Actualités

Jean Marsh, the sleek British actress who co-created Upstairs, Downstairs and won an Emmy for her performance as the prim and proper parlormaid Rose Buck on the acclaimed ITV drama, has died. She was 90.

Marsh died Sunday at her home in London from complications of dementia, filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg told The New York Times.

Doctor Who historians know Marsh for her portrayal of Sara Kingdom, who ably assists William Hartnell’s Doctor in his fight against the mutant Daleks, on the third season of the BBC sci-fi series in 1965-66.

A year earlier, she had played King Edward’s French princess sister, Joanna, on the show’s “The Crusade” serial, then returned as the ruthless enchantress Morgaine for 1989’s “Battlefield” storyline.

On American TV shows, the London native starred as an android brought to an asteroid to keep a prisoner (Jack Warden) company on 1959’s “The Lonely,” the seventh episode of CBS’ The Twilight Zone,...

Constance Cummings in 'Night After Night.' Constance Cummings: Working with Frank Capra and Mae West (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Actress Went from Harold Lloyd to Eugene O'Neill.”) Back at Columbia, Harry Cohn didn't do a very good job at making Constance Cummings feel important. By the end of 1932, Columbia and its sweet ingenue found themselves in court, fighting bitterly over stipulations in her contract. According to the actress and lawyer's daughter, Columbia had failed to notify her that they were picking up her option. Therefore, she was a free agent, able to offer her services wherever she pleased. Harry Cohn felt otherwise, claiming that his contract player had waived such a notice. The battle would spill over into 1933. On the positive side, in addition to Movie Crazy 1932 provided Cummings with three other notable Hollywood movies: Washington Merry-Go-Round, American Madness, and Night After Night. 'Washington Merry-Go-Round...

Network Distributing is pleased to announce the next batch of titles within “The British Film” range which will be available in the UK later this year. Each feature once again benefits from a new transfer, an instant play facility and will be presented in special slim-line space-saving packaging. Some of the highlights from October are a documentary about the body narrated by Vanessa Redgrave with music from Roger Waters, more gems from the vaults from Ealing Studios, classic horror, British musicals and a courtroom drama starring Richard Attenborough.

7 October

The Body £9.99

Vanessa Redgrave and Frank Finlay narrate an intimate and innovative documentary from the seventies about the human body cut to music from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Commentary by poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell.

The Final Programme £9.99

Cult director Robert Fuest’s dystopian sci-fi thriller. Robert Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius, a Nobel Prize winning physicist and playboy who...