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: Born into a theatrical family, British actor Bernard Lee first trod the boards at age six. Supporting himself as a fruit salesman, Lee attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making his West End stage bow in 1928. In films from 1934, Lee showed up in dozens of bits and minor roles, his screen time increasing throughout the 1950s. He showed up prominently as the resident police inspector in several of the "Edgar Wallace" "B"-picture series of the early 1960s. In 1962, Lee was cast as M, the immediate superior to Secret Agent 007 James Bond, in Dr. No. Bernard Lee continued to portray M in all subsequent Bond endeavors, up to and including 1979's Moonraker; he also essayed the role in the 1967 Bond spin-off, Operation Kid Brother, which starred Sean Connery's younger brother Neil.

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: Supporting actress, onscreen from the late '60s.

Trivia: Has appeared on stage many times and was a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company in the 1970s. Appeared as Sherlock Holmes on BBC Radio 4 from 1989 to 1998. Played the Headmaster in the 2006 radio adaptation of The History Boys.

Trivia: As Madame Hooch in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Zoe Wanamaker teaches Harry how to fly on a broomstick. But the magic she works in that popular film is paltry compared with the magic she works on the stage performing in the works of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, and other playwrights. Her starring role in the Sophocles play Electra won her the 1998 Olivier Award as Best Actress. It was her second Olivier in that category, the first coming in 1979 for her role as May Daniels in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of the Moss Hart/George Kaufman play Once in a Lifetime. Wanamaker also earned a 1984 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for her performance in Mother Courage, a 1986 Drama Desk Award for her performance in Loot, a 1992 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for her performance in Countess Alice, and a 2002 Olivier nomination for her performance in Boston Marriage. In addition, she has earned a Golden Globe nomination, two Tony nominations, three British Academy Award nominations, and a Royal Television Society Award for a TV series.Wanamaker was born in New York City on May 13, 1949. She became a Londoner at age three after her father, American actor Sam Wanamaker, moved to England to avoid testifying before the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee during Senator Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunt. Because her father was a passionate Shakespeare fan, Zoe Wanamaker grew up with Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and Cleopatra as playmates while attending the King Alfred School in London. After Sam Wanamaker, a method actor, tutored little Zoe in the subtleties of the performing arts, he sent her to London's Central School of Speech and Drama to perfect her talents, where she studied until 1970. Meanwhile, Sam Wanamaker spearheaded the project to rebuild the Globe Theatre on the South Bank of the River Thames. Although he died before the new Globe was finished, his daughter stood in for him when the playhouse opened in June 1997. In a performance before Queen Elizabeth II, she recited the famous prologue to Shakespeare's Henry V. Most of her acting has been for the stage or television playing a truly diverse collection of characters, including a dog, a leprechaun, Miss Murdstone in David Copperfield, Emilia in Othello, and Lady Anne in Richard III. When she was 45, Wanamaker married actor Gawn Grainger, a native of Ireland, inheriting two stepchildren. Living and acting off and on in England and the U.S. and holding citizenship in both countries, Wanamaker has posed a writing problem for critics: whether to refer to her as an English-American or an American Englishwoman. Probably the best solution is to refer to her as one of the world's finest actresses, and let it go at that.