- published: 24 Jun 2015
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Melvyn Hayes (born 11 January 1935) is an English actor probably best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
Hayes attended Sir Walter St John's Grammar School, Battersea. He was also in a well known theatrical troupe called Terry's Juveniles and his acting career stretches back to 1950 when he was "disappearing twice daily for £4 per week" performing the Indian Rope Trick in Maskelyne's Mysteries at the Comedy Theatre in London. He also appeared in Repertory Theatres in Surrey, Derbyshire and the Midlands. One of his earliest roles was in the BBC television adaptation of Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School.
His film roles include the young Victor Frankenstein in The Curse of Frankenstein 1957, Jimmy in The Young Ones with Cliff Richard (1961), Cyril in Summer Holiday, again with Cliff Richard (1963), and 'Brother' Willy in Crooks in Cloisters (1964).
He also performed voices on children's cartoons such as SuperTed, The Dreamstone, Little Dracula, Alfred J. Quack, Pongwiffy and Budgie the Little Helicopter.
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ (born 27 May 1922) is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), and Count Dooku in the final two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002, 2005). He has collaborated with director Tim Burton in five films, most recently with Dark Shadows (2012).
Lee considers his most important role to be his portrayal of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998); however, he considers his best role to be that of Lord Summerisle in the British cult classic The Wicker Man (1973), which he also believes to be his best film. Lee is well known for his deep, strong voice and imposing height. He has performed roles in 275 films since 1946 making him the Guinness World Record holder for most film acting roles ever. He was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011.
Frederick John Inman (28 June 1935 – 8 March 2007) was an English actor best known for his role as Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served?, a British sitcom in the 1970s and 1980s. Inman was also well known in the United Kingdom as a pantomime dame.
Born in 1935, Inman made his stage debut aged 13. He worked in retail in London as a young adult and after four years left to earn his Equity Card. He made his West End debut in the 1960s, and his television debut in an episode of A Slight Case of ... entitled The Enemy Within in 1965, next appearing in an episode of Two In Clover in 1970. After a successful pilot of Are You Being Served?, Inman played the camp Mr. Humphries in the sitcom from 1972 to 1985. This role made him a household name and won him awards, including BBC TV Personality of the Year. In his later years, John Inman became a well known pantomime dame. He died of hepatitis in 2007 aged 71.
Inman was born in 1935 in Preston, Lancashire, and was a cousin of actress Josephine Tewson. At the age of 12, Inman moved with his parents to Blackpool where his mother ran a boarding house, while his father owned a hairdressing business. As a child, he enjoyed dressmaking. He was educated at Claridge House in Preston, and then a secondary modern. Inman always wanted to be an actor, and his parents paid for him to have elocution lessons at the local church hall. At the age of 13 he made his stage debut in the Pavilion on Blackpool's South Pier, in a melodrama entitled Freda. Aged 15, he took a job at the pier, making tea, clearing up, and playing parts in plays.