Trivia: One of England's most respected actors and directors, Sir Richard Attenborough made numerous contributions to world cinema both in front of and behind the camera. The son of a Cambridge school administrator, Attenborough began dabbling in theatricals at the age of 12. While attending London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1941, he turned professional, making his first stage appearance in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! He made his screen debut as the Young Sailor in Noel Coward and David Lean's In Which We Serve (1943), before achieving his first significant West End success as the punkish, cowardly, petty criminal Pinkie Brown in Brighton Rock. After three years of service with the Royal Air Force, Attenborough rose to film stardom in the 1947 film version of Brighton Rock -- a role that caused him to be typecast as a working-class misfit over the next few years. One of the best of his characterizations in this vein can be found in The Guinea Pig (1948), in which the 26-year-old Attenborough was wholly credible as a 13-year-old schoolboy. As the '50s progressed, he was permitted a wider range of characters in such films as The Magic Box (1951), The Ship That Died of Shame (1955), and Private's Progress (1956). In 1959, he teamed up with director Bryan Forbes to form Beaver Films. Before the partnership dissolved in 1964, Attenborough had played such sharply etched personalities as Tom Curtis in The Angry Silence (1960) and Bill Savage in Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964); he also served as producer for the Forbes-directed Whistle Down the Wind (1962) and The L-Shaped Room (1962). During the '60s, Attenborough exhibited a fondness for military roles: POW mastermind Bartlett in The Great Escape (1963); hotheaded ship's engineer Frenchy Burgoyne in The Sand Pebbles (1966); and Sgt. Major Lauderdale in Guns at Batasi (1964), the performance that won him a British Academy Award. He also played an extended cameo in Doctor Dolittle (1967), and sang "I've Never Seen Anything Like It in My Life," a paean to the amazing Pushmi-Pullyu. This boisterous musical performance may well have been a warm-up for Attenborough's film directorial debut, the satirical anti-war revue Oh, What a Lovely War (1969). He subsequently helmed the historical epics Young Winston (1972) and A Bridge Too Far (1977), then scaled down his technique for the psychological thriller Magic (1978), which starred his favorite leading man, Anthony Hopkins. With more and more of his time consumed by his directing activities, Attenborough found fewer opportunities to act. One of his best performances in the '70s was as the eerily "normal" real-life serial killer Christie in 10 Rillington Place (1971). In 1982, Attenborough brought a 20-year dream to fruition when he directed the spectacular biopic Gandhi. The film won a raft of Oscars, including a Best Director statuette for Attenborough; he was also honored with Golden Globe and Director's Guild awards, and, that same year, published his book In Search of Gandhi, another product of his fascination with the Indian leader. All of Attenborough's post-Gandhi projects were laudably ambitious, though none reached the same pinnacle of success. Some of the best of his latter-day directorial efforts were Cry Freedom, a 1987 depiction of the horrors of apartheid; 1992's Chaplin, an epic biopic of the great comedian; and Shadowlands (1993), starring Anthony Hopkins as spiritually motivated author C.S. Lewis. Attenborough returned to the screen during the '90s, acting in avuncular character roles, the most popular of which was the affable but woefully misguided billionaire entrepreneur John Hammond in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993), a role he reprised for the film's 1997 sequel. Other notable performances included the jovial Kriss Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street (1994) and Sir William Cecil in Elizabeth (1998). The brother of naturalist David Attenborough and husband of actress Sheila Sim, he was knighted in 1976 and became a life peer in 1993. Attenborough has chaired dozens of professional organizations and worked tirelessly on behalf of Britain's Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.In 1998 the venerable screen legend has a small part in the Oscar-nominated Elizabeth, and in 1999 he directed Grey Owl. Then, in 2007, at the age of 84 he directed the seeping World War II epic romance Closing the Ring with a stellar cast that included Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Brenda Fricker, and Pete Postlethwaite. In 2008, he suffered several health setbacks and retired from filmmaking. He died in 2014, just before his 91st birthday.

Trivia: Born in a British seaside resort town, John Mills was the son of a mathematics teacher father. Mills' mother worked as a theatrical box office manager, and it was this world, rather than his father's academic milieu, which most attracted young Mills. After brief employment as a clerk in a corn merchant's office, Mills moved to London, where he enrolled at Zelia Raye's Dancing School. His first professional job was as a chorus dancer in The Five O'Clock Revue in 1929. Making as many contacts as possible, Mills was able to secure work on the legitimate stage, and in 1932 appeared in his first film, the Jessie Matthews vehicle The Midshipmaid. Learning his craft in "quota quickies," Mills rose to leading man in such prestige productions as Brown on Resolution (1935), Tudor Rose (1936), and The Green Cockatoo (1938). In 1939, he appeared in his first American film, Goodbye Mr. Chips, playing student Peter Colley. He starred in a number of morale-boosting World War II films, usually playing the personification of the calm, resourceful young British military officer; any chance for a real life career in uniform, however, was scuttled by Mills' duodenal ulcer. After the war, he starred in such international hits as Great Expectations (1946), Scott of the Antarctic (1949), Hobson's Choice (1954), and Above Us the Waves (1955). In 1970, Mills won a long overdue Oscar for his performance as the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter (1970), directed (as were several of Mills' earlier films) by David Lean. His Broadway work has included Ross, a 1961 dramatization of the life of T.E. Lawrence. In 1966, Mills directed Sky West and Crooked (aka Gypsy Girl), which starred his daughter, Hayley Mills, and was written by his wife, Mary Hayley Bell (Mills' other daughter, Juliet, is likewise an actress of note). One year later, he made his American series-TV debut as British attorney Dundee in the weekly Western Dundee and the Culhane. In 1977, John Mills was made a knight of the British Empire; his very full life, both offscreen and on, was summed up three years later in his autobiography Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen, Please.

