#John Le Mesurier | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

valhallaimcomin · 1 month

Text

Unidentified Fyling Oddball, or The Spaceman and King Arthur (1979)

#lmao this is the best medieval timetravel movie i've seen so far #hehehe #the spaceman and king arthur #unidentified flying oddball #dennis dugan #kenneth more #john le mesurier #jim dale #sheila white #medieval #middle ages #king arthur #camelot

8 notes · View notes

mariocki · 7 months

Text

Law and Disorder (1958)

"Right, now listen boys, it's all lined up: we're getting rid of the judge."

"What?"

"Knock off a judge? You must be raving, we'll spend the rest of our lives in clink."

"Here, let me out!"

"We don't have to touch him. Police are gonna arrest him."

"Oh, that's better. Thought we'd turned nasty."

#law and disorder #1958 #british cinema #charles crichton #t.e.b. clarke #michael redgrave #robert morley #ronald squire #joan hickson #lionel jeffries #elizabeth sellars #brenda bruce #jeremy burnham #george coulouris #meredith edwards #harold goodwin #john le mesurier #allan cuthbertson #michael trubshawe #sam kydd #john paul #minor brit comedy whose irreverence and slightness is really a strength; there isn't a lot to this‚ but it's honestly #so charming and so feather light that you can't help but be kind of swept along with it. a lot of what works rests on Redgrave's shoulders #in a beautifully measured turn as an unrepentant con artist who views increasingly long stretches in prison as a fair trade for the money #he can make and put away for the betterment of his son (who of course‚ knowing nothing of his father's 'work'‚ chooses to pursue a #career in the law). Morley at first appears to be playing the same kind of larger than life cartoonish buffoon he so often did but to the #credit of the film his character is revealed to have more nuance and more depth than expected in the final act. the supporting cast is wall #to wall brit character acting legends and that was the main appeal for me; nearly every speaking role is taken by someone of note‚ even if #(as in the case of permafave Alfie Burke) it's literally just 30 seconds of screentime. disposable fluff at the end of the day‚ but a #delightful kind of fluff‚ and a moreish kind‚ like cotton candy.

8 notes · View notes

blackramhall · 1 year

Text

The Hound of the Baskervilles - Terence Fisher (1959)

Blackram Hall: The guy practically lives in a Clue board

30 notes · View notes

captainfreelance1 · 18 days

Text

Dad's Army S6 E1 The Deadly Attachment

One of the most iconic scenes in the show's history.

2 notes · View notes

motionpicturelover · 4 months

Text

"The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" (1975) - Gene Wilder

Films I've watched in 2023 (114/119)

One of my all-time favourite comedies!!

#films watched in 2023 #The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother #John Le Mesurier #Gene Wilder #Marty Feldman #Madeline Kahn #Roy Kinnear #Leo McKern #Dom DeLuise #comedy #1970s film #1970s cinema #motionpicturelover's screencaps

5 notes · View notes

georgefairbrother · 1 year

Text

Two old masters at work: Michael Hordern as Scrooge and John Le Mesurier as Marley's Ghost, in the BBC's adaptation of A Christmas Carol, first broadcast Christmas Eve, 1977.

#british actors #john le mesurier #michael hordern #a christmas carol #jacob marley #ebenezer scrooge #british television #british culture #christmas telly

16 notes · View notes

scorsesedepalmafan · 2 years

Photo

An unexpected friend

#hancock #tony hancock #alfred molina #malcolm sinclair #john le mesurier #blush

50 notes · View notes

youve-got-mayall · 2 years

Text

Capt. Mainwaring: - Where did you get that gun?

Man: - It's mine.

Capt. M.: - I see. Wilson? Wilson?

Wilson: - Yes?

Capt. M.: - He's got a gun.

Wilson: - Yes, I can see that, sir.

Capt. M.: - Well, I mean... I'm the officer, you're the sergeant...

Wilson: - Yes, sir.

Capt. M.: - We should have that, really. For the machine gun post.

Wilson: - Yes, of course, sir, yes.

Capt. M.: - Ask him for it.

Wlson: - Um, now, wouldn't it carry more authority coming from you, sir?

Capt. M.: - Perhaps you're right. Now, look here, I think you ought to hand that gun over.

Man: - I'm damned if I will.

Capt. M.: - Are you refusing to obey order on active service? You do realise we could have you shot?

Wilson: - Don't you think that might be rather difficult, sir? Seeing as he's the only one with a gun?

