Book of Condolence Thread
- Thread starter Kewpie
- Start date
Black Cloud
Case Sensitive
How could they tell?
Ian Carmichael (1920-2010)
A brilliant actor, I love his films 'I'm All Right, Jack' 'Private's Progress' etc.
Hugh Grant often gets similar roles which Carmichael played in 50s and 60s these days, but we all know that he's million times charming and better than Grant.
RIP.
A brilliant actor, I love his films 'I'm All Right, Jack' 'Private's Progress' etc.
Hugh Grant often gets similar roles which Carmichael played in 50s and 60s these days, but we all know that he's million times charming and better than Grant.
RIP.
Last edited:
I am a Ghost
New Member
A fantastic actor indeed.
I am a Ghost
New Member
He composed the soundtrack for a film very dear to Morrissey's heart, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning".
Jazz legend Johnny Dankworth dies
By Matt Dickinson, PA
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Tributes were paid today to British jazz legend Sir John Dankworth after he died aged 82.
The saxophonist, whose career spanned more more than half a century, died yesterday in King Edward VII hospital, London. He had been ill for several months.
His death was announced last night by his jazz singer wife, Dame Cleo Laine, during a star-studded concert marking the 40th anniversary of the entertainment venue they set up together at their Buckinghamshire home.
Better known as Johnny Dankworth before he was knighted in 2006, Sir John started his own jazz orchestra in the 1950s and went on to work with the likes of Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.
He was also a prolific composer, writing the theme tune for TV shows The Avengers and Tomorrow's World, and films including Modesty Blaise, The Servant and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
Jazz star Jamie Cullum paid tribute to the musician on his Twitter page, calling him a genius.
He added: "Sir John Dankworth - a great man and one of our finest musicians and composers has died. Rest in peace sir."
Jazzwise magazine hailed the performer as "one of the totemic figures of British jazz" and the country's "first major jazz musician".
His agent Jim Murtha also told the BBC: "For British jazz and jazz around the world, I believe John has become such an international figure, particularly since he became Sir John Dankworth a few years ago."
A concert marking the 40th anniversary of The Stables, which is in the grounds of Sir John's home in Wavendon, Bucks, went ahead last night as planned.
It featured performances from Dame Cleo, his jazz musician children Alec and Jacqui, as well as stars including Paul O'Grady, Prunella Scales, Maureen Lipman, Timothy West and Victoria Wood.
Stephen Clarke, chairman of the charity that now owns the venue, said: "It is a fitting tribute that on the day of Sir John's death that we celebrated on stage the 40th anniversary of The Stables with some of the many artists who have performed with Sir John at The Stables."
Sir John was born in Woodford, Essex, in 1927 and showed early proficiency on the clarinet.
After falling in love with the music of legendary US saxophonist Charlie Parker, he took up the same instrument.
He won a place at the Royal Academy of Music aged 17, and after a short spell in the Army, was voted British Musician of the Year in 1949.
Sir John met his wife in 1950 while auditioning singers for his band, the Dankworth Seven. They married in 1958.
That decade also saw him tour the states with his jazz orchestra, sharing the bill with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He also served as musical director to jazz greats like Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.
During the next decade he turned his attention to the film world, going on to compose scores for films including Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, The Servant and Accident.
The musician worked with directors like Karel Reisz, Sir Peter Hall, John Schlesinger, Joseph Losey and Henry Hathaway.
In 1985 Sir John founded the London Symphony Orchestra's Summer Pops, continuing to work with it as artistic director until 1990.
In October last year he was taken ill at the end of a US tour with his wife.
The couple cancelled a number of UK concert dates for the following month, although the saxophonist did return to the concert stage at the London Jazz Festival, playing his saxophone from his wheelchair at the Royal Festival Hall.
Jazz legend Johnny Dankworth dies
By Matt Dickinson, PA
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Tributes were paid today to British jazz legend Sir John Dankworth after he died aged 82.
The saxophonist, whose career spanned more more than half a century, died yesterday in King Edward VII hospital, London. He had been ill for several months.
His death was announced last night by his jazz singer wife, Dame Cleo Laine, during a star-studded concert marking the 40th anniversary of the entertainment venue they set up together at their Buckinghamshire home.
Better known as Johnny Dankworth before he was knighted in 2006, Sir John started his own jazz orchestra in the 1950s and went on to work with the likes of Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.
