Author Peter James who gave us  Not Dead Enough, The Perfect Murder and Dead Simple,  is back with the world premiere of this spine-chilling thriller.

This is a Theatre Play touring Britain at the moment – so not exactl a Film of the Fifties though  very reminiscent of the type of ghostly thriller we used to see on screen.    So I have included it here as it fits in quite well I think.

In the Stage Cast – BAFTA nominated actor – formerly of Heartbeat,  Joe McFadden  and award winning actress Rita Simons from  EastEnders, are joined by actors, Charlie Clements  and Persephone Swales-Dawson  in Peter James’  ghostly story of the Harcourt family, who move into the house of their dreams that has been empty for the last forty years.

Soon, however, their dream home quickly turns into the stuff of nightmares as they begin to wonder whether they may not be the only residents at Cold Hill

The House on Cold Hill is a modern-day supernatural thriller that will send shivers down your spine and make you think twice about returning home to a dark, empty house after the show – It has a great twist at the end – totally unexpected.

Above – a tense scene as the characters witness something very frightening.

The House on Cold Hill is a modern-day supernatural thriller – ABOVE the cast

The House on Cold Hill – the Theatre Production currently touring around Englad

I have never been a fan of Gene Autry – nor can I ever remember seeing one of his films. To me he did not look like the cowboy hero that he portrayed- However it must be said that he was very successful indeed.

First he made and starred in quite a number of Westerns – then he went into producing though his companies such TV series as The RangeRider and Champion The Wonder Horse both of which us youngsters in England loved.

Of course Champion was Gene Autry’s horse – I always remember the theme song for Champion The Wonder Horse sung by Frankie Laine – and when he sang the title song the show gained prestige. His delivery was so dramatic.

His wife said that the key to Gene’s success is that he always stuck to what the public wanted and so he remained just a Cowboy star. He also dressed to appeal to youngsters when in public – he would wear quite colourful cowboy outfits.

He is also a singing star – I think it is right that he is the only artist to have five stars on The Hollywood Walk of Fame

Here ABOVE is a poster for Silver Canyon a 1951 film

Gene Autry relaxes with his guitar

Now here is one of the great character actors of Cinema – and apparently also in real life a quite colourful character at that.

Robert Newton has been over living in England while filming The Beachcomber at Pinewood Film Studios with Glynis Johns –  in February 1954 when these pictures were taken

He had met his wife Eva Budnick in June of 1952 and from that moment as a promise to his young wife he had given up alcohol completely. Drinking had been a problem with Robert Newton over many years but he had given this up and the couple now had a lovely 10 month old daughter.

During their stay here they were living in Thurloe Square, South Kensington. Here they were visited on occasions by Robert Newton’s Daughter Sally from his first marriage.

Sadly he could not maintain his sober lifestyle for that long – He died of a heart attach in 1956 just after finishing his last film ‘Around The World In 80 Days’ alongside his good friend David Niven.

Robert Newton it was said was at his entertaining best after say a couple of drinks – had it stayed at that then all was well but after the 3rd of 4th there emerged a less pleasant person and the entertaining man he was became objectionable.

However we must not dwell on that – it is his performances that live in the memory – he was Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist – but it is as Long John  Silver in the 1950 Walt Disney classic that remains in the memory. Maybe an over the top performance by some standards but I think he realised that was what was needed in  order to lift this film version out of the normal range and put it up amongst the best.

His spectacular portrayal of  Long John Silver in the Disney version of Treasure Island (1950), greatly influenced actors playing pirates in film, radio, television, and theatre, after that – and all tended to use – and still do –  the same  accent that Robert Newton had made his own.

Like us all to this day,  Film Stars also enjoy the relaxation of time off at the Weekend particularly in the Summertime.