Capt. M.: - Leave this to me, will you. Tell me, were you ever in the army?

Man: - Yes.

Capt. M.: - In that case you should know that when a superior officer gives you an order, you obey. What's your name?

Man: - General Wilkinson.

Capt. M.: - Ah, yes, jolly good...

- Dad's Army, S1 E1 (radio version)

#Dad's Army #Captain Mainwaring #Wilson #Arthur Lowe #John Le Mesurier #quote

8 notes · View notes

raynbowclown · 2 years

Text

Blood Of The Vampire

Blood Of The Vampire (1958) starring Donald Wolfit, Vincent Ball, Barbara Shelley Blood of the Vampire deals with a mad scientist, working as the governor of a prison. He uses the inmates as guinea pigs for his experiments … (more…)

View On WordPress

#1958 #Andrew Faulds #Barbara Shelley #Bryan Coleman #Donald Wolfit #John Le Mesurier #prison #vampire #Victor Maddern #Vincent Ball #William Devlin

1 note · View note

badgaymovies · 2 years

Text

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

The Hound of the Baskervilles by #TerenceFisher starring #PeterCushing and #ChristopherLee, "directed with great energy and humour but does not deny the viewer any delicious sense of intrigue or excitement"

TERENCE FISHER Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB United Kingdom, 1959. Hammer Films. Screenplay by Peter Bryan, based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle. Cinematography by Jack Asher. Produced by Anthony Hinds. Music by James Bernard. Production Design by Bernard Robinson. Costume Design by Molly Arbuthnot. Film Editing by Alfred Cox. One of the best known and most beloved adventures in the Sherlock…

View On WordPress

0 notes

justforbooks · 2 months

Text

The actor Ian Lavender, who has died aged 77, played the awkward, impulsive Private Frank Pike in the long-running BBC comedy Dad’s Army, and was the last surviving member of the cast who portrayed Captain Mainwaring’s Home Guard platoon.

Most of the part-time soldiers depicted in the series, which ran from 1968 to 1977, were exempted from call-up to the army during the second world war because of advanced age. Pike, their junior in most cases by several decades, had been excused because of his weak chest, and always wore the scarf insisted upon by his widowed mum, Mavis.

In spite of their foibles and foolishness, Mainwaring’s pomposity and the frequent slapstick sequences, the heroes of Dad’s Army were courageous men prepared to give their lives to protect their country, and it was this innate nobility that lifted the series, written by David Croft and Jimmy Perry, to greatness. At its peak it had more than 18 million weekly viewers, and is still regularly rerun.

There were many catchphrases – Lance Corporal Jones’s “Don’t panic!”, Private Frazer’s “We’re doomed!” and Sergeant Wilson’s languid “Do you think that’s wise, sir?” – and the best-remembered belongs to the gangster movie-fixated Pike, though he did not utter it himself: Mainwaring’s weary “You stupid boy!”

Pike was also involved in Dad’s Army’s most frequently quoted joke. “What is your name?” snarls the German U-boat commander who has been captured by the platoon. “Don’t tell him, Pike,” shouts Mainwaring. There was often great subtlety in the inter-platoon relationships, best exemplified by that of Pike and Wilson (John Le Mesurier). Wilson, whom Pike calls Uncle Arthur, is Mrs Pike’s lodger, and is forever fussing around the boy, making sure his scarf is on tight and gently steering him away from danger. It was not until the end of the final series that Lavender asked Croft if “Uncle Arthur” was actually Pike’s father. “Of course,” replied Croft.

Born in Birmingham, Ian was the son of Edward, a policeman, and Kathleen (nee Johnson), a housewife; his mother often took him to see pantomimes, variety shows and Saturday morning cinema, which gave him his first ambitions to become an actor. After performing in many school drama productions at Bournville boys’ technical school he was accepted, with the help of a grant from the city of Birmingham, by the Bristol Old Vic acting school. Clearly far from being a stupid boy, he passed 12 O-levels and four A-levels. “The only reason I don’t have a degree is because I went to drama school,” he said years later.

He made his first television appearance soon after he graduated from Bristol in 1968, playing an aspiring writer whose family want him to get a proper job, in Ted Allan’s play for the Half Hour Story series, Flowers at My Feet, with Angela Baddeley and Jane Hylton.

