Elisabeth Sladen

Doctor Who star Elisabeth Sladen, who was also in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, has died aged 63.
Sladen appeared as Doctor Who assistant Sarah Jane Smith in the BBC television sci-fi series between 1973 and 1976, opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.
The Liverpool-born actress appeared in four series from 2007 of The Sarah Jane Adventures on children's channel CBBC.
Sladen had been battling cancer for some time and leaves actor husband Brian Miller and daughter Sadie.
The BBC's Jane Frances-Kelly looks back at her life.

20 April 2011 Last updated at 19:14

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Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen dies

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• In pictures: Elisabeth Sladen

Doctor Who star Elisabeth Sladen, who was also in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, has died aged 63.

Sladen appeared as Doctor Who assistant Sarah Jane Smith in the BBC television sci-fi series between 1973 and 1976, opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.
The Liverpool-born actress appeared in four series from 2007 of The Sarah Jane Adventures on children's channel CBBC.
Sladen had been battling cancer for some time and leaves actor husband Brian Miller and daughter Sadie.
Theatre work A BBC spokesman said: "It is with much sadness that we can announce Elisabeth Sladen, the much-loved actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and CBBC's The Sarah Jane Adventures, passed away this morning."
Doctor Who star David Tennant told BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat that he had been "bewitched" by the actress's performances in the show when he was a boy.

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Former Doctor Who actor David Tennant remembers Elisabeth Sladen

He added that he would "never forget" working with her when Sarah Jane Smith returned to the show during his tenure as the 10th Doctor.
"Having been such a huge part of my childhood, she was everything you hoped she would be when you met her. She was extraordinary," he said.
John Barrowman, who co-starred with Sladen when she returned to Doctor Who in 2006, paid tribute to the star via micro-blogging site Twitter.
"I loved my time on the Tardis with her. I am proud to have worked with such an icon of the sci-fi world," he wrote.
"Your Doctor Who family are very sad and will miss you and your beautiful smile. She was a delight. Can't tell you how sad I am."
Russell T Davies, creator of The Sarah Jane Adventures, said: "I absolutely loved Lis. She was funny and cheeky and clever and just simply wonderful. The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith, the world was lucky to have Lis."
Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat said she had been a "ferociously talented actress".
'''Never meet your heroes,' wise people say. They weren't thinking of Lis Sladen," he added.
"Sarah Jane Smith was everybody's hero when I was younger, and as brave and funny and brilliant as people only ever are in stories.
"But many years later when I met the real Sarah Jane - Lis Sladen herself - she was exactly as any child ever have wanted her to be. Kind and gentle and clever and a ferociously talented actress, of course, but in that perfectly English unassuming way."
Sladen began her career as an assistant stage manager at the Liverpool playhouse.
Her first role on stage was playing a corpse, and she made her screen debut in the 1965 film Ferry Cross the Mersey as an extra.

The actress originally starred in Doctor Who for three years in the 1970s. Here she is alongside Tom Baker

Her first role leading role was Desdemona in Othello, before the actress landed the role of a barmaid in Coronation Street for six episodes.
She has also appeared in several other hit TV shows, including Z-Cars, Public Eye, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Special Branch.
But it was her role in Doctor Who that gained her the most recognition.
Sladen first appeared as Sarah Jane alongside the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, and stayed for three-and-a-half series, also working with Pertwee's successor, Tom Baker.
Her character, a journalist, was renowned for being inquisitive and stronger than some of the Doctor's other assistants.
After her time in the Tardis, Sladen returned to her native Liverpool where she worked in theatre.

She reprised her Doctor Who role on several occasions over the years and was given her own spin-off series on CBBC in 2007, in which she appeared with the most recent two Doctors, David Tennant and Matt Smith.
In 2006, ahead of rejoining Doctor Who, Sladen said of the show: "I think it has lovely layers and I'd defend the programme to anyone.
"I'm very emotionally part of that programme and I think a lot of the people who worked on it are. You used to love going to work every day."
'Brilliant presence' CBBC controller Damian Kavanagh said he was "deeply saddened and shocked by the news of Lis's untimely death".
"Lis brought joy, excitement and a sense of wonder to her many fans in her role as Sarah Jane Smith. She was adored by our young audience and I know all of them will miss her as much as I will," he said.
Keith Jones, the director of BBC Wales, which makes The Sarah Jane Adventures, said: "The Sarah Jane Adventures has been one of the most successful children's programmes on television in recent years - and without Elisabeth Sladen it would not have happened.
"A brilliant presence on screen and on set, she brought the excitement and energy of the Doctor Who family of programmes, of which we are very proud at BBC Wales, to a whole new generation. She will be missed by all at BBC Wales who worked with her."
Sladen's agent Roger Carey described her as a "dear friend".
He said: "She was so positive about life and her natural energy was intoxicating. She couldn't believe her luck when her 

Trevor Bannister

Trevor Bannister

Are You Being Served? star Trevor Bannister has died aged 76, his brother has confirmed.

