Trivia: The 12th of 13 children of a Welsh miner, actor Richard Burton left his humble environs by winning a scholarship to Oxford. Blessed with a thrillingly theatrical voice, Burton took to the stage, and, by 1949, had been tagged as one of Britain's most promising newcomers. Director Philip Dunne, who later helmed several of Burton's Hollywood films, would recall viewing a 1949 London staging of The Lady's Not for Burning and watching in awe as star John Gielgud was eclipsed by juvenile lead Richard Burton: "He 'took' the stage and kept a firm grip on it during every one of his brief appearances." A few years after his film debut in The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949), the actor was signed by 20th Century Fox, which had hopes of turning him into the new Lawrence Olivier -- although Burton was not quite able to grip films as well as he did the stage. Aside from The Robe (1953), most of Burton's Fox films were disappointments, and the actor was unable to shake his to-the-rafters theatricality for the smaller scope of the camera lens. Still, he was handsome and self-assured, so Burton was permitted a standard-issue 1950s spectacle, Alexander the Great (1956). His own film greatness would not manifest itself until he played the dirt-under-the-nails role of Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger (1959). In this, he spoke the vernacular of regular human beings -- rather than that of high-priced, affected Hollywood screenwriters -- and delivered a jolting performance as a working-class man trapped by the system and his own personal demons. Following a well-received Broadway run in the musical Camelot, Burton was signed in 1961 to replace Stephen Boyd on the benighted film spectacular Cleopatra (1963). It probably isn't necessary to elaborate on what happened next, but the result was that Burton suddenly found himself an international celebrity, not for his acting, but for his tempestuous romance with co-star Elizabeth Taylor. A hot property at last, Burton apparently signed every long-term contract thrust in front of him, while television networks found themselves besieged with requests for screenings of such earlier Burton film "triumphs" as Prince of Players (1955) and The Rains of Ranchipur (1956). In the midst of the initial wave of notoriety, Burton appeared in a Broadway modern-dress version of Hamlet directed by John Gielgud, which played to standing-room-only crowds who were less interested in the melancholy Dane than in possibly catching a glimpse of the Lovely Liz. Amidst choice film work like Becket (1964) and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1966), Burton was also contractually obligated to appear with Taylor in such high-priced kitsch as The V.I.P.s, (1963) The Sandpiper (1965), and Boom! (1968). A few of the Burton/Taylor vehicles were excellent -- notably Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (she won an Oscar; he didn't, but should have) -- but the circus of publicity began to erode the public's ability to take Burton seriously. It became even harder when the couple divorced, remarried, and broke up again. Moreover, Burton was bound by contract to appear in such bland cinematic enterprises as Candy (1968), Villain (1971), The Assassination of Trotsky (1972), The Klansman (1974), and that rancid masterpiece Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). So low had Burton's reputation sunk that when he delivered an Oscar-caliber performance in Equus (1977), it was hailed as a "comeback," even though the actor had never left. (Once again he lost the Oscar, this time to Richard Dreyfuss.) Burton managed to recapture his old performing fire in his last moviemaking years, offering up one of his best performances in his final picture, 1984 (1984). He died later that year.

Trivia: While taking drama lessons at Badminton, Guildhall School, and the Central School of Speech and Drama, Claire Bloom began appearing on BBC radio, and made her stage debut at 15 with the Oxford Repertory. She made her London bow in 1947, and the following year was effusively praised for her performance as Ophelia in a Stratford-upon-Avon production of Hamlet. Also in 1948, she appeared in her first film, The Blind Goddess (1948). While gainfully employed at the Old Vic in 1952, Bloom was selected by Charlie Chaplin to portray the suicidal ballerina Terry in Chaplin's Limelight. Though the film was inadequately distributed due to Chaplin's "questionable" political beliefs, Limelight made Bloom an overnight star -- after only nine years in the business. Her next major film assignment was Lady Anne in Olivier's Richard III (1955), which led to a steady stream of costume roles in films like Alexander the Great (1956), The Brothers Karamazov (1959), The Buccaneer (1959), and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962). Of her "contemporary" film roles, several are standouts: the sexually unstable housewife in The Chapman Report, the lesbian psychic in The Haunting (1963), the compassionate psychiatrist in Charly (1968), and Martin Landau's Jewish-suburbanite wife in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Her TV work has included Edith Galt Wilson in Backstairs at the White House (1979) and Lady Marchman in Brideshead Revisited (1982). Whenever her schedule has allowed, Bloom has returned to her first love, the theater; her favorite stage role is Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Married three times, Bloom's first husband was actor Rod Steiger, with whom she co-starred in 3 Into 2 Won't Go (1969) and The Illustrated Man (1969); her second was producer Hillard Elkins, who packaged Bloom's 1973 film version of The Doll's House; and her third was novelist Philip Roth. In 1982, Claire Bloom published her autobiography, Limelight and After: The Education of an Actress.Bloom would remain active on screen in the decades to come, appearing most notably in movies like Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Age of Innocence, Mighty Aphrodite, and the King's Speech.