He was also a prolific composer, writing the theme tune for TV shows The Avengers and Tomorrow's World, and films including Modesty Blaise, The Servant and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
Jazz star Jamie Cullum paid tribute to the musician on his Twitter page, calling him a genius.
He added: "Sir John Dankworth - a great man and one of our finest musicians and composers has died. Rest in peace sir."
Jazzwise magazine hailed the performer as "one of the totemic figures of British jazz" and the country's "first major jazz musician".
His agent Jim Murtha also told the BBC: "For British jazz and jazz around the world, I believe John has become such an international figure, particularly since he became Sir John Dankworth a few years ago."
A concert marking the 40th anniversary of The Stables, which is in the grounds of Sir John's home in Wavendon, Bucks, went ahead last night as planned.
It featured performances from Dame Cleo, his jazz musician children Alec and Jacqui, as well as stars including Paul O'Grady, Prunella Scales, Maureen Lipman, Timothy West and Victoria Wood.
Stephen Clarke, chairman of the charity that now owns the venue, said: "It is a fitting tribute that on the day of Sir John's death that we celebrated on stage the 40th anniversary of The Stables with some of the many artists who have performed with Sir John at The Stables."
Sir John was born in Woodford, Essex, in 1927 and showed early proficiency on the clarinet.
After falling in love with the music of legendary US saxophonist Charlie Parker, he took up the same instrument.
He won a place at the Royal Academy of Music aged 17, and after a short spell in the Army, was voted British Musician of the Year in 1949.
Sir John met his wife in 1950 while auditioning singers for his band, the Dankworth Seven. They married in 1958.
That decade also saw him tour the states with his jazz orchestra, sharing the bill with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He also served as musical director to jazz greats like Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.
During the next decade he turned his attention to the film world, going on to compose scores for films including Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, The Servant and Accident.
The musician worked with directors like Karel Reisz, Sir Peter Hall, John Schlesinger, Joseph Losey and Henry Hathaway.
In 1985 Sir John founded the London Symphony Orchestra's Summer Pops, continuing to work with it as artistic director until 1990.
In October last year he was taken ill at the end of a US tour with his wife.
The couple cancelled a number of UK concert dates for the following month, although the saxophonist did return to the concert stage at the London Jazz Festival, playing his saxophone from his wheelchair at the Royal Festival Hall.
CrystalGeezer
My secret's my enzyme.
I am a Ghost
New Member
A great character actor.
Actor Lionel Jeffries dies
Veteran actor and director Lionel Jeffries, whose credits include well-loved films such as The Railway Children and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, died today.
The Rada-trained star, who was associated with a number of children's classics, was 83.
Jeffries was an instantly recognisable figure and became a familiar face in film and TV for decades.
A spokeswoman for his agent, the Liz Hobbs Group, said: "We can confirm he did pass away this morning. It was following a long illness."
No further details were released.
Actor Lionel Jeffries dies
Veteran actor and director Lionel Jeffries, whose credits include well-loved films such as The Railway Children and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, died today.
The Rada-trained star, who was associated with a number of children's classics, was 83.
Jeffries was an instantly recognisable figure and became a familiar face in film and TV for decades.
A spokeswoman for his agent, the Liz Hobbs Group, said: "We can confirm he did pass away this morning. It was following a long illness."
No further details were released.
Jukebox Jury
Retired
Amazingly, Jeffries is actually two years younger than Dick van Dyke in real life - who was his father in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Jukebox Jury
Last edited by a moderator:
lainey
Active Member
What a brilliant director and actor.
I believe he starred in The Trials of Oscar Wilde in 1960, he played the Marquess of Queensberry.
I hope some of his film are shown on television as a tribute.
The Nun's Story (1959)
The Notorious Landlady (1962)
The Railway Children (1970)
Jukebox Jury
Retired
The Seeker of Good Songs
Well-Known Member
Amazingly, Jeffries is actually two years younger than Dick van Dyke in real life - who was his father in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Jukebox Jury
Speaking of Dick Van Dyke: what kind of accent is he doing in the Mary Poppins film. Is he trying for some particular regional one, or is it what it appears to me; an American trying to be English?
I just looked him up in Wikipedia and it says: "Van Dyke's attempt at a cockney accent was cited as one of the worst film accents in a 2003 poll by Empire magazine."
