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Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne CBE (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor.
Hawthorne was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, although he grew up in South Africa, where he was educated by the Christian Brothers. He returned to the United Kingdom in the 1950s to pursue acting.
Career
In a long and varied career, which began with an advert for Mackeson stout and a bit part in Dad's Army, his most famous roles were as Sir Humphrey Appleby in the television series Yes Minister (and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister), for which he won four BAFTA awards, and as King George III in Alan Bennett's stage play The Madness of George III (Olivier Award) and the film adaptation, for which he received an Oscar nomination.
He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and was knighted in 1999.
An intensely private individual, he was deeply saddened when he was involuntarily "outed" as gay in the run-up to the Oscars but nevertheless attended the ceremonies with his long-time partner Trevor Bentham and spoke openly about being gay in interviews and his autobiography, Straight Face, which was published posthumously.

Clive Owen (born October 3, 1964) is an Academy Award -nominated, and Golden Globe- and BAFTA-award winning English actor, now a regular performer in Hollywood and independent American films.
The fourth of five brothers, Owen was born in Coventry, West Midlands, England, the son of Pamela and Jess Owen. His father, a country and western singer, left the family when Owen was three years old, and despite a brief reconciliation when Owen was nineteen, the two have remained estranged. Raised by his mother and stepfather, a railway ticket clerk, he has described his childhood as "rough." While initially opposed to drama school, he changed his mind in 1984, after a long and fruitless period of searching for work. Owen graduated from RADA in 1987 with a class that included Ralph Fiennes and Jane Horrocks. After graduation, he won a position at the Young Vic, performing in several William Shakespeare plays. In an incident he later described as "very schmaltzy", he met his future wife when the two performed the leads in Romeo and Juliet.

Initially, Owen carved out a career in television: in 1988 Owen starred as Gideon Sarn in a BBC television production of Precious Bane and the Channel 4 film Vroom before the 1990s saw him become a regular on stage and television in the UK, notably his lead role in the ITV series Chancer followed by an appearance in the Thames Television production of Lorna Doone.
He won critical acclaim for his performances in a 1991 Stephen Poliakoff film called Close My Eyes, about a brother and sister who embark on an incestuous love affair; he subsequently appeared in The Magician, Class of '61, Century, Nobody's Children, An Evening with Gary Lineker, Doomsday Gun, Return of the Native, The Turnaround and then a Carlton production called Sharman, about a private detective. In 1996 he appeared in his first major Hollywood film The Rich Man's Wife alongside Halle Berry before finding international acclaim in a Channel 4 film directed by Mike Hodges called Croupier in 1998. He played the title role of a struggling writer who takes a job in a London casino as inspiration for his work, only to get caught up in a robbery scheme. In 1999 he appeared as an accident-prone driver in Split Second, his first BBC production for a decade.

BILLIE WHITELAW

Billie Whitelaw, CBE (born June 6, 1932 Coventry,England) is a distinguished English actress of both stage and film. The actress has won multiple BAFTA awards and Evening Standard British Film Awards for her film work and has appeared in many prestigious theatrical productions in a career spanning more than fifty years.
One of the most notable aspects of her diverse acting career has been her renowned twenty-five year collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. Whitelaw is regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works, and continues to gives lectures on her experiences working with Beckett. Their collaboration has produced some of the most distinctive and innovative techniques in experimental theatre. In 1991, Whitelaw was awarded the CBE.
Whitelaw was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, the daughter of Frances Mary (née Williams) and Gerry Whitelaw. She grew up in a disadvantaged neighborhood and attended the Thornton Grammar School in Bradford. At age 11, she began performing as a child actor on radio programs and later worked as an assistant stage manager at a provincial theatre.
After training at RADA, Whitelaw made her stage debut at age 18 in London 1950. She made her film debut in "The Sleeping Tiger" (1954), followed by roles in Carve Her Name With Pride (1958) and Hell is a City (1959). Whitelaw soon became a regular in British films of the 1950s and early 1960s. In her early film work she specialized in blousy blondes and secretaries, but her dramatic range began to emerge by the late 1960s. She starred alongside Albert Finney in Charlie Bubbles (1967), a performance which won her a BAFTA award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She would win her second BAFTA as the sensuous mother of college student, Hayley Mills in the disturbing psychological study Twisted Nerve (1969). She continued to add memorable roles to notable films including Leo the Last (1970), Gumshoe (1971), and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Frenzy (1972).

