Actors, Politicians, and Celebrities

Discussion in 'General' started by morse1001, Mar 24, 2006.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

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  2. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Has anyone read Harry Secombe's Arias and Raspberries? If so, what did they think of it?

    Lesley
     
  3. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Harold Gould - IMDb

    "During World War II, he spent two years in the Army, serving first in a mortar platoon that saw combat in France. After recovering from trench foot in an English infirmary, he was reassigned to a railroad transportation unit in France."
     
  4. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I had no idea that he nearly died in a gas attack, or that his original accent was Cockney!
     
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  5. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Another good picture from the estate.

    He really did have 'future film star' all over him.

    Ep6nNZTXUAASP5Y.jpeg.jpg
     
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  6. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Jackie Coogan

    Coogan enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor that December, he requested a transfer to Army Air Forces as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. Graduating the Advanced Glider School with the Glider Pilot aeronautical rating and the rank of Flight Officer,[20] he volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group.[21]

    In December 1943, the unit was sent to India. He flew British troops, the Chindits, under General Orde Wingate on March 5, 1944, landing them at night in a small jungle clearing 100 miles (160 km) behind Japanese lines in the Burma Campaign


    Jackie Coogan - Wikipedia
     
  7. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

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  8. alieneyes

    alieneyes Senior Member

    He had plenty of experience to draw from in his role as Major Roy Franklin in "The Guns of Navarone"

    Anthony Quayle served as an SOE liaison officer with Albanian partisans.

    [​IMG]

    Regards,

    Dave
     
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  9. Quarterfinal

    Quarterfinal Well-Known Member

    Let’s start with the ladies and Sheila Mercier, perhaps better known as Annie Sugden in Emmerdale, who was a WAAF Adjutant with Fighter Command. Namesake Molly Sugden, otherwise Mrs Slocombe, was not in uniform per se, but served making shells for the Navy in a munitions factory. Mercier’s brother, Brian Rix, did a spell in the RAF too, but later became a Bevin Boy. Ian Carmichael served with 22 DG in Normandy, losing a finger-end whilst closing the hatch on his Valentine. Another Normandy veteran was searchlight operator Benny Hill. Roy Dotrice flew as a WOp/AG in a 106 Sqn Manchester from Coningsby, was shot down and became a PW - thankfully with the 6 others in the crew. Eric Sykes seemingly met Flt Lt Bill Fraser (Snudge in “The Army Game”) when they served with the RAF Special Liaison Unit (Bletchley associated and featured in other threads). Fraser’s comedy oppo Alfie Bass was a DonR with the Middlesex Regt. Lt Col Leo Genn CdeGuerre RA, was an assistant prosecutor at the Belsen trials at Lueneburg - leaving the Bar subsequently. Michael Bentine was an RAF Intelligence Officer, later seconded to MI9 and working for Airey Neave - and yet another involved with Belsen.
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2021
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  10. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    David Niven gets a bit of a mention at around 12mins in...

    BBC Radio 4 Extra - Peter Ustinov - Dear Me, 4. Frustrations

    4. Frustrations
    Peter Ustinov - Dear Me
    Episode 4 of 8
    'We were supposed to be Germans. Our duty was to try and capture Maidstone from the Home Guard - that civilian task force of veterans and the infirm, who were supposed to harass the Germans in case of landing and hold vital positions until better-armed units of the army could be deployed.'
    Peter Ustinov uses his acting talents in army manoeuvres and war films - but becomes increasingly frustrated with military life.
    The writer, director and actor continues his autobiography
    Abridged by Jack Singleton.
    Producer Rosemary Hart
    First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1978.
     
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  11. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Remembering Walter Matthau, the well known US actor.

    He served in the same 8th USAAF Bomb Group (No 453) as James Stewart out of Old Buckenham. The Group was equipped with the B24 and it is possible that they may have crewed together if they were on the same squadron within the Group.

    Walter Matthau - Wikipedia
     
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  12. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Do father’s of movie stars/celebs count? Father of Olivia Newton-John.
    Brinley “Bryn” Newton-John (1914-1992) - Find a...
     
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  13. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    World_War_II_around_the_globe (35).jpg

    "Jimmy Stewart, former movie star, is sworn in as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Corps by Lt. E.L. Reid, personnel officer of the west coast training center at Moffett Field, California, on January 1, 1941. Stewart was one of Hollywood’s most popular actors before he was inducted into the Army in 1941."
     
