Trivia: Roger Livesey couldn't have escaped the world of acting even if he'd wanted to. Livesey was the son of stage actor Sam Livesey, the brother of performers Jack and Barry Livesey, and the husband of actress Ursula Jeans. He himself was on stage from age 11 and in films from 16. Livesey's hearty, jolly-good-fellow personality was best exploited by the producer/director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who cast the actor in the title role of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and as the very self-sacrificing physician in A Matter of Life and Death. In films until 1970, Roger Livesey also did plenty of television work, including countless narration and voiceover assignments.

Trivia: British entertainer Anthony Newley began as a child star, passing for 10 or 11 even as the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist (1948), when in fact he was already of driving and shaving age. As a young leading man, Newley learned the ins and outs of self-promotion, chiefly the ability to convince the populace that he could do anything well. In 1959, he became a pop recording star thanks to his singing appearance in Idle on Parade, but this was only the beginning. Stop the World, I Want to Get Off was cowritten by Newley and Leslie Bricusse, but to the world at large Anthony Newley, who also starred in the play, was the whole show. This 1961 London-to-Broadway musical was a superbly written piece and a success. Newley followed up this production with another stage collaboration with Bricusse, 1965's The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd, this time sharing the spotlight (but not without a struggle) with veteran Cyril Ritchard. Few people can remember the plotlines of either of Newley's musical plays, but such song standards as "What Kind of Fool Am I," "Gonna Build a Mountain," "Look at That Face" and "Where Would You Be?" have become audition standards. Newley's overwhelming stage presence didn't translate that well to films, with Dr. Doolittle being the most obvious example of this (it is said that Newley and co-star Samantha Eggar kidded around on the set so much that Rex "Dr. Doolittle" Harrison had to resoundingly insist upon professional decorum). Since Doolittle, Newley has been content to merely write songs for other people's movies, occasionally stepping before the camera in such pictures as Mr. Quilp (1975) and It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1976). And in 1969, Anthony Newley directed his then-wife Joan Collins in Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness, a woebegone attempt at "hip" which gained fame only through the embarrassed co-starring stints from Milton Berle and George Jessel, and the fact that many American newspapers refused (probably at the request of studio publicity flacks) to mention the film's slightly licentious title in their movie listings.

Trivia: A former dancer and West End Revue performer, Kay Walsh entered films in 1934. Married for a time to director David Lean, Walsh appeared in Lean's In Which We Serve (1942) as Freda Lewis, This Happy Breed (1944) as Queenie Gibbons, The October Man (1947) as Molly, and Oliver Twist (1948) as Nancy Sykes. She returned to her music halls roots in the "Red Peppers" segment of Noel Coward's Tonight at 8:30 (1952). Active in films into the 1980s, Kay Walsh was also a semi-regular on the 1979 Anglo-Polish TV series Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Trivia: Like the stalwart medieval castles that still dominate the hillsides of his childhood home in southwestern Scotland, James Robertson-Justice was imposing. His cavernous chest, his resonant voice, his full beard, and his stately bearing all suggested the regality of a mighty king. In fact, in the Sword and the Rose in 1953, Robertson-Justice portrayed the most lordly of British kings, Henry VIII, winning critical acclaim. Physically, he was the near mirror image of Henry as depicted in the 1538 portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger. More important, though, Robertson-Justice wore the mantle of Henry's personality, mimicking the king's authoritarian demeanor and legendary appetite for all things worldly. That he was at home in the role of Henry VIII was not surprising. Like the Tudor king,Robertson-Justice loved athletics, dancing, politics, and learning (he held two doctor's degrees: a Ph.D. and a doctorate in law). Moreover, he had mastered the royal sport of falconry, and even taught young Prince Charles the finer points of the ancient pastime. Official biographies say Robertson-Justice was born in the maritime community of Wigtown in the southernmost shire in Scotland. However, the town of Langholm, also in southern Scotland, proudly proclaims that he was actually born there in the Crown Hotel during an emergency stop when his mother was traveling. There is no argument, though, about when he was born: June 15, 1905. His education at Marborough College in England and Bonn University in Germany equipped him with the skills necessary to succeed in a variety of pursuits. Heeding one of Plato's ancient admonitions, he balanced mental activity with physical activity, becoming a netminder for the London Lions in the British Ice Hockey Association. After a skiing injury waylaid him, he refereed matches. Though he had the desire and talent to become an actor, he first pursued a career in Canada as a journalist, then fought in the Spanish Civil War and WWII. In 1944, he made his first film, Fiddlers Three, a fanciful comedy about time travelers in ancient Rome, where Robertson-Justice was a centurion. That stint was the first of many roles in films set in the distant past, including The Black Rose (1950), David and Bathsheba (1951), Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), Les Misérables (1952), The Story of Robin Hood (1952), Rob Roy (1953), The Sword and the Rose (1953), Land of the Pharaohs (1955), and Moby Dick (1956). However, in spite of his ability to wield swords, wear crowns, and dodge cannonballs, his signature role -- the one that earned him a warm niche in the hearts of Britons everywhere -- was that of Sir Lancelot Spratt, a chief surgeon in the celebrated series of zany Doctor films. The first in the series, Doctor in the House, was Britain's biggest moneymaker in 1954. It was Spratt's job to rule unruly medical students with an appetite for women, money, and fast cars. Remarkably, while making five more Doctor films over the next 16 years, Robertson-Justice had the time and energy to serve as rector of the University of Edinburgh. He died in 1975 at King's Somborne, England.

