British Actors Smörgåsbord

203 thoughts on “British Actors Smörgåsbord”

1. I‘ve never seen Welsh Brit Peggy Cummins in her most famous role, that of the femme fatale in Gun Crazy and indeed I’ve caught only 5 of the films that she made in her entire relatively short 21 year career – The Captain’s Table with John Gregson, Hell Drivers with Brit knights Sir Stanley Baker and Sir Sean Connery, Meet Mr Lucifer with Stanley Holloway, the classic Night of the Demon with Dana Andrews and Always a Bride with long-forgotten debonaire English Londoner leading man of the 1950s Terence Morgan, with whom Peggy made several movies. However it seems that for once I could if I wished brag that I’ve seen more of a star’s movies than The Work Horse has!

   1953’s Always a Bride was for me the least appealing of those 5 but I remember it so well because it was on a double bill with Audie Murphy’s 1953 western Tumbleweed which was of course the movie that little Bob REALLY went to see.

   That double bill stays in my memory so well also because I saw it in the Imperial cinema in Belfast, which was known as the “Patriotic Cinema”.

   It was called that because whilst cinemas generally were not permitted to open over her on Sundays the Imperial had private showing every Sunday evening for British soldiers stationed here and their wives/girlfriends [morality in those times didn’t officially recognise unmarried “partners”!]

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   1. The POSTERS I most enjoyed in your Peggy Cummins video are (1) Your Money or your Wife (2) Carry on Admiral (3) 1st one for Cash on Demand (4) In the Doghouse (5) Meet Mr Hirschhorn (6) the first 2 raunchy ones for The Captain’s Table [probably the final reasonably prestigious roles within the British cinema that were performed by Peggy and John Gregson] (7) foreign language one for Green Grass of Wyoming (8) Moss Rose (9) all 3 for Street Corner (10) Escape (11) Hell Drivers [first one](12) entire set for Gun Crazy and (13) cracker 1st and 3rd ones for Night of the Demon. Top marks for making that your No 1 NB: Never knew Gun Crazy’s aka was Deadly is the Female.

      My pick of the STILLS is (1) opening AND closing solo ones of sexy young Peggy (2) lovely coloured one of Peggy and fave co-star Terence Morgan in Always a Bride(3) English without Tears (4) lobby card for If This be Sin with Bruce’s Box Office Queen for once getting top billed. (5) lobby card with Eddie Robinson (6) with Sir Stanley (7) lobby card for Gun Crazy (8) Peggy with Dana Andrews and (9) Peg with Big Vic in Moss Rose – and English Rose getting billed above a Hollywood tough guy – wonders will never cease!

      Unfortunately Peggy’s movie career tapered off in the end into “Carry On” type Brit farces, and she remains without “love” from both The Master” and [so far] The Work Horse but I’ll always remember her as one of the loveliest actresses with whom I became reasonably familiar when I first started watching movies.

      Your video, presentation despite its relative brevity, is worth a 98% rating for yours truly as many of your posters and stills hold much nostalgia for me. Indeed the local arthouse here in Belfast decorates its foyer walls with old posters and one of them is for Peggy’s 1953 Street Corner which you have covered in your video. Anne Crawford the top billed star in that movie, as your posters faithfully show, sadly died of cancer 3 years later at the age of just 35.

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      1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and trivia, much appreciated.

         Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.

         I haven’t seen Gun Crazy either and I really want to see it now. I may have a copy in the collection I’ll check my files later.

         Funny thing about making videos on British actors and British films is many of them had a change of title before opening in the US, and the American title is nearly always better. [Bob gasps] I know that’s not very patriotic but the English rarely gave much thought to a movie title and felt that any string of words would do while the yanks want the films title to have impact and attract moviegoers.

         Two of Peggy’s films scored 9 out of 10 from my sources – Gun Crazy and Night of the Demon. 4 more scored 8 out of 10.

         According to Wikipedia Peggy was a Welsh born actress of Irish descent. “Her Irish parents were visiting Wales when a storm kept them from returning to their home in Dublin.”

         Another Brit on video, this time the voluptuous Diana Dors, should be an eye opener some time next week. Just trying to keep you abreast of things Bob. 😉

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         1. HI STEVE

            Thanks for the comprehensive feedback. Didn’t know about Peg’s irish connections . Thanks for sharing.

            Actually I have always thought that those responsible for choosing which title option to use in any one country had a fair idea of what they were doing. For example for me personally Jimmy Stewart’s western called Bend of the River in the US and England had the marginally preferable title of Where the River Bends in Ireland.

            But I suppose that in the end it comes down to personal taste and certainly I prefer titles to be recently compact and hate long winded ones like “Dr Strangelove or how I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” or Dustin Hoffman’s “Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He saying Those Terrible Things About Me?” Yuck!

            Anyway take care.

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2. COPIED FROM EMMA THOMPSON PAGE
   When I first heard of Emma Thompson many years ago she seemed to be best known as the 1989 – 1995 the wife of Sir Kenneth Branagh whom she supported in a number of movies, but nowadays it is possible that she would be the more familiar one to moviegoers.

   Certainly her recognition as a performer in quantity measurements by far outstrips those of Sir Kenneth and she has also accumulated more wealth [marginally] than he. The relevant stats are-

   BRANAGH: 31 acting awards and 63 noms. Net worth $60 million.
   THOMPSON: 62 awards and 107 nominations. Net worth $64 million.

   Also Emma has now received “Cogerson love” whereas Sir Kenneth has not to date been so lucky. Another measure of the prestige which Dame Emma has is that Box Office & Acting Giant Tom Hanks accepted 2nd billing to her in Saving Mr Banks. Anyway this Great Brit actress well deserves her Cogerson page so a “Vote Up” from me.