Theirs is a busy schedule in the week – up early and sometimes in demanding locations – but not a bad life at all in film land I would imagine

Here are a few pictures of these actors at home on their days off- Doris Day above at her home in Bel -Air

Above: Gene Autry reads the script of a film in the sunshine in Laurel Canyon

Above: Actress Jennifer Raine, her Mother Gipsy Raine with her husband Alan Napier lying back in the sun

The patio of Alan Napier’s home Near Santa Monica – not quite on this scan is the Pacific Ocean on the far left

Our own Jean Kent enjoys her flowers – this picture actually from a Lux advertisement but I though we should have an English Star in there

Brian Aherne by the pool enjoys a cup of tea – at home in Santa Monica

What a wonderful film it was The Great Escape – made in 1963 – and to mark the 75th Anniversary of the actual escape there have been screenings around the UK .

The presenter Dan Snow toured with the film and was on hand for the Introduction on the night.

Above: Dan Snow posing on the actual motor cycle used in the film.

On the 75th anniversary of the events that inspired The Great Escape, Dan Snow hosts a commemorative evening featuring The D-Day Darlings and special guests including Charles Clarke OBE who was held in that same POW Camp, culminating with a gala screening of the remastered 1963 cult film, starring Steve McQueen.

One of the Screenings on 24th March was at The Kinema In The Woods in Woodhall Spa Lincolnshire – and how very apt that would be as this town was the home of the DamBusters.

Pictured here is Charles Clarke OBE who in fact had been held at the notorious pow camp. Myself and my family had the honour of meeting Charles as he had been staying at The Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa earlier this year when we were all resident there.   He told us many stories and was wonderful company.

Charles Clarke volunteered for the Royal Air Force when he was seventeen years old and flew operations as a bomb aimer with 619 Squadron from RAF Woodhall Spa. His aircraft was shot down on his 18th operation and he became a prisoner of war. He was held at Stalag Luft 3 at the time of the ‘Great Escape’.  As the Russians were advancing the camp, he was evacuated and he gave an account of what became known as the Long March.

The BBC had just launched their COLOUR Television service on BBC2 in 1967 – so this is just out of the Fifties era – but nevertheless quite interesting.

The Forsyte Saga had been made – in Black and White – the year earlier – they wished it had been done in colour as we all do.   This Production was an attempt by the BBC to score another big success but it didn’t have the same impact – although very good.

Susan Hampshire who had played Fleur in The Forsyte Saga played the leading role

Vanity Fair (1967) was shown on  BBC 2 over five weeks  –   based on the novel by William Thackeray.

The story follows the lives of two friends, Becky Sharp and Amelia Osborne after they leave boarding school.  Becky Sharp has no money at all, and must live by her wits. Amelia comes from a reasonably wealthy family, but they suffer financial setbacks and–ultimately–bankruptcy.

Any film or TV  adaptation of Vanity Fair depends very much on the actress portraying  Becky Sharp. In this TV series, Susan Hampshire plays Becky, and is excellent.

The role of Becky Sharp needs to be played by someone who is beautiful, and Susan Hampshire very much scores on that requirement.   However, she must not only be beautiful, she must also be intelligent, witty, and, when necessary, deceitful.  This is a great role for Susan Hampshire

From the opening with a puppet show to lovely performances, largely from actors now forgotten, this adaptation still looks good.

Susan Hampshire as Becky Sharp radiates charm with a lovely smile very much in character.

We had a very good friend of the family and a neighbour, who is sadly no longer with us, and he was a great fan of Susan Hampshire. I am pretty sure she reminded him of someone from the past

The character actor Nigel Green, born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1924, was educated in England and studied chemical engineering before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. By age 24, he was appearing on stage at both the Old Vic and Stratford-on-Avon, and in the early 1950s, he made his film and television debuts.

In 1956, he received serious injuries in an accident, but he fully recovered and established himself as a familiar figure in British film and television.

His  tall, muscular physique was appropriate for playing such characters as Fertog “The Bear” in the television series William Tell (1958), Little John in Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), and the one I remember him best for –  Hercules in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Nigel Green as Samson in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Nigel Green as Samson in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Nigel Green as Little John in Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) with Richard Greene

In Zulu – above – an action  scene

Nigel Green  was always convincing even when tackling the most bizarre subject matter.