The actor suffered a heart attack on Thursday at his allotment in Thames Ditton, Surrey, John Bannister said.
The actor was best known for his role as ladies' man Mr Lucas in the 1970s BBC sitcom set in a department store but he also worked in the theatre.
"He was a good lad, we were all very fond of him," Mr Bannister told BBC News.
He added his brother had been doing some repair work on his shed when he became ill.
Frank Thornton, who appeared as Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served?, told the BBC he had "many, many happy memories" of his co-star.
"He was a very good friend over a long time," he said.
"We often met with him and his wife - he was recently at my 90th birthday celebrations in January and that was the last time we saw him. We shall miss him sorely."
Born in Durrington, Wiltshire, and the youngest of three children, Bannister did two year's National Service before going to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
During his career which spanned five decades, he appeared in TV shows including The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green, The Saint and Z Cars.

Most recently Bannister (left) starred in BBC series Last of the Summer Wine

He also made regular appearances in the theatre and in pantomime.
More recently, the actor had a stint in the long-running BBC series Last of the Summer Wine.
In 2009, the actor led the tributes to his Are You Being Served? co-star Wendy Richard and gave a reading at her funeral.
Speaking to the BBC at the time about his experiences of working on the sitcom, he said: "The joy of that particular show was the fact that most of us had known each other before we came to do it.
"We loved working with each other and had a lot of respect for each other. I think that fun and enjoyment conveyed itself through the screen."
He is survived by his second wife Pam and three sons Simon, Timothy and Jeremy.

Keeping Up Appearances

British sitcom has always been fascinated by snobs, but few were ever as monstrous as Hyacinth Bucket (who insists it's pronounced "Bouquet"), the central character in Roy Clarke's Keeping Up Appearances.

Played with aplomb by Patricia Routledge, Hyacinth is a character with few, if any, saving graces. Her pompous, self-serving attitude makes life miserable for all around her.

Long-suffering husband Richard (Clive Swift) gets the brunt of it, with Hyacinth quick to chastise if he steps out of line ("I don't like you making decisions unilaterally", she tells him).

But there are others in the firing line, including nervous neighbour Elizabeth (Josephine Tewson), her brother Emmett (David Griffin) and Michael the Vicar (Jeremy Gittins).
However, the real ire is reserved for the snob's council estate dwelling sisters: Rose (Shirley Stelfox/Mary Millar) and Daisy (Judy Cornwell).
While the former irks with her man-eating ways, the latter absolutely appalls thanks to her slobbish lifestyle and indolent, scruffy husband Onslow (Geoffrey Hughes).

Sofa-bound, unshaven and absolutely unbowed by his harridan of a sister-in-law, he remained Hyacinth's nemesis across the show's five series.

Deeply formulaic, most episodes involved a phone call from Hyacinth's unseen sister Violet (who turns up in the final series played by Anna Dawson), you know, "the one with the Mercedes, sauna, and room for a pony!" and, at some point, a telephone conversation with off-screen son Sheridan, who's always the cadge for money to pursue his homosexual lifestyle (although that's never recognised by his proud mum).
The series found a large audience in the UK and America, with production only ceasing in 1995 when Routledge wanted to move on to other projects.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor

.. Born in Hampstead, North London, Dame Elizabeth Taylor DBE (middle name is Rosemond) was born on the 27th February 1932. She has an elder brother, Howard Taylor, who was born in 1929.

She was the second child of Francis Taylor & Sara Warmbrodt - two American citizens, originally from Arkansas City, Kansas, that lived in England. Francis Taylor was an art dealer and Sara a former actress. They were married in 1926 in New York City.

Elizabeth Taylor has two sons by Michael Wilding, a daughter by Michael Todd and an adopted daughter

Work

Appearing in her first motion picture at nine years old, Universal then let her contract drop and she was snapped up by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

Her first movie for MGM was Lassie Come Home (1943) and she gained favourable reviews and plaudits for her role. On set she met Roddy McDowall and has shared a lifelong friendship. Elizabeth Taylor's first leading role was that of Velvet Brown in the film National Velvet (1944) alongside Mickey Rooney. National Velvet was a great hit with the public and grossed over $4m at the box-office.

