Daniel Brown was born 3rd June 1910.  The British actor appeared in a number of films between 1940 and 1973 all in uncredited roles.

His first recorded film appearance was in Let George Do It! in 1940, his subsequent film appearance was in 1947’s Hungry Hill; presumably active service during WW2 disrupted his acting career.

For fans of basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, Daniel Brown appeared alongside them in 1949’s Stop Press Girl where he played the part of a Pub patron (see image).

Other films that he appeared in include; Take My Life (1947), Warning to Wantons (1949), Dick Barton Strikes Back (1949), Diamond City (1949), Highly Dangerous (1950), Night and the City (1950), The Galloping Major (1951), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), Genevieve (1953), Innocents in Paris (1953), Hell Below Zero (1954), Doctor at Sea (1955), Jumping For Joy (1956), The Green Man (1956), Quatermass 2 (1957), The Long Haul (1957), A Tale of Two Cities (1958), Gideon’s day (1958), Hello London (1960), The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), Till Death Do Us Part (1968), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970) and finally Carry on Girls (1973).
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The actor died in 1991.
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​Henry James Goodenough Hayter was born in India on 23rd April 1907. Known as James Hayter he was a British actor of television and film. He appeared in more than a hundred film and TV productions but is probably best remembered for his roles as Friar Tuck in the film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) and as Samuel Pickwick in the film The Pickwick Papers (1952), the latter earning him a BAFTA Award for Best British Actor nomination.  His rotund appearance and fruity voice made him a natural choice for such roles.
 
Other notable films that he appeared in include; Come on George! (1939), Band Waggon (1940), The Laughing Lady (1946), School for Secret (1946), The October Man (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), No Room at the Inn (1948), The Blue Lagoon (1949), Don’t Ever Leave Me (1949), Night and the City (1950), Trio (1950), Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1951), Always a Bride (1953), A Day to Remember (1953), See How They Run (1955), It’s a Wonderful World (1956), Carry on Admiral (1957), Gideon’s Day (1958), The 39 Steps (1959), Stranger in the House (1967), Oliver! (1968) and Burke and Hare (1972).
 
On TV he played the role of Mr Tebbs in Are you Being Served?
 
For fans of Charters and Caldicott he appeared in three films alongside Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne; Quartet (1949) playing the role of Foreman of the Jury, in Passport to Pimlico playing the role of The Commissionaire (pictured) and In Helter Skelter (1949) as the Inn Landlord.
 
He died 27th March 1983

Rita Tobin-Weske was born 8th April 1906 in Galway, Ireland as Marguerite Esther Richards and was married to H Victor Weske

The actress mainly played minor and uncredited roles in British films but she appeared in dozens over a lengthy career spanning 5 decades from the 1930’s through to the 1980’s.  One of her earlier film appearances was in 1949’s Passport to Pimlico where she played the role of a ‘Shopper’ – see the first photo.
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Other films that she appeared in include; Harmony Heaven (1930), Medal for the General (1944), John and Julie (1955), One Good Turn (1955), A Night to Remember (1958), Dunkirk (1958), Left, Right and Centre (1959) – see 2nd photo, Crook’s Anonymous (1962), Heavens Above! (1963), A Stitch in Time (1963), Carry on Cleo (1964), The Bargee (1964), The Wrong Box (1966), Casino Royale (1967), Carry on Girls (1973), Carry on Dick (1974), Voyage of the Damned (1976), Sweeney! !976), The Thirty Nine Steps (1978), The Mirror Crack’d (1980) and Eye of the Needle (1981).
 
Her TV career included appearances in The Avengers (1965), Doomwatch (1971), The Sweeney (1975) and Doctor Who (1977).
She died 31st October 1987 in London.

​Harry Hanson was a South African born actor active during the 1940’s and 1950’s.  Born on 3rd March 1895 and died on 1st November 1972 in London.
 
The few films that he was known to appear in include Without the Prince (1947), The Fall of the House of Usher (1948), The Grove Family (1954) and Postman's Knock (1952).
 
He also appeared in Stop Press Girl (1949) playing the role of Bob the Gardener (pictured).
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The British actor Rex Garner was born 31st January 1921 in Wolverhampton.