Trivia: British entertainer Petula Clark was a star at 11, headlining musical halls and BBC radio programs as a result of volunteering to sing for British wartime troops during a kiddie variety broadcast. So popular was Petula and so well-received were her gifts for vocalizing and mimicry that at one point in World War II, she "starred" in a comic strip. In 1944, Petula made her film bow in A Medal for the General, spending the next few years with the Rank Organisation playing cheeky but wholesome teenagers. A tad weary of portraying the same character over and over, Petula left for France in the mid '50s, where she scored her first significant success as an adult pop singer--despite the fact that she was still little-girlish in appearance, never standing any taller than 5 feet. Clark was "discovered" by American audiences thanks to her 1965 hit recording "Downtown," which led to other song smashes like "Don't Sleep in the Subway" and "I Know a Place." Unfortunately she scored her hit just after signing several contracts at less-than-star salary, so she was obliged to spend eight months working for a tenth of what she was worth. Petula's compensation for a series of British and American TV specials was rather more rewarding, as were her appearances in the expensive musical films Finian's Rainbow (1968) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969). Just before her enormous popularity settled into just plain popularity, Petula made headlines for an appearance on an ABC special in which she "scandalized" certain Southern viewers by holding hands with black singer Harry Belafonte. After several years outside the realm of superstardom, Petula Clark made a welcome return to films in the kid-oriented confection Never Never Land (1980); in the early 1990s she starred on Broadway with David Cassidy in the musical Blood Brothers.

Trivia: In films from 1919, British actor Kynaston Reeves spent the next fifty years before the cameras. From the outset, Reeves specialized in playing scholars, magistrates and military officers. His movie credits include the early-talkie literary derivations The Lodger (1932) and Jew Suss (1934), and such later audience favorites as The Winslow Boy (1949), in which he played the Lord Chief Justice. He was also seen regularly on the BBC TV series Billy Bunter (1952). Kynaston Reeves' final film role was, appropriately enough, "The Old Man" in Billy Wilders The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

Trivia: The son of British stage actor Willard Shine, Bill Shine first trod the boards at age six, playing the Stork in the pantomime Princess Posey. At fifteen, Shine made his first London stage appearance, and at eighteen was seen in the first of many films, Under the Greenwood Tree. Most often cast as an upper-class twit, Shine has also shown up in many a one-scene movie assignment as various reporters, commissioners, ticket sellers and executives. While seldom rising above the featured cast in films, Bill Shine achieved star status in the role of Conn in the 1950 production The Shaugran.

Trivia: Cherubic India-born actor James Hayter looked like a Dickens character come to life. Accordingly, his best-loved role was as Mr. Pickwick in the 1954 movie version of The Pickwick Papers. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hayter made his earliest stage appearances in the late 1920s; his first film was the 1936 British effort Sensation. Hayter was one of the busiest character actors in the English film industry -- a result, perhaps, of the fact that he had seven children to support. In addition to his perfect Mr. Pickwick, James Hayter was a memorable Friar Tuck in the 1952 Disney production The Story of Robin Hood.

Trivia: Cockney of birth and Cockney in nature, actor Alfie Bass made his first stage appearance in 1939, in the Unity Theatre production Plant in the Sun. Bass began acting before the camera in wartime British documentaries. While his stage career embraced Shakespeare and Shaw, Bass usually showed up in films as slang-spewing, pragmatic working class types. His movie credits include The Boys in Brown (1950) The Hasty Heart (1950), The Night My Number Came Up (1952), Help (1965), Alfie (1966), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) and Moonraker (1979). Alfie Bass was starred in the award-winning 1955 short subject The Bespoke Overcoat, and in 1967's The Fearless Vampire Killers he raised many a chuckle as the Jewish vampire who is impervious to the traditional crucifix.

Trivia: British actor Hugh Dempster is best remembered as Col. Pickering in the theatrical production of My Fair Lady, a role he reenacted thousands of times over many years of touring. The London-born WW II RAF veteran also appeared in many films of the '30s, '40s, and '50s.