Pamela Franklin (born 3 February 1950) is a British actress who appeared in feature films from 1961 until 1976, and on American television throughout the 1970s.

Early life and career as a child actress[link]

Franklin, who had three brothers, was born in Yokohama, Japan, and grew up in the Far East, where her father was an importer/exporter. The family lived in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and Ceylon before returning to England.^[1] At the age of eight she was sent to the Elmhurst School of Ballet in England. She made her film debut at the age of 11 in The Innocents (1961), and her television debut in the Wonderful World of Disney's, The Horse Without a Head. In 1962 she played opposite William Holden, Trevor Howard and Capucine in the British film The Lion.^[2] She was only fourteen years old when she made The Third Secret in 1964, in which she played the doctor's daughter, Katherine.^[3] When she was interviewed about the film in 1979, she said that "she and Stephen Boyd had become friends and the warmth on screen was genuine."^[4] In 1966 she had a lead role in the BBC TV series Quick Before They Catch Us.

Later career in film, television, and the stage[link]

Franklin received favourable critical notices for her portrayal of an unusually worldly teenager in the suspense film The Nanny (1965). She acted with Dirk Bogarde, who played her father in Our Mother's House, a film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1967, and in the same year acted opposite Marlon Brando and Rita Moreno in The Night of the Following Day as the kidnap victim in this crime thriller. This was her first "adult" role with one scene showing her bare-breasted.

Probably her best-known role was as "Sandy" in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), for which she won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress. In the same year she starred in the John Huston movie Sinful Davey, with a young John Hurt,^[5] which was not successful and failed to boost her career.

As an adult, she became somewhat typecast in horror films, after her performance in the occult thriller The Legend of Hell House. She starred in the 1973 made for television horror movie, Satan's School for Girls, in which she played Elizabeth Sayers. Her last film role was in The Food of the Gods, although she made television appearances until 1981, including an episode of Police Woman, in which she became physically ill playing a rape victim.^[6]

Other television shows in which she made appearances include The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hawaii Five-O, Barnaby Jones, Vega$, and Trapper John, M.D. She played the title character in "Jenny Wilde is Drowning," an episode of The Name of the Game, starring Tony Franciosa. Her character was an aspiring actress trying to succeed in Hollywood, and who pretended to have taken pills to commit suicide.

In 1983 she played Lady Macbeth opposite Kristoffer Tabori in the production of Macbeth at the Longbeach Free Shakespeare in the Park.^[7]

Personal life[link]

Franklin met actor Harvey Jason on the set of Necromancy, which came out in 1972. The couple married in 1971, settled in Hollywood, and had two sons. Her husband and son, Louis, co-own the bookstore Mystery Pier Books, Inc in West Hollywood.

Filmography[link]

• The Innocents (1961)
• The Lion (1962)
• The Horse Without a Head (1963) (TV)
• See How They Run (1964) (TV)
• Flipper's New Adventure (1964)
• A Tiger Walks (1964)
• The Third Secret (1964)
• The Nanny (1965)
• Eagle in a Cage (1965) (TV)
• Our Mother's House (1967)
• The Night of the Following Day (1968)
• David Copperfield (1969) (TV)
• Sinful Davey (1969)
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
• And Soon the Darkness (1970)
• Medical Center (1970-72?) character part as "Baby Frytag" (TV)
• Green Acres (1971) (TV) episode "Hawaiian Honeymoon" pilot/spin-off attempt
• Necromancy (1972)
• 'Half A Death' episode Circle of Fear (TV) (1973)
• Satan's School for Girls (1973) (TV)
• The Legend of Hell House (1973)
• Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (1973)
• Intertect (1973) (TV)
• The Letters (1973) (TV)
• The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) (TV) episode "Operation Firefly"
• Crossfire (1975) (TV)
• Won't Write Home Mom, I'm Dead (1975) (TV)
• Screamer (1975) (TV)
• The Food of the Gods (1976)
• Eleanor and Franklin (1976) (TV)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pamela Franklin at the Internet Movie Database
• Pamela Franklin at BFI Film & TV Database
• From Innocence to Experience, ABC Film Review, Interview, August 1970 Retrieved 7-23-2011
• The Third Secret (1964) Retrieved 7-23-2011

