British Film Stars – Cottage Capers

On this day in history….8th July 1967

On this day in history : 8th July 1967 – Vivien Leigh, English film actress, whose films include ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘A Streetcar named Desire’, dies after a recurrence of tuberculosis….

The 53-year-old, two time Academy Award winning actress, was found by her husband, Jack Merivale, in their Belgravia apartment…. It appears she had collapsed whilst attempting to walk to the bathroom – her lungs were filled with fluid….

Vivien had the previous month been struck down by a recurrence of TB – a disease that had plagued her for half her life….although she had appeared to have been getting better after this last attack….

Photograph by Roloff Beny, 1958 – Copyrighted free use

She had been born Vivien Mary Hartley on the 5th of November 1913 in Darjeeling, India…. Her father was of French descent and her mother came from Ireland…. Vivien was educated in a Bavarian convent and she then attended finishing schools in England and Europe….

Her very first appearance on the stage was at the age of three, when she played ‘Little Bo Peep’ – but her first serious role was at the age of fourteen….

Vivien married London barrister Herbert Leigh Holman when she was nineteen – and the couple had a daughter, Suzanne…. Vivien first came to the public’s attention in 1935, as Henriette in the stage play ‘The Mask of Virtue’…. It was at this time that she first met Lawrence Olivier….when he stopped by to congratulate her on her perfomance…. Although he was also married, to actress Jill Esmond, there was a strong attraction between Vivien and Lawrence from the start…. Vivien’s own husband had an intense dislike of the theatre; this would undoubtedly have put pressure upon the marriage – soon Vivien and Lawrence were involved in a passionate affair….

It was in 1939 that Vivien began to show the first signs of bipolar disorder – for which there was no treatment at the time…. Her marriage to Herbert ended in divorce in 1940 – and on the 31st of August of the same year she and Lawrence were married…. She was to suffer two miscarriages during the marriage – which was to end in 1960, after twenty years….both went on to remarry….

Vivien and Lawrence in Australia, June 1948 – Public domain

In 1944 Vivien was first diagnosed with TB in her left lung…. On the day of her death, a Saturday, all of London’s West End theatres extinguished their lights for an hour during the evening in her memory…. A memorial service was held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and her cremated ashes were scattered upon the lake of her summer home, Tickerage Mill in East Sussex….

Vivien won two Oscars during her career; the first for her portrayal of Scarlett in ‘Gone with the Wind’ and the second for ‘A Streetcar named Desire’…. Undoubtedly she found everlasting fame as Scarlett O’Hara – a role she was chosen for out of over 1,400 other women….

As Scarlett O’Hara – Trailer screenshot – Public domain

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….4th May 1984

On this day in history : 4th May 1984 – Diana Dors, film actress, singer and writer, the English equivalent to Hollywood’s blonde bombshell, dies of cancer….

Diana Dors on the Rudi Carrell Show 1968 – Public domain

Born Diana Mary Fluck on the 23rd of October 1931 in Swindon, Wiltshire, Diana knew from an early age that she wanted to be an actress…. Her passion as a young girl being the cinema – her heroines Hollywood actresses such as Veronica Lake, Jean Harlow and Lana Turner….

As a girl Diana was mature for her age, looking older than her years…. At the age of 14 she was offered a place at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art….making her their youngest ever student….

She made her film debut in 1947, a small uncredited role in ‘The Shop at Sly Corner’…. On signing the contracts she was asked to change her name from ‘Fluck’ – and she opted for her maternal grandmother’s maiden name of ‘Dors’….

Also in 1947 she had a small part in the comedy drama ‘Holiday Camp’ and a walk-on part in ‘Dancing with Crime’ starring Richard Attenborough…. 1948 saw her in a further 6 films including the role of Charlotte in ‘Oliver Twist’….

At the age of 16 she signed with the Rank Organisation and in 1949 landed her first leading role in the period drama ‘Diamond City’, set in 19th century South Africa…. In May 1956 she signed with RKO and left England for a career in Hollywood….

