Trivia: With an actor father and an artist mother, it might be presumed that fame was in the cards for pinup sensation cum respectable actor and best-selling author Dirk Bogarde. Though a colorful background and a remarkable talent elevated Bogarde to the status of one of Britian's most prolific actors, his phenomenally successful career is ultimately a testament to being in the right place at the right time. Born Derek van den Bogarde in Hampton, England, in 1921, Bogarde and brother Gareth spent much of their childhood in Sussex being raised by thier older sister Elizabeth and their beloved nanny Lally. Receiving his early education at Allen Glen's School in Glascow before attending University College in London, Bogarde went on to study commercial art at Chelsea Polytechnic before nurturing his inherited affection for acting. Though he initially met with some degree of disappointment, leading to his questioning a career as a thespian, Bogarde made his stage debut with the Amersham Repertory Company in 1939 at the age of 19, the same year he made his screen debut in a bit role in Come on George. The next year Bogarde began his career in the Queens Royal Regiment.Popular among his peers in the military, Bogarde (affectionately nicknamed "Pip") quickly rose through the ranks with his position in the Air Photographic Intelligence Unit and soon earned the rank of major. Serving in the war and stationed in the Far East, Bogarde foreshadowed his later success as a writer when a poem he had written titled Steel Cathedrals was published in 1943. Returning from the war as a successful veteran with seven medals, Bogarde would soon move from the nightmares of war to his childhood dreams of becoming a successful actor.Finding out the literal meaning of the phrase "timing is everything," Bogarde walked into the wrong room on his way to a BBC audition, a mistake that quickly landed him in the successful stage role that fueled the flames of his impending stardom. It was with Dancing With Crime (1947) that Bogarde began gaining consistent roles in film, two years before fatefully taking the lead in Wessex Films' Ester Waters after star Stewart Granger dropped the project. His successful turn in Waters prompted Wessex to offer Bogarde a lucrative 14-year contract during which Bogarde would appear in such memorable films as The Blue Lamp before his role as Doctor Simon Sparrow in Doctor in the House (1953) launched him to pin-up status among the hordes of nubile young women who flocked to the film and its numerous sequels. Though thankful for his status and grateful to the fans that had elevated him to the status of heartthrob, Bogarde felt he had outgrown the image that he had fallen into and began to seek more challenging roles in films that dealt with more sensitive subjects. Shattering England's taboos associated with its anti-sodomy laws and the stigma of homosexuality with his risky, typecast-shattering performance in Victim (1961), Bogarde's bold turn resulted in a maturing image for the actor. In 1963, Bogarde expanded his new image and began a successful working relationship with director Joseph Losey in the cutting study of the British class system, The Servant (1963) (a role that won him the British Academy's Best Actor award). Bogarde's roles in such Losey films as King and Country (1964) and Accident (1967), along with his role in John Schlesinger's Darling (1965) and later, 1974's The Night Porter, brought him the critical acclaim that cemented his status as one of Britian's most prolific and respected stars. In the late '60s Bogarde moved to Europe, opting for a career path outside of the English and American system before purchasing a farmhouse in Southern France in the 1970s.Pursuing childhood dreams of farming and writing for the next two decades, Bogarde chose his films roles carefully and infrequently in favor of a turn as a successful novelist. With seven best sellers and a seven-volume autobiography, Bogarde recalled his life and experiences in such works as Snakes and Ladders, and injected real-life experience into such vividly written novels as A Gentle Occupation. It was in France that Bogarde lived in a 15th century farmhouse with longtime friend and manager Tony Forwood, returning to London only after Forwood became stricken with cancer. Bogarde nursed him until his death in 1988 (a period Bogarde would sentimentally recall in his book A Short Walk From Harrods). A fervent supporter of rights regarding Euthanasia, Bogarde became vice-president of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society before making his final film appearance in 1990's Daddy Nostalgia. Suffering a severe stroke in 1996, Bogarde was partially paralyzed, spending the final years of his life in seclusion and requiring 24-hour nursing up to his death from a heart attack in 1999.

Trivia: Rough-hewn and soulful, Terence Stamp was one of the most recognizable faces of 1960s British cinema. During that decade, he became immortalized on the screen and off, his working-class charisma and battered good looks making him both a natural for leading man roles and a poster boy for the swinging Sixties lifestyle.Born in Stepney, London on July 22, 1939, Stamp made his film debut in 1962 as the martyred hero in Peter Ustinov's adaptation of Herman Melville's Billy Budd. He turned in a star-making performance that earned him an Oscar nomination and established him as part of a new wave of talent in British cinema. Stamp next made his mark in William Wyler's The Collector (1965), winning a Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of a warped recluse who kidnaps an art student he has lusted after from afar. Stamp spent the rest of the decade earning recognition for both his work and real-life exploits. On the screen, he worked with the likes of John Schlesinger (Far From the Maddening Crowd), Joseph Losey (Modesty Blaise), Ken Loach (Poor Cow), Pier Paolo Pasolini (Teorema), and, for Tre Passi nel Delirio, Federico Fellini, Roger Vadim, and Louis Malle. Off the screen, Stamp was known for his friendships with the likes of Michael Caine and his relationships with such preeminent beauties as Julie Christie and model Jean Shrimpton. He and Christie were immortalized in Ray Davies's song "Waterloo Sunset" in the lines, "Terry and Julie cross over the river, where they feel safe and sound."Despite the promise of his early career, Stamp spent much of the next couple of decades in relative obscurity. He popped up in a number of fairly forgettable films and was cast as a villain in the first two Superman movies. He also appeared in such disparate projects as Legal Eagles (1986), Wall Street (1987), and Young Guns (1988). In 1994, Stamp truly re-entered the filmgoing consciousness, going delightfully against type to play a world-weary transsexual in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The film was a surprise success, and Stamp's portrayal was singled out for particular notice. Once one of the cinema's most reliable hard men, Stamp revived his career with a poignent portrayal of a character who wore more make-up than most of the screen's actresses put together.Stamp followed this success with a turn as a mysterious tantric sex therapist in Bliss (1996). In 1999, he could be seen doing supporting work in Bowfinger, in which he had a hilarious turn as a L. Ron Hubbard-esque "guru;" and Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace. That same year, he starred in Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, back in top form as a grizzled ex-con bent on avenging his daughter's death. One of the film's highlights was the inclusion of footage from the 1968 Poor Cow, which allowed Stamp to appear as a younger version of himself. Building off the best buzz he'd had in quite some time, Stamp began the 21st century in Red Planet, and voiced Jor-El on the television series Smallville, before appearing in Get Smart, Valkyrie, Yes Man, The Adjustment Bureau, and Song for Marion.