Last edited by a moderator:
I am a Ghost
New Member
Kathryn Grayson: Actress and singer described as 'the most beautiful woman in the history of movies'
Monday, 22 February 2010
The singer and actress Kathryn Grayson was a resident soprano at MGM from 1940 until the early Fifties, her films including the acclaimed versions of Show Boat and Kiss Me, Kate. She was particularly favoured by producer Joe Pasternak, who had moved from Universal, where he had brilliantly handled the career of Deanna Durbin. Grayson's operatic background and training appealed to the producer, who liked to mix classics with popular songs in his musicals.
With her heart-shaped face, turned-up nose and ample bust, she portrayed a more mature persona than the young Durbin, and in 1946 Pasternak signed another soprano, Jane Powell, but the two were not rivals – while Powell's films had great appeal for teenagers and paired her romantically with adolescent males, Grayson's leading men included Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza and Howard Keel. Keel, a frequent co-star, described her as "the most beautiful woman in the history of movies".
Her 39in bust prompted her to decline the studio's requests for pin-up pictures, as she did not want to be known as an "operatic Jane Russell". Though it was considered that her voice would have been too thin for the operatic stage, she handled her songs on screen with likeable style, her twinkling eyes and cupid's bow lips engaging her audience as she sang such numbers as "Jealousy", "Be My Love", and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".
Born Zelma Kathryn Hedrick in North Carolina in 1922 to an estate agent, she was raised in St Louis, where her music-loving family encouraged her to start singing lessons. Frances Marshall, a singer with the Chicago Light Opera, heard her sing and took over her tuition. When the Hedricks moved to Hollywood she continued her musical studies and began to work on radio; she was on an Eddie Cantor programme in 1940 when MGM talent scouts heard her and offered a contract. Though she still hoped for an operatic career, she accepted.
She married for the first time in 1940 to another contract player, John Shelton. Like many of MGM's young female stars she was given her first role in one of the Andy Hardy series, Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941), in which, in between helping teenager Andy sort out his troubles, she sang the mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia de Lammermoor and Cole Porter's "I've Got My Eyes on You". She also had vocal opportunities in Frank Borzage's nostalgic saga of the old South, The Vanishing Virginian (1942) and she was pleasingly partnered by tenor John Carroll in an updating of the Broadway operetta, Rio Rita (1942).
Borzage directed her again in Seven Sweethearts (1942), in which, as the eldest of seven daughters, she is under pressure to find a beau because her siblings cannot wed until she does. Her success in the film convinced MGM that she was ready to play the romantic lead in a lavish musical, Thousands Cheer (1943), a wartime flag-waver with a host of guest stars including Judy Garland and Lena Horne.
Her leading man was Gene Kelly, and Grayson was next teamed with Kelly and Frank Sinatra in George Sidney's Anchors Aweigh (1945). Kelly and Sinatra were two sailors on leave who woo Grayson, playing a film extra whose ambition is to sing for conductor-pianist Jose Iturbi. All three stars were given prime moments to shine, and Grayson's songs included three that became associated with her: the seductive tango, "Jealousy", a vocal version of Tchaikovsky's "Waltz from Serenade in C Minor" entitled "From the Heart of a Lonely Poet", and a rapturously tender version of "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings", arguably her finest musical moment on screen. With Sinatra singing several Styne-Cahn numbers, and Kelly performing his celebrated dance with Tom and Jerry among other highlights, Anchors Aweigh was an enormous hit.
Grayson was top-billed in her next film, Henry Koster's Two Sisters from Boston (1945), a frothy account of two Boston-raised girls (Grayson and June Allyson) who move to turn-of-the-century New York. In the film, she was billed at the saloon as "High C Susie", but Grayson's high notes became the subject of controversy when it was revealed that in Ziegfeld Follies (1946), in the final number, "There's Beauty Everywhere", her high B flat was dubbed by Suzanne Corliss. The sequence was the film's worst, with set and song smothered by coloured bubbles. Said director Vincente Minnelli, "You can't direct bubbles!"
In the screen biography of composer Jerome Kern, Till the Clouds Roll By, Grayson sang the role of Magnolia in the film's opening pot-pourri of numbers from Show Boat. (She played Magnolia again when MGM filmed Show Boat in 1951.) She was partnered on "The Song is You", which was eventually cut, by the handsome young crooner, Johnny Johnston, and in 1947 they wed. Grayson's marriage to Shelton had ended after six separations, reconciliations and a miscarriage.
