Who is Charlie Drake?

Charlie Drake

Charles Edward Springall, known professionally as Charlie Drake was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.

With his small stature (5' 1"/155 cm tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick, he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally known for his "Hello, my darlings!" catchphrase.

Born Charles Edward Springall in the Elephant and Castle, Southwark, South London, he took his mother's maiden name for the stage and, later, television and film, achieving success as a comedian.
Drake made his first appearance on stage at the age of eight, and after leaving school toured working men's clubs. After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Drake turned professional and made his television début in The Centre Show in 1953. He then joined his wartime comrade Jack Edwardes to form a double act, named 'Mick and Montmorency'. In 1954 he appeared with Bob Monkhouse in the film, Fast and Loose.
He appeared in the television shows Laughter in Store (1957), Drake's Progress (1957–58), Charlie Drake In… (1958 to 1960) and The Charlie Drake Show (1960 to 1961), being remembered for his opening catchphrase "Hello, my darlings!" The catchphrase came about because he was short, and so his eyes would often be naturally directly level with a lady's bosom. Because of this and because in his television work he preferred appearing with big-busted women, the catchphrase was born.
The later series was ended, however, by a serious accident that occurred in 1961, during a live transmission. Drake had arranged for a bookcase to be set up in such a way that it would fall apart during a slapstick sketch in which he was pulled through it. It was later discovered that an over-enthusiastic workman had "mended" the bookcase before the broadcast. The actors working with him, unaware of what had happened, proceeded with the rest of the sketch which required that they pick him up and throw him through an open window. Drake fractured his skull and was unconscious for three days. It was two years before he returned to the screen.
Television fame led to four films, none of them successful — Sands of the Desert (1960), Petticoat Pirates (1961), The Cracksman (1963) and Mister Ten Per Cent (1967). He returned to television in 1963 with The Charlie Drake Show, a compilation of which won an award at the Montreux Festival in 1968. The centrepiece of this was an extended sketch featuring an orchestra performing the 1812 Overture, in which Drake appeared to play all the instruments; as well as conducting and one scene in which he was the player of a triangle waiting for his cue to play a single strike – which he subsequently missed.
Through the series he played a gymnast doing a single arm twist from a high ring while a commentator counted eventually into the thousands and by the end of the series, Drake's arm appeared to be 20 ft (6 m) long. Other shows included Who is Sylvia (1967) and Slapstick and Old Lace (1971), but it was The Worker (1965 to 1970) that gained most acclaim.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions, in December 1961 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in a rehearsal room at the London Palladium, and in November 1995, when Michael Aspel surprised him at the curtain call of the comedy play Funny Money at the Playhouse Theatre.
In The Worker (ATV/ITV, 1965–70) he played a perpetually unemployed labourer who, in every episode, was dispatched to a new job by the ever-frustrated clerk (firstly Mr Whitaker in series one, played by Percy Herbert, and from series two onwards Mr Pugh, played by Henry McGee) at the local labour exchange. All the jobs he embarked upon ended in disaster, sometimes with a burst of classic slapstick, sometimes with a bewildered Drake himself at the centre of incomprehensible actions by the people employing him. Bookending these sequences were the encounters between Drake and Pugh. Running jokes included Drake's inability to manage Mr Pugh's name, his mispronunciations ranging from a childish "Mi'er Poo" to "Peeyooo". Drake sang the theme song himself, using an old music hall number. The series was briefly revived by London Weekend Television in 1978.
Drake made a number of records, most of them produced by George Martin for the Parlophone label. The first, "Splish Splash", a cover version of a rock and roll song originally recorded by Bobby Darin, got into the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 7 in 1958. An edited version of "My Boomerang Won't Come Back", became a mid-chart hit.
His final appearances on stage were with Jim Davidson in Sinderella, his adult adaptation of Cinderella, as Baron Hard-on. A live recording of one of the dates on the tour of the pantomime was later adapted, and edited for video, and put out for sale nationwide.

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Who is Sally Geeson?

Sally Geeson

Sally Louise Geeson (born 23 June 1950 in Cuckfield, West Sussex, England) is an English actress with a career mostly on television in the 1970s. Her most famous role was as Sid James's daughter, Sally, in Bless This House. Her character was only 16 at the start despite the fact Geeson herself was in her early 20s.
Geeson studied at Corona Stage Academy from 1957 to 1966, during which time she played small parts in several movies, including The Millionairess (1960), Expresso Bongo (1959), and Carry On Regardless (1961). She also appeared in Carry On Abroad (1972) and Carry On Girls (1973). She also starred alongside Norman Wisdom in the film What's Good for the Goose in 1969, and appeared with Vincent Price in two horror films, The Oblong Box (1969) and Cry of the Banshee (1970).