Whitelaw gained international acclaim for her chilling role as Mrs. Baylock, the evil guardian of the demon child Damien in The Omen (1976). Her performance was considered one of the most memorable of the film, winning her the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. Other notable films included the hopelessly naive Mrs. Hall in Maurice (1987), one of two sisters, with Joan Plowright, struggling to survive in war-time Liverpool in The Dressmaker (1988), the fiercely domineering and protective mother of psychopathic twin murderers in The Krays (1990), a performance that earned her a BAFTA nomination, and the blind laundress in Quills (2000). She returned to film, in a comedic turn, as one of the village residents in Hot Fuzz (2007). According to Simon Pegg, his wife accidentally referred to her as "Willie Bitelaw".

Leigh Lawson

Leigh Lawson (born 21 July 1945 in Atherstone, Warwickshire, England) is a film and stage actor.
Trained at RADA, his films include Tess (1979). Apart from this, his biggest success was the leading role in the drama series, Travelling Man (1984).
During the 1970s, Lawson had a relationship with actress Hayley Mills which followed the break-up of her marriage to Roy Boulting, and resulted in a son, Jason Lawson.
In 1988, Lawson married Twiggy with whom he still lives in West London.

PAUL BRADLEY

Paul Bradley (born 28 May 1955 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire) is an English actor best known for playing Nigel Bates in the BBC1 soap opera EastEnders from 1992 to 1998.
He has also appeared in many other television series such as The Young Ones, The Bill, Red Dwarf, Bottom, My Family and Alas Smith and Jones.
Like many of his comedy peers from the 1980s, Paul has done extensive charity work with Comic Relief in Africa.
He has played Elliot Hope in the BBC medical drama series Holby City since 2005.
He also had a small role in the award-winning 2002 film The Pianist.
As a guitarist and vocalist he co-leads the group The hKippers with Stephen Warbeck, Academy Award winning composer of Shakespeare in Love.
Selected filmography
Holby City (2005 - present) .... Elliot Hope
Twisted Tales (2005) .... Mr. Pandemic
My Family (2002, 2004) .... Mr. Griffin
The Pianist (2002) .... Yehuda
Red Dwarf (1999) .... Chen
EastEnders (1992 - 1998) .... Nigel Bates
Alas Smith & Jones (1992)
Bottom (1992) .... Burglar
Murder Most Horrid (1991) .... Sergeant
Boon (1990) .... Clerk
The Bill (1988) .... Henshaw
The Comic Strip Presents (1986) .... Jerry
The Young Ones (1982-1984) ..... Warlock

Ben Daniels
Born 10 June 1964 (1964-06-10) (age 43)
Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, UK
Occupation Film, stage and television actor
Years active 1987–present
Domestic partner(s) Ian Gelder
Awards won
Laurence Olivier Awards
Best Supporting Actor (2001)
Other Awards
Best Supporting Actor, Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards (2001)

This article is about the British actor. For the American pop singer, see A Sunny Day in Glasgow.
Ben Daniels (born 10 June 1964) is a British actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), he has taken on roles in numerous productions. On television he has appeared in, among other shows, The Lost Language of Cranes (1991), Conspiracy (2001), Cutting It (2002–2005), Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005), The Virgin Queen (2005) and The State Within (2006). On the silver screen, Daniels has appeared mostly in supporting roles, including parts in The Bridge (1992), Beautiful Thing (1996), I Want You (1998), Madeline (1998) and Doom (2005). An exception was the 1997 independent film Passion in the Desert, based on a short story by novelist Honoré de Balzac.

Daniels has had most success with theatre work. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards for 900 Oneonta (1994), for Best Actor in the M.E.N. Theatre Awards for Martin Yesterday (1998), and for Best Supporting Actor in the 15th Laurence Olivier Awards for Never the Sinner (1991). He eventually won the latter award at the 25th Laurence Olivier Awards, as well as the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2001 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards for his performance in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons. Other theatre credits include Tales From Hollywood (2001), Three Sisters (2003), Iphigenia at Aulis (2004), The God of Hell (2005), The Wild Duck (2005–2006) and Thérèse Raquin (2006). In 2008 Daniels made his Broadway début with American actress Laura Linney in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. The results will be announced on 15 June 2008.