Diana Dors and Phil Silvers 1958 – CBS Television – Public domain

In 1951 Diana had married Dennis Hamilton, five weeks after meeting him on the film set of ‘Lady Godiva Rides Again’…. Hamilton, although a charmer, was a controlling, violent man who exploited her and took over her business affairs…. He also reportedly involved Diana in sex parties and introduced her to the likes of the Kray twins who he counted amongst his friends…. Incidentally, Diana became friends with Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Great Britain, whom she had also met on the set of ‘Lady Godiva’…. Ellis had a small part in the film….

It was at a party held for Diana that scandal broke out…. Diana, Hamilton and two others were posing for a poolside photo shoot when the Press surged forwards, knocking the four into the pool…. Hamilton was beyond furious; he exited the water and punched the nearest photographer, knocking him to the ground…. Hamilton then repeatedly kicked the man in the head until he lost consciousness….

Feeling she had to get away, Diana returned to England…. The end of her marriage left her financially crippled; Hamilton had forced her to sign over all her assets….

Diana resumed her career in Britain and throughout the 1950s her popularity increased…. She also started to do cabaret with her ‘The Diana Dors Show’…. In 1959 she married comedian Richard Dawson and had two sons, Mark and Gary…. However, the marriage ended in 1966….

Diana Dors in ‘I Married A Woman’ 1958 – John Irving via Flickr

She remarried in 1968, this time to actor Alan Lake and had another son, Jason…. Lake was a reputed alcoholic and the marriage was stormy….

It was during this period of time that she recorded her album ‘Swingin’ Dors’…. Continuing to work Diana began to diversify in her career – in 1978 her first book ‘For Adults Only’ was published and was an instant bestseller…. She also became Agony Aunt for the Daily Star….and was later to become a TV agony aunt…. She even appeared as the fairy godmother in the Adam and the Ants music video for ‘Prince Charming’….

To celebrate her 50th birthday a special edition of the Russell Harty show was filmed at her home…. But tragically, unbeknown, Diana’s life was drawing to a close…. For the last two years of her life she battled ovarian cancer…. In March 1984 she started work on her last film, ‘Steaming’ – but sadly lost her battle in May…. Diana died at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Windsor…. Having converted to Catholicism in 1973 she was buried at the Sunningdale Catholic Cemetery….

Devastated, Lake took his own life a few months later….16 years to the day of when they had first met….

Diana is claimed to have left a fortune to their son….details of which were given to the family in code… A code only Lake knew how to decipher….it is thought around £2 million was hidden in banks across Europe…. However, its whereabouts to this day remains a mystery….

In her autobiography ‘Dors by Diana’ she said of her life that she “enjoyed the whole absurd mess to the highest possible degree”….

British History

On this day in history….15th May 1909

On this day in history : 15th May 1909 – The birth of British actor James Mason – who was to appear in more than 80 films, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Julius Caesar….

James was born in Huddersfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire…. He was the youngest of the three sons of Mabel Hattersley and John Mason, a wealthy textile merchant…. After attending Marlborough College James was to go on to graduate from Cambridge with a degree in architecture…. It was whilst at university that he got involved with the theatre, purely for enjoyment, he never trained as an actor….

He was to make his stage debut in 1931, in a production of The Rascal in Aldershot…. He went on to join the Old Vic theatre in London, appearing in stage productions such as Henry VIII, The Importance of Being Earnest, Measure for Measure, The Tempest and Twelfth Night among others…. He became a prominent stage actor….

James Mason – Image credit : John Irving via Flickr

James made his film debut in 1935 in Late Extra…. He was to make a lot of minor ‘quota quickie’ films – as at the time in an attempt to counter American dominance a certain percentage of films shown in cinemas in the UK had to be British made…. As a result James was to become one of Britain’s major film stars of the 1940s….It was also in the late 1930s that he appeared in early television productions of plays….

Being a strong pacifist meant James was to become a conscientious objector during WW2 – which caused a long-lasting rift between him and his family…. He married his first wife, Pamela, in February 1941 and they were to have two children, a daughter, Portland, in 1948 and a son, Morgan in 1955…. Morgan is incidentally married to singer Belinda Carlisle….

James Mason and his family from the 1957 TV program Panic!

James was very much an animal lover and in 1949 he and Pamela published a book ‘The Cats in our Lives’…. Mostly written and illustrated by James he tells the mostly humorous but sometimes sad tales of the cats he had known – and the occasional dog….

