Richard Wattis was born 25th February 1912 in Staffordshire.  After leaving the family business, Wattis became an actor,making many stage appearances before his film debut in 1938 when he appeared in A Yank at Oxford.  War service interrupted his career as an actor. He is best known for his appearances, wearing his thick-rimmed round spectacles, in British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s, often as a "man from the Ministry" or similar character.

Such appearances included the St Trinian's films (The Belles of St Trinian's, Blue Murder at St Trinian's, and The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery) as Manton Bassett, a civil servant who was the Deputy Director of Schools in the Ministry of Education, where he was often seen frowning and expressing indignation at the outrageous behaviour of other characters. He is also well known for his performance as the British civil servant Northbrook in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). He broke from this typecasting in his later films, such as his starring role in Games That Lovers Play.

Wattis's other films included The happiest days of Your Life, Hobson's Choice – he played the part of Albert Prosser, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Carry On Spying, The Colditz Story, Dentist on the Job, Very Important Person, The Happiest Days of Your Life, and The Longest Day.

For fans of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, Richard Wattis appeared in Helter Skelter in 1949 – he played the role of the compere of the ‘Nick Nack Show.’

He also appeared on television, including a long-running role as Charles Brown in Sykes, and appearances in Danger Man, The Prisoner, The Goodies, Hancock's Half Hour, and Father, Dear Father, Jackanory and Coppers End.  From 1957 to 1958, he appeared as Peter Jamison in three episodes of the American sitcom Dick and the Duchess.

The actor died 1st February 1975.

A small residential development, Richard Wattis Drive, is named in his honour in his home town of Wednesbury.

Wallace Bosco was born 31st January 31, 1880 in London. In addition to his acting career which spanned 6 decades from the silent film era through to the mid 1960’s he was also a writer.

The first film that he appeared in was in the 1913 version of Ivanhoe where he played the role of Sir Cedric, Ivanhoe’s father.  During the silent era he literally appeared in dozens of films – just a few of them are The Two Roads 1913, Saved from the Sea 1920, The House of Peril 1922, Rob Roy 1922, The School for Scandal 1923 (he appeared again in The School for Scandal in the 1930’s talkie version), The Fair Maid of Perth 1923, Whispering Gables 1927, Balaclava 1928,  The Man Who Changed His name 1928 – his final one being in The Dizzy Limit released in 1930.


Other films that he went on to appear in include; , The Wickham Mystery 1932, Dark Journey 1937, as Ted Holmes in 1941’s Ghost Train, as the ARP Worker in Canterbury Tales 1944, Brief Encounter 1945, The Small Back Room 1949, The Constant Husband 1955, A Night to Remember 1958, Village of the Damned 1960, The Day the Earth Caught Fire 1961, Carry on Regardless 1961 – he played the part of the Old Man in the Ruby Room, Murder at the Gallop 1963,  and Repulsion in 1965.

In 1938 he had a minor role in Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes – he played the uncredited part of a Guest (see rear of picture) staying at Gasthof Petrus – the same hotel that Charters and Caldicott got stranded at in Bandrika.

He died in 1973 in Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, England

The actor Torin thatcher was born 15th January 1905 in India to British parents. During World War II he served with the Royal Artillery and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was an extremely imposing, powerfully built man and his physique offered him a number of tough and commanding roles over the years primarily in larger-than-life action sequences.

He appeared in a number of classic British films in the late 1930s and 1940s including Sabotage (1936), The Spy in Black (1939),  Contraband (1940), Let George Do it (1940), Major Barbara (1941), The Captive Heart (1946), I See A Dark Stranger (1946), When the Bough Breaks (1947), and The Fallen idol (1948).

Two of the films that he appeared in during this period were alongside Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne – in 1940 he had an uncredited role in Night Train to Munich and in 1942 he played the part of a German General (pictured) in Next of Kin.

In Hollywood from the 1950's onwards, his looming figure and baleful countenance were constantly called upon including roles in The Crimson Pirate (1952), as reformed pirate Sir Henry Morgan in The Robe (1953), Helen of Troy (1956) as the Duke of Wellington in  Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), and Hawaii (1966).

Also a steady fixture on TV, he appeared in productions such as The Great Adventure (1963), Star Trek (1967), Mission: Impossible (1968-1969), The Land of the Giants (1970) and made-for-TV films such as the Jack Palance version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Brenda Starr.

Torin Thatcher died of cancer on March 4, 1981 in Los Angeles.
 
 

 The striking, dark-haired beauty Zena Moyra Marshall was born 1st January 1925 in Nairobi, Kenya to a French mother and British father.
 