He was typically cast in the role of the waiter; in the following films he played either role of a waiter, maitre’d or similar characters: Snowbound (1948), Spider and he Fly (1949), Night and the City (1950), Lavender Hill Mob (1951), Encore (1951), Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952), two parts in Murder at 3am (1952), Flanagan Boy (1953), Top of the Form (1953), Expresso Bongo (1959), Bluebeards Ten Honeymoons (1960), Pit of Darkness (1961), The Boys (1962), Liquidator (1965), and the list goes on.

When he wasn’t cast in the role of a waiter it was because he was cast in an opposite role either as a guest or patron of a restaurant or theatre.  For example in his very first film appearance in 1938’s The Lady Vanishes he played the role as a Gasthof Petrus Guest (pictured). His acting career was put on hold whilst serving in the military during WW2.

Other films that he appeared in include: Penny and the Pownall case (1948), Highly Dangerous (1950), Who Done it? (1956), Lost (1956), Blood of the Vampire (1957), A Tale of Two Cities (1958), Flesh and the Fiends (1959) and I Could Go On Singing (1953).
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He died on 17th May 2015 in Hampshire, England.

The actor Philip Becker was born 15th December 1889 in Malvern, Worcestershire as Philip John Becker.
 
Little is known about his life other than the handful of film and TV productions that he appeared in.  One example is the film Night Train to Munich (1940) where he played he minor role of a Passenger (pictured).
 
He also appeared onscreen with perhaps the most recognisable Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes movies.  Other productions that he appeared in include; the TV series Bootsie and Snudge and Sykes and A…, both in 1960.  He also appeared in Season 2 of The Avengers in 1962 and Season 2 of the Ghost Squad in 1963.
 
He died on 13th December 1974 in Marylebone, London.

Malvern based local family historian Chris Sutton recently dug out his detective’s magnifying glass to find out more about the actor and had an article published in the Worcester News - see https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/19139220.tracing-avengers-actors-roots-way-back-malvern/?ref=twtrec

Chris researched a variety of sources starting with the Probate Register which confirmed his date of death as December 13 1974, at 5 Bryanston House in Dorset Street, London.  The second source that he researched was the 1939 Register – the snapshot of Britain just before the Second World War broke out.

Because his death was back in 1974 it meant his details should be open to consult on the register, and indeed they were. He is listed as residing at 76 Dickson Road, a hotel in Blackpool, with his wife Alice.  Whether they were there on holiday or working is unknown, but both were used to treading the boards because Becker describes himself as a professional singer, while Alice is a retired actress. The sea air must have affected Becker for the better because he knocks a year off his age!

Checking the marriage indexes established that Becker married one Alice Singleton in the March quarter of 1915 in the Chorlton registration district, which later became South Manchester.  It was also possible to trace Becker in the censuses, in 1911 he was a grocer’s assistant in Weymouth, while in 1891 and 1901 he was still living at home with his parents, who had moved to Ilfracombe.  The latter two censuses also revealed that his father was German and a ‘Bandsman’ or ‘Professor of Music’. In that period before the First World War there was growing tension between Britain and Germany, causing obvious concern for German nationals residing here. Indeed, the biggest foreign population in Britain in the early part of the twentieth century was German.

Becker’s father, Philip Francis Becker, had married Eliza Zora Hill in Malvern in 1885 and, along with many others, he took the step to apply for naturalisation as a British Subject to hopefully avoid any future problems.  His 1911 Census entry notes that he was now an agent selling life insurance and, more critically, that he had become a British Subject in 1907.
It was at this point that Chris looked for a living relative of Philip Becker, and. as luck would have it, he found Sue, a great grand-daughter of Becker’s parents, who lives in Malvern.

Sue had met relatives from Ilfracombe and was able to piece together more of the Becker past. The family had told her that Becker Senior was interned during the First World War (in spite of his naturalisation).  The fact that his father was German and an intern precluded his son from serving in the British forces.  Sue added more background on Becker’s parents: “The family told me that Philip Francis Becker was a musician with a touring German band that came to play in Malvern.  Eliza was working (they thought) in a hotel, or as a waitress in Malvern when they met. They would either have married at Holy Trinity or Leigh church.”

Where Philip John Becker was born in 1889 was uncertain, but Sue confirmed that Eliza was at home with mum when he was born. The birth certificate only says Newtown but in the 1891 census John and Elizabeth Hill are living at Albert Cottages, (later 96) Newtown Road and it seems that was where Philip John Becker was born. 