Trivia: "The world of Bryan Forbes is one of wisps and whispers," noted film critic Andrew Sarris in 1968, citing the "muted" quality of director Forbes' best films. While his directorial output does indeed exhibit an inbred sense of quietude and subtlety, Forbes started out on stage in the more loudly demonstrative category of "actor." After wartime service, Forbes made his film-acting debut in The Small Back Room (1948). He continued as a performer and screenwriter until 1961, when he made an auspicious directorial bow in Whistle Down the Wind (1961). He subsequently directed (and sometimes produced and/or wrote) such critical and audience favorites as The L-Shaped Room (1962), Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), King Rat (1965), The Whisperers (1966), The Stepford Wives (1975) and Hopscotch (1980). From 1969 through 1971, Forbes was chief of production/managing director of EMI Studios. Bryan Forbes was married to actresses Constance Smith and Nanette Newman respectively, the latter appearing prominently in many of his films of the 1960s. He was named a Commander of the British Empire in 2004 for his services to the arts. Forbes died in 2013 at the age of 86.

Trivia: British actor Clifford Mollison played character roles on-stage and in films from 1930 through the late '60s. He began on-stage in the early teens.

Trivia: Lantern-jawed, mustachioed, phlegmatic British actor Lionel Jeffries was trained at RADA following military service. In films from 1949, Jeffries hit his stride in the 1960s, playing a variety of ineffectual cops, bumbling bureaucrats, petty criminals and absent-minded professors. He was shown to best advantage in such films as Wrong Arm of the Law (1962) First Men in the Moon (1963) and Spy with a Cold Nose (1966). He was also adept at more sober-sided characterizations, such as the Marquis of Queensbury in The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960). In 1971, Lionel Jeffries turned to directing with The Railway Children, the first of several efforts aimed at the family trade: his other directorial assignments in this vein included Baxter (1972) The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972), The Water Babies (1978) and Wombling Free (1978). Jeffries died at age 83 in February 2010.

Trivia: In his earliest films (his first was 1942's The Foreman Went to France), Scottish actor Gordon Jackson was often seen as a weakling or coward. As age added character to his face, Jackson eased into roles of quiet authority, notably butlers and businessmen. Of his many British and American films, the highlights of Jackson's career include Whisky Galore (1948), Tunes of Glory (1960) and The Ipcress File (1965). On television, Gordon Jackson was seen as Hudson the butler on the internationally popular serial Upstairs, Downstairs (1973-74), and he later co-starred on the domestically distributed British series The Professionals (1977-81).

Trivia: Versatile British supporting actor Michael Howard got his start as the house comic at the notorious Windmill burlesque house during the war years and became a popular radio star. Howard also wrote scripts, worked in British theatre and appeared in assorted films between 1946 and 1957.

Trivia: A graduate of Britain's Brighton College, Michael Hordern entered the workaday world as a schoolteacher. Engaging in amateur theatricals in his off-hours, Hordern turned pro in 1937, making his film debut two years later. After serving in the Royal Navy from 1940 to 1945, Hordern returned to show business, matriculating into one of England's most delightful and prolific character actors. His extensive stage work included two Shakespearean roles that may as well have been for him: King Lear and The Tempest's Prospero. In films, Hordern appeared as Marley's Ghost in the 1951 Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol (1951), Demosthenes in Alexander the Great (1956), Cicero in Cleopatra (1963), Baptista in Zeffirelli's Taming of the Shrew (1967), Thomas Boleyn in Anne of a Thousand Days (1968), and Brownlow in the 1982 TV adaptation of Oliver Twist. Other significant movie credits include the lascivious Senex (he's the one who introduces the song "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid") in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), a pathetic Kim Philby type in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1967), theatre critic George Maxwell (who has his heart cut out by looney actor Vincent Price) in Theatre of Blood (1973), and what many consider his finest film assignment, the dissipated, disillusioned journalist in England Made Me (1983). He also served as offscreen narrator for Barry Lyndon (1976) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). Michael Hordern was knighted in 1983, and a decade later published his autobiography, A World Elsewhere.

Trivia: A one-time newspaper reporter, British actor Ernest Clark gave up the Fourth Estate when he joined a provincial repertory company. His London stage debut occurred in 1939, while he first appeared in films with 1949's Private Angelo. Clark generally appeared in small parts as narrow-minded clerks or heartless officials: his more popular films include The Dam Busters (1955), A Tale of Two Cities (1957), Sink the Bismarck (1960), Arabesque (1966) and Gandhi (1982). Ernest Clark achieved some American fame in the early '70s with his role as humorless anatomy professor Loftus on the British comedy series Doctor in the House.