Brian Horace Clemens OBE (born 1931) is a British screenwriter and television producer, possibly best known for his work on The Avengers and The Professionals. Clemens is related to Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), a fact reflected in the naming of his two sons, Samuel Joshua Twain Clemens and George Langhorne Clemens.^[1][2]

Early life and career[link]

Clemens was born in Croydon, England. His father was an engineer, but also worked in British music halls.^[2] Brian Clemens left school aged 14.^[3]

Following National Service in the British Army at Aldershot,^[4] where he was a weapons training instructor in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps,^[3] Brian Clemens wanted to be a journalist but decided he didn't have any qualifications. He was offered a job with a private detective agency, but this involved taking a training course in the Northern English city of Leeds and, as he had been away from home in London for two years, he decided he didn't want to go away again.^[3] Instead, he worked his way up from messenger boy at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency.^[4] While he was a copywriter there, he had a thriller screenplay accepted and shot by BBC TV - Valid for Single Journey Only (1955).^[3] This brought him to the attention of independent, low-budget movie producers the Danziger brothers.^[4]

From the mid-1950s onwards, he was a staff writer for the Danzigers, churning out dozens of quickie scripts for assembly-line 'B' movies and half-hour television series such as Mark Saber (ITV, 1957–1959; aka Saber of London), White Hunter (ITV, 1958–1960), Man From Interpol (ITV, 1960–1961), and Richard The Lionheart (ITV, 1961–1965).^[4]

However, he also wrote for ITC Entertainment's thriller series The Invisible Man (ITV, 1958–1959), Sir Francis Drake (ITV, 1961–1962), and Danger Man (ITV, 1960–1961; 1964–1967; aka Secret Agent),^[4] for which he had also written the pilot.^[2] His output was so prolific during the late 50s and throughout the 1960s that he frequently used the pseudonym 'Tony O'Grady.'

Television success[link]

He wrote the original pilot episode for The Avengers in 1961^[3] and was the script editor, associate producer and main scriptwriter for The Avengers series^[4] (ITV, 1961–1969) and, according to the British Film Institute's profile of him, "brought this spirit of burlesque to his other series - most notably with Adam Adamant Lives! (BBC, 1966-1967), but also with The Baron (ITV, 1966-1967), The Persuaders! (ITV, 1971-1972), The Protectors (ITV, 1972-1974), and The Adventurer (ITV, 1972-1974) - resoundingly poking fun both at the genre they were imitating and the sources of their inspiration."^[4]

It was he who cast Diana Rigg to replace original star Honor Blackman in The Avengers. He was later quoted as saying: "I didn't do Diana a very good service. It made her an international star but I think I could have done more for her as far as the script was concerned. She was rather a stooge to Patrick Macnee's Steed."^[3] He did not choose Linda Thorson to replace Rigg.^[3]

In 1972, he created (but left the scriptwriting to Richard Waring) a BBC TV sitcom My Wife Next Door which won a BAFTA Award. That same year he had his first credit on an American production with the TV movie The Woman Hunter, scripted by Clemens and fellow ITC veteran Tony Williamson from the former's story.

He followed this with a twist-in-the-tail anthology series Thriller (ITV 1973-1976; aka Menace), for which he wrote all the stories as well as 38 of the scripts.^[3]

Then his company The Avengers (Film and TV) Enterprises Ltd^[3] created as a French/Canadian/British co-production^[4] The New Avengers (ITV 1976-1977). The series cost £125,000 an episode to produce and was not a critical success, but sold to 120 countries.^[3] To cast the central female role of Purdey, Clemens considered "about 700 girls", interviewed 200, read scripts with 40 and screen-tested 15^[3] before choosing Joanna Lumley.

His company Avengers Mark One Productions went on to produce The Professionals (ITV, 1977–1983).^[4]

In the early 1980s, he was twice asked to produce a United States version of his most successful series - The Avengers U.S.A. for producer Quinn Martin and The Avengers International for Taft Entertainment^[4] but neither version materialised. However, he did write episodes for the US TV series Darkroom (ABC-TV, 1981–1982), Remington Steele (NBC, 1982–1987), and Max Monroe: Loose Cannon (CBS, 1990).

