Nicola Pagett

Nicola Pagett:

† June 15 1945 – March 3 2021

A very successful actress and a lasting English beauty, combining home counties pertness with the feline eyes of Sophia Loren, Nicola Pagett is possibly still best known for her role as Elizabeth Bellamy in 'Upstairs, Downstairs' the British primetime TV giant of the mid '70s. This came after a series of television appearances in memorable mod-era actioners such as 'Danger Man', 'Mr Rose', 'The Avengers', 'Man In A Suitcase' and 'The Persuaders'. These were interspersed with some serious television plays and historical dramas including a portrayal of the ultimate classical femme fatale, Messalina, in 'The Caesars'.        

In 'Danger Man', acting cute for Patrick McGoohan

With Christopher Matthews in 'Some Like It Sexy' (1969)

The 1977 TV adaptation of 'Anna Karenina'

The '80s and '90s saw her translate her sex siren persona into a series of sassy and sexy older women characters with her turn as Liz in David Nobbs' 'A Bit Of A Do' and two slightly similar Northern sitcoms: 'Ain't Misbehavin', written by 'Last Of The Summer Wine' creator Roy Clarke, and 'Up Rising' with Anton Rodgers. Neither seem to have been great successes.        

As Mary Queen of Scots in 'Anne Of A Thousand Days' (1969)

In the '90s adultery sitcom 'Ain't Misbehavin' with Peter Davison

Movie credits include 'The Viking Queen' (1967), 'Anne Of A Thousand Days' (1969), the Peter Sellers comedy 'There's A Girl In My Soup' (1970), 'Operation Daybreak' (1975), 'Privates On Parade' (1983) and 'An Awfully Big Adventure' (1995).    
Nicola Pagett-imdb

Christopher Sandford

Christopher Sandford:  

 The '60s were remarkable years, fizzing with possibilites, of sudden opportunities and lingering disappointments. Christopher Sandford's story is fascinating in the way it touches obliquely on some pivotal pop-culture moments. Without knowing it, I'd watched him in a number of my favourite films and television programmes, without a glimmer of recognition or connection.

'Coronation Street' Oct 1963, as would-be beat sensation Walter Potts   

Early roles as a teenager included a few TV shows, mostly now lost, and typical light comedies such as the inevitable cruise-ship romp 'Next To No Time' (1958) with Kenneth More and Sid James, and the equally inevitable schoolboy hi jinks of 'A French Mistress' (1960), with James Robertson Justice. But it was his role as Walter Potts, the gormless window cleaner of 'Coronation Street' that brought him to the public's attention. In 1963, as Beatlemania was gathering momentum, the primetime soap's storyline saw Walter transformed into "Brett Falcon" by would-be impresario Dennis Tanner. This neat TV-pop crossover even resulted in a flurry of real-life singles on Decca and Fontana. 

         

His solo album on Transatlantic from the mid-'60s. 

Demonstrating a radio tracking device to
Patrick McGoohan in 'Danger Man'  

He appears in several episodes of 'Danger Man', notably as a Arthur the departmental boffin and as a DJ/agent on a pirate radio station in 'Not So Jolly Roger'. He seems to have been ticking along nicely with the odd part in popular shows of the time, including 'Z-Cars', 'No Hiding Place', 'Public Eye' and 'The Saint'. He also appears in 'Half A Sixpence' (1967) as Tommy Steele's mate Sid, and the BBC adaptation of Dickens's 'Dombey & Son' from 1969.   

Flash bang wallop what a picture.  In 'Half A Sixpence' (1967)
with Tommy Steele (and the late great Julian Orchard). 

As Brett Sinclair's tuneless cousin Onslow, about to get electrocuted in a
'Kind Hearts & Coronets'-influenced episode of 'The Persuaders'    

The '70s presented a new landscape. Sandford's swinging London pop-persona was in demand, but looking increasingly outré in the new decade. He appears in full comedy-mode in 'The Persuaders' Ealing-esque episode 'A Death In The Family' as Roger Moore's groovy duffer of a cousin. On the darker side, he turns up as the brilliantly-named depraved pornographer David Thing  in "Cool It Carol' (1970) a rather grimy, if moralistic, sexploiter with Robin Askwith.        

