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1-13 of 13
- Angus Newton Mackay (15 July 1926 - 8 June 2013) was an actor.
Despite his Scottish name Angus Mackay was a most English performer. Usually bespectacled and always fastidious, he was forever popping up on television playing repressed and officious factotums, effete Etonians or kindly clergymen. Some of those little roles linger long in the memory, such as the amorous waterbed salesman in Steptoe and Son (1974). But Mackay's passion was the stage, where, in a 50-year career, he brought a piquant precision to everything from Stoppard to Shaw.
Born in 1926, the son of a Methodist minister, Mackay was raised in Bournemouth, and after National Service in Belfast read English at Cambridge. He was an indefatigable student actor: an adroit Heartfree in Vanburgh's The Provok'd Wife in 1949, and a "neat and polished" Antipholous in a Comedy of Errors staged as Victorian farce. It transferred to the Watergate Theatre in London in 1950, by which time he had been Warwick to Julian Slade's Dauphin in St Joan, a meeting that was to change his life.
Slade wrote an undergraduate musical for May Week, Lady May. Mackay proved both funny and melodious in the cast, and when Slade went on to study at Bristol Old Vic, he formed a writing partnership with actress Dorothy Reynolds as librettist. Mackay would go on to act in many of the pair's hits, (most notably as a comedy curate in the record-breaking Salad Days), and marry Dorothy.
Encouraged by a notice from Kenneth Tynan urging him to turn professional, Mackay left Cambridge with a parting shot of Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest. His career kicked off at the Bristol Hippodrome in JB Priestley's Treasure on Pelican (1951). Mackay was in good company from the off; Olivier cast him as a footman in The Sleeping Prince at the Phoenix in 1953 alongside Vivien Leigh. At Birmingham Rep he appeared in Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra with Albert Finney, and in 1958 he joined the Sheffield Playhouse for a season which began with Peter Ustinov's The Banbury Nose.
He and Dorothy had long associations with three theatres: the Bristol Old Vic, the Salisbury Arts and the Everyman Cheltenham. All three were under threat at various points and saved by campaigns the couple were active in. He played in Meet Me by Moonlight opposite his wife in Salisbury and at Cheltenham, where he was also a diffident Stephen Bent in Slade and Reynolds' Wildest Dreams (1960), and a dashing Mr Knightley to Helen Dorward's Emma in 1962. He and his wife loved Austen, and at the Salon in Ranger's House, Blackheath in summer 1967 the pair performed readings to mark the 150th anniversary of her death. England's Jane was then performed by them at the Purcell Rooms and around the country, beginning at Cheltenham and Salisbury, where they were always welcome.
It was hardly surprising that he would be kept busy for over 30 years with small roles for television: he was acute and meticulous, an actor of quietness and slightness. His most celebrated television performance was in Julian Bond's play Breakdown (1976), as the psychiatrist administering to a crumbling Jack Hedley.
Appearing in Wings of Song by CP Taylor for Granada three years later Mackay met the young actor Simon Callow. The two became great friends, and Mackay later scripted and performed in Nicolson Fights Croydon at the Offstage Downstairs at Chalk Farm in 1986, which Callow devised and directed, an intimate study of the patrician politician Harold Nicolson marooned in a drab hotel room during an election campaign as the England of 1949 is vividly evoked. Mackay adored the piece and won superb reviews. In James Mundy's Sinners and Saints at the Croydon Warehouse in 1986, by turns a grim and uplifting story of angels in dirty places, Mackay was described as "astonishing, Noel Coward crossed with Jean Genet".
In 1977 Dorothy died from motor neurone disease. The house at Manchuria Road in Clapham felt very empty, and so Mackay pinned up a notice at Rada offering lodgings to impoverished drama students. A young Kenneth Branagh saw the notice, and in his book Beginnings fondly remembers first entering the house which seemed to contain every edition of Plays and Players ever printed. Mackay was deeply versed in theatrical history, wrote copious diaries and kept thousands of press clippings. His archive was a paradise for a rising actor like Branagh and his devotion to theatre was an inspiration to all who came into contact with him. Simon Callow says in tribute to his friend: "I was enchanted to meet someone with such knowledge, and with such high standards which you wanted to live up to."
He left the business in 1993, regretfully feeling that what he had to offer was no longer required. He was quite wrong. The need for performers with immaculate manners, mellifluous voices, and, to use that very apt word again, "polish", lives on. And thanks to his archive, which there are plans to make accessible, and the wonders of videotape, so too does he.
He died in 2013 aged 86. - Sheila Sealy-Smith was married to Hubert Alonza 'Nicky' Sealy. She died on 8 June 2013 in St. Michael, Barbados, West Indies.
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Donald E. (Don) Barton is a film producer and director located in Jacksonville, Florida. He is best known internationally for his 1971 feature film ZAAT which was filmed entirely in and around Jacksonville, Florida. This feature is only one aspect of his long career in the film industry, much of which was spent participating in the development of the Motion Picture industry for the state of Florida.
In 2009 Mr. Barton was honored by his peers and the City of Jacksonville for his significant contributions to the Jacksonville Film Industry. He and Gerden Russell formed the Russell-Barton Film Company in 1955 and were the first company in the state to process and print 16mm black and white film.
Since then Mr. Barton has focused his attention on the production of documentaries, training films and TV commercials. The State of Florida's first National Television commercial shown on the Today Show was written and produced by Barton. Many scenes focus on Northeast Florida with all Florida talent.
The second consideration for the Jacksonville award was Mr. Barton's statewide involvement in building the industry. He is co-founder of the Florida Motion Picture and Television Production Association. He collaborated with the Florida Council of One Hundred to bring the industry's professionals together for the Golden Sun Award. Over 1,000 attended the event in Miami Beach to recognize Rose Marie of the Dick Van Dyke Show, and Florida's Governor, Claude Kirk.
He won numerous awards for excellence in documentary