Vivian Pickles

 

Vivian Pickles: 

You may well say that here I am pushing the premise of 'Familiar Unknown' a little too far. After all, Vivian Pickles is something of a grand dame of the theatre and has worked with many of the greatest actors and directors of her generation, and yet I feel she is not so well known to recent generations as, say, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench or Vanessa Redgrave, and still able to sneak in under the radar in some rather surprising TV roles.

In the 1964 'Avengers' episode 'The Charmers'

Vivian Kay Pickles was a child actor in the late '40s, trained at the Aida Foster Drama School and began her adult career on the repertory stage of the fifties alongside a number of illustrious stars of the era. This was the time of the 'angry young man' and 'kitchen sink' in British drama and she was a hit in new plays by the likes of Willis Hall and John Osborne. As an attractive and talented young actress, it's unsurprising that she appeared in some of the new and popular programmes of the '60s: drama serials 'Emergency Ward-10', Harpers West One', 'Z-Cars' and the Honor Blackman-era 'Avengers' episode 'The Charmers'.

As the doomed artistic free-spirit Isadora Duncan
in Ken Russell's acclaimed 'Isadora' (1966)

A big break comes with the Ken Russell-directed 'Isadora' a remarkable tour-de-force biopic in stark monochrome which boosted her career and that of Russell who was afterward propelled beyond the realm of BBC shorts and into the art-cinema boom of the '70s. For the actress, now in her mid-thirties, it heralded a purple patch of quality roles, beginning with her casting as Mrs Bennett in the BBC's admired 1967 adaptation of 'Pride And Prejudice', and leading to a brief arc of interesting cinema parts: she's in 'Play Dirty' (1969) - a war story penned by her BBC Arts connection Melvyn Bragg - before 'The Looking Glass War' (1970), 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' (1971), 'Nicholas & Alexandra' (1971), and 'O Lucky Man!' (1973).         

A bravura turn as Harold's exasperated mother in the 
cult classic 'Harold And Maude' (1971)

It was also during this period that she made her only appearance in a Hollywood movie, Hal Ashby's 'Harold And Maude' (1971) in which she plays the remote and bewildered mother of the troubled Harold (Bud Cort). Although not a big grossing success at the time, the film is now considered a cult classic. 

As Mary Queen Of Scots in 'Elizabeth R'

     

Her television presence also peaked during these years, with solid drama including 'Vile Bodies', 'The Great Inimitable Mr Dickens' and the high profile 'Elizabeth R' in which her Mary Queen Of Scots squared up fatally to Glenda Jackson's terrifying virgin queen. It's here though that her profile begins to lower a little, at least as far as film and television are concerned.
       

As the vain Lady Montdore in 'Love In A Cold Climate'

Bertie's redoubtable Aunt Dahlia in 'Jeeves & Wooster'

From the middle-'70s we see Vivian Pickles in such varied TV output as 'Love In A Cold Climate', 'Rebecca', and the excellent 'Velvet Glove' episode about Marie Stopes, while largely steering clear of the primetime potboilers other than 'Bergerac' and 'Midsomer Murders'. Big screen parts, meanwhile are limited to the Disney romp 'Candleshoe' (1977) with David Niven and Jodie Foster and, by way of contrast, the chaotic satire 'Britannia Hospital' (1982).  

As a sidenote, she was a very prolific story reader on 'Jackanory' which I always consider a badge of honour, and turns up as a fun bag-lady in the Brixton barbershop comedy 'Desmonds'. She was also my favourite of the actresses that portrayed Aunt Dahlia in 'Jeeves & Wooster'.   

[Edit: Nov 2025. I previously repeated an IMDB claim that Vivian Pickles was related to various other illustrious persons named Pickles, but am informed that this is not the case.]  

Vivian Pickles-imdb

Robert Lee

Robert Lee:

† 1913 – Dec 1 1986*

A versatile veteran East Asian British character actor. I'd guess he is of Hong Kong Chinese descent, but he has been cast by British studios as Japanese and Korean almost as often. In any case, he is probably only second to the ubiquitous Burt Kwouk in cornering 'oriental' roles on British screens.

His early film work involves a few uncredited roles and non-speaking parts in budget adventure and soho detective movies, with titles like 'Outcast Of The Islands' (1951), 'The Desparate Woman' (1954), 'The World Of Suzie Wong' (1960), 'Visa To Canton' (1961), and 'The Sinister Man' (1961).

In the 1963 'Avengers' story, 'The Golden Fleece'

In the 1978 TV series 'Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense'

The burgeoning world of television in the early '60s offered a steady stream of work, in primetime favourites ranging from 'The Avengers', 'Danger Man' and Dixon Of Dock Green' to comedy like 'The Arthur Askey Show' and 'Hugh & I' with Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd.

      

In a science fiction-y episode of the weird detective
gameshow 'Whodunnit' hosted by Jon Pertwee

As the '70s rolled into the '80s, Mr Lee made his big leap into the nation's consciousness with his role as Japanese businessman Mr Nagazumi in the problematic but popular sitcom 'Mind Your Language'. Other work that came his way included 'The Bill', 'Reilly Ace Of Spies' and predictable appearances in 'Tenko' and 'The Chinese Detective'. There were also various movie bit-parts such as Harry Grout's tailor in 'Porridge' (1979), the Chinese Ambassador in 'Half Moon Street' with Michael Caine and Sigourney Weaver, and Mr Banzai in Lindsay Anderson's scattergun 'Britannia Hospital' (1982). 

Portraying Japanese Admiral Togo in 'Reilly Ace Of Spies'

I don't know when he was born, but he must be getting on a bit now, having made his uncredited film debut in 1944, and his last recorded appearance is from 2010.

Whatever he's doing now, he deserves this small bow of honour. 

* The news of Robert Lee's death had not found its way to the imdb or the larger internet when I added this post in 2015. In general, my intention with this blog is to salute living, British, actors whose faces are more familiar than their names. Although Mr Lee didn't perhaps qualify on either count, I would like to leave the entry here to acknowledge his contribution to UK film and television.     

Robert Lee-imdb