was founded as the first repertory theatre in Great Britain by Annie Horniman. It was a watershed event in his life as it was at the Gaiety that he first directed a play. It was also at the Gaiety that he met Sybil Thorndike, another member of the company. She had first seen him in a production of Shaw's "Widowers' Houses", a polemic against slum lords. Initially, she disapproved of his socialism and political activism, but he -- a believer in equal rights for women -- introduced her to women suffragists working and she joined the cause of securing the vote for women. Marrying in December 1908, they would remain husband and wife for over 60 years until his death and had four children.

The couple soon moved to London to be part of Charles Frohman's repertory company. Frohman arranged an American tour for Thorndike, where she appeared on Broadway with the leading actor John Drew, the uncle of Lionel Barrymore, ' Ethel Barrymore and John Barrymore in W. Somerset Maugham's play "Smith". Casson was in the cast. The company later toured America. After the American tour, Casson became focused on directing after returning to Britain. In 1912, he directed a production of Stanley Houghton's "Hindle Wakes" about a mill girl who goes off for a weekend with the mill-owner's son and then refuses to marry him so that she can remain independent. Sybil played the fiancée of the mill-owner's son.

The play was scandalous for the time and showed that Casson was determined to expand the parameters of what was acceptable theatre. He directed an experimental production of "Julius Caesar" at the Gaiety, and although it received critical praise, Annie Horniman thought it was "an experiment for experiment's sake", which led Casson to resign as director. He soon became the artistic director of the Scottish Playgoers Company, Glasgow (his son John would become an actor and director at the company's successor organization, the Citizens Theatre).

With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Casson was torn over supporting the war as he opposed it as a socialist, thinking it was an imperialist war. Many socialists and Hardie of the Labour Party initially opposed the war. However, family members and friends had joined the military and Casson, as did many Labourites and socialists, believed that the government would enact reforms after the war if socialists showed their loyalty. He lied about his age in order to enlist in the Royal Army Service Corps and made the rank of sergeant.

In 1916, due to his half-completed chemistry degree, he received a commission in the Royal Engineers and was tasked with working on the development of poison gas warfare. He was eventually promoted to Captain and given his own company that set up gas projectiles during The Somme and other battles. In 1917, he received a shrapnel wound in the shoulder while his company was preparing gas projectiles for which he was awarded a Military Cross. He was invalided back to England but returned to the Western Front in 1918 to resume his role on gas warfare. He was credited with creating a more efficient gas missile mechanism. By autumn, he was sent on a mission to Washington to discuss gas warfare as a secretary of the Chemical Warfare Committee. His brother was killed during the war.

Demobilized in 1919 with the rank of major, he returned to the theatre and became well-known as a director whilst his wife established herself as one of the greatest actresses of her generation. He worked closely with George Bernard Shaw when directing the premiere of Saint Joan (1957), which starred his wife Sybil as Joan of Arc. The play was a huge success. He then courted controversy again by directing the Marxist Ernest Toller's "Man and the Masses". When Great Britain was hit by the General Strike of 1926 over the exploitation of miners, he fully supported the strike and strikers despite the fact that Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald refused to support it. After the General Strike collapsed, the Conservative government implemented anti-strike legislation. In 1934, during the trough of the Great Depression, Casson toured in socialist playwright Miles Malleson's "Six Men of Dorset", about workers who were transported to Australia for trying to create a trade union. The tour focused on industrial cities and areas suffering from high unemployment.

In the late 1930s, he was affiliated with the Old Vic company, and directed Laurence Olivier in "Coriolanus" in 1938 and 'John Gielgud' in "King Lear" in 1940. He called for the Old Vic to serve as the nucleus of a National Theatre, a dream that would come to fruition under Olivier in 1963. From 1941 to '45, he served as president of the British Actors' Equity Association, a union created by the amalgamation of Actors Association and the Stage Guild. Casson had been one of the movers behind the merger.

Sybil Thorndike was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1931, and in June 1945, Casson himself was knighted for his contributions to the theatre. He continued to act until a year before his death. He died on May 16, 1969, at the age of 93 in a Nuffield Nursing Home.