Attending school she received a diploma from Los Angeles University High School on January 26, 1950. This was the same year that saw her first marriage - at the age of 18.

In the ten years between 1950 and her first Academy Award, she was nominated for a number of roles including Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) with Paul Newman and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Katharine Hepburn.

Elizabeth Taylor was to win her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Butterfield 8 (1960). This film co-starred her then husband Eddie Fisher.

She won again for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) which co-starred then-husband Richard Burton.

In 1963, the first $1m role for an actress was her's for the title role in the film Cleopatra. The film was for 20th Century Fox and this was when she first worked with Richard Burton - her fifth and sixth husbands.

He played Mark Antony in the film. They began an affair during the making of the film despite both being married to others at that time. This was the main reason why some considered Elizabeth Taylor the "Scarlet Woman."

Elizabeth Taylor has appeared on television a number of times - alongside none other than her husband Richard Burton in the 1973 flim Divorce His - Divorce Hers. Add to that other TV shows, including All My Children and The Simpsons twice - once as self and once as the voice of Maggie.

As with many actresses, she has acted on the stage. She only made her Broadway and West End debut in 1982 with Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She followed this with a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives in 1983 which she starred in with her former husband (at this time), Richard Burton.

Interests & Misc 

One of her passions, jewellery has certainly featured in Elizabeth Taylor's life. She has owned a number of extremely valuable diamonds - the two most notable being gifts from husband Richard Burton. The 33 carat (6.6g) Krupp Diamond and the 69 carat (13.8g) pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond. She also owns the 50 carat La Peregrina Pearl, once owned by Mary I of England.

Her other retail passion is for perfume. With Passion, White Diamonds and Black Pearls she earns more than US$200 million yearly. 2006 marked the 15th anniversary of her White Diamonds perfume, a top 10 best selling fragrance for more than ten years.

She has also dedicated increasing time and energy to AIDS-related charities and AIDS fundraising. After her friend Rock Hudson died, she helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). She also has her own AIDS foundation called, appropriately, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF).

In the 80's she moved to Los Angeles to Bel-Air where she still ives. She also has houses in Palm Springs and Hawaii. Her home is fenced and gated, but gets attention from local maps and tour guides who frequent the streets of the 'rich and famous'.

Illness-wise, she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, broken her back five times, had both hips replaced, survived a benign brain tumor op, had skin cancer and has had pneumonia twice. It is also said that she now has osteoporosis - hence going everywhere in a wheelchair. 

A fan of AR Gurney's play Love Letters, on 1st December 2007 Taylor and James Earl Jones gave a benefit performance. They raised over $1m for her AIDS foundation in the process. However, as the event coincided with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, Taylor asked and was granted a "one night dispensation" by The Writers Guild so that she woudl not have to corss the picket line.

With a complete range of acting under her belt, Elizabeth Taylor's filmography shows her versatility. With two Academy Awards (* starred below) and three additional Academy Award nominations for Best Actress (** double starred below).

Dame Elizabeth Taylor

.. Born in Hampstead, North London, Dame Elizabeth Taylor DBE (middle name is Rosemond) was born on the 27th February 1932. She has an elder brother, Howard Taylor, who was born in 1929.

She was the second child of Francis Taylor & Sara Warmbrodt - two American citizens, originally from Arkansas City, Kansas, that lived in England. Francis Taylor was an art dealer and Sara a former actress. They were married in 1926 in New York City.

Elizabeth Taylor has two sons by Michael Wilding, a daughter by Michael Todd and an adopted daughter

Work

Appearing in her first motion picture at nine years old, Universal then let her contract drop and she was snapped up by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

Her first movie for MGM was Lassie Come Home (1943) and she gained favourable reviews and plaudits for her role. On set she met Roddy McDowall and has shared a lifelong friendship. Elizabeth Taylor's first leading role was that of Velvet Brown in the film National Velvet (1944) alongside Mickey Rooney. National Velvet was a great hit with the public and grossed over $4m at the box-office.

Attending school she received a diploma from Los Angeles University High School on January 26, 1950. This was the same year that saw her first marriage - at the age of 18.

In the ten years between 1950 and her first Academy Award, she was nominated for a number of roles including Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) with Paul Newman and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Katharine Hepburn.

