Downton Abbey (1980s)

1. Daniel Massey

Actor | Star!

Daniel Massey was an English actor of Canadian descent, best known for portraying his godfather Noël Coward (1899-1973) in the critically acclaimed film "Star!" (1968). For this role he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. It was his only Academy Award nomination.

Massey ...

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham

2. Anne Bancroft

Actress | The Graduate

Anne Bancroft was born on September 17, 1931 in The Bronx, NY, the middle daughter of Michael Italiano (1905-2001), a dress pattern maker, and Mildred DiNapoli (1907-2010), a telephone operator. She made her cinema debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) in 1952, and over the next five years appeared...

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham

3. Joan Hickson

Actress | Miss Marple: Nemesis

Joan Hickson was born in 1906 at Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Her stage career began with provincial theater in 1927, going on to a long series of West End comedies, usually playing the part of a confused or eccentric middle-age woman. She performed at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, at the time ...

Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham

4. Irene Worth

Actress | Deathtrap

Educated at UCLA, she made her Broadway debut in 1943. Primarily a stage actress she moved to Britain in 1944, where she worked at the Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She returned to the US in 1975, continuing her stage work on Broadway, and making occasional films. She has won ...

Isobel Grey, Lady Merton

5. Barry Morse

Actor | Whoops Apocalypse

Born in London's East End, Barry's career began when he won a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the age of 15. Upon graduation, he followed with successful stage runs in London's West End and in theatrical productions throughout the United Kingdom, and appeared on the BBC's ...

Mr. Carson

6. Rona Anderson

Actress | Scrooge

Rona Anderson was born on August 3, 1926 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She was an actress, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Circumstantial Evidence (1952) and The Labours of Erica (1989). She was married to Gordon Jackson. She died on July 23, 2013 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.

Mrs. Hughes

7. Dora Bryan

Actress | A Taste of Honey

Dora Bryan was born on February 7, 1923 in Parbold, Lancashire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for A Taste of Honey (1961), The Fallen Idol (1948) and Last of the Summer Wine (1973). She was married to Bill Lawton. She died on July 23, 2014 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK.

Mrs. Patmore

8. Jane Seymour

Actress | Somewhere in Time

Jane Seymour was born as Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg in 1951 in Middlesex, England, to a nurse mother and gynaecologist/obstetrician father. She is of Polish Jewish (father) and Dutch (mother) descent. She adopted the acting name of "Jane Seymour" when she entered show business as it was ...

Lady Mary Talbot

9. Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor | There Will Be Blood

Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...

Matthew Crawley

10. Jane Booker

Actress | Finding Neverland

Jane Booker was born on May 9, 1956 in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Finding Neverland (2004), A Perfect Spy (1987) and Get Back (1992). She has been married to James Fleet since 1984. They have one child.

Edith Pelham, Lady Hexham

11. Lynsey Baxter

Actress | The French Lieutenant's Woman

Lynsey Baxter was born on May 7, 1959 in West Ham, London, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1978) and Real Life (1984).

Lady Sybil Branson

12. Nigel Havers

Actor | Chariots of Fire

Nigel Havers is one of Britain's best known actors, mainly for his many roles on television since the 1970s. He was born as the younger son of Michael Havers, QC, a Conservative MP for Wimbledon, Attorney General (1979-1987) and Lord High Chancellor of England (1987).

After a private education, ...

Tom Branson

13. Susan George

Actress | Straw Dogs

Susan George was born on July 26, 1950 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Straw Dogs (1971), Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) and Mandingo (1975). She was previously married to Simon MacCorkindale.

Anna Bates

14. Keith Baxter

Actor | Campanadas a medianoche

A classically-trained actor, director and playwright, Keith Baxter (born Keith Stanley Baxter-Wright) was a commanding theatrical presence. The son of a captain in the Merchant Navy, he was schooled in his Welsh home town of Newport, Monmouthshire, became interested in theatre arts and then studied...

John Bates

15. Alan Rickman

Actor | Die Hard

Alan Rickman was born on a council estate in Acton, West London, to Margaret Doreen Rose (Bartlett), of English and Welsh descent, and Bernard Rickman, of Irish descent, who worked at a factory. Alan Rickman had an older brother (David), a younger brother (Michael), and a younger sister (Sheila). ...