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  14. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    I'm reading his autobiography "All About Me!", which is real good and also hilarious when he talks about his movies.

    Chapter 3 is about WWII.

    By this point I knew I wanted to go into show business, but Hitler had started a war. It was 1943 and my mother had three blue stars hanging in the window, meaning she had three boys in the service --- all my older brothers. Thank God none of them were gold, because a gold star meant that you had lost a child in combat.

    My brother Bernie was fighting in the South Pacific and eventually became a Japanese code breaker. Lenny was fighting in the Fifteenth Air Force as an engineer gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress stationed in Foggia, Italy. And Irving was a second lieutenant in the Signal Corps and fighting his way every day across the George Washington Bridge to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

    Lenny was a true hero. The December 20, 1942 edition of the New York Herald Tribune reported:

    N.Y. Flyer Freezes Hands, Repairs Gun at 32 Below
    Flesh Sticks to Metal, but he Carries Out Mission

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (AP) --- With full knowledge of the consequences, Staff Sergeant Kaminsky, of 111 Lee Avenue, Brooklyn, peeled off his heavy gloves to repair his jammed machine gun in the waist of a B-17 Flying Fortress at a height of five miles and in a temperature of 32 degrees below zero during a recent mission against an Austrian target, the War Department said today.
    Kaminsky's hands froze almost immediately --- as he knew they would. His fingers swelled to twice normal size, and the skin of his hands stuck to the steel as he worked. But he repaired the gun and went back into action to help fight off the German planes as his Flying Fortress was returning from an attack on the Messerschmitt factory at Wiener-Neustadt.
    Now in a hospital, he is recuperating.


    He goes on to write that he went back to duty and was shot down on his thirty-sixth mission and became a POW. He threw away his dog tags with the H for Hebrew on them before capture and told the Germans his name was Polish. He was liberated at the end of the war.
     
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  15. Mr Jinks

    Mr Jinks Bit of a Cad

    phillips 98.png
    Leslie Phillips (98 in April 2022) was called up in 1942 into the RA . Promoted to Bombadier he was selected for a commission and after rejoining the Ra was transferred in 1944 to the 8th Durham Light Infantry. He was declared unfit for service just before D-Day. He recalled:- ‘I had a nervous illness which caused paralysis if I undertook any sudden or violent movement.’ Leslies best friend 299741 Lieutenant John David Mould took over Phillips platoon, and was killed in France on the 11th June 1944. Leslie`s guilt he felt at being left behind was compounded by the news that his friend had been killed and that his brother had been badly wounded serving in Italy. He once said :- ‘I still feel tremendous guilt, although there was nothing I could do about it. I suppose it was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me.’ Leslie Phillips was discharged from the army in December 1944 due to his health.
    {DLI 1920-46]

    Kyle
     
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  16. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    IMDB has this additional info:

    At age 18, he was called up for army service in the Royal Artillery and soon made a Lance Bombardier and sent for officer training becoming a 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to the Durham Light Infantry. A great deal of training with live ammunition caused him to suffer from a form of shell shock and after various light duties he was demobbed in the Autumn of 1944.

    Leslie Phillips - Biography - IMDb
     
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  17. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

  18. AB64

    AB64 Senior Member

    A quick google trying to work out who a familiar face was brought me to Percy Herbert (don't think he's been mentioned) Percy Herbert (actor) - Wikipedia 18th Div RAOC injured when his ship was attacked arriving in Singapore and survived the Alexandria Hospital massacre becoming a POW

    GBM_POW-GALLIP_1-1-88_01590.jpg
     
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  19. MongoUK

    MongoUK Junior Member

    Would've served with my great-uncle. Unfortunately, he didn't make it back.

    Thanks for sharing.
     
  20. MongoUK

    MongoUK Junior Member

    Hugh "Tam" Williams
    Served with GHQ Liaison Squadron (Phantom)

    Served in "K" Squadron during North Africa (alongside my grandfather) and was later attached to US 7th Army HQ and attached to "A" Squadron Phantom in NWE.

    Hugh Williams - Wikipedia

    Wartime letters between him and Margaret Vyner published in Always and Always.
     

    Attached Files:

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