- published: 03 Mar 2016
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Sir Stanley Baker (28 February 1928 – 28 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer.
William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales, the youngest of three children. His father was a coal miner who lost a leg in an accident and got work as a truck driver. Baker grew up a self-proclaimed a "wild kid" only interested in "football and boxing" but his artistic ability was spotted at an early age by a local teacher, Glynne Morse, who encouraged Baker to act. When he was 14 he was performing in a school play when seen by a casting director from Ealing Studios, who recommended him for a role in Undercover (1943), a war film about the Yugoslav guerrillas in Serbia. He was paid £20 a week and caught the acting bug, deciding to become a professional actor. Six months later Banker appeared with Emlyn Williams in a play on the West End called The Druid's Rest, appearing alongside a young Richard Burton.
Baker worked for a time as an apprentice electrician then through Morse's influence he managed to secure a position with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1944. He stayed there for three years, until called up to do his National Service in 1946. He served in the Royal Army Service Corps until 1948, achieving the rank of sergeant. After demobilisation he moved to London determined to resume hie acting career. He was eventually cast at Richard Burton's recommendation in a small role in a play on the West End, Adventure Story by Terrence Rattigan. He began appearing in films and on television, as well performing on stage for the Middlesex Repertory Company. He impressed when cast as the bosun's mate in the Hollywood-financed Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951).
Patrick Joseph McGoohan (March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an American-born actor, brought up in Ireland and England, where he established an extensive stage and film career, with his most notable roles in the 1960s television series Danger Man (renamed Secret Agent when exported to the US), and The Prisoner, which he co-created. McGoohan wrote and directed several episodes of The Prisoner himself, occasionally using the pseudonyms Joseph Serf and Paddy Fitz. Later in his career he moved to America and subsequently appeared as the killer in four Columbo episodes, twice winning an Emmy. He was featured in David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981), and played King Edward I aka Longshanks in Mel Gibson's Braveheart (1995).
McGoohan was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, to Thomas McGoohan and Rose Fitzpatrick, who were living in the United States after emigrating from Ireland to look for work. He was brought up Roman Catholic. Shortly after he was born, McGoohan's parents moved back to Mullaghmore, County Leitrim, Ireland, and, seven years later, they moved to Sheffield, England. McGoohan attended St Vincent's school in Sheffield, but following the outbreak of World War II he was evacuated to Loughborough, Leicestershire. There he attended Ratcliffe College, where he excelled in mathematics and boxing.
Actors: Ken Thorne (composer), Katherine Helmond (actress), Jane Robinson (producer), Sherilyn Fenn (actress), Kevin McCarthy (actor), Ray Wise (actor), Eugene Roche (actor), William McNamara (actor), Alan Shearman (actor), John Saxon (actor), Michael Cavanaugh (actor), Nigel Havers (actor), Angus Macfadyen (actor), Kevin Connor (director), Jane Robinson (costume designer),
Plot: The story of 'Elizabeth Taylor (I)' (qv)'s rise to stardom, beginning in Los Angeles 1942. Her dominating mother has decided that her daughter must become a star - no matter what others or Elizabeth herself think. Assisted by 'Hedda Hopper' (qv), she gets a part in _Lassie Come Home (1943)_ (qv). She becomes a child star, raised by her studio. Growing up, she has several love-affairs - and several divorces, since her husbands can't accept being married to a Hollywood icon.
Keywords: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, acting, actress, alcoholism, based-on-novel, behind-the-scenes, celebrity, character-name-in-title