Thomas Barrow

16. Lucy Gutteridge

Actress | Top Secret!

Lucy Gutteridge was born on November 28, 1955 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Top Secret! (1984), Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982) and The Secret Garden (1987).

Daisy Mason

17. Anna Massey

Actress | Peeping Tom

Anna Massey was born on August 11, 1937 in Thakeham, West Sussex, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Peeping Tom (1960), Frenzy (1972) and The Machinist (2004). She was married to Dr. Uri Andres and Jeremy Brett. She died on July 2, 2011 in London, England, UK.

Sarah O’Brien

18. Ian Holm

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Sir Ian Holm was one of the world's greatest actors, a Laurence Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning, BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated British star of films and the stage. He was a member of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company and has played more than 100 roles in films and on ...

Joseph Molesley

19. Shirley Anne Field

Actress | The Damned

Shirley Anne Field was one of Britain's most highly respected actresses. She starred opposite Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Steve McQueen, Michael Caine, Daniel Day-Lewis and Ned Beatty in such classic films as The Entertainer, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The War Lover, Alfie, My ...

Phyllis Baxter

20. Cathryn Harrison

Actress | Black Moon

Cathryn Harrison was born on May 25, 1959 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Black Moon (1975), Images (1972) and The Dresser (1983). She was married to Paul Laing. She died on October 1, 2018 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK.

Lady Rose Aldridge

21. Paul Rogers

Actor | A Midsummer Night's Dream

Widely regarded as one of the greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, Paul Rogers was born in Plympton, Devon, attended Newton Abbot Grammar School, and then trained as an actor at the Michael Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall. After serving in...

Dr. Clarkson

22. Jenny Agutter

Actress | Logan's Run

Jenny Agutter was born on December 20, 1952, in Taunton, Somerset, England, UK. The daughter of an army officer, she spent her childhood traveling and living in different countries. Her film career began at the age of 12 in East of Sudan (1964), which was quickly followed by The Magical World of ...

Ethel Parks

23. Simon Shepherd

Actor | Bait

Simon Shepherd was born on August 20, 1956 in Bristol, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Bait (2019), Alex Rider (2020) and Peak Practice (1993). He has been married to Alexandra Byrne since 1980. They have four children.

William Mason

24. Julian Firth

Actor | Bedazzled

Julian Firth was born on March 12, 1960 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Bedazzled (2000), Lifeforce (1985) and The Last Duel (2021).

Alfred Nugent

25. James Wilby

Actor | Maurice

James Wilby was born on February 20, 1958 in Rangoon, Burma [now Yangon, Myanmar]. He is an actor, known for Maurice (1987), Gosford Park (2001) and A Handful of Dust (1988). He has been married to Shana Louise Magraw since June 25, 1988. They have four children.

Jimmy Kent

26. Suzanna Hamilton

Actress | Nineteen Eighty-Four

British actress Suzanna Hamilton's first major screen role was as Izz Huett in Roman Polanski's "Tess" (1979). She went on to feature in many more motion-pictures and television dramas including Michael Radford's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1984) opposite John Hurt, and Sydney Pollack's "Out of Africa"...

Ivy Stuart

27. Reece Dinsdale

Actor | I.D.

Reece was born and raised in Normanton, West Yorkshire. He trained at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. This led to a long and successful acting career in television, theatre, film and radio drama.

He has appeared in some of the most celebrated TV shows and films over ...

Andy Parker

28. Elizabeth Garvie

Actress | Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth Garvie was born in 1957 in Bristol, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Pride and Prejudice (1980), Bloodlines: Legacy of a Lord (1998) and The House of Eliott (1991). She was previously married to Anton Rodgers.

Gwen Harding

29. Jeremy Irons

Actor | Dead Ringers

British actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. He is the son of Barbara Anne Brereton (Sharpe) and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Young Jeremy didn't prove very fond of figures. He visited mainland England only once a year. He wound up ...

Henry Talbot

30. Daniel Gerroll

Actor | Drop Dead Fred

Daniel Gerroll was born in London and educated in Switzerland, Scotland and London. After studying Law and Philosophy at Nottingham University, he trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and subsequently spent some years in British theatre arriving in the West End in 1976 in "...