Great character name. With a curious mix of guest stars in the
Robin Askwith sexploitation movie 'Cool It Carol' (1970)  

Darker still is his slightly chilly turn as Sue's fiancé in the marvellous 'Deep End' (1971), and another rather grim gooseberry role in the obscure Giallo-style 'Die Screaming Marianne' (1971).       

As the fiancé of Sue (Jane Asher) in 'Deep End' (1971)

'Die Screaming Marianne' (1971)

The remainder of the '70s saw relatively few highlights, and in fact there are only six entries on imdb covering the period from 1975 to 2006. He also returned to music with a couple of pastiche comedy records. A modest claim to fame comes from his appearance in the 'Dad's Army' episode 'Time On My Hands' as the German airman dangling from the Walmington-on-Sea town hall clock.  
  

A mixed bag, but some real gems, some terrific oddball stuff and a fascinating story.   

Christopher Sandford-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

Barbara Murray

Barbara Murray:

† Sep 27 1929 – May 20 2014

Sultry, heavy-lidded, but frightfully British actress who appeared in a few popular films in the '50s and '60s, but never quite attained full-blown stardom. She's in the Ealing classics 'Passport to Pimlico' (1948) and 'Meet Mr Lucifer (1953), both with Stanley Holloway, she was James Robertson Justice's unlikely love interest in 'Doctor in Distress' (1963), and she's in the portmanteau horror 'Tales From The Crypt' (1972). 

As the Brit B-movie studios closed and TV took over in the '60s, she won parts in kitsch favourites like 'Danger Man', 'The Saint', 'Department S' and 'Jason King', but was more at home in period melodramas and serious TV plays. Big successes were the modern political intriguer 'The Power Game' and the Anthony Trollope adaptation 'The Pallisers', in which Murray played major roles. But she was also able to play comedy, as in the Frankie Howerd entendre-fest 'Up Pompeii' (1971).    

In 'The Power Game'

In 'The Pallisers'

By the later '70s she was an occasional sighting on British screens, with a rather mixed bag including 'Doctor Who' (Peter Davison era story, 'The Black Orchid'), 'Robin's Nest', and the rarely-recalled 1987-89 serial 'The Bretts' - a sort of 'Upstairs Downstairs' of theatre folk set in the '20s. 

Barbara Murray - imdb

Peter Sallis

Peter Sallis: 

† Feb 1 1921 – Jun 2 2017

A national treasure and the perfect incarnation of elderly timidity, but in my opinion, sadly wasted as Clegg in 30-odd years of 'Last Of The Summer Wine', which would probably be nostalgically admired if they'd stopped after three or four series. Wallace in 'Wallace & Gromit' and Ratty in 'Wind In The Willows...' seem to be his only other parts since the mid-'70s, but before that he was a useful and adaptable actor in a mixed bag of interesting roles. He appeared in 'Callan', 'Doctor Who', 'Danger Man', 'The Capone Investment', 'Catweazle' and 'The Pallisers', and in films like 'Mouse On The Moon', 'Charlie Bubbles', 'Taste The Blood Of Dracula' and 'Scream And Scream Again'. Rather than one of him wearing a flat cap or sitting in a wheelbarrow, here's a picture of him with a gun, from 'The Persuaders'

Peter Sallis - imdb profile

Christopher Benjamin

Christopher Benjamin: 

† Dec 27 1934 – Jan 10 2025

Delighted to find that this instantly recognisable actor is still going strong with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was the link between 'Danger Man' and 'The Prisoner' playing the same character, Potter, and was a natural for 'The Avengers', 'The Saint' and 'Jason King' playing pompous, officious, charming and effete characters with equal brio and verve. Mix in an impressive high-brow and low-brow CV ranging from 'Rumpole' and 'Poldark' to 'When The Boat Comes In' and 'Dick Turpin' and you have a one-man history of British television. A stalwart.

In the opening episode of 'The Prisoner'

As Marmalade Atkins' much put-upon headmaster

He portrayed the memorable Henry Jago in the classic 'Doctor Who' story, 'The Talons Of Weng Chiang' in 1977, teaming up with the late Trevor Baxter's Professor Litefoot so successfully that the pair became spin-off characters 'Jago & Litefoot' with their own canon of adventures.  

In the 1966 'Avengers' episode 'How To Succeed... At Murder'

As Victorian actor-manager Henry Gordon Jago, a character so popular
with 'Dr Who' fans that he gained his own adventures: 'Jago & Litefoot'  

Christopher Benjamin - imdb profile