Trivia: British character Harry Andrews, who has appeared in a wide assortment of British, American, and international films, is best remembered for his portrayals of stern fellows or military men in films such as The Red Beret (1952), and Sands of the Kalahari (1965). Though almost always a supporting player, his performances often overshadow those of the stars. Before making his cinematic debut in the early '50s, Andrews graduated from Wrekin College. During the 1930s he began his career as a distinguished stage actor noted for his portrayals of Shakespearean roles. Though he was often typecast as the tough guy in films, Andrews broke the mold in his brilliant portrayal of a flamboyant homosexual in the 1970 black comedy Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Andrews' son David was a well-known child actor who eventually became a television director.

Trivia: Born in India to a British military officer, Michael Craig was in his teens when he entered films in 1949 as an extra, or, as Leslie Halliwell so euphemistically put it, a "crowd artist." That same year, Craig made his inaugural stage appearance in The Merchant of Venice. Groomed for stardom by the Rank Organisation, he began receiving speaking parts in 1954. On the whole, his stage work, which consisted largely of Shakespeare, was more rewarding than his film efforts. As leading man in such films as Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) and Mysterious Island (1961), Craig was required to do little more beyond looking handsome and dependable. One of his few movie roles of substance was in The Angry Silence (1960), which he co-wrote (he would later contribute to the script of 1981's The Killing of Angel Street). Michael Craig was seen to better advantage in later years as a character actor.

Trivia: Born in New Zealand, comic actor Clive Revill attended that country's Rongotai College, then made his first stage appearance in Auckland at age 20. After appearing on Broadway in the 1952 musical Mr. Pickwick, Revill spent three years with Britain's Ipswich Repertory. He was nominated for Tony Awards for his performances in Broadway's Irma La Douce and Oliver!; his later New York appearances included the starring roles of Sheridan Whiteside in Sherry, the 1972 musicalization of The Man Who Came to Dinner, and playwright/critic Max Beerbohm in The Incomparable Max. In films, Revill essayed "campy" characterizations in such 1960s projects as Modesty Blaise (1966), Fathom (1967) and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1969); on television, he was brilliantly cast as Charlie Chaplin in the 1980 TV movie The Scarlet O'Hara Wars, and portrayed "black arts" purveyor Vector in the 1983 series Wizards and Warriors. Clive Revill's most recent credits include a cameo as the Sherwood Forest fire marshal in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and the voice of Alfred the Butler on the Fox Television Network's Batman: The Animated Series (1992- ).

Trivia: Canadian actor Alexander Knox launched his stage career in Britain in 1929; two years later he made his film film, The Ringer. After a successful British stage career, Knox came to America in 1941, where he found steady film work playing learned types. In The Sea Wolf (1941), Knox was the pedantic Weyland, the opponent/doppelganger of brutish sea captain Wolf Larsen (Edward G. Robinson); while in This Above All (1942), Knox lent credibility to his role as clergyman who does but really doesn't condone a clandestine love affair. Knox's most daunting American film assignment was the title role in Wilson (1944), producer Darryl F. Zanuck's budget-busting valentine to the 28th president of the United States. Too healthy and fit to be totally convincing as Woodrow Wilson, Knox nonetheless sustained audience interest in an otherwise ponderous film marathon, and received an Oscar nomination -- which he might have won had not Wilson been one of the most conspicuous failures in Hollywood history. Nonetheless, the film allowed Knox to command star billing for his next few American pictures, including the enjoyable 1949 outing The Judge Steps Out, a light comedy loosely based on the Judge Crater disappearance. In the early 1950s, Knox found himself playing a few villains, at least until Hollywood's doors closed on him during the Blacklist era (that a man who once played a U.S. president should even be suspected of subversive leanings is quite ironic). The actor returned to Britain for choice character roles in such films as The Sleeping Tiger (1954), The Night My Number Came Up (1955) and Oscar Wilde (1957). In 1967, Knox was signed up for a term as a fictional U.S. president in the James Bond extravaganza You Only Live Twice (1967). Active in films until the mid 1980s, Knox also kept busy as a screenwriter and mystery novelist.

Trivia: Aumont, the daughter of actors Jean-Pierre Aumont and Maria Montez, has been onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: Character actor John Karlsen has primarily appeared in Italian costumers, but occasionally also appears in other European productions. A tall, slender man with thin features, Karlsen is typically cast as an evil aristocrat.

Trivia: British Patrick Ludlow spent most of his career on stage where he specialized in frothy comedies. He was most popular in the 1920s, having made his theatrical debut in a 1915 production of Peter Pan. Ludlow launched a sporadic film career in 1930, appearing in such lightweight fare as Naughty Husbands (1931), Love on the Spot (1932), and Old Mother Riley (1937). He retired from films in 1942, but came back in 1966 to appear in Modesty Blaise. In between, Ludlow continued to have a successful and prolific career on the British stage.