In August 2013 Geeson featured in a TV commercial for Anglian Windows. Geeson was the second wife of television personality William G. Stewart. She later took up a career in teaching. She has three children called Barney, Hayley and Christopher. Her sister, the actress Judy Geeson, lives in Hollywood.

Filmography:
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968)
The Oblong Box (1969)
What's Good for the Goose (1969)
Cry of the Banshee (1970)
Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (1971)
Bless This House (1972)
Carry On Abroad (1972)
Carry On Girls (1973)

Television:
Armchair Mystery Theatre (1964)
Boy Meets Girl (1967)
Man in a Suitcase - Day of Execution (1967)
Sanctuary - The Girl with the Blue Guitar (1968)
ITV Playhouse - Camille (1968)
You and the World (1968)
Galton and Simpson Comedy (1969)
Detective - Hunt the Peacock (1969)
Strange Report - Whose Pretty Girl Are You (1969)
Softly, Softly: Taskforce - Sue (1970)
Z-Cars - A Day Like Every Day (1970)
Wicked Women - Florence Maybrick (1970)
The Fenn Street Gang - Smart Lad Wanted (1972)
My Name Is Harry Worth - The Family Reunion (1974)
Bless This House (1971–76)

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Who is Bob Grant?

Who is Bob Grant

Robert St Clair "Bob" Grant (21 April 1932 – 8 November 2003) was an English actor and writer, best known for playing Jack Harper in the television sitcom On the Buses, as well as its film spin-offs and stage version.

He was born in Hammersmith, West London, the son of Albert George Grant and Florence Grant (née Burston).

Grant trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, working in his spare time as a frozen food salesman and also (coincidentally, in view of his later career) as a bus driver. After doing national service in the Royal Artillery, he made his stage debut in 1952 as Sydney in Worm's Eye View at the Court Royal, Horsham.

His first London appearance was in The Good Soldier Schweik at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1956, and he spent several years at the Theatre Royal Stratford East before getting the lead role in the musical Blitz! at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End for two years. In 1964 he appeared at the Piccadilly Theatre in Instant Marriage, a musical farce, for which he wrote book and lyrics, with music by Laurie Holloway.

He had by now started to make film appearances, including Sparrows Can’t Sing (1963), the screen version of a play written by his future On the Buses co-star Stephen Lewis in which he had previously acted on stage, and the film version of Till Death Us Do Part (1969). He returned to the Theatre Royal, Stratford, in 1967, and starred in the satirical play Mrs Wilson’s Diary as George Brown, the Foreign Secretary in Harold Wilson’s Labour government – this play later transferred to the West End. When the real-life Brown resigned in 1968, Grant was so concerned that his unflattering portrayal of him as a drunk may have contributed to his resignation that he offered to stand down from the part, but reluctantly continued.

Grant is perhaps best remembered as the randy bus conductor Jack Harper in the television comedy On the Buses, which ran for 74 episodes between 1969 and 1973; he co-wrote 12 episodes with co-star Stephen Lewis (the Inspector). Although some critics thought it was an unfunny and vulgar brand of comedy, it was an instant success with the viewers, and led to three feature films On the Buses (1971), Mutiny on the Buses (1972) and Holiday on the Buses (1973). The series was the peak of his career; when Grant married for the third time in 1971 there were huge crowds outside the register office and the couple had to abandon their hired Rolls-Royce and walk to the reception. A double-decker bus had been provided for the guests, but they had to walk as well.

When On the Buses finished, Grant found himself heavily typecast as Jack Harper and struggled to get other parts. He toured Australia in the farce No Sex Please, We're British, and continued to appear in musicals and pantomimes. In 1975 he starred in a one-off pilot Milk-O, an attempt to reinvigorate his career by means of a similar character, a milkman who spent his time fighting off amorous housewives he was delivering to. However, this did not lead to a series, and Grant never acted for television again. In 1981 he appeared in a touring production of the once-controversial revue Oh! Calcutta!, accompanied by a chorus line of naked men and women less than half his age.

In the 1980s, he suffered from Bipolar disorder and other mental health problems, because of a lack of work and his vast debts. In 1987 he disappeared from his home in Leicestershire for five days; it later emerged that he had gone to Dublin intending to kill himself. He returned only after a public appeal from his wife. In 1995 he attempted suicide again, and was treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after being found slumped over the wheel of a car filled with exhaust fumes.

His last acting role was in the West End in Hobson's Choice early in 1996.[2] Grant then moved with his wife to Church End Twyning, about a mile south of Twyning, near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. He lived very reclusively and neighbours would see him only when he was trimming his hedge.

Grant was found dead in his garage inside his fume-filled car with a hose attached to the exhaust pipe in 2003. He was 71 years old.

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