Bertie Pelham, Marquess of Hexham

31. Claire Bloom

Actress | Clash of the Titans

Age has not taken the flower off this Bloom. The well-known and highly respected stage, screen and television actress Claire Bloom continues to be in demand as an octogenarian actress and looks as beautiful as ever.

She was born Patricia Claire Blume on February 15, 1931, in Finchley, North London, ...

Lady Rosamund Painswick

32. Colin Blakely

Actor | A Man for All Seasons

For a while he worked on the management side of his father's sporting goods firm in Belfast, but by the mid fifties he was in the chorus of an amateur dramatic and operatic society. He'd fallen for a girl member so joined the society to get to know her. While he soon got over her, he'd become ...

Septimus Spratt

33. Michael Gough

Actor | Batman Forever

Tony Award-winning English actor Michael Gough, best known for playing the butler Alfred Pennyworth in the first four Batman (1989, 1992, 1995 & 1997) movies and for playing the arch-criminal Dr. Clement Armstrong in The Avengers (1961) episode "The Cybernauts", was an accomplished performer on ...

Lord Merton

34. Desmond Llewelyn

Actor | GoldenEye

Desmond Llewelyn was born in South Wales in 1914, the son of a coal mining engineer. In high school, he worked as a stagehand in the school's productions and then picked up sporadic small parts. His family would not give up their effort to prevent him from a life on stage, so an uncle who was a ...

Mr. Mason

35. Nicholas Farrell

Actor | Chariots of Fire

Nicholas Farrell was born on January 1, 1955 in Brentwood, Essex, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Chariots of Fire (1981), The Iron Lady (2011) and Hamlet (1996). He has been married to Stella Gonet since 2005. They have two children.

Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham

36. Timothy Dalton

Actor | The Living Daylights

At a consistently lean 6' 2", green-eyed Timothy Dalton may very well be one of the last of the dying breed of swashbuckling, classically trained Shakespearean actors who have forged simultaneous successful careers in theater, television and film. He has been comparison-shopped roundly for stepping...

Charles Blake

37. Robert Stephens

Actor | Romeo and Juliet

Sir Robert's career fell into two distinct parts. In the '60s, he was widely regarded as the heir of Laurence Olivier. But, after his departure from Britain's National Theatre in 1970 and the breakup of his marriage with Maggie Smith three years later, he suffered a slump made worse by heavy ...

Sir Richard Carlisle

38. Caroline Goodall

Actress | Disclosure

Born in Britain to Australian parents, Caroline Goodall is internationally known as a leading actress who has starred in some of the biggest blockbusters of the 90's, including Schindler's List (1993), Hook (1991), Cliffhanger (1993), Disclosure (1994), White Squall (1996) and The Princess Diaries ...

Lavinia Swire

39. Geoffrey Keen

Actor | The Spy Who Loved Me

Geoffrey Keen was born on August 21, 1916 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979) and For Your Eyes Only (1981). He was married to Doris Groves, Madeline Howell and Hazel Terry. He died on November 3, 2005 in Denville Hall, ...

Prince Kuragin

40. John McEnery

Actor | Romeo and Juliet

John McEnery was born on November 1, 1943 in Walsall, Staffordshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Romeo and Juliet (1968), Bartleby (1970) and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). He was married to Stephanie Beacham. He died on April 12, 2019 in the UK.

Tim Drewe

41. Maria Aitken

Actress | A Fish Called Wanda

Maria Aitken was born on September 12, 1945 in Dublin, Ireland. She is an actress and writer, known for A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Fierce Creatures (1997) and Spider (2002). She has been married to Patrick McGrath since December 28, 1991. She was previously married to Nigel Davenport and Richard ...

Mrs. Drewe

42. Timothy West

Actor | The Day of the Jackal

A versatile British actor noted for his great power and command on the classical stage and in several other mediums including radio, film and television, Timothy West was born on October 20, 1934 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, the son of actors (Harry) Lockwood West and his wife Olive (...