Back in the UK, he worked on the BBC TV's Bergerac (1981–1991), the anthologies Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (ITV, 1984–1986) and Worlds Beyond (ITV, 1984–1989), and adapted Gavin Lyall's espionage thriller The Secret Servant as a 3-part drama for BBC TV (1984).^[4]

He then, in the US again, worked on the Father Dowling Mysteries (NBC, 1989; ABC-TV, 1990–1991), as executive script consultant for the feature-length revival series of Raymond Burr's Perry Mason (CBS, 1985–1995) for which he also wrote three teleplays. He also wrote for the Dick Van Dyke mystery series Diagnosis: Murder (CBS, 1992–2001).^[4]

He also wrote for the Bugs TV series in the UK (BBC, 1995–1999) and Highlander: The Series in the US.

Feature films[link]

In 1971 he wrote and produced for Hammer films Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde and, in 1974, wrote and directed Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter. He also wrote the screenplays and/or stories for the feature films Operation Murder (1957), The Tell-Tale Heart (1960), Station Six Sahara (1963), The Peking Medallion (1967), And Soon the Darkness (1970), See No Evil (1971), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), The Watcher in the Woods (1980), and Highlander II: The Quickening (1991).

Theatre[link]

In 2008 Brian Clemens wrote the play Murder Hunt, which was performed at The Mill at Sonning and starred David Monteith as Captain K'Maka, a native African policeman who has to find the murderer amongst a bunch of guests stranded at a remote safari lodge.^[5]

Court case[link]

In a British High Court of Justice case in the mid-1970s, which was abandoned by both sides due to escalating costs, Clemens claimed that he had told writer Terry Nation the concept for Nation's 1975 TV series Survivors in the late 1960s and had registered the idea with the Writers' Guild of Great Britain in 1965.^[6] Nation strenuously denied this.

Personal life[link]

Clemens and his wife Brenda were divorced in 1966.^[3] From 1967, he was with the actress Diane Enright, who was Diana Rigg's stand-in as Emma Peel during the 1965-1967 Avengers seasons. Enright committed suicide in 1976.^[3]

Clemens was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.^[7]

Selected filmography[link]

• At the Stroke of Nine (1957)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Brian Clemens at the Internet Movie Database
• The Man Who Created The Avengers: An Interview with Brian Clemens
• Brian Clemens at The Playwrights Database

James Farentino (February 24, 1938 – January 24, 2012) was an American actor. He appeared in nearly 100 television, film and stage roles, among them The Final Countdown, Jesus of Nazareth, and Dynasty.

Career[link]

Among his many television appearances, Farentino guest-starred in 1964 with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., in the episode "Super-Star" of the CBS drama series, The Reporter, with Harry Guardino in the starring role of journalist Danny Taylor of the fictitious New York Globe newspaper. Early in 1967, he appeared in Barry Sullivan's NBC western series The Road West in the episode "Reap the Whirlwind".

In 1969, he starred opposite Patty Duke in the film Me, Natalie. Farentino was one of the lawyers in NBC TV series The Bold Ones (1969–1972), which also starred Burl Ives and Joseph Campanella. He made two appearances in the 1970s anthology television series Night Gallery, once with then-wife Michele Lee ("Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay"), and secondly with actress Joanna Pettet ("The Girl With The Hungry Eyes"). In the 1970s, he appeared in an NBC Mystery Movie, Cool Million. In 1978, Farentino was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special for his portrayal of Saint Peter in the mini-series, Jesus of Nazareth.

In 1980, Farentino starred in The Final Countdown with Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen. Farentino appeared as "Frank Chaney" in the short-lived 1984 ABC series Blue Thunder, based on the 1983 film of the same name starring Roy Scheider. (The 11-episode series, which starred a then-unknown Dana Carvey, was released on DVD in August 2006.) In the late 1990s, he appeared as Doug Ross' estranged father, "Ray", on ER.

Farentino also voiced the character Grungy in the 1994 Aaahh!!! Real Monsters episode “Snorched If You Do, Snorched If You Don’t.”^[1]

Personal life[link]

Farentino was married to:

• Elizabeth Ashley (September 1, 1962 – 1965; divorced)^[2]

• Michele Lee (February 20, 1966 – 1982; divorced); one child, David

• Debrah Farentino (June 1985 – 1988; divorced)

• Stella Farentino (August 3, 1994 – his death); Stella filed for divorce in 1998 due to "irreconcilable differences," but later withdrew her petition. Then, James himself filed for divorce in January 2001, also due to "irreconcilable differences"; however the couple remained married until James Farentino's death.