Her next film, It Happened in Brooklyn (1947), teamed her with Sinatra and Durante in an enjoyable musical in which, as in Anchors Aweigh, Sinatra pined for Grayson but lost her to another (in this case Peter Lawford). Her next film with Sinatra, The Kissing Bandit (1948), was a disaster that both stars preferred to forget.
Grayson then teamed with MGM's new discovery, operatic tenor Mario Lanza, in That Midnight Kiss (1949), in which she sang Verdi's "Caro Nome" from Rigoletto. Audiences responded well to the couple, who then co-starred in Toast of New Orleans (1950), in which they introduced "Be My Love", which became a best-seller for Lanza. Their on-screen harmony was not echoed off-stage, Grayson objecting to Lanza's lack of manners and vulgar language.
She was teamed with Howard Keel in George Sidney's Show Boat (1951), a vibrant version of the Kern-Hammer-stein masterpiece. Grayson and Keel sang the songs of Kern again in Lovely to Look At (1952), a remake of Roberta that both stars reputedly disliked making, though it is entertaining and contains some of their best work.
Her MGM contract at an end, Grayson moved to Warners for two films. The Desert Song (1953) was a listless remake of the operetta warhorse, and So This Is Love (1953) was an equally flat version of the life of opera star Grace Moore.
At MGM, producer Jack Cummings was preparing a screen version of Cole Porter's outstanding stage hit, Kiss Me, Kate, and Joe Pasternak pleaded with Deanna Durbin on Cummings' behalf to make a comeback in the star role. Durbin, married and living in France, declined, and MGM asked Grayson to return and star opposite Howard Keel.
Made in 1953 in 3-D, Kiss Me, Kate was a great success, but the great era for film musicals was ending. In 1955 she made her nightclub debut at the Sands in Las Vegas, then announced that she was retiring to be a full-time mother. Although Grayson had divorced Johnston in 1951, the pair had had a daughter, Patricia Kathryn (nicknamed Patty-Kate) in 1948. Though she never remarried, Grayson had several beaux in the '50s, including Robert Evans (later head of Paramount) and Howard Hughes, to whom she was briefly engaged.
Returning to performing, she accepted concert and night-club engagements, and played a season at the London Palladium to mixed reviews. She took occasional roles on television, singing on the shows of Perry Como, Dean Martin and Pat Boone, and in 1956 she was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the drama, Shadow on the Heart.
In 1961 she made her stage debut in The Merry Widow and Naughty Marietta, and in 1962 she replaced Julie Andrews as Guinevere in Camelot on Broadway, touring the following year until she withdrew after collapsing due to "nervous exhaustion". In 1965 she was rushed to hospital after what was described as "an accidental overdose of barbiturates".
In 1968 she and Howard Keel formed a double act, performing in night clubs, making a successful tour of Australia and touring together in Man of La Mancha. In regional theatres, Grayson was able to realise her ambition to sing in opera, appearing in La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, La Traviata and Orpheus in the Underworld. She also displayed her emormous sense of humour in Michael Frayn's hilarious farce, Noises Off.
In the 1980s she appeared in several episodes of the television series Murder, She Wrote, with her chum from MGM days, Angela Lansbury. She turned down offers to write her memoirs, stating that she had tried, but refused to write a "kiss and tell" book. "I'm a Pollyanna," she said. "I had to stop writing because I was saying everyone was beautiful."
Tom Vallance
Zelma Kathryn Hedrick (Kathryn Grayson), singer and actress: born Winston Salem, North Carolina 9 February 1922; married 1940 John Shelton (divorced 1946), 1947 Johnny Johnston (divorced 1951; one daughter); died Los Angeles 17 February 2010.
Monday, 22 February 2010
The singer and actress Kathryn Grayson was a resident soprano at MGM from 1940 until the early Fifties, her films including the acclaimed versions of Show Boat and Kiss Me, Kate. She was particularly favoured by producer Joe Pasternak, who had moved from Universal, where he had brilliantly handled the career of Deanna Durbin. Grayson's operatic background and training appealed to the producer, who liked to mix classics with popular songs in his musicals.
With her heart-shaped face, turned-up nose and ample bust, she portrayed a more mature persona than the young Durbin, and in 1946 Pasternak signed another soprano, Jane Powell, but the two were not rivals – while Powell's films had great appeal for teenagers and paired her romantically with adolescent males, Grayson's leading men included Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza and Howard Keel. Keel, a frequent co-star, described her as "the most beautiful woman in the history of movies".