Television appearances included The Persuaders, “Read and Destroy,” Jason King, “As Easy As ABC” (both 1971), Sherlock Holmes with Peter Cushing,  and Dr. Finlay’s Casebook.  Also of course The Avengers

 ABOVE:  Nigel Green In The Avengers episode The Fog her with Patrick McNee as John Steed of course

Nigel Green had a number of small film roles in the early 1960s until his appearance in the critically acclaimed Zulu (1964), after which his film roles improved.

 In addition to a few British horror films, such as The Skull (1965), The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), and Countess Dracula (1971), Green also appeared in a number of Hollywood films, including Tobruk (1967), The Wrecking Crew (1968) and The Kremlin Letter (1970).

Nigel Green’s later films brought him international recognition and a chance at stardom; however, his career was brought to an abrupt end by his sudden death in 1972 at age 47 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

I wasn’t that familiar with this Hollywood Film Star – Suzan Ball – and in reality she did not make many films – but I have come across her in a publication when she had just married Actor Richard Long 1n 1954

Sadly their happiness did not last long as she died on cancer in just over  a year after they married. She was only 21 years old.

They do look very happy in the pictures above and she talks of their life together.

Suzan Ball was born In Jamestown, New York in 1934 In 1947 her family moved to North HJollywood just round the corner from Universal-International. 

In 1951 she got a small uncredited part in Mongram’s Aladdin and His Lamp – and later that same year she signed a contract with Universal-International.  She appeard in Untamed Frontier.

In 1953 she fell deeply in love with Anthony Quinn during the filming of City Beneath the Sea but he was married at that time. The continue their relationship for about a year

There have been many sad stories come out of Hollywood and Suzan Ball’s is one of the saddest.

 ABOVE -with Anthony Quinn in City Beneath the Sea

ABOVE:  With Anthony Quinn

It was whilst she was rehearsing a dance number for East of Sumatra (1953) that Suzan suffered an injury to her right leg. She ignored the injury, but a short while after that she was a passenger in a car that was side-swiped and the same knee struck a door handle. It was painful but she still did not see a doctor about it.

Later that same year she made War Arrow with Jeff Chandler and during the shoot the leg began to give her serious trouble. She reluctantly sought medical advice and was informed by doctors that the limb had developed tumours. When she slipped on some spilled water at home and broke the same leg, Suzan was rushed to hospital and operated on to remove the tumours. The operation was not a success, however, and on January 12, 1954 her leg was amputated. She was still only 19 years old.

with Anthony Quinn again in East of Sumatra (1953)

Suzan made only one picture after the amputation, a western with Victor Mature titled Chief Crazy Horse (1955). In it she played Black Shawl, Crazy Horse’s wife. A double was used for scenes that required her to walk. For close-ups in those scenes she would move her shoulders to simulate a walking motion. The producers wanted to replace her with Susan Cabot but director George Sherman flatly refused to do so.

with Victor Mature in Chief Crazy Horse (1955)

She had become engaged to Richard Long who had stuck steadfastly by her and, in April 1954, they were married.

The bride insisted she walk down the aisle unaided – fitted with an artificial limb beneath her wedding dress.

However, two months later she collapsed and doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lungs.

‘I felt no pity for myself’, she told an interviewer. ‘Nor have I any feeling of regret. Sometimes I pondered, ‘Why has this thing happened to me?’ But it was never in terms of a complaint. I sought a real answer. It is not an easy one to find, and perhaps I will never know.’

with Richard Long

Universal rented a sumptuous home to enable Suzan to spend her final weeks in luxury.  The pressure on her husband was intense.

She died six months after her 21^st birthday on August 5, 1955.