His first Hollywood film, Caught, came in 1949…. However, it wasn’t until 1951, when he was cast as General Rommel in The Desert Fox, that his Hollywood career was to really take off…. His contract with 20th Century Fox was for 7 years with the stipulation of making one film per year….

In 1952 he bought the Hollywood mansion that had once belonged to Buster Keaton….. Whilst carrying out renovation work he was to discover reels of Keaton’s films that had previously been thought lost…. Realising their historical importance James had them transferred on to cellulose acetate film, thus saving them….

James Mason in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, 1959 – Public domain

Not everything was rosy in life for James…. In 1959 he suffered a major heart attack and continuing troubles in his personal life were a persistent blight on his happiness…. His wife was particularly fond of the Hollywood social scene and was reputedly frequently unfaithful…. However, it was eventually she who sued for divorce in 1962 accusing him of unfaithfulness…. It led to her receiving a $1 million divorce settlement….

In 1963 James made his home in Switzerland, commuting transatlantic to continue his career…. He married Australian actress Clarissa Kaye in 1971 and they were on occasion to work together…. James was to suffer a further heart attack, which proved to be fatal on the 27th of July 1984, whilst in Lausanne, Switzerland….

James Mason in The Fall of the Roman Empire, 1964 – Public domain

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….23rd February 1892

On this day in history : 23rd February 1892 – The birth of character actress Kathleen Harrison – known for her Cockney characters but best remembered for her role as Mrs Huggett….

Kathleen was born in the Lancashire town of Blackburn – she studied at RADA during 1914-15…. She then spent some time in Argentina and Madeira after marrying John Henry Beck in 1916…. The couple had three children, two sons and a daughter….

Returning to England in the 1920s Kathleen made her stage debut as Mrs Judd in ‘The Constant Flint’ at Eastbourne’s Pier Theatre in 1926…. She had already made her film debut in 1915, with a part in ‘Our Boys’…. In 1927 she appeared in London’s West End for the first time, as Winnie in ‘The Cage’ at the Savoy Theatre…. She was to appear in several other West End plays….

In 1931 her film career started in earnest with a part in ‘Hobson’s Choice’…. She was to go on to appear in some fifty films up to the mid 1970s, including ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’, ‘The Ghost Train’, ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘Scrooge’…. She appeared on the small screen in the BBC production of Dickens’s ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’ and ‘Our Mutual Friend’….

But it was the Huggetts trilogy of films that she was best known for….where she appeared opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark…. The Huggett family were first introduced in the 1942 film ‘Holiday Camp’…. Kathleen played East End chairwoman Ethel Huggett, with Jack Warner as her onscreen husband, Joe and Hazel Court as their daughter, Joan – and whom had a baby…. The family also consisted of their son, Harry, played by Peter Hammond and Jimmy Hanley as Jimmy, Joan’s boyfriend….

The film centred around a working class London family’s first visit to a holiday camp – and was the sixth most popular film at the British Box Office in 1947….and so leading to the trilogy of Huggett films…. The first, ‘Here Come the Huggetts’ in 1948 replaced the family children with three daughters, Jane (Jane Hylton), Susan (Susan Shaw) and Pet (Petula Clark)…. The film revolved around the chaos caused by the arrival of Ethel’s niece and the upcoming wedding of the now engaged Joan and Jimmy….

The second film, ‘Vote for Huggett’ saw Joe stand for election – and then the third, ‘The Huggetts Abroad’, where the family emigrate to South Africa and get involved in diamond smuggling…. Both of the latter films were released in 1949; a fourth film, ‘Christmas with the Huggetts’, was in the pipeline but never happened…. A radio series, ‘Meet the Huggetts’, ran between 1953 and 1962 and was a big hit with listeners, even if it was disliked by the critics….

Fair use

Kathleen also starred opposite Jack Warner in the 1956 film ‘Home and Away’ – about a working class family who win the football pools….

Kathleen always claimed to be six years younger than what she really was….but she came clean in 1992 and received a telegram from the Queen for her 100th birthday…. She died in 1995 at the age of 103….