In the same year, he was cast as Pike, joining the seasoned veterans of comedy and the classics Le Mesurier, Arthur Lowe (Mainwaring), Clive Dunn (Jones), John Laurie (Frazer), James Beck (Private Walker), Arnold Ridley (Private Godfrey) and Bill Pertwee as Air Raid Warden Hodges. Janet Davies played Mrs Pike.

While Dad’s Army catapulted Lavender to national fame at the age of 22, the role of Pike haunted him for the rest of his long career. Not that he had any complaints.

Asked in 2014 if he got fed up with a lifetime of having “stupid boy” called out to him in the street, he replied: “I’m very proud of Dad’s Army. If you asked me ‘Would you like to be in a sitcom that was watched by 18 million people, was on screen for 10 years, and will create lots of work for you and provide not just for you but for your children for the next 40-odd years?’ – which is what happened – I’d be a fool to say ‘Bugger off.’ I’d be a fool to have regrets.”

After Dad’s Army, Lavender made further television appearances, including Mr Big (1977), with Peter Jones and Prunella Scales, and in 1983 he revived Pike for the BBC radio sitcom It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a sequel to Dad’s Army, but it was not a success and lasted only one series. In contrast, the original series, with most of the regular cast, had been rerecorded for radio from 1974 to 1976 and proved very popular.

He was also in the BBC TV series Come Back Mrs Noah (1977-78), co-written by Croft; and played Ron in a new version of The Glums (1979) for London Weekend Television, adapted from Frank Muir and Denis Norden’s original radio scripts of the 1950s. There were more smallish television parts in the 80s, such as two episodes of Yes, Minister, and bits in Keeping Up Appearances, Goodnight Sweetheart, Rising Damp and Casualty. He starred in the unsuccessful BBC series The Hello Goodbye Man in 1984 and provided the lead voice in the children’s cartoon series PC Pinkerton in 1988.

He was also in various quiz shows, including Cluedo (1990). On Celebrity Mastermind, broadcast on BBC1 on New Year’s Day 2009, when the presenter John Humphrys asked him to state his name, a fellow contestant, Rick Wakeman, shouted: “Don’t tell him, Pike!”

In addition to co-starring in the first film version of Dad’s Army (1971), he appeared in various low-level British sex farces of the 1970s, including Confessions of a Pop Performer (1975), Carry on Behind (1975), Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976) and Adventures of a Private Eye (1976). He also starred in the thriller 31 North 62 East (2009). “I was close to getting two very big movies in the 70s,” he said without rancour in 2014, “but in the end they said: ‘We can’t get past Private Pike.’”

Lavender’s second best-known role was his delicate and sympathetic portrayal of Derek Harkinson, Pauline Fowler’s gay friend, in the BBC soap EastEnders from 2001 to 2005, and again in 2016-17.

In addition to various live Dad’s Army productions, his stage work included the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Merchant of Venice, directed by Peter Hall and with Dustin Hoffman as Shylock in 1989, touring as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show in 2005, Monsignor Howard in the London Palladium production of the musical Sister Act in 2009, The Shawshank Redemption at the Edinburgh fringe in 2013, and his own one-man show of reminiscences, Don’t Tell Him, Pike.

Lavender had a great admiration for Buster Keaton, and was an expert on the silent comedian’s career. In 2011 he introduced Keaton’s Sherlock Jr (1924) at the Slapstick silent comedy festival in Bristol, and commented that finding Keaton’s grave in the Fountain Lawns cemetery in Hollywood had been one of his life’s special moments.

In 2016 a new cinema version of Dad’s Army was released, with Toby Jones as Mainwaring and Bill Nighy as Wilson. Private Pike was played by Blake Harrison, and Lavender was promoted to play Brigadier Pritchard. In a touching in-joke, his younger face was also seen on an advertisement poster in a street scene.

Lavender is survived by his second wife, Miki Hardy, whom he married in 1993; by his sons, Sam and Daniel, from his first marriage, to the actor Suzanne Kershiss, which ended in divorce; and by two granddaughters.

🔔 Arthur Ian Lavender, actor, born 16 February 1946; died 2 February 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #Ian Lavender #in memoriam

11 notes · View notes

princesssarisa · 1 year

Text

A Christmas Carol Holiday Season: "A Christmas Carol" (1977 TV film)

Until 2019, as far as I know, this lesser-known hour-long Christmas Carol was the only version of Dickens's classic produced by the BBC. Besides this fact, its main draw is the actor who plays Scrooge: 66-year-old Sir Michael Hordern, who had previously featured in two other versions of A Christmas Carol as Marley's Ghost.