Her 39in bust prompted her to decline the studio's requests for pin-up pictures, as she did not want to be known as an "operatic Jane Russell". Though it was considered that her voice would have been too thin for the operatic stage, she handled her songs on screen with likeable style, her twinkling eyes and cupid's bow lips engaging her audience as she sang such numbers as "Jealousy", "Be My Love", and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".
Born Zelma Kathryn Hedrick in North Carolina in 1922 to an estate agent, she was raised in St Louis, where her music-loving family encouraged her to start singing lessons. Frances Marshall, a singer with the Chicago Light Opera, heard her sing and took over her tuition. When the Hedricks moved to Hollywood she continued her musical studies and began to work on radio; she was on an Eddie Cantor programme in 1940 when MGM talent scouts heard her and offered a contract. Though she still hoped for an operatic career, she accepted.
She married for the first time in 1940 to another contract player, John Shelton. Like many of MGM's young female stars she was given her first role in one of the Andy Hardy series, Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941), in which, in between helping teenager Andy sort out his troubles, she sang the mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia de Lammermoor and Cole Porter's "I've Got My Eyes on You". She also had vocal opportunities in Frank Borzage's nostalgic saga of the old South, The Vanishing Virginian (1942) and she was pleasingly partnered by tenor John Carroll in an updating of the Broadway operetta, Rio Rita (1942).
Borzage directed her again in Seven Sweethearts (1942), in which, as the eldest of seven daughters, she is under pressure to find a beau because her siblings cannot wed until she does. Her success in the film convinced MGM that she was ready to play the romantic lead in a lavish musical, Thousands Cheer (1943), a wartime flag-waver with a host of guest stars including Judy Garland and Lena Horne.
Her leading man was Gene Kelly, and Grayson was next teamed with Kelly and Frank Sinatra in George Sidney's Anchors Aweigh (1945). Kelly and Sinatra were two sailors on leave who woo Grayson, playing a film extra whose ambition is to sing for conductor-pianist Jose Iturbi. All three stars were given prime moments to shine, and Grayson's songs included three that became associated with her: the seductive tango, "Jealousy", a vocal version of Tchaikovsky's "Waltz from Serenade in C Minor" entitled "From the Heart of a Lonely Poet", and a rapturously tender version of "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings", arguably her finest musical moment on screen. With Sinatra singing several Styne-Cahn numbers, and Kelly performing his celebrated dance with Tom and Jerry among other highlights, Anchors Aweigh was an enormous hit.
Grayson was top-billed in her next film, Henry Koster's Two Sisters from Boston (1945), a frothy account of two Boston-raised girls (Grayson and June Allyson) who move to turn-of-the-century New York. In the film, she was billed at the saloon as "High C Susie", but Grayson's high notes became the subject of controversy when it was revealed that in Ziegfeld Follies (1946), in the final number, "There's Beauty Everywhere", her high B flat was dubbed by Suzanne Corliss. The sequence was the film's worst, with set and song smothered by coloured bubbles. Said director Vincente Minnelli, "You can't direct bubbles!"
In the screen biography of composer Jerome Kern, Till the Clouds Roll By, Grayson sang the role of Magnolia in the film's opening pot-pourri of numbers from Show Boat. (She played Magnolia again when MGM filmed Show Boat in 1951.) She was partnered on "The Song is You", which was eventually cut, by the handsome young crooner, Johnny Johnston, and in 1947 they wed. Grayson's marriage to Shelton had ended after six separations, reconciliations and a miscarriage.
Her next film, It Happened in Brooklyn (1947), teamed her with Sinatra and Durante in an enjoyable musical in which, as in Anchors Aweigh, Sinatra pined for Grayson but lost her to another (in this case Peter Lawford). Her next film with Sinatra, The Kissing Bandit (1948), was a disaster that both stars preferred to forget.
Grayson then teamed with MGM's new discovery, operatic tenor Mario Lanza, in That Midnight Kiss (1949), in which she sang Verdi's "Caro Nome" from Rigoletto. Audiences responded well to the couple, who then co-starred in Toast of New Orleans (1950), in which they introduced "Be My Love", which became a best-seller for Lanza. Their on-screen harmony was not echoed off-stage, Grayson objecting to Lanza's lack of manners and vulgar language.
