Noël Coward grew up at a time when British theater culture was experiencing its first ever upswing: in 1895, four years before Coward’s birth, Queen …
James Mason: The Classic Movie Actor (2.)
Continued from part one Although James Mason enjoyed some success in British cinemas in the mid-forties, he was anything but fond of the British film …
James Mason From Architect to Actor (1.)
When young James Mason began studying classical philology, who would have expected that he would one day become one of the most accomplished British character …
David Lean: The Visual Novelist
This article is published on 25 March 2023 to mark the 115th anniversary of David Lean’s birth. David Lean’s parents were Quakers: in Quaker belief, …
Christopher Lee: The Cultivated Killer (2.)
Continued from part one In the early fifties, Christopher Lee realised that he did not live up to the image of the typical British gentleman …
Christopher Lee: Too Tall for the Cinema (1.)
Throughout his life, he was regarded by the public as the actor of villains par excellence: Yet Christopher Lee’s repertoire of roles was much larger. …
Alec Guinness: The Actor of a Thousand Faces
Alec Guinness and Grace Kelly had a special kind of tradition: after the two had played side by side in The Swan (1956), a curious …
David Niven: From Officer to Gentleman
What would twentieth-century Hollywood cinema be without the portrayal of the typical British gentleman? David Niven filled this role perfectly in the course of his …
Peter O’Toole: Between Lawrence of Arabia and Shakespeare
He became known to a wide audience through his role in Lawrence of Arabia (1962): Peter O’Toole was one of the most famous actors of …
Sean Connery: He didn’t play James Bond, he was James Bond
When Ian Fleming wrote James Bond, he had a clear image of what his main character should look like: One might suspect that Sean Connery …