Sergeant Willis

43. Clifford Rose

Actor | Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

He was born in Hamnish Clifford, Herefordshire in 1929 with the birth name John Clifford Rose (the "Clifford" adopted from his place of birth). He was educated at the King's School, Worcester and King's College London, before appearing in repertory theatre and later with the Royal Shakespeare ...

Mr. Dawes

44. Bernard Hill

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Bernard Hill is an English actor. He is well recognized for playing King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Captain Edward Smith in Titanic, and Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the Clint Eastwood film True Crime. Hill was also known for playing roles in television ...

Craig

45. Coral Browne

Actress | Auntie Mame

Australian actress who worked primarily in Britain and specialized in superior, upper-crust sorts. Browne began her stage career in Melbourne but moved to England at the age of 21 and quickly brightened the West End with her sharp delivery and stylish sense of comedy. Her film appearances were ...

Gladys Denker (would have filmed her role in "A New Era" before her passing)

46. Eileen Atkins

Actress | Gosford Park

Eileen Atkins was born in a Salvation Army Women's Hostel in north London. Her father was a gas meter reader; her mother, a seamstress and barmaid. A drama teacher taught her how to drop her Cockney accent, and she studied Shakespeare and Greek tragedies. Her breakthrough role in "The Killing of ...

Vera Bates

47. Alice Krige

Actress | Star Trek: First Contact

Alice Maud Krige was born on June 28, 1954 in Upington, South Africa where her father, Dr. Louis Krige, worked as a young physician. The Kriges later moved to Port Elizabeth where Alice grew up in what she describes as a "very happy family", a family that also included two brothers (both of whom ...

Miss Bunting

48. Barry Foster

Actor | Frenzy

John Barry Foster's acting career began and ended on the stage. At the age of 20 he won a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama where he befriended future playwright Harold Pinter. After two years training, Barry went on tour with Andrew McMaster and fellow actors Patrick Magee and ...

Sir Anthony Strallan

49. Corin Redgrave

Actor | A Man for All Seasons

Corin Redgrave, a towering, award-winning force on the British stage but a lesser universally recognized third-generation scion of the acting dynasty, was the reddish-haired middle brother of his more internationally famous sisters, Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave who achieved widespread ...

Michael Gregson

50. Anthony Dawson

Actor | Dial M for Murder

Long-faced, emaciated-looking character actor with a thin mustache and an impeccable English accent, Anthony Dawson was typecast in a variety of villainous roles in the 1950s and 1960s.

He was born Anthony Douglas Gillon Dawson in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Ida Violet (Kittel) and Eric Francis Dawson. ...

Marquess of Flintshire

51. Gwen Watford

Actress | Cleopatra

Gwen Watford was born on September 10, 1927 in Islington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Cleopatra (1963), ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1969) and The Company of Five (1968). She was married to Richard Bebb. She died on February 6, 1994 in Westminster, London, England, UK.

Marchioness of Flintshire

52. John Moulder-Brown

Actor | Deep End

John Moulder-Brown was born on June 3, 1953 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Deep End (1970), The Devil in the Fog (1968) and Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder (1987).

Atticus Aldridge

53. Martin Benson

Actor | The Omen

Martin Benson was born on August 10, 1918 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Omen (1976), The King and I (1956) and Goldfinger (1964). He was married to Joan Hayward and Joy. He died on February 28, 2010 in Markyate, Hertfordshire, England, UK.

Lord Sinderby

54. Barbara Hicks

Actress | Brazil

The youngest of three daughters born to iron and steel merchant William 'Copper' Hicks and Hester, She was educated at a girls school in Shrewsbury where she appeared as the Duke of Gloucester in Richard of Bordeaux and as Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream, She served as a land girl during WWII ...

Lady Sinderby

55. Rachel Ward

Actress | The Thorn Birds

Rachel Ward was born on September 12, 1957 in Cornwell Manor, Cornwell, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for The Thorn Birds (1983), Against All Odds (1984) and Sharky's Machine (1981). She has been married to Bryan Brown since April 16, 1983. They ...

Mabel Lane Fox

56. Zoë Wanamaker

Actress | My Week with Marilyn

Zoë Wanamaker is an American expatriate actress, who has spend most of her career in the United Kingdom. She has worked extensively in the theatre. She has been nominated for 9 Laurence Olivier Awards, wining twice. She has also been nominated for 4 Tony Awards, without ever winning. In television,...