Farentino was charged with stalking his former girlfriend, Tina Sinatra (youngest child of Frank Sinatra), in 1993. A restraining order was issued against him after he entered a plea of nolo contendere.^[3]

Farentino was arrested in Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 23, 1991, after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intercepted a package containing 3.2 grams of cocaine being sent to his hotel room. Farentino was in town filming the TV movie, Miles From Nowhere. He was charged with cocaine possession and released on bail.^[4]

In 2010, Farentino was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery after a citizen's arrest was made against the actor.^[5] Police were called to Farentino's Hollywood home. He was taken into custody and booked at the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood-area station. Farentino was released two days later after posting $20,000 bond. Police said the actor was trying to physically remove a man from his house. The man, who police said suffered visible bruising, made a citizen's arrest on Farentino for battery.^[6]

Death[link]

On January 24, 2012, Farentino died of "sequelae of right hip fracture"at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California following a long illness.

References[link]

External links[link]

• James Farentino at the Internet Movie Database
• James Farentino at the Internet Broadway Database

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

Stephen Boyd
from the trailer for the film Ben-Hur (1959).
Born	William Millar (1931-07-04)4 July 1931 Ballyrobert, Ballyclare, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK
Died	2 June 1977(1977-06-02) (aged 45) Northridge, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart Attack
Resting place	Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–1977
Spouse	Mariella di Sarzana (1958-3 weeks later) (divorced) Elizabeth Mills (1977-his death 10 months later)
Parents	James Alexander Millar (father) Martha Boyd (mother)

Stephen Boyd (4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was a British actor from Ballyrobert, Ballyclare, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.^[1] He appeared in some 60 films, most notably as "Messala" in Ben-Hur.

Biography[link]

Boyd was born in 1931, one of nine siblings, as William Millar. He attended Ballyclare High School. He starred in a radio play in Belfast and worked in a cinema in London. He began acting in British films, notably as an edgy Irish spy working for the Germans, in the World War II film The Man Who Never Was (1956). It was his role in a 1957 French film, The Night Heaven Fell opposite Brigitte Bardot which gained him critical and public attention.

He went to Hollywood and appeared as leads in a variety of films, including The Bravados (1958) and The Best of Everything (1959). His role as Messala in Ben-Hur (1959) propelled him to international fame. He later played another Roman leader in Samuel Bronston's The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), in which he co-starred with Sophia Loren. He received a Golden Globe for his performance in Ben-Hur.^[2] In 1962 Boyd appeared in the film The Inspector opposite starlet Dolores Hart. The two remained friends until Boyd's death.

Boyd was originally chosen to play Mark Antony opposite Elizabeth Taylor in 20th Century-Fox's epic production of Cleopatra (1963) under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian, but eventually withdrew from the problem-plagued production when he committed to star in The Fall of the Roman Empire. (Cleopatra was later directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and the role of Mark Antony went to Richard Burton.)

Boyd appeared in The Bible: In the Beginning (1966), Genghis Khan (1965), Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962), The Oscar (1966), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Shalako (1968), and Assignment K (1969).^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

Boyd died of a heart attack at the age of 45 while playing golf at the Porter Valley Country Club in Northridge, California. He was in talks to play the role of the Regimental Sergeant Major in Euan Lloyd's The Wild Geese before his death.^[3] Boyd was interred in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Boyd was married twice: for three weeks in 1958 to Italian-born MCA executive Mariella di Sarzana, and subsequently to Elizabeth Mills, a secretary at the British Arts Council, whom he had known since 1955. Mills followed Boyd to the USA in the late fifties and was his personal assistant and secretary for many years before marrying him about 10 months before his death.^[5][6]

In February 2012 Raquel Welch outed Boyd as a homosexual.^[7] Gore Vidal, who helped write the screenplay for Ben-Hur (1959), mentioned in his 1995 book "Palimpsest" that Boyd was gay.

Religion[link]

Boyd utilized Scientology techniques while filming a movie in Louisiana.^[8]

Partial filmography[link]