The entrance of the main building of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) at Talgarth Road in Hammersmith.
Early life and education
Ben Daniels was born on 10 June 1964in Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England. His father was an engineer at Rolls-Royce and later a grocer in abbey green Nueaton, while his mother Cynthia owned a children's clothes shop called Amanda's in Newdigate St. He has an older and a younger sister. Daniels has recalled: "I was quite a shy child, but quite disruptive as well. I was very sneaky and underhand."
According to Daniels, drama lessons at O-levels gave him a voice, and when he attended sixth form studies at Stratford College in Stratford-upon-Avon between 1980 and 1982, doing A-levels in theatre studies and English literature, he attended Royal Shakespeare Company performances avidly. A fellow student recalled that Daniels, whom he knew as Dave, "was very serious about his work, and struck me as incredibly intelligent. ... You got the sense his mind was working; the cogs were ticking over". Daniels subsequently trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) for three years.
Daniels as Finn Bevan in Cutting It (2002–2005).

ELIZABETH SPRIGGS

Elizabeth Spriggs (born September 18, 1929) is a British character actress.
Died July 2008
Although she was born in Derbyshire she was brought up in Coventry and worked at the Coventry Theatre.(pictured with actor Norman Evans at Coventry Theatre in 1954 with her being far right)
Her longest role on British television was as Nan on Shine on Harvey Moon. She has also appeared in Doctor Who and in the BBC dramatisations of Our Mutual Friend and Martin Chuzzlewit both by Charles Dickens and George Eliot's Middlemarch. In children's television she appeared as the title witch in the BBC's Simon and the Witch (1987). She makes frequent appearances as a supporting player in British television drama and comedy series. Because of the type of roles she typically plays, she is often confused with Liz Smith, even though there is little physical resemblance between the two.

Spriggs has also made two appearances on the long running murder mystery series, Midsomer Murders, appearing in the pilot episode (Killings At Badgers Drift) as Iris Rainbird in 1997 and then again as the identical twin sister (Ursula Gooding) of the latter character in the ninth series in 2005. Spriggs' appearances on Midsomer have been with Richard Cant who played her son both times.
A stalwart member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1962 to 1976 she played many Shakespearean roles, including The Nurse, Beatrice, Gertrude, Paulina, Calpurnia and Mistress Quickly. This was followed by a memorable Madame Arcati in the opening season of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at the new National Theatre on London's South Bank.
On film, she played The Fat Lady in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), and Mrs Jennings in Emma Thompson's 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. An early film role was as Mrs. Murray, the PVC-clad personnel manager in the 1968 Peter Hall film Work is a 4-letter word, opposite Cilla Black and David Warner.

Alex Hall
Alex Hall (born Patricia Anne Thompson, July 19 1949 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire) is a British actress and radio presenter.
Early life
Her father was a semi-professional footballer for Nuneaton Borough FC.They lived on the end Hinckley Road (A motel stands at the of Hinckley Road and was used for the outside shots for the Crossroads TV series during the 60's and 70's).
She lived in Peterlee from the age of 3 until 10, then in Billingham, when her father worked for ICI. She attended a girls grammar school. She worked in the advertising sales department of the Northern Echo and the Evening Gazette.
Television career
She appeared in many episodes of ITV's Emmerdale (99-01) as Headteacher of Hotten Comprehensive, Jean Strickland. Her character was killed after a hit and run involving a number of her students. Alex had previously appeared in many well know TV shows including Coronation Street, Prime Suspect, Spender, Byker Grove and Harry.
Since Emmerdale, TV roles have included Wendy Frost in Bodies with Max Beesley and Keith Allen and Brenda, the dizzy Little Chef waitress in Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere.
Radio career
Alex started out at on the late-night phone-in on TFM in Thornaby-on-Tees. She also hosted a phone in on Bradford's The Pulse for many years before crossing over to Radio York in 2000, then to Radio Leeds, hosting the "Alex Hall Late Night Phone In" on the BBC Night Network between 10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. from January 2002 until May 2006. She currently hosts a daily show on BBC Tees from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. She was also a columnist for the Bradford Telegraph and Argus.
Personal life
She has a daughter, Holly (born c. 1982) and a son, Nick (born c. 1974),

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