Edna Braithwaite

57. Angharad Rees

Actress | Under Milk Wood

Angharad Rees was born on July 16, 1944 in Edgware, Middlesex, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Under Milk Wood (1971), Hands of the Ripper (1971) and Poldark (1975). She was married to David McAlpine and Christopher Cazenove. She died on July 21, 2012 in Knightsbridge, London, England, ...

Jane Moorsum

58. Andrew Hall

Actor | Butterflies

Andrew Hall was born on January 19, 1954 in Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, UK. He was an actor and editor, known for Butterflies (1978), Nixon's the One (2013) and Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (1999). He was married to Abigail Sharp. He died on May 20, 2019 in England, UK.

The Hon. Evelyn Napier

59. Hugh Quarshie

Actor | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Hugh Quarshie was born on December 22, 1954 in Accra, Ghana. He is an actor and director, known for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), Highlander (1986) and Nightbreed (1990). He is married to Annika Sundström.

Kemal Pamuk

60. Simon MacCorkindale

Actor | Jaws 3-D

Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, the light-haired, aristocratically handsome Simon MacCorkindale's first career choice was to follow in his Air Force pilot father Peter's bootsteps by joining the Air Training Corps., but his deteriorating eyesight forced him to choose an alternative vocation. ...

Duke of Crowborough

61. Michael Sarrazin

Actor | They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Owning a pair of the most incredibly soulful and searching eyes you'll ever find, Michael Sarrazin's poetic drifters crept into Hollywood unobtrusively on little cat's feet, but it didn't take long for him to make his mark. Quiet yet uninhibited, the lean, laconic, fleshy-lipped actor with the ...

Major Patrick Gordon

62. Bernard Archard

Actor | Krull

Tall, incisive, aquiline-featured British character actor. Born in Fulham, London, Archard won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1938. The following year, he made his stage debut opposite Jessica Tandy in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, at the Regent's Park Theatre. A ...

Sir Philip Tapsell

63. Keith David

Actor | The Princess and the Frog

Keith David is a classically trained actor, winning 3 Emmys out of 6 nominations as well as being nominated for a Tony award. He starred in the recently concluded TV series "Greenleaf" for Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. Upcoming films include "Horizon Line" with Allison Williams ("Get Out") and "...

Jack Ross

64. Malcolm McDowell

Actor | A Clockwork Orange

Malcolm John Taylor was born on June 13, 1943 in Leeds, England, to working-class parents Edna (McDowell), a hotelier, and Charles Taylor, a publican. His father was an alcoholic. Malcolm hated his parents' ways. His father was keen to send his son to private school to give him a good start in life...

Green

65. Jonathan Pryce

Actor | The Two Popes

Jonathan Pryce was born on June 1, 1947 in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for The Two Popes (2019), The Wife (2017) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). He has been married to Kate Fahy since April 2015. They have three children.

Terence Sampson

66. Miranda Richardson

Actress | The Crying Game

Miranda Richardson was born in Southport, Lancashire, England on March 3, 1958, to Marian Georgina (Townsend) and William Alan Richardson, a marketing executive. She has one sister, eight years her senior. Her parents and sister are not involved in the performing arts. At an early age she performed...

Amelia Cruickshank

67. Julian Sands

Actor | A Room with a View

Tall, gaunt, and particularly effective in horror and drama films, British actor Julian Sands was born in Otley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, to Brenda and William Sands. He came to the attention of NBC when the network cast him in the TV miniseries The Sun Also Rises (1984) and then with Anthony Hopkins...

Larry Grey

68. Lois Maxwell

Actress | Dr. No

Everyone knows (or should know) Lois Maxwell as the one and only "Miss Moneypenny," but there's much more to her acting career than that. She started out against her parents' will, and without their knowledge, in a Canadian children's radio program, credited as "Robin Wells." Before the age of 15 ...

Daphne Bryant

69. Keith Michell

Actor | Henry VIII and His Six Wives

Keith Michell was an Emmy Award-winning Australian stage, television, and film actor. Born 1 December 1926 in Adelaide, South Australia, he was brought up some 150 miles away, in Warnertown, on the Augusta Highway between Crystal Brook and Port Pirie. He taught art until he made his debut on the ...