Just a few days earlier  Robert Francis  had died at 25 in a plane crash, and in September, 24 year-old James Dean would be killed in an car accident.  A tragic three months in Hollywood’s history.

Richard Long later married Mara Corday who had been a close friend after they had met during rehearsals for a play ‘The Big Knife’

They went on to have three children together

In 1974 Richard Long suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 47.

These Pictures and the Article accompanying them were in the magazine Photoplay of August 1955

ABOVE and BELOW  – with his wife Sybil

At the time of the Interview for Photoplay Magazine he was filming Alexander the Great in Madrid

A big Cinemascope Production

RICHARD BURTON is quite impressive as Alexander the Great.

FREDRIC MARCH is in excellent form as his father, but when he dies midway through the film suffers.

CLAIRE BLOOM is really good in the leading role and has a few memorable scenes

Richard Burton uses his voice effectively at times, but it’s not one of his best performances.

 Alexander the Great also starred Claire Bloom – she had been in Richard 111 with Sir Laurence Olivier just before this – so she would be well used to Shakespearean Actors.

Prior to that in 1952 she was with Charlie Chaplin in Limelight

Richard Burton ABOVE – looking very relaxed.

Richard’s wife Sybil – formerly Sybil Williams was herself an actress and had met Richard on the set of The Last Days of Dolwyn – they  married when she was just  20 ears old. They remained married for 14 years and had two daughters together.

ABOVE: Richard Burton enjoys a pint at his Welsh local pub – with his father Richard Jenkins and brother Ifor

Diane Cilento with her husband Anthony Schaffer – In their Queensland home Nr Mossman

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: Tony and I met in the early seventies I did a picture of his he wrote called ‘The Wicker Man’, which has become a sort of cult film now. I even had to sing in it, it was ridiculous. But- and to have a sort of Scottish accent (in brogue) like that. And when I finished the film he just sort of didn’t leave.
(End of excerpt)

BILLE BROWN, FRIEND: He was certainly immensely successful. The respect came from the fact that ‘Sleuth’ was a huge success financially. I met Diane and Tony at the beginning of their romance. It was an extraordinary and tempestuous friendship – a passionate friendship, I thought.

DIANE CILENTO: I did actually try to finish this. That’s why I came to Australia in 1975 – because Tony was married at that time and I wanted to get away. But I was at the Queensland Theatre Company and a taxicab drew up and it was boiling hot and this man with a trench coat and a hat pulled down and a suitcase got out and he said ‘Not so fast!’ I went up to direct a documentary in north Queensland and he came too. And that’s when I saw this extraordinary place and put a down payment straight away on this land between two waterfalls, backing onto national park

Interview 2012

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: And she literally fell in love, and she just said ‘I’ve bought a farm, I’ve bought a farm in Queensland’. And I remember thinking ‘She’s gone mad. She’s gone completely mad’. Because when she pointed out where it was on the map, we all looked at each other and went ‘Where’s that?’

ABOVE – A couple of the pictures taken when I was lucky enough to visit this unique location inland of Mossman in the Rain Forest North of Cairns in Australia.

At that time the Theatre was not open but last year my daughter and her family went there to the Open Day.  She told me that there was still a lot of work to do – but they were making good progress.

A more recent view – ABOVE – and looking much better

JASON CONNERY, SON: Karnak was a spiritual retreat and not only for her but for many other people. She wanted to build a sort of sanctuary where there could be teachings. And I thought they were all mad, really, because they did meditation, which I didn’t really understand, and they had movement and they had various other practices.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: I think Tony used to call it ‘the great green hell of Whyanbeel’ when he first got up here because he couldn’t believe that people actually lived up here. You know, and this is this extremely cultured man. He’s always been a kind of international traveller. He did call this place home, though, and as he said, gradually he came to really love it and appreciate what he had here.

