Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

A guess on #60 - William Hartnell?

That's an excellent guess (albeit, not a winning guess) but excellent because William Hartnell and #60 have careers which have 'points of similarity' on a couple occasions.

He looks totally different in each of those pictures. The mustache makes a big difference. I think I recognize him but not quite sure yet.

In the meantime, Quiz #61 A lass who appeared in British movies (but was not English).

#60........Guy Rolfe?

no ...(i admit, that name is new to me via this quiz!)

Seems like GB has a lot of guys is those isles

Quiz #62

Yikes!!! We still haven't guessed #54 and #55 who have me totally stumped. Also 60 -62 which might be a little easier (but not much).

#54, just think of big, big, big British war movies and look for him in officer staff meetings.

#55 was regularly seen in the background of many Brit films between '35 and the end of the war. Romances, dramas, portmanteaus, espionage, & many wartime morale-boosters. His bigger-name co-stars included all the blokes we know so well: Michael Redgrave, Rex Harrison, Leslie Howard, John Mills, Roland Culver, Stewart Granger.

#60 was the tv series nemesis of someone we've already discussed briefly in this thread. And, the show aired between '55 and '59.

I notice that #55 seems to have frequently been cast as railway officials, or railway engineers, or conductors.

I appreciate your giving us choices to work on, but personally I would prefer to have no more than 3 at a time since I get their clues befuddled in my mind. So I will forego #61 & #62 for the time being.

#60 - Alan Wheatley?

Yes! Good win for Betsy. #60 is done!

Alan Wheatley was 'Sheriff of Nottingham' opposite Richard Greene's 'Robin Hood' in the British tv series. And in plenty other flicks as well. He was also the first 'good guy' killed by a 'Darlek' in Britain's, 'Doctor Who'.

Okay no more than three 'open' quizzes at one time. Will try to remember this...

Good job, Betsy. He looked familiar but I just couldn't pin it down.

He was also TV's first-ever Sherlock Holmes. But yah overall kind of a tough challenge with that gent. In 'Robin Hood' he had a goatee, and of course always in medieval doublet.

Guess for #55 - Percy Walsh?

Yes!! Three cherries! That was a really tough one. Was it the 'train' clue I divulged?

But you can see for yourself, he doesn't hardly appear in any mega-famous pictures at all. He might be in, 'The Lady Vanishes' (I forget) --but if so, its perhaps his sole claim to fame...

Hooray, Betsy. I was really stumped on that one. It was a toughie.
We need #54 to clean up the back log

Number 54 is driving me to distraction. Another guess....Eddie Burne?

#54 - a wild guess is Eric Portman, but I think he's too well known.

(BTW, I'm still having trouble with the Internet so if I don't post, that's why.)

Actually, it was the reference to Leslie Howard on #55. 'Pimpernel Smith' is a favorite.

That makes sense (re: Leslie Howard).

I like the way so many of those '40s films had such big casts of players, (ticket takers, conductors, porters, newsboys) 80% of whom, might just have a single quip or remark in the film as the principle cast takes a train or a taxi. Some little bit-of-off-handed-business; but making a 'world' within the movie.

Managed to find one more pic for #54, the perennial major, sergeant, bobby, or district supervisor. Now, this is an extremely famous British art-house film.

Since I am unfamiliar with British art house films with some exceptions, I suspect it may be awhile before #54 rings a bell so how about a clue for #61 and #62? With this being Memorial Day weekend, it would be nice to get #54.

#61 is a Norwegian born, British actress who played strong, tough, sexually-charged blonde heroines in British war flicks and thrillers. For instance, underground contacts or resistance leaders, that kind of thing. Fairly big star.

#62 was one of the most reliable Brit stars of the 40s and 50s. I myself am ashamed that I did not know her name before last week. My excuse is that she mainly appears in dramas, romantic-comedies, hit stage plays, and the like. But no kidding, she was huge in the way that newspaper popularity polls would regularly find her at the top. She married a well-known Australian producer and resided happily on that continent until the end of her days.

#61 guess - Greta Gynt?

#62 - Googie Withers?

Bim bam boom. Two hits in a row! Spot on.

Another guess on #54 - Harold Goodwin?

a miss

Two in a row for you, Betsy. WTG.