Horace Bryant

70. Trevor Eve

Actor | Dracula

Trevor Eve was born on July 1, 1951 in Birmingham, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Dracula (1979), Waking the Dead (2000) and She's Out of My League (2010). He has been married to Sharon Maughan since March 1, 1980. They have three children.

Major Bryant

71. Roland Culver

Actor | Thunderball

Roland Culver was born on August 21, 1900 in Crouch End, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Thunderball (1965), Dead of Night (1945) and To Each His Own (1946). He was married to Nan Hopkins and Daphne Rye. He died on March 1, 1984 in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK.

Bill Molesley

72. Rosalie Crutchley

Actress | The Haunting

Acclaimed actress Rosalie Crutchley originally trained at the Royal Academy of Music. She made her acting debut in repertory in 1938 at the Liverpool Playhouse. She made her Broadway debut in 1950. The Guild of Television named her best actress of the year in 1956 for Armchair Theatre: Black ...

Lady Shackleton

73. Amanda Barrie

Actress | Carry on Cleo

This feisty and very funny British comedienne and musical revue vet with the trademark 60s brunet page-boy haircut, pronounced jaw, and arguably the largest, Bette Davis-like eyes in London was born Shirley Anne Broadbent in Ashton-under-Lyne, Cheshire on September 14, 1935. The daughter of Hubert ...

Lady Anstruther

74. Dirk Bogarde

Actor | The Servant

Sir Dirk Bogarde, distinguished film actor and writer, was born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde on March 28, 1921, to Ulric van den Bogaerde, the art editor of "The Times" (London) newspaper, and actress Margaret Niven in the London suburb of Hampstead. He was one of three children...

Lord Hepworth

75. Una Stubbs

Actress | Sherlock

Her dancing career started in Leicestershire where her father worked in an aircraft factory. She went into pantomime as a chorus girl and eventually became known when she did a chocolate commercial which led to work on television and films, Despite what other people say she doesn't think that shes ...

Marigold Shore

76. Joanne Whalley

Actress | Willow

British-born actress Joanne Whalley has graced the big and small screens for decades. Known for such films as Scandal and Willow, she was a firm fixture on British TV screens including the hit series, The Singing Detective and nuclear industry drama The Edge Of Darkness, for which she received a ...

Miss Reed

77. Judith Anderson

Actress | Rebecca

Dame Judith Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson on February 10, 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia. She began her acting career in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. There she established herself as one of the greatest theatrical actresses and was a major star on Broadway ...

Mrs. Bates

78. Claudette Colbert

Actress | It Happened One Night

One of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). The family moved to the United States when she was three. As Claudette ...

Martha Levinson

79. Jack Nicholson

Actor | Chinatown

Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...

Harold Levinson

80. Tom Courtenay

Actor | 45 Years

Acting chameleon Sir Tom Courtenay, along with Sir Alan Bates and Albert Finney, became a front-runner in an up-and-coming company of rebel upstarts who created quite a stir in British "kitchen sink" cinema during the early '60s. An undying love for the theatre, however, had Courtenay channeling a ...

Kiernan Branson

81. Roger Moore

Actor | Moonraker

Roger Moore will perhaps always be remembered as the man who replaced Sean Connery in the James Bond series, arguably something he never lived down.

Roger George Moore was born on October 14, 1927 in Stockwell, London, England, the son of Lillian (Pope) and George Alfred Moore, a policeman. His ...

Simon Bricker

82. Michael York

Actor | Logan's Run

Michael York was born in Fulmer, England, 27 March 1942. He performed on stage with the National Youth Theatre in London's East End and on international tour. Other early acting experience came through the Oxford University Dramatic Society (he graduated from Oxford in1964), the Dundee Repertory, ...

Princes of Wales

83. Alec Guinness

Actor | Star Wars

Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...

King George V

84. Peggy Mount

Actress | Oliver!

Born Margaret Rose Mount in Essex, England, she went to work as a secretary in her early teens after the death of her father, despite her early desire to enter the theatre. It would be almost 15 years before she landed a role with the Hanson Players, when she played the part of an eccentric guest ...

