Heather Angel (1909-1986)
Heather Grace Angel was born in Oxford in 1909. Before moving to Hollywood, she appeared in numerous British films as an actress. She can be seen in the Hitchcock flicks “The Lifeboat” and “Suspicion”. Angel can be heard as the voice actress in the original versions of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Peter Pan”. She died in California in 1986.
Rowan Atkinson (born 1955)
comedian and actor. Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born in Consett in 1955 and later studied in Oxford. He started his career in front of the camera at the BBC. In 1982 he played a role in the James Bond film “Never Say Never”. He achieved world fame with his comic character “Mr. Bean”, which was broadcast on television from 1989 and of which several films have already been made.
Richard Attenborough (born 1923)
actor and director. Sir Richard Attenborough was born in Cambridge in 1923 and took acting lessons at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His most famous film as a director was “Gandhi” and was released in 1982. He also made “Chaplin” from 1992. Attenborough played in Spielberg’s box office hit “Jurassic Park”.
Peter Brook (born 1925)
theater and film director. Brook was born in London in 1925. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, among other places. There he discovered his passion for Shakespeare, which continues to inspire him to new productions and film adaptations to this day. Brook had his breakthrough with lectures on modern theater, which in book form (“Empty Space”) exerted international influence on directors. He also successfully filmed the novel “Lord of the Flies”.
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)
actor, director, comedian and composer. Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was born in London in 1889 and began his career in the theater at the age of nine. In 1913 he made his second US tour with Stan Laurel and was discovered by the Keystone film company. Soon he developed the “tramp” character in his films, which would make him world famous. He parodied American society and his satirical slapstick comedy was also directed against US state power. His most famous works include the films “City Lights”, “Modern Times” and “Limelight”.
John Cleese (born 1939)
actor, screenwriter, voice actor and member of the Monty Python comedian troupe. John Cleese was born in Somerset in 1939 and received a private school education. While studying law at Cambridge, he met Graham Chapman, with whom he founded the Monty Pythons. Cleese still knows the world from the 1988 film “A Fish Named Wanda”. He is an English veteran in the film business.
Sacha Baron Cohen (born 1971)
actor and comedian. Cohen was born in 1971 to a Jewish family in London. Even before his studies in Cambridge, where he joined a theater group, he gained acting experience. Cohen has become internationally known for his role as Borat and Ali G. His artistic work is often time-critical and humorous, close to the threshold of stupid. He has already won a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination.
Judi Dench (born 1934)
Judith Olivia Dench was born in York in 1934 as the daughter of a doctor and is one of the most famous English actresses. She completed her acting studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Dench has starred in numerous Hollywood films such as “A fine Romance” (1986) and “Shakespeare in Love” (1998 – Academy Award), and in the internationally successful James Bond films as M. As a stage actress, she specializes in William Shakespeare’s dramas.
Stephen Frears (born 1941)
director and producer. Frears was born in Leicester in 1941 and graduated from Cambridge before devoting himself to film. Frears is famous for works such as “Dangerous Liaisons” (1988), “Hi-Lo Country – In the Land of the Last Cowboys” (1998), “High Fidelity” (2000) or “The Queen” (2006). Frears received the European Film Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2011.
Stephen Fry (born 1957)
actor, director, screenwriter and writer. Fry was born in London in 1957 and initially sent to various boarding schools. He graduated from Cambridge where he befriended Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson. With the former he wrote and directed skits called “A Bit of Fry & Laurie” for the BBC. He became known for his roles in films such as “IQ – Love is relative” (1994), “Oscar Wilde” (1997), “The discovery of heaven” (2001) and “Alice in Wonderland” (2010). He is a British character actor.
Lucy Gordon (1980-2009)
actress. Lucy Gordon was born in Oxford in 1980, where she also went to school. She grew up bilingual and partly lived in France with her family. In her short life, Gordon played in well-known films, such as “L’auberge espagnole – Reunion in St. Petersburg”, “Spider-Man 3” and most recently in the 2010 film “Gainsbourg – The Man Who Loved Women “. Gordon died of suicide in Paris in 2009.
Hugh Grant (born 1960)
actor. Hugh Grant was born in 1960 in London to an officer and a teacher. He studied at Oxford and played in the college theater company. He is particularly fond of the love comedy genre. The 1994 film “Four Weddings and a Funeral” made Grant famous. Numerous box office hits such as “Notting Hill” and “Actually… Love” followed.
Rupert Grint (born 1988)
Rupert Lloyd Alexander Grint was born in Stevenage in 1988, where he joined the local theater company. At eleven he achieved a coup and from then on he was one of the main characters in the internationally popular Harry Potter films. Grint played a friend of Potter – Ron Weasley, although he had no acting training and has already received numerous awards, including the Bravo Otto and the MTV Movie Award and the People’s Choice Award.