JASON CONNERY, SON: She created lawns and then houses and then she had the idea of building this theatre, this amphitheatre in the middle of the rainforest. The theatre was a real co-production between them. They had very much the idea that what they wanted to create was a place where people could go instead of going to just the pub at night.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: If I think about having built such a thing, an open air theatre in a rainforest, obviously, it sounds a bit cracked. And I suppose people could say it’s a folly but I don’t think so. I see it as a sort of a return to what the theatre was at one time when it began.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: Certainly right up till the end it was a very collaborative and creative marriage. She had finally got a partner who knew what she was talking about and understood her real love of drama.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: But then what began to happen was that Tony got ill. He’d already had a brain tumour and he got very ill after a fall down the stairs. And then Tony had this terrible third operation to have half his intestines out and was sort of fitted with a colostomy bag – all this stuff – and then this lady was on the scene.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: They’d had this flat in London for a very long time and often Tony would be there and then she’d just surprise him and just turn up.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: And when I got to the flat I saw that there was a lot of luggage and sort of a lot of make up and stuff and that’s when I found out. Tony was mortified and he was standing like that (goes rigid) – looking very grey and very worried.
(End of excerpt)

JASON CONNERY, SON: It was very obvious that someone else was living at the apartment, ah, later to be known as Mrs Capece.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: I think she was very hurt by it, by the fact that there was somebody else, and she felt very divided about what do you do?

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO: And I did say to him, you know ‘Well is that lady still there?’ and he said ‘No, no she’s wandered off’. And I said ‘Where? What do you mean she’s wandered off?’ He said ‘Over a cliff!’ But that’s how he used to talk. (laughs) But from then on he called me every day and I did say ‘I- look, I forgive you. I don’t want to… I do think that you must come and recuperate and get better’ but he never got there. I got a telephone call from his brother to say he’d had a heart attack and passed away. I couldn’t believe it, actually, and then I got a telephone call from this lady. When I said to her ‘Well I’m coming to England now straightaway and I’d like to stay at the apartment’, she said, ‘Oh no, I live here’ and she’s changed the locks and that was it. And I mean, I couldn’t believe it. It was a very, very bizarre feeling to be going to your own husband’s funeral that you’ve been with for- been married to for twenty years or something, with some other lady. She was sort of pushing against me at the thing and with a rose and sort of sobbing, you know? It was ridiculous and it was one of those… almost like a, a strange dream.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: After Tony died in 2001, the housekeeper who had been looking after Tony, Mrs Capece, claimed that she and Tony had had a relationship and that he wanted to marry her. It became apparent that this other companion that Tony had was going to contest the will. And there are names for people like that… and they’re not complimentary. Unfortunately there was a legal battle about where Tony was domiciled. And of course if he’d been domiciled in England and she’d had a relationship with him, she could’ve claimed part of the estate.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CILENTO (to Giovanna, sitting by a stream): It’s looking pretty incredible, I think, this year we’ve had a very big wet. Because I gifted to him half of Karnak, Karnak was being thrown into the pot of his estate so therefore, if I’d lost the case, it would have gone too.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: She had to then go to court and prove that she had this life with Tony, but she had to go and expose the intimate details of their life together and bring pictures and books and papers. It was a very bitter battle.

(Excerpt from Australian Story interview, 2004)
DIANE CLIENTO: The thing that upset me most when I went to England was that the whole of the other side was trying to sort of, denigrate everything that he’d done in Australia, which was write all these plays, live there, build a house, build a theatre, do all those things. It was just like ‘Oh no, he’d abandoned all that’. And all of that sort of thing was a bit shocking to me because I hadn’t expected people to actually try to… obliterate Tony’s life in Australia.
(End of excerpt)