Queen Mary

85. Judy Davis

Actress | Husbands and Wives

Davis was educated at Loreto Convent and the Western Institute of Technology and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1977. She found international success with the role of Adela Quested in A Passage to India (1984). Her performance was nominated an Academy Award for Best...

Freda Dudley Ward

86. Mary Kerridge

Actress | Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced

Mary Kerridge was born on April 3, 1914 in Islington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985), Anna Karenina (1948) and Richard III (1955). She was married to John Counsell. She died on July 22, 1999 in Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK.

Princess Irina

87. Joseph O'Conor

Actor | Oliver!

Joseph O'Conor was born on February 14, 1910 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor and writer, known for Oliver! (1968), The Dark Crystal (1982) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). He was married to Lizann Rodger and Naita Moore. He died on January 21, 2001 in London, England, UK.

Sir Michael Reresby

88. Edward Jewesbury

Actor | Richard III

Edward Jewesbury was born on August 6, 1917 in Marylebone, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Richard III (1995), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Henry V (1989). He was married to Christine Roberts. He died on March 31, 2001 in Esher, Surrey, England, UK.

Neville Chamberlain

89. Olivia de Havilland

Actress | Gone with the Wind

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her ...

Mrs. Pelham

90. John Gielgud

Actor | Arthur

Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other ...

Sir Mark Stiles

91. Roy Dotrice

Actor | Hellboy II: The Golden Army

The ever-impressive, chameleon-like British character actor Roy Dotrice was born on the Island of Guernsey, which is part of the United Kingdom, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France. He was the first-born child of Louis and Neva Dotrice who prospered as bakers. The Germans occupied ...

George Murray

92. William Squire

Actor | The Lord of the Rings

William Squire was born on April 29, 1917 in Neath, Glamorgan, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for The Lord of the Rings (1978), Doctor Who (1963) and Where Eagles Dare (1968). He was married to Juliet Harmer and Betty P. Dixon. He died on May 3, 1989 in London, England, UK.

Reverend Travis

93. Ronald Pickup

Actor | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Ronald Alfred Pickup was a highly respected, incisive, classically trained character actor who specialized in the portrayal of prominent historical authority figures or crusty academics. He was born in Chester, England, to English and French language lecturer Eric Pickup and his wife Daisy (née ...

Durrant

94. Angus Lennie

Actor | The Great Escape

Angus Lennie was born on April 18, 1930 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for The Great Escape (1963), Doctor Who (1963) and Para Handy - Master Mariner (1959). He died on September 14, 2014 in Acton, London, England, UK.

Turner

95. Simon Chandler

Actor | The Man Who Knew Too Little

Simon Chandler was born on June 4, 1953 in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997), The Bounty (1984) and The Lord of the Rings (1978).

Dent

96. Geraldine James

Actress | Calendar Girls

Geraldine James, Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) was born on July 6, 1950 in Maidenhead, Berkshire. She was educated at Downe House, a girls' independent school in Newbury, Berkshire, and later, at Drama Centre London. Geraldine has made several film and television appearances, she ...

Laura Edmunds

97. Rebecca Saire

Actress | Vanity Fair

Rebecca Saire was born on April 16, 1963 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Vanity Fair (1987), The Crucible (2014) and Love in a Cold Climate (1980). She is married to Roger Allam. They have two children.

Audrey

98. Michael Kitchen

Actor | Out of Africa

Michael Kitchen was born on October 31, 1948 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Out of Africa (1985), GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). He has been married to Rowena Miller since 1988. They have two children.

Charlie Rogers

99. Paul McGann

Actor | The Three Musketeers

Paul McGann was born on November 14, 1959 in Kensington, Liverpool, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for The Three Musketeers (1993), Withnail & I (1987) and Alien 3 (1992). He has been married to Annie Milner since 1992. They have two children.

Sir John Bullock

100. Eileen Herlie

Actress | All My Children

This vibrant Scottish character actress managed in her seven-decade career trek to not only brighten up the Broadway stage during the 1950s and 1960s in roles ranging from the man-searching milliner Irene Malloy to Hamlet's mother Queen Gertrude, but conquered the TV market too, delighting daytime ...

Duchess of Yeovil