All of this means, thanks to Chris Sutton’s research, we now have a few more glimpses into the life of Philip John Becker, a character actor who was born in Malvern.  Chris Sutton is happy to undertake family history research for readers via email. This service is only charged for if there are results. Charges are stated in advance. He can be contacted at [email protected]


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Dervis Ward was born 5th December 1923 in Dowlais, Wales as Dervis Ward Pugh.

With over 70 film and TV credits to his name spanning four decades he will be familiar to most film and TV fans, albeit he mostly played minor roles.

One of his first film appearances was as a Policeman in Ealing Studios classic comedy Passport to Pimlico (1949) pictured.
 
Other films that he appeared in include; Dancing With Crime (1947), The Chiltern Hundreds (1949), The Iron Petticoat (1956), A Night to Remember (1958),  Ben-Hur (1959), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), To Sir With Love (1967), The Vengeance of She (1968), Dad’s Army (1971), Mutiny on the Buses (1972), Commuter Husbands (1972), The Dead Cert (1974) and The Prince and the Pauper (1977).

He appeared in a large number of TV productions including; The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956 to 1957), African Patrol (1958), The Men from Room 13 (1959), The Avengers (1961), Maigret (1962), No Hiding Place (1963), Z Cars (1962 to 1964), Dixon of Dock Green (1963 to 1966), Gideon’s Way ( 1964 to 1966), Emergency-Ward 10 (1966 to 1967) The Avengers (1968), Main Chance (1969), The Persuaders (1971) and The Pathfinders (1972).

 He died on 27th March 1996 in Berkshire.
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The actor Emile Boreo was born 3rd December 1885 in Poland. He was an actor, known for The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Street Singer (1937) and Carnegie Hall (1947).
 
He had a limited acting career appearing in just three films; The Street Singer (1937), Music-Hall Cavalcade: Stars of Yesterday and Today (1937), Carnegie Hall (1947) and most notably The Lady Vanishes in 1938.  In the Lady vanishes, he played the part of The Hotel Manager (pictured) who struggles to make himself understood to Charters and Caldicott. 
Emile Boreo was also an entertainer and appeared as himself in Emil Boreo (1929), Cabaret (1937) and Comedy Cabaret (1938).
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He died on 27th July 1951 in New York, USA.
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Hamilton Keene was born 15th November 1896.  The British stage and film actor appeared in more than thirty British films, originally in more prominent roles during the early 1930s and later in smaller, often uncredited parts.  The notable films that he appeared in include The Mutiny of the Elsinore (1937), The Middle Watch (1930) and Contraband (1940).
 
Other films that he appeared in include: Lost Patrol (1929), Suspense (1930), The New Hotel (1932), Illegal (1932), Leave It to Blanche (1934), The Blue Squadron (1934), The Office Wife (1934), Little Stranger (1934), Mountains O'Mourne (1938), The Body Vanished (1939), The Briggs Family (1940), I'll Turn to You (1946) My Brother's keeper (1948) and The Trial of Madame X (1948).
 
In 1949 he played the role of the Intelligence Sergeant (pictured) in It's Not Cricket (1949) – the film that Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne starred as Major Bright and Captain Early.
 
Films in his later acting career include: The Second Mate (1950), Night and the City (1950), Tread Softly (1952), Innocents in Paris (1953), Burnt Evidence (1954) and Forbidden Cargo (1954).
 
He died 4th October 1975 in London.

Fletcher Lightfoot was born 14th October 1883 in Chester, England as Marcus Fletcher Rhodes Lightfoot and he started his film acting career when he appeared in 1929’s The Lure of the Atlantic.

In 1940 he appeared alongside Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne in Night Train to Munich where he played the part of the Ticket Collector (pictured).

He didn’t appear in film again until 1948; presumably military service during WW2 interrupted his casting career - in 1948 he appeared in Anna Karenina.  Other notable films that he appeared in include; Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) – as a Peer of the Realm, Madness of the Heart (1949), Murder in the Cathedral (1951), Top of the Form (1953), Three Cases of Murder (1955), A Night to Remember (1958) and Expresso Bongo (1959).

He also appeared in a number of TV productions including; Quatermass II (1955), Quatermass and The Pit (1959), Zodiac (1966) and Theatre 625 (1966).

He died on February 24, 1969 in Hampstead, London, England.