Trivia: Scottish-born actress Mary Ure preferred the theater to movies, period; her entire cinematic output consists of nine films, some of which she made merely to please her husbands. In 1959, Ure recreated her stage characterization of Alison Porter in Look Back in Anger, written by husband number one, John Osborne. In 1968, she showed up as Mrs. George Armstrong Custer in Custer of the West, which starred husband number two, Robert Shaw. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 1960 film version of Sons and Lovers, and starred in the London stage productions of such American plays as A View From the Bridge and The Crucible. Shortly after opening in a new play in London in 1975, 42-year-old Mary Ure died accidentally after consuming whiskey and tranquilizers.

Trivia: Formidable English character actress Edith Evans was celebrated for her unique voice and speech pattern. As a young woman, she held down a job while studying acting at night. In 1912 she made her professional stage debut, going on to become famous for her glorious performances of the classics both on the London stage and later on Broadway. Evans appeared in two silent films, A Welsh Singer (1915) and East Is East (1916), then went three decades before her next screen appearance, in The Queen of Spades (1949); in the meantime she devoted herself to the stage. After three films she again went seven years without a screen role, then after 1959 she began appearing in films more frequently. For her work in both Tom Jones (1963) and The Chalk Garden (1964) she received "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar nominations; for The Whisperers (1967) she won the New York Critics Award for "Best Actress," and was nominated for a "Best Actress" Oscar. Evans was an inspiration to generations of younger British stars, many of whom considered her to be their greatest influence in their professional lives. In 1946 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Her authorized biography is Dame Edith Evans: Ned's Girl (1978) by writer-director Bryan Forbes.

Trivia: The son of British music hall entertainers, Gary Barrymore Raymond was 11 years old when he won a scholarship to Gateway School in Leicester. Following his graduation at age 16, Raymond took on day jobs as a clerk and furrier, studying drama in his spare time through the auspices of the London County Council. He went on to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, then was signed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he made an auspicious stage debut. In films from 1955, Raymond essayed such important roles as Prince Charles Stuart ("The Pretender") in The Moonraker (1955), Cliff Lewis in Look Back in Anger (1958) and Peter in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He also played the title character in 1962's Playboy of the Western World. In 1966, Raymond was cast as British sergeant Jack Moffitt on the American TV action series The Rat Patrol, which ran until 1968. Active into the 1990s, Gary Raymond was recently seen as Ol' Daniel O'Hara (that's how he was billed) in the 1994 TV miniseries Scarlet.

Trivia: British actor Glen Byam Shaw had a long, distinguished theatrical career. He made his film debut in The Vagabond Queen (1931). In addition to acting, Shaw also directed plays and operas.

Trivia: Balding, deceptively bland-looking British actor Donald Pleasence was first seen on the London stage in a 1939 production of Wuthering Heights. He then served in the RAF, spending the last years of World War II in a German POW camp. Resuming his career after the war, Pleasence eventually came to New York in the company of Laurence Olivier in 1950, appearing in Caesar and Cleopatra. And although he began appearing in films in 1954, Pleasence's British fame during the '50s was the result of his television work, notably a recurring role as Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1955-1958. He also co-starred in TV productions of The Millionairess, Man in a Moon, and Call Me Daddy. Voted British television actor of the year in 1958, Pleasence produced and hosted the 1960 series Armchair Mystery Theatre, before creating the stage role for which he was best remembered: Davies, the menacing tramp in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. The actor revived the character throughout his career, appearing as Davies for the last time in 1991. Pleasence was fortunate enough to be associated with the success of The Great Escape in 1963, which led to a wealth of American film offers. Four years later, the actor portrayed arch criminal Ernst Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice -- the first time that the scarred face of the secretive character was seen onscreen in the Bond series. Firmly established as a villain, Pleasence gradually eased into horror films such as Halloween (1978), The Devonsville Terror (1979), and Buried Alive (1990); commenting on this phase of his career, Pleasence once mused "I only appear in odd films." One of his few "mainstream" appearances during this period was virtually invisible. Pleasence is seen and prominently billed as a rabbi in Carl Reiner's Oh, God! (1977), but the role was deemed dispensable and all the actor's lines were cut. Pleasence continued to work steadily in the 1980s and early '90s -- making 17 pictures alone in 1987-1989 -- before undergoing heart surgery in 1994; he died from complications two months later. Married four times, the actor was the father of six daughters, among them actress Angela Pleasence.