Her interest in the acting profession matured after a wartime theatrical tour with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), while still in her teens. After completing her training at RADA, her exotic looks led to a contract with the Rank Organisation where she was groomed by the so-called 'charm school' as a sultry temptress and second lead in costume films, romantic melodramas and thrillers.

Zena made her screen debut in the stagey, moribund epic Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). She had a bit-part as a handmaiden. Zena's subsequent career was anything but meteoric. For several years, she was given only minor supporting roles in productions by Rank affiliates, such as GFD/Two Cities and Gainsborough, including Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), Snowbound (1948) and Helter Skelter (1949) – she played the role of Giselle (first photo)

A brief sojourn in Hollywood resulted in a lacklustre Allied Artists musical, Let's Be Happy (1957), as an amorous redhead, rivalling star Vera-Ellen for the affections of crooner Tony Martin. During the 1950's, she managed to rekindle her theatrical career and, by the end of the decade, went on tour through Germany and the Netherlands with "The Late Edwina Black". Zena was one of the first actresses to be featured in a British television commercial (for shampoo) on early ITV.  Television did, in the end, become her favoured medium. She had some of her better on-screen moments in three episodes of Danger Man (1960), opposite Patrick McGoohan, between 1961 and 1964.

Zena Marshall's main claim to fame rests on her portrayal of the Eurasian double agent, Miss Taro (see second image), in the first ever Bond film, Dr. No (1962). Her character was, incidentally, the first woman seduced by Bond, prior to his encounter with Ursula Andress in the part of Honey Rider. Another noted beauty, the reigning Miss Jamaica, Marguerite LeWars was originally slated to screen test for Miss Taro. However, Lewars declined for reasons of 'personal modesty' and is merely glimpsed in the film in a bit-part as an unnamed photographer. Zena herself, was at first unhappy with the script, but Terence Young, who had previously worked with her on the poorly-received costume biopic, The Bad Lord Byron (1949), lightened some of the dialogue with humour. In the end, the bedroom scene with Sean Connery took three days to shoot, because Zena struggled with the idea of having to spit in her co-star's face, after Bond has her character turned over to the superintendent of police. Miss Taro remains one of the most iconic of Bond villainesses.

Zena's last roles of note were as an Italian countess in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), and as a secretary fighting alien enemies (alongside incongruously cast accountant Charles Hawtrey in the sci-fi outing The Terrornauts (1967).

She died from cancer on 10th July 2009.

Roger Maxwell was born 1st January 1900 in London as Roger D. Latham. He died on November 24, 1971 in London shortly after his final performance – he played the part of the Peppery Old Gent in the 1971 Dad’s Army film (see 2nd image).
 
His film career started in the late 1920’s but it wasn’t until 1949 that his film acting career fully took off.  One of his first roles was as the uncredited ‘Director on the Humphrey, Fairfax & Sons Board character in Stop Press Girl (1949) – see first image.
 
Other notable films that he appeared in include Ha’penny Breeze (1950), Night Was Our Friend (1951), Deadly Nightshade (1953), Glad Tidings (1953), Heidi (1953), Reach for the Sky (1956), The Angry Silence (1960) and Dr Zhivago (1965).
 
His TV appearances include: Life with the Lyons (1957), It’s a Square World (1961). Bootsie and Snudge (1963), William (1963) and Danger Man (1965).
 

The British actor Charles Gordon McLeod was born 27 December 1890 in Devon. Balding, bespectacled and hard-boiled looking, he specialised in tough, no-nonsense characters typically as a figure of authority.

His first film appearances was in 1925’s The Only Way.  He made a number of appearances in further silent films but his career really took off in the 1930’s appearing on over 30 films during the decade.

Just a few of his more notable film appearances include: Death at Broadcasting House (1934), Treachery on the High Seas (1936), Victoria the Great (1937) and the follow up Sixty Glorious Years (1938) – in both films he played John Brown alongside Anna Neagle as Victoria, I See Ice (1938), Girl in the News (1940), The First of the Few (1941), Meet Sexton Blake (1945), He Snoops to Conquer (1945), Night Boat to Dublin (1946), Just William (1946), The Winslow Boy (1948), Chance of a Lifetime (1950), Johnny on the Rum (1953), The Million Pound Note (1954) and The House Across the Lake (1954).
He is probably best known for his role as Inspector Teal in The Saint films - The Saint in London (1939), The Saint’s Vacation (1941) and The Saint Meets the Tiger (1943),

In 1941 he played the part of Rossenger (pictured) in Crook’s Tour, the third outing for the Charters and Caldicott characters.

He died 16th October 1953.