   I see STEVE that another Great Brit, Olivia Colman, has just won a Golden Globe for “The Favourite” and is 2nd favourite at least with Brit bookies for an Oscar for that movie after Glenn Close. I saw it on Monday night at the local Arthouse and although there was so much bad language in it that you’d have thought the entire cast had spent too much time in John McClane’s company I was fascinated by the movie & think Olivia deserves her Globe and her Oscar nomination.

   After all English actresses are nowadays not all the “blousing English roses” that they once were in movies. Going back to Dame Emma for example I saw a recent extract from one of her movies in which she jumped out on some startled guy and beseeched him “Fill me full of babies!” Anyway are a “Dame” Olivia and “Cogerson/Lensman love” also now on the cards

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   1. Hey Bob…thanks for putting this comment on our Brit page too.

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3. Those Brits are everywhere these days. Just added Mary Poppins Returns to the database…..should be on the Emily page in a few minutes. Good stuff.

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4. Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing and rating my Emily Blunt video, appreciate the info and stats. Glad you liked the picture gallery.

   Emily was much in the news recently thanks to the return of Mary Poppins, and she was born in London, so I thought it would make a nice finish to my Best of the Brits series of videos. Some time next year I’ll carry on with more Brits, old and new.

   A few days ago I started a special video on Xmas movies, if I finish it today I’ll post a link on Bruce’s Xmas page. I’ve included classic and modern movies.

   Incidentally the last still on Blunt’s video is from Edge of Tomorrow, in case you’re wondering what film that was.

   Only Looper scored 10 out of 10 from my sources, though it wasn’t enough to take the top spot from Edge of Tomorrow (the original Japanese novel was titled ‘All You Need is Kill’). Both films feature a form of time travel.

   One film scored 9 – Charlie Wilson’s War. And 10 more scored 8 out of 10.

   Edge of Tomorrow was no.1 at both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.

   No.1 on Bruce’s Emily Blunt chart is Looper, Edge of Tomorrow is 4th on there.

   Emily on Tom Cruise – “He’s got that magnetism and charisma of the old school Hollywood stars. He really knows acting. He knows what he’s doing. People go absolutely crazy for him. He genuinely loves people. He loves meeting them. He wants to connect with them even if it’s hundreds of thousands. He’d be on there for hours if he could.”

   Emily on Mary Poppins – “I remembered how incredible the original one was as a child. I have memories of it but I decided while prepping this not to watch it and try not to get embroiled in it too much, because I think my feeling was if I’m going to play Mary Poppins, I have to take a really big swing and do my own version of her. I didn’t want to try and emulate what Julie Andrews did.”

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   1. HI STEVE

      Thanks for the detailed response to my Emily Blunt post.

      My daughter and my 2 grandchildren of hers are going to see Return of Myrna Poppins tonight and I was invited to accompany them but unfortunately I had made other social arrangements. When I do get around to seeing it that could be a bitter-sweet experience because of course Dick Van Dyke [one of my favourite TV stars] was in the original – and indeed I think you told me he got panned for his Cockney accent! I am though keen to see WH’s box office prediction for Poppins if he makes one.

      Those are interesting comments about Tom Cruise from Emily. Certainly he must have thought highly of her in turn because he allowed her to share top billing with him above the title in Edge of Tomorrow. He usually has it in his contract that he is to be billed alone above the title and indeed would not allow Gene Hackman for one to be exempt from that rule when they made The Firm together back in the 1990s.

      I look forward to your Christmas video link. Meanwhile have a good weekend and an even better Christmas!.

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5. EMILY BLUNT STATS 1/Personal Net worth $25 million
   2/17 acting awards and 79 nominations since acting debut 2003.
   3/Output- 34 movies, 11 TV outings, 4 stage /1 radio appearances..
   4/Cogerson adjusted domestic gross $1.28 billion, average $45 million per movie
   5/ Emily has had not much “Work Horse Love” in respect of her stardom status, not considered for inclusion in his Top 25 Female Actress 1950-2010.

   Best POSTERS in your video from my viewpoint are (1) Wind Chill (2) 2nd one for Arthur Newman (3) Gnomeo (4) 1st one for Wolfman (5) 2nd one for 5 year Engagement (6) Huntsman (7) foreign language one for Into the Woods (8) Girl on the Train (9) Salmon Fish (10) Young Victoria (11) A Quiet Place (12) Sicario (13) 1st one for Looper (14) both ones for Edge of Tomorrow (15) Wild Thing and (16) 2nd one for Mary Poppins Returns – you’re certainly up to date there

   I most enjoyed these STILLS (1) Huntsman (2) Into the Woods (3) Sunshine Cleaning (4) The Master Wears Prada (5) VERY racy one for Charlie Wilson’s War (6) with Matt Damon (7) Young Vicky (8) Sicario (9) with Cruise and (10) Emily with rifle, looking more menacing than Statham ever could [her next movie Jungle Cruise is with The Rock].

   I find Emily to be one physically-appealing lady so your video is a great treat but I was surprised that my notes add up to a 98 % rating for such a relatively short video. However whilst I usually like the majority of your posters and stills I highlight only those pictorials that have appealed to me the most and as you will see from above that’s a high 64% of the posters in Emily’s case so well done there. You and WH agree on 5 of Emily’s Top 6 best reviewed flicks, though Work Horse’s stats table hasn’t yet caught up with Myrna Poppins Returns, your No 6. He’s probably awaiting 1st rash of grosses.

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