Trivia: Walter Hudd was one of the busier actors of his generation, across a 40-year career that carried him from touring the British provinces to work in international films. Born in London at the end of the 19th century, he began his professional performing career in the teens, making his debut in the play The Manxman in 1919. He toured as a member of the Fred Terry Company, and made his London debut in the 1920s. Hudd first came to serious critical attention with his portrayal of Guildenstern in a 1925 modern-dress production of Hamlet, and he later became a theatrical star in the play Too Good To Be True, in the role of Private Meek, a character modeled after T.E. Lawrence; as surviving photos from the production reveal, in costume he was a near dead-ringer for the real-life Lawrence. Hudd also directed on the stage during the 1930s and 1940s, including several Shakespearean plays presented at Stratford-on-Avon. In movies, Hudd was usually cast in supporting and character roles, initially as part of the stable of actors associated with Alexander Korda's London Films, in movies like I Stand Condemned and Rembrandt. In 1937, however, he got a rare chance to play a lead onscreen, as Petersen in Elephant Boy, an unusual documentary-drama co-directed by Robert Flaherty and Zoltan Korda, which is best remembered today for having introduced the boy actor Sabu to the world. Hudd devoted a great deal of effort to bringing theatrical entertainment to the factory workers and more remote villages of England during World War II, though he still managed to play roles in Major Barbara and I Know Where I'm Going, among a handful of major movies. After the war, his film parts multiplied, and he was very busy on the screen during the 1950s, in productions as different as Anthony Asquith's The Importance of Being Earnest and Tony Richardson's Look Back in Anger, and playing every kind of character role from coroners (in Cast a Dark Shadow) to British admirals (in Sink the Bismarck!) and German intelligence chiefs (in The Two-Headed Spy). Had he lived longer, Hudd would almost certainly have become a fixture of British television -- he had done one very, very early episode of The Avengers -- but his death in early 1963, at age 65, cut short a promising Indian summer to his career.

Trivia: While his name and his participation in British films would suggest some relationship to popular British comedienne Betty Balfour, actor Michael Balfour was actually from the United States, no relation to his more popular namesake. Like Ben Welden and Bernard Nedell before him, Balfour was cast as a "typical" American gangster or tough guy in most of his films -- notably his first, the notorious No Orchids For Miss Blandish (1948). The actor's busiest period was 1950-1960, when he showed up in such films as Obsession (1956) and The Steel Key (1958). Balfour was also a regular on the London-filmed TV detective drama Mark Saber, playing Saber's assistant Barney O'Keefe. The name Michael Balfour might ring a bell with fans of 1950s horror films; he played the unfortunate Sgt. Kasper, whose brains are sucked out by the "Fiend Without a Face" in the 1958 chiller of the same name.

Trivia: A character player even in youth, British actor Nigel Davenport spent nearly fifty years in briskly businesslike stage, screen and TV roles. He made his film debut as the police sergeant in Michael Powell's notorious Peeping Tom (1959). Among his many colorful screen characterizations were the Duke of Norfolk in A Man For All Seasons (1966), Bothwell in Mary Queen of Scots (1971), Van Helsing in the 1973 Frank Langella version of Dracula and Lord Birkenbed in the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire. Nigel Davenport's TV credits include the miniseries Prince Regent (1979, as King George III), and Masada (1981). Towards the end of his career, he made appearances in popular British TV series such as Keeping Up Appearances and Midsomer Murders, and played Dan Peggotty in a TV movie version of David Copperfield (2000). Davenport died in 2013 at age 85.

Trivia: British character actor Alfred Lynch was generally cast in roles calling for a cockney dialect and a pugnacious streak. Lynch made his first film, On the Fiddle, in 1961, after which he worked in medium-priced films until the all-star epic 55 Days at Peking (1965). In The Hill (1965), a POW drama, Lynch was but one of many actors (including Sean Connery) speaking in British vernacular so thick that one virtually needed subtitles to figure out what was going on! A more coherent Alfred Lynch could be seen in the Taylor-Burton The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Sidney Lumet's 1968 filmization of Chekhov's The Seagull (1968).