Elizabeth Taylor was to win her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Butterfield 8 (1960). This film co-starred her then husband Eddie Fisher.

She won again for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) which co-starred then-husband Richard Burton.

In 1963, the first $1m role for an actress was her's for the title role in the film Cleopatra. The film was for 20th Century Fox and this was when she first worked with Richard Burton - her fifth and sixth husbands.

He played Mark Antony in the film. They began an affair during the making of the film despite both being married to others at that time. This was the main reason why some considered Elizabeth Taylor the "Scarlet Woman."

Elizabeth Taylor has appeared on television a number of times - alongside none other than her husband Richard Burton in the 1973 flim Divorce His - Divorce Hers. Add to that other TV shows, including All My Children and The Simpsons twice - once as self and once as the voice of Maggie.

As with many actresses, she has acted on the stage. She only made her Broadway and West End debut in 1982 with Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She followed this with a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives in 1983 which she starred in with her former husband (at this time), Richard Burton.

Interests & Misc 

One of her passions, jewellery has certainly featured in Elizabeth Taylor's life. She has owned a number of extremely valuable diamonds - the two most notable being gifts from husband Richard Burton. The 33 carat (6.6g) Krupp Diamond and the 69 carat (13.8g) pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond. She also owns the 50 carat La Peregrina Pearl, once owned by Mary I of England.

Her other retail passion is for perfume. With Passion, White Diamonds and Black Pearls she earns more than US$200 million yearly. 2006 marked the 15th anniversary of her White Diamonds perfume, a top 10 best selling fragrance for more than ten years.

She has also dedicated increasing time and energy to AIDS-related charities and AIDS fundraising. After her friend Rock Hudson died, she helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). She also has her own AIDS foundation called, appropriately, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF).

In the 80's she moved to Los Angeles to Bel-Air where she still ives. She also has houses in Palm Springs and Hawaii. Her home is fenced and gated, but gets attention from local maps and tour guides who frequent the streets of the 'rich and famous'.

Illness-wise, she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, broken her back five times, had both hips replaced, survived a benign brain tumor op, had skin cancer and has had pneumonia twice. It is also said that she now has osteoporosis - hence going everywhere in a wheelchair. 

A fan of AR Gurney's play Love Letters, on 1st December 2007 Taylor and James Earl Jones gave a benefit performance. They raised over $1m for her AIDS foundation in the process. However, as the event coincided with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, Taylor asked and was granted a "one night dispensation" by The Writers Guild so that she woudl not have to corss the picket line.

With a complete range of acting under her belt, Elizabeth Taylor's filmography shows her versatility. With two Academy Awards (* starred below) and three additional Academy Award nominations for Best Actress (** double starred below).
 

Year	Title	Role
1942	There's One Born Every Minute	Gloria Twine
1943	Lassie Come Home	Priscilla
1944	Jane Eyre	Helen Burns
	The White Cliffs of Dover	Betsy
	National Velvet	Velvet Brown
1946	Courage of Lassie	Katherine Eleanor Merrick
1947	Life with Father	Mary Skinner
	Cynthia	Cynthia Bishop
1948	A Date with Judy	Carol Pringle
	Julia Misbehaves	Susan Packett
1949	Little Women	Amy
	Conspirator	Melinda Greyton
1950	The Big Hangover	Mary Belney
	Father of the Bride	Kay Banks
1951	Father's Little Dividend	Kay Dunstan
	A Place in the Sun	Angela Vickers
	Quo Vadis	Christian prisoner in arena
1952	Love Is Better Than Ever	Anastacia "Stacie" Macaboy
	Ivanhoe	Rebecca
1953	The Girl Who Had Everything	Jean Latimer
1954	Rhapsody	Louise Durant
	Elephant Walk	Ruth Wiley
	Beau Brummell	Lady Patricia Belham
	The Last Time I Saw Paris	Helen Ellswirth/Willis
1956	Giant	Leslie Lynnton Benedict
1957	Raintree County	Susanna Drake **
1958	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Maggie the Cat **
1959	Suddenly Last Summer	Catherine Holly **
1960	Scent of Mystery	The Real Sally
	Butterfield 8	Gloria Wandrous *
1963	Cleopatra	Cleopatra
	The V.I.P.s	Frances Andros
1965	The Sandpiper	Laura Reynolds
1966	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha *
1967	The Taming of the Shrew	Katharina
	Doctor Faustus	Helen of Troy
	The Comedians	Martha Pineda
1968	Boom!	Flora 'Sissy' Goforth
	Secret Ceremony	Lenora
1969	Anne of the Thousand Days	Courtesan
1970	The Only Game in Town	Fran Walker
1972	X,Y, and Zee	Zee Blakely
	Under Milk Wood	Rosie Probert
	Hammersmith Is Out	Jimmie Jean Jackson
1973	Divorce His - Divorce Hers	Jane Reynolds
	Night Watch	Ellen Wheeler
	Ash Wednesday - film	Barbara Sawyer
1976	The Blue Bird	Queen of Light/Mother
1977	A Little Night Music	Desiree Armfeldt
1978	Return Engagement	Dr. Emily Loomis
1979	Winter Kills	Lola Comante
1980	The Mirror Crack'd	Marina Rudd
1981	General Hospital	Helena Cassadine
1983	Between Friends	Deborah Shapiro
1985	Malice in Wonderland	Louella Parsons
	North and South	Madame Conti
1986	There Must Be a Pony	Marguerite Sydney
1987	Poker Alice	Alice Moffit
1988	Young Toscanini	Nadina Bulichoff
1989	Sweet Bird of Youth	Alexandra Del Lago
1994	The Flintstones	Pearl Slaghoople
2001	These Old Broads	Beryl Mason