Trivia: Though born in Portugal, Duncan Lamont was a bone-bred Scotsman; and though a Scotsman, he effectively curbed his burr to appear in British films. After considerable stage experience, Lamont inaugurated his movie career during World War II. His resumé includes such popular United Kingdom efforts as The Man in the White Suit (1954) as well as such internationally produced films as Ben Hur (1959), in which he was featured in the role of Marius. Lovers of swashbucklers have reserved a special place in their hearts for Duncan Lamont's portrayal of Count William De la Marck, "The Wild Boar of Ardennes", in 1955's Quentin Durward.

Trivia: In British films from the early 1940s, Harry Locke was a dependable character actor specializing in small "service" roles. Locke was most often seen playing porters, cabbies and desk clerks. His better known films include Piccadilly Incident (1944), Treasure Island (1950), Doctor in the House (1955), All at Sea (1957) and Man in the Cocked Hat (1959). Many of Harry Locke's last appearances were in such British horror flicks as Tales from the Crypt (1973) and The Creeping Flesh (1973).

Trivia: Ubiquitous British actor John LeMesurier wasn't in every English comedy made between 1946 and 1979, though it sure seemed so. Nearly always appearing in one-scene cameos, LeMesurier's stock in trade was confusion mixed with foreboding; as such, he was perfect for such roles as worried businessmen, neurotic military officers and flummoxed fathers. From 1966 through 1977, LeMesurier starred in the internationally popular British sitcom, Dad's Army, which spawned a theatrical-feature version in 1971. An incorrigible prankster, John LeMesurier couldn't remain serious even when dealing with his own death; on that grim occasion, his self-written obituary appeared in the Times, noting that Mr. LeMesurier had "conked out."

Trivia: A versatile, cerebral character actor of British stage, screen, and TV, he worked in amateur theater for four years before making his professional stage debut in 1934; his first London appearance came in 1936. In 1938 he both joined the Old Vic company and debuted onscreen. His acting career did not, however, begin to bear much fruit until after he returned from service in World War Two (with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers). He was very busy onscreen throughout most of the '50s, playing leads in several horror films. He starred on the BBC-TV show Quartermass and the Pit. He served as President of British Actors Equity in 1973-74. He was married to actress Joan Greenwood.

Trivia: A talented and versatile entertainer, Norma Donaldson seemed to find success wherever she chose to perform. Born and raised in Harlem, Donaldson launched her career as a nightclub singer and then toured with Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne. During the 1970s, she was a popular Broadway star and was most famous for portraying the loveless chorine Miss Adelaide, opposite Robert Guillame, in Frank Loesser's all-black revival of Guys and Dolls in 1976. She and Guillame were again paired in Purlie and No Place to Be Somebody. Donaldson's film credits include Willie Dynamite (1973), 9 to 5 (1980), House Party (1990), and Poetic Justice (1993). On television, she guest starred on numerous series, including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and General Hospital. At the time of her death, she was playing Lilliebelle Barber on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.

Trivia: Aristocratic German character actor Ferdy Mayne was from his teen years onward a resident of England, where he studied at RADA and Old Vic. Mayne made his professional theatrical bow in 1936, and was first seen on a London stage in 1943. At first billed as "Ferdi Mayne" for his radio and film appearances, he alternated between "Ferdy" and "Ferdinand" in his later works. Of his many film roles, Mayne is best-known for his portrayal of class-conscious vampire Count Von Krolock in Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers (in 1975, he went on tour in a theatrical revival of Dracula). He was also seen as Hungarian producer Alexander Korda in A Man Called Intrepid (1979) and as kidnapped scientist Dr. Laprone in Revenge of the Pink Panther.

Trivia: Beefy British actor Thorley Walters was appearing in "quota quickies" as early as 1934's First Love. But it was in the '50s that Walters truly came into his own as an irresistably deflatable authority figure in such British comedies as Private's Progress (1955), Carleton Brown of the FO (1958) and Two Way Stretch (1961). Even in cameo roles, Walters made his acting weight effectively felt, as witness Rotten to the Core (1965) and Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965). Thorley Walters was also a excellent Dr. Watson, essaying the role in the German-made Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) and Gene Wilder's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1977).

Trivia: Welsh character actor Kenneth Griffith was the archetypal "little man with big ideas" in most of his films. He spent his younger days playing weaklings and cowards then graduated to petty thieves, blackmailers and abusive parents as the character lines increased on his face. Historian William K. Everson has described Griffith as "the English equivalent to Elisha Cook Jr." -- true enough, especially since Griffith's characters, like Cook's, seldom lived long enough to be around at fadeout time. On both stage and screen since his teens, Kenneth Griffith was seen in such films as Love on the Dole (1941), The Shop at Sly Corner (1947) (perhaps his definitive screen appearance, as a lecherous extortionist), I'm All Right Jack (1959), Payroll (1962), The Whisperers (1967), and S.P.Y.S. (1974).