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: My mother prevailed. She actually created a precedent in law. And the court ruled that he was domiciled in Australia. And that meant that Mrs Capece, she couldn’t claim Death duties, which would have been due in England were not due. It also meant that the fact that mum had given Tony part of Karnak. In his will, he gave it back to my mother. All those things my mother believed that that had brought this whole issue to a close and she really thought that now that the court had ordered that the will be distributed and that there was no impediment, that it would be distributed. And she had great hope in that and unfortunately, she still doesn’t have what she was left by her own husband after 11 years. And she was constantly worried about it and constantly going to England and requesting that they finalise this will. They haven’t. And why is it still going? Jason and I don’t know. Why is it eleven years and not completed? Can’t tell you. Mum sold part of Karnak so that she had enough money to keep Karnak going. And we feel that my mother’s health really suffered from the stress of dealing with this interminable legal issue. The constant worry had led her to get a stomach ulcer, which had been treated and it had actually repaired. And then she started ringing me and saying ‘I’m not feeling very well, I’ve got a spider bite’. And of course the spider bite turned out to be actually breast cancer. And I said to her ‘You know, if you let the community know they would really rally’. And she said ‘I hate showing people that I’m weak’. She refused to have straightforward treatment; she wouldn’t have anything to do with it.

MICHAEL GOW, FRIEND: We just supported her as she became frailer and more incapable of getting around quite as much and then she went on this trip to Mexico, to this clinic, which she knew I was always very sceptical about. I called it her eye of newt and toe of frog cure but she got a lot out of it.

JASON CONNERY, SON: My mother felt extraordinary. Unfortunately upon her return to Australia – and this is very much my mum – she was told not to do any physical activity and to totally relax and not do anything. So she immediately went to far north Queensland and mowed two hundred acres of lawn on her tractor and unfortunately in doing that she ruptured her ulcer and then things went downhill very quickly from then.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: The surgeon rang me and said ‘It’s inoperable, there’s nothing we can do about it’. And so I flew up with my husband and a couple of other close friends and she died in Cairns Base Hospital with us. (Crying) We sang to her and she knew we were there. But I’m not unhappy at how she died, because she died with a- if you like, she died in the saddle. And I couldn’t stand the thought of her melting into a hospital bed. And I love her for her bravery.

(Tribute night – last month)

MICHAEL GOW, FRIEND: It seems extraordinary that it’s exactly a year ago today, October 6th, that Diane left us.

JANE RUTTER, FRIEND: When Diane died, there was a sense amongst close friends of Karnak and of Diane’s – ‘Oh my god, what’s going to happen to this place?’ It’s worth a fortune. And Jason has his own very significant career as a director based in the United States. Giovanna has got her life in Sydney. So it wasn’t as if either of those two were going to just uproot and come and run the place the way Diane had

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER: Jason and I came up after the funeral and looked around Karnak and then looked at each other and went ‘What are we gonna do? What on earth are we going to do?’ Because this was Tony and D’s magnificent obsession. We felt that the easy decision would’ve been just to sell Karnak. And- but Jason and I looked at each other and went ‘that would be a complete betrayal of everything mum had fought for and suffered for, and everything Tony had invested in’. And I remember ringing Jason and said ‘I’ve got it, I know exactly what we can do. We can- we can approach educational institutions and see if they’re interested in coming and using Karnak as a resource’.

GIOVANNA VOLPE, DAUGHTER (on stage): And so tonight we’re announcing the formation of the Diane Cilento Foundation and that we’re going to partner with a couple of Queensland Universities to make Karnak a centre of excellence for performing arts. Thanks very much. (applause)

JANE RUTTER, FRIEND: I’m thrilled to bits that the place is going to keep going. And I, you know, I really see that Diane’s vision can can actually blossom into something amazing in the future.

JASON CONNERY, SON: For me, the way I would like my mum remembered is that she was a person who did things her way. I mean, who builds a 600 seat amphitheatre with a restaurant and a bar in the middle of the tropical rainforest? But it’s very much my mum and I will always love her for that.

End of Interview

However despite the problems with Tony Shaffer’s estate Diane Cilento died without leaving a will. She was 78.

Her son and daughter say a formal investigation into Mr Shaffer’s estate is now underway in the UK.

Central Queensland University hopes to hold its first residential theatre course at Karnak next year.