That picture of Googie Withers doesn't look like her at all to me. Darn!! I enjoy her work but surely didn't recognize her in that photo. She was a staple in good English films and particularly effective in the Haunted Mirror episode of the classic Dead of Night.

ouuufffff. "Missed it by that much, Chief!" --Control Agent Maxwell Smart

I actually have seen her in something. She was third-billed in 'Night and the City' after Widmark and Tierney. Haven't verified but I believe she was the nasty wife of the nasty/obese club owner?

BTW, this pic (with her hair up, which strikes me as 'her look') is on her Wikipedia page...

That's part of the difficulty with actresses and actors--they don't look the same in different photos, especially in the years we're talking about. Just look at the different photos of #60!

You are right, Feliks....she usually wore her hair up but it just didn't look like her to me. And you are right, she was the wife of Francis L. Sullivan, the nasty club owner in Night and the City.

It is like #54 who looks different in every picture. Who the devil is that man?......you have given us enough clues but our detective work must be slipping. It will come to us eventually (or not!!)

Agreed. Not sure what to do about it, though.

Some of these stars you are probably retrieving purely from both your vast stores of visual memory, right? And some of them, you are probably winning by use of deduction and reason. If the first time you've ever seen a pic of Percy Walsh is here in this thread, you can still find him in 'treasure hunt' fashion using the net's many resources.

At the same time, I am typically selecting candidates because I find them hiding in some film I have personally seen myself; or I deploy them via the 'six degrees' method. They 'once worked on the same film', etc

Supposedly, there's a few places on anyone's face which never change. Their ears, for example; and the size/shape of the bony ridge between the eyebrows.

But as you said earlier, it's actresses who usually display the most drastic changes in hair and makeup even when playing straight dramatic parts.

One might say that women in general have a chameleon-like quality as they grow up. Whereas most men *in general* look consistently the same for twenty years at a stretch; (and only throw us off when they're cast in Shakespeare roles).

Eh. Who knows.

Your clues are quite helpful and we turn into Sherlock Holmes to try to connect them together for the right answer. But this guy in #54 is a real stumper.

He's often 'uncredited officer' I admit it's a poser.

But on the other hand, I've mentioned he's present in --well let's just say two of the most famous British war movies ever (with the exception of 'Lawrence').

Really, for such an obscure thespian, he was fortunate enough to star in one of the most famous scenes in one of the most famous British movies, in little bit of dialogue with one of the most famous British actors ever. So he'll live forever in spite of his humble origins playing London bobbies and whatnot.

Norman Wooland?

#54 - John Boxer?

Yes! John Boxer! At long last. Three big cherries. Whew!

Boxer plays Major -somebody in 'Kwai', which is what I kept steering you all to. I believe he is the officer who chats with Guiness' obsessive Colonel Nicholson about the pilings of London Bridge.

Another famous war movie he is (fleetingly) in, is 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' by the Archers.

recent solutions:
#37 Nicole Maurey (French import)
#38 Peggy Stewart (B-Westerns)
#39 Valerie French (Brit actress in American westerns)
#40 Hazel Brooks (noir icon)
#41 Judy Tyler (Elvis' girlfriend)
#42 'High Treason' (Humbertson Wright/Basil Gill)
#43 Dorothy Hart (B-cowgirl)
#44 Joan Valerie (Wisconsin blonde bit-player)
#45 Jean Gillie (comedienne turned mantis)
#46 Janis Paige (Broadway sensation)
#47 Robert Douglas (scheming court fiend)
#48 Valerie Hobson (British Dame)
#49 Anna Neagle (British Dame)
#50 Rosanna Rory (Italian dud)
#51 Shirley Grey ('30 - '35 forlorn blonde)
#52 Jack Hedley (reporter in 'Lawrence of Arabia')
#53 Raymond Huntley (Ealing player)
#54 John Boxer ('uncredited officer' type)
#55 Percy Walsh (in 'Pimpernel Smith')
#56 Heather Angel (Hitchcock flicks)
#57 Joe Penner (Depression superstar)
#58 Megs Jenkins (matronly Brit)
#59 Jack Pearl ('30s comic)
#60 Alan Wheatley (Sheriff of Nottingham)
#61 Greta Gynt (a Norwegian in GB)
#62 Googie Withers (big Brit star)

Quiz #63!

I take it the gentleman is not going to a Memorial Day picnic? He reminds me of a young Warner Baxter.

maybe that's a British picnicking outfit

Quiz #64. An American citizen who became a famous British actress.

Great job, Betsy on #54.