Jane Russel

Jane Russel

Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011^[2]) was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s.
Russell moved from the Midwest to California, where she had her first film role in 1943 with The Outlaw. In 1947, Russell delved into music before returning to films. After starring in multiple films in the 1950s, Russell again returned to music while completing several other films in the 1960s. She starred in over 20 films throughout her career.
Russell married three times and adopted several children and, in 1955, founded the World Adoption International Fund. For her achievements in film, she received several accolades including having her hand and foot prints immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She died at her home in Santa Maria, California of a respiratory-related illness on February 28, 2011.

Early life

Born in Bemidji, Minnesota in 1921, Russell was the eldest child and only daughter of the five children of Roy William Russell (January 5, 1890 – July 18, 1937) and Geraldine Jacobi (January 2, 1891 – December 26, 1986).^{[citation needed]}
Russell's parents were both born in North Dakota. Three of her grandparents were born in Canada, while her paternal grandmother was born in Germany. Her parents married in 1917. Her father was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and her mother was a former actress with a road troupe. Her parents spent the early years of their marriage in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. For her birth her mother temporarily moved back to the U.S. to ensure she was born a U.S. citizen.^{[original research?]} Later the family moved to the San Fernando Valley of Southern California. They lived in Burbank in 1930 and her father worked as an office manager at a soap manufacturing plant.^{[citation needed]}
Russell's mother arranged for her to take piano lessons. In addition to music, she was interested in drama and participated in stage productions at Van Nuys High School. Her early ambition was to be a designer of some kind, until the death of her father at forty-six, when she decided to work as a receptionist after graduation. She also modeled for photographers and, at the urging of her mother, studied drama and acting with Max Reinhardt's Theatrical Workshop and with famed Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya.

Early musical ventures

In 1947, Russell attempted to launch a musical career. She sang with the Kay Kyser Orchestra on radio and recorded two singles with his band, "As Long As I Live" and "Boin-n-n-ng!" She also cut a 78 rpm album that year for Columbia Records, Let's Put Out the Lights, which included eight torch ballads and cover art that included a diaphanous gown that for once put the focus more on her legs than on her breasts. In a 2009 interview for the liner notes to another CD, Fine and Dandy, Russell denounced the Columbia album as "horrible and boring to listen to." It was reissued on CD in 2002, in a package that also included the Kyser singles and two songs she recorded for Columbia in 1949 that had gone unreleased at the time. In 1950, she recorded a single, "Kisses and Tears," with Frank Sinatra and The Modernaires for Columbia.

Coronation Street: Will Peter Barlow kill love rat Nick Tilsley

CRAZED Peter Barlow holds down Corrie love rat Nick Tilsley with one of his crutches in a terrifying clash.

Peter (Chris Gascoyne) hits out after finding out that wife Leanne (Jane Danson) has been carrying on with Nick, He ambushes him in the ruins of the Joinery.
Panicking Nick (Ben Price) whimpers: "What are you going to do me?" Peter, who also wields a crowbar, replies: "I'm going to kill you Nick."
But Nick saved Peter's life in the tram crash, which left him struggling to walk.
Fans will be left wondering if he can go through with it on ITV1 tonight.