Paul Greengrass (born 1955)
director and screenwriter. Greengrass was born in Cheam in 1955, studied at Cambridge and initially earned his living as a journalist. From the end of the 1990s his first films appeared, which made Greengrass internationally famous – “Vom Flying and Other Dreams”, “The Bourne Conspiracy” etc. Greengrass has received many awards, e. B. with the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Alec Guinness (1914-2000)
Born in Marylebone, Sir Alec Guinness is one of the most important film actors of the 20th century. After receiving an acting scholarship in 1934, he started at the theater and played at the Old Vic Theater with stars like Laurence Olivier. From 1946 onwards he became world famous through films such as “Great Expectations” and “Oliver Twist” as well as “Nobility Committed”. He celebrated further world successes as a character actor in “The Bridge on the Kwai”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Doctor Zhivago”, “Star Wars” and “The Little Lord”. In 1979 Dustin Hoffmann presented him with the Oscar for his life’s work; In 1959 he had already been knighted.
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone in 1899 and studied at the London Art Academy. The director and film producer has left a complete oeuvre of over 50 films, most of which have cult status, e. B. “The window to the courtyard” or “The birds”. He was a master of horror and thrills. Most of his films are about murders and intrigues. He makes a small appearance in each strip. Furthermore, a television series bore his name. Hitchcock died in Los Angeles in 1980.
Tom Hollander (born 1967)
actor. Tom Hollander was born in Oxford and studied in Cambridge. After gaining initial experience at the theater, Hollander devoted himself to film. His first famous roles were in “Enigma – The Secret” in 2001 and in “Pride and Prejudice” in 2005. The Briton can also be seen in “Pirates of the Caribbean” alongside Johnny Depp. Hollander has received several awards, including the London Critics’ Circle Film Award.
Keira Knightley (born 1985)
Keira Christina Knightley was born in 1985 in Teddington and is now one of the great Hollywood actresses who receive the most fees. Her mother is a writer and her father is also an actor. Knightley’s breakthrough helped her roles in “Pirates of the Caribbean” (2003), “Pride and Prejudice” (2005) and “London Boulevard” (2010). She is also the advertising face for the Coco Mademoiselle perfume.
Hugh Laurie (born 1959)
actor, musician and writer. Hugh Laurie was born in Oxford in 1959 and studied at both Eton College and Cambridge University. Laurie also started out as a stage actor before starring in the hit BBC sketch series “Fry and Laurie” between 1986 and 1995. He is best known in Germany as Dr. House in the television series of the same name. Laurie also made her debut in 2011 with the music album “Let them talk” in collaboration with Tom Jones.
Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)
Vivian Mary Hartley was born in Darjiling in 1913 and studied at the London Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her most important role was that of Scarlett O’Hara in the classic “Gone with the Wind” (1939), for which she also got the Oscar. Leigh also worked in films such as “Anna Karenina” (1948), “Endstation Sehnsucht” (1951) and “Das Narrenschiff” (1965). The actress also made a name for herself on Broadway in plays such as “Romeo and Juliet” (1940). Leigh died in London in 1967.
John Madden (born 1949)
theater and film director. Madden was born in Portsmouth in 1949. He studied at Cambridge, then worked for the BBC and lived mostly in the United States between the 1970s and 1980s. His international breakthrough came in 1998 with the film “Shakespeare in Love”, which was awarded seven Oscars.
Rebecca Mader (born 1977)
actress. Mader was born in Cambridge in 1977 and then worked as a model for Colgate and Wella in the United States. She earned worldwide fame as an actress through the popular US series “Lost”, in which she plays Charlotte. At the side of George Clooney she is z. B. seen in the 2009 film “Men who stare at goats”.
Sam Mendes (born 1965)
director. Samuel Alexander Mendes was born in Reading in 1965, attended school in Oxford and college in Cambridge. No less a person than Steven Spielberg lured Mendes to America. For his first feature film “American Beauty” (1999) he received an Oscar as a director. Mendes’ “Road to Perdition” (2002) and “Zeiten des Aufruhrs” (2008) have also received high levels of praise, also have a star cast and have achieved international fame.
Roger Moore (born 1927)
Sir Roger George Moore was born in London in 1927. He fought in World War II and after studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art went to the United States to become an actor. He eventually gained fame through the role of the detective Simon Templar in the series of the same name and from 1973 took over the role of the secret agent James Bond. He made a total of 7 Bond films, including: “Live and Let Die” (1973), “Moonraker” (1979) and “Octopussy” (1983).