Like most of the BBC's literary adaptations from the '70s and '80s, this one is modest in budget and not very cinematic or visually striking, but it's very faithful to the book. About 80% to 90% of the dialogue comes straight from Dickens, and several scenes are included that rarely appear in other adaptations. We see Belle (Zoë Wanamaker) with her husband in Christmas Past, and later, we see the poor debtor couple saved from ruin by Scrooge's death in Christmas Yet to Come. Even the famous opening line of "Marley was dead: to begin with" gets a visual illustration, as the production opens with Marley (John Le Mesurier) lying in his coffin. The only real departures from Dickens are the scaling-down of certain scenes and reduction of the number of characters in them, probably due to the production's modest budget. Belle's happy Christmas Eve with her husband doesn't include any children; Fred (Paul Copely) and his wife spend their Christmas Day with just another couple (and ultimately Scrooge), not a houseful of party guests; and Old Joe's rag-and-bone shop is omitted, with Mrs. Dilber and the undertaker's man meeting in Scrooge's bedroom as they rob it instead. Yet these reductions don't detract from the story. They only enhance the production's intimacy, and the intimacy of this Carol is part of its charm.

Of course the main question is still "Is Michael Hordern's Scrooge as good as his Marley in 1951 and 1971?" Personally, I'd say no. Playing a hard, cold character just wasn't his strength; at the beginning, he comes across as a grumpy yet endearingly befuddled old gentleman, not the "tight-fisted hand at the grindstone" that the plot requires. That said, he becomes much more at home as Scrooge becomes a vulnerable and likable character, particularly bringing out the humor of his attempts to make casual conversation with his ghostly visitors. Meanwhile, the supporting cast is strong throughout. Besides those mentioned above, other standouts include Clive Merrison as Bob Cratchit, Carol MacReady as his wife, Patricia Quinn (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) as a Ghost of Christmas Past portrayed as a beautiful yet otherworldly and eerie young woman, Bernard Lee (the James Bond series) as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and a young Zelah Clarke (a.k.a. the title character in the BBC's beloved 1983 miniseries of Jane Eyre) as Martha Cratchit.

Is this a definitive Christmas Carol? No. But it's worth seeing!

@ariel-seagull-wings, @thealmightyemprex. @reds-revenge, @faintingheroine, @thatscarletflycatcher

#a christmas carol holiday season #a christmas carol #1977 #bbc #live action #tv movie #michael hordern

17 notes · View notes

blackramhall · 2 years

Text

Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? Ted Kotcheff (1978)

Manor Murder Mystery

6 notes · View notes

captainfreelance1 · 18 days

Text

Dad's Army S3 E3 The Lion Has Phones

The Warmington on Sea Home Guard demonstrates their clever Camouflage Techiques.

#Dad's Army #BBC #British Sitcom #Britcom #Historical Comedy #Arthur Lowe #Captain Mainwaring #George Mainwaring #Sergeant Wilson #Arthur Wilson #John Le Mesurier #Warmington on Sea #Home Guard #Camouflage #Art of Disguise #The Lion Has Phones

1 note · View note

biggsodorcitystories · 1 year

Text

Male vs. Female Edward

Comparison of my male vs. my female versions of Edward.

Both are married to Zebedee (TUGS).

Both are the rebellious - now only surviving - child of the Earl of Cumbria.

Both would, in a perfect world, be voiced by Peter Cushing. There is no US version - Edward is quintessentially British! Possible alternative VAs would be John le Mesurier or Richard Briers, with Hattie Jacques as an alternative for fem!Edward, if I couldn't have Peter Cushing.

#ttte edward #ttte #biggsodorcitystories #ttte humanized #my art #fem edward #genderbend #ttte headcanons #bscs art #bscs rambling

9 notes · View notes

georgefairbrother · 2 years

Text

At the height of his comedic success as Sgt Wilson in Dad's Army, John Le Mesurier played an award-winning dramatic role in BBC's Play for Today series - in Traitor (1971), by Dennis Potter - his part loosely based on Cambridge spy Kim Philby. He won the best actor BAFTA in 1972.

He also had over 120 film credits, including an uncredited role in the 1959 version of Ben Hur.

Never one to take himself too seriously, he once offered this advice to a young actor, "Always play the same part, and if possible, always wear the same suit."

#john le mesurier #dads army #british actors #british theatre #social history #bbc drama #dennis potter #british cinema

40 notes · View notes