She was teamed with Howard Keel in George Sidney's Show Boat (1951), a vibrant version of the Kern-Hammer-stein masterpiece. Grayson and Keel sang the songs of Kern again in Lovely to Look At (1952), a remake of Roberta that both stars reputedly disliked making, though it is entertaining and contains some of their best work.
Her MGM contract at an end, Grayson moved to Warners for two films. The Desert Song (1953) was a listless remake of the operetta warhorse, and So This Is Love (1953) was an equally flat version of the life of opera star Grace Moore.
At MGM, producer Jack Cummings was preparing a screen version of Cole Porter's outstanding stage hit, Kiss Me, Kate, and Joe Pasternak pleaded with Deanna Durbin on Cummings' behalf to make a comeback in the star role. Durbin, married and living in France, declined, and MGM asked Grayson to return and star opposite Howard Keel.
Made in 1953 in 3-D, Kiss Me, Kate was a great success, but the great era for film musicals was ending. In 1955 she made her nightclub debut at the Sands in Las Vegas, then announced that she was retiring to be a full-time mother. Although Grayson had divorced Johnston in 1951, the pair had had a daughter, Patricia Kathryn (nicknamed Patty-Kate) in 1948. Though she never remarried, Grayson had several beaux in the '50s, including Robert Evans (later head of Paramount) and Howard Hughes, to whom she was briefly engaged.
Returning to performing, she accepted concert and night-club engagements, and played a season at the London Palladium to mixed reviews. She took occasional roles on television, singing on the shows of Perry Como, Dean Martin and Pat Boone, and in 1956 she was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the drama, Shadow on the Heart.
In 1961 she made her stage debut in The Merry Widow and Naughty Marietta, and in 1962 she replaced Julie Andrews as Guinevere in Camelot on Broadway, touring the following year until she withdrew after collapsing due to "nervous exhaustion". In 1965 she was rushed to hospital after what was described as "an accidental overdose of barbiturates".
In 1968 she and Howard Keel formed a double act, performing in night clubs, making a successful tour of Australia and touring together in Man of La Mancha. In regional theatres, Grayson was able to realise her ambition to sing in opera, appearing in La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, La Traviata and Orpheus in the Underworld. She also displayed her emormous sense of humour in Michael Frayn's hilarious farce, Noises Off.
In the 1980s she appeared in several episodes of the television series Murder, She Wrote, with her chum from MGM days, Angela Lansbury. She turned down offers to write her memoirs, stating that she had tried, but refused to write a "kiss and tell" book. "I'm a Pollyanna," she said. "I had to stop writing because I was saying everyone was beautiful."
Tom Vallance
Zelma Kathryn Hedrick (Kathryn Grayson), singer and actress: born Winston Salem, North Carolina 9 February 1922; married 1940 John Shelton (divorced 1946), 1947 Johnny Johnston (divorced 1951; one daughter); died Los Angeles 17 February 2010.
lainey
Active Member
Your not wrong.
[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wGoO0JKvEMM&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wGoO0JKvEMM&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]
one of the youtube comments says...Kathryn Grayson was a charming lady. The last time I saw her was at the McCallum Theatre where she did a show there with Tommy Cooper.
lainey
Active Member
he directed the film.
lainey
Active Member
The very beautiful television Presenter and DirectorKristian Digby.(24 June 1977-1 March 2010)
Kristian was an English television presenter and director who is best known for presenting To Buy or Not to Buy on BBC One. It was announced on 1 March 2010 that he had been found dead under what police said were "unexplained circumstances".
Personal life
Digby was born on 24 June 1977 in Torquay, Devon, to a family of property developers. He attended Bramdean School in Exeter, where he is said to have battled with dyslexia. He later presented a documentary for the BBC entitled Hiding the Truth: I Can't Read in which he returned to the school. In 1997, Digby's film Words of Deception won him a Junior BAFTA. The following year, his film Last Train to Demise, which featured actress and model Lucy Perkins, won the Melbourne Film Festival's Best Student Film award.
Digby was openly gay. He claimed to have discovered his sexuality when he was studying for his degree in "Film, video and photographic arts" at the University of Westminster (1995 to 1998).
Television career
Digby started his television presenting career for ITV presenting Nightlife. Prior to this he covered for LBC's tv critic Chris Stacey on LBC's evening shows, Sunday Night and One Night Strand. At around the same time, he directed television programmes Homefront, Fantasy Rooms, She’s Gotta Have It which also featured actress and model Lucy Perkins, Girls On Top and The O-Zone. In 2001, Digby presented That Gay Show on BBC Choice.
Beginning in 2003, Digby presented various programmes for the BBC, most notably To Buy or Not to Buy. In addition, he has presented Uncharted Territory, Holiday, Trading Up, Living in the Sun and Open House.
In 2006 he appeared in Simon Fanshawe's The Trouble with Gay Men and bemoaned the lack of gay role models, explaining how he refused to camp it up on TV, although he was known for his pole dancing skills excerpted on That Gay Show. In the September 2006 edition of AXM he appeared nude for charity.
Digby presented the following morning TV BBC shows:
Open House - Along with his team, he made over properties that are not selling through the traditional estate agent route, after the make over they host an open house for possible buyers.
Buy It, Sell It, Bank It - The show follows two property developers at a property auction, the winner is followed for the rest of the show as he or she alters the house. The loser at the auction gives his or her thoughts of the improvements at the end of the show.
To Build or Not to Build - In 2008 Digby decided to build his own house, designed by Neu Architects. The BBC decided to follow this and also draw in other people who have done something similar with Digby interviewing them. The premise is similar to Channel 4's Grand Designs, but on a smaller scale.
Death
Digby was found dead in his flat in Richford Road, Newham, London E15 at 7.45 am on 1 March 2010. An ambulance was called; paramedics declared him dead at the scene. The circumstances are as yet unexplained.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8545370.stm
A short video of Kristian discussing dyslexia.
A charming, sweet, warm man and only 32.
Kristian was an English television presenter and director who is best known for presenting To Buy or Not to Buy on BBC One. It was announced on 1 March 2010 that he had been found dead under what police said were "unexplained circumstances".
Personal life
Digby was born on 24 June 1977 in Torquay, Devon, to a family of property developers. He attended Bramdean School in Exeter, where he is said to have battled with dyslexia. He later presented a documentary for the BBC entitled Hiding the Truth: I Can't Read in which he returned to the school. In 1997, Digby's film Words of Deception won him a Junior BAFTA. The following year, his film Last Train to Demise, which featured actress and model Lucy Perkins, won the Melbourne Film Festival's Best Student Film award.
Digby was openly gay. He claimed to have discovered his sexuality when he was studying for his degree in "Film, video and photographic arts" at the University of Westminster (1995 to 1998).
Television career
Digby started his television presenting career for ITV presenting Nightlife. Prior to this he covered for LBC's tv critic Chris Stacey on LBC's evening shows, Sunday Night and One Night Strand. At around the same time, he directed television programmes Homefront, Fantasy Rooms, She’s Gotta Have It which also featured actress and model Lucy Perkins, Girls On Top and The O-Zone. In 2001, Digby presented That Gay Show on BBC Choice.
Beginning in 2003, Digby presented various programmes for the BBC, most notably To Buy or Not to Buy. In addition, he has presented Uncharted Territory, Holiday, Trading Up, Living in the Sun and Open House.
In 2006 he appeared in Simon Fanshawe's The Trouble with Gay Men and bemoaned the lack of gay role models, explaining how he refused to camp it up on TV, although he was known for his pole dancing skills excerpted on That Gay Show. In the September 2006 edition of AXM he appeared nude for charity.
Digby presented the following morning TV BBC shows:
Open House - Along with his team, he made over properties that are not selling through the traditional estate agent route, after the make over they host an open house for possible buyers.
Buy It, Sell It, Bank It - The show follows two property developers at a property auction, the winner is followed for the rest of the show as he or she alters the house. The loser at the auction gives his or her thoughts of the improvements at the end of the show.
To Build or Not to Build - In 2008 Digby decided to build his own house, designed by Neu Architects. The BBC decided to follow this and also draw in other people who have done something similar with Digby interviewing them. The premise is similar to Channel 4's Grand Designs, but on a smaller scale.
Death
Digby was found dead in his flat in Richford Road, Newham, London E15 at 7.45 am on 1 March 2010. An ambulance was called; paramedics declared him dead at the scene. The circumstances are as yet unexplained.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8545370.stm
A short video of Kristian discussing dyslexia.
A charming, sweet, warm man and only 32.
Jukebox Jury
Retired
Winston Churchill - the former Tory MP and grandson of the Winston Churchill.
Used to be my MP in the mid 80's when I lived in Sale.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8545760.stm
Jukebox Jury
Used to be my MP in the mid 80's when I lived in Sale.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8545760.stm
Jukebox Jury
