One of the few upsides of another year of semi-living under a pandemic cloud is the opportunity to send good wishes for a very happy birthday to the brilliant Dame Patricia Routledge, who turns 94 today. Given Hyacinth would have been appalled at the possibility that I might forget to drop a card in the […]
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It seems as though Frasier Crane has finally re-entered the building as news that the long-awaited Paramount+ sequel to Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier series has begun casting. Nicholas Lyndhurst (Butterflies, Only Fools and Horses, After You’ve Gone, Goodnight Sweetheart, New Tricks) will portray Alan Cornwall, a new character from Frasier’s past. Described as “Frasier’s old college buddy turned university professor, Cornwall is British, he’s boozy, and he’s larger than life.
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Rowan Atkinson turned 68 on Friday. From this end, all we can do is wish him a very Happy Belated Birthday. All he’s done is give the world the gift of laughter over the years beginning with Not the Nine O’Clock News, then Blackadder, Mr. Bean and, finally, The Thin Blue Line. Stops along the […]
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One of the all-time greats celebrated another trip around the Sun recently. William Frances (a.k.a. Bill) Nighy turned 73 on December 12. From Love Actually to Pirates of the Carribean to Pirate Radio to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz to State of Play and the Johnny Worricker trilogy of Page Eight, Turks & Caicos and Salting the Battlefield, Bill Nighy can do no wrong in […]
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If it wasn’t the case before, I’m now fully convinced that if you looked up the definition of brilliant in the dictionary, there would simply be a photo of Dame Judi Dench. The Oscar/Tony/BAFTA/Laurence Olivier/Golden Globe/Screen Actors Guild award winner turns 88 years young today and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
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Watching Fawlty Towers recently, I got to thinking about all those British actors that had long, successful careers but that, for whatever reason, would be forever known as ‘being in one episode of Fawlty Towers.” I immediately flashed back to the time we had the good fortune to interview Nicky Henson in 2005 for the PBS program, […]
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It seems like only yesterday that Dr. Martin Ellingham, the surly and self-centered medic with a rude bedside manner and a phobia of blood, blessed the good folks of Portwenn with his vast medical knowledge by becoming the general practicioner in Portwenn, the the sleepy Cornish village where he had spent childhood holidays with his Aunt Joan […]
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Scottish actor, comedian and writer Robbie Coltrane has died at the age of 72. While more than one generation will only know Robbie Coltrane for his decade long role as Hagrid in the Harry Potter film franchise (2001-2011), I first ran across his work in the early to mid-80s sketch comedy series, Alfresco, which he starred alongside Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson.
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Best known for playing Elizabeth Warden, the hyper-nervous next-door neighbor of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances, Josephine Tewson has passed at the age of 91. The actress died on Thursday at Denville Hall, a care home for actors and other members of the entertainment industry in north London.
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Bernard Cribbins, the rather fussy spoon salesman mistaken for a hotel inspector in one episode of Fawlty Towers, has died at the age of 93. **In spite of a brilliant seven decade plus career, Cribbins will be forever known as ‘being in the “Hotel Inspectors” episode of Fawlty Towers, which is a testament to the greatness of perhaps the best British comedy of all time but speaks more to Cribbins’ brilliant ability to make even a relatively minor role such as Mr. Hutchinson in one episode of Fawlty Towers so memorable.
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