Against the Wind

Robert Beatty (Actor)

Born: October 19, 1909
Died: March 03, 1992

Trivia: Robert Beatty spent his early adulthood in Canada as a gas-company cashier, salesman and amateur actor. Upon arriving in London, Beatty enrolled at the RADA, making his film debut as an extra and stand-in. During World War II, Beatty achieved fame through his eyewitness radio reports of the nightly London bombings. In most of his postwar film, stage, radio and TV work, Beatty was cast as a rough-hewn American or Canadian. One of his favorite stage roles was rude 'n' crude American junk dealer Harry Brock in Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday. He also played more than his share of detectives, most prominently as radio's Phillip O'Dell, and on the 1958 TV series Dial 999. Beatty was given a chance to demonstrate his versatility in the dual role of a milquetoast British hubby and a slick Italian gangster in Her Favorite Husband (1950). Later film roles included Lord Beaverbrook in The Magic Box (1951), Halvorsen in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and two separate characters in Superman III (1980) and Superman IV (1984). On television, Robert Beatty was seen in the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977, as Proculus) and The Martian Chronicles (1980), and as President Ronald Reagan in the 1987 PBS special Breakthrough at Reykajavik.

Jack Warner (Actor)

Born: October 24, 1894
Died: January 01, 1981

Trivia: British character actor Jack Warner began his film career in the early '40s. He is usually cast as a sympathetic fellow and occasionally played leads. Before coming to film, he worked as a comedian.

Simone Signoret (Actor)

Born: March 25, 1921
Died: September 30, 1985
Birthplace: Wiesbaden, Germany

Trivia: Born in Germany to French parents, Simone Signoret was raised in Paris. While working with the Free French patriotic organization during WWII, she entered films as an extra in British wartime productions. Through the auspices of her first husband, director Yves Allegret, Signoret was given the "star build-up" in the postwar years. One of the best of her unlucky-in-love characterizations was in Casque D'Or (1952), for which she won a British Film Industry award. Signoret went on to win an Oscar for her portrayal of Laurence Harvey's tragic castaway mistress in Room at the Top (1959). Her second husband was Yves Montand. Maturing into a plump but still bewitching character actress, Signoret continued appearing in choice film roles until 1982. Simone Signoret was the author of several books, foremost among them the witty, melancholy autobiography Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be.

Gordon Jackson (Actor)

Born: December 19, 1923
Died: January 15, 1990
Birthplace: Glasgow

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).

Paul Dupuis (Actor)

Born: January 01, 1915
Died: January 01, 1976

11:00 am - 12:55 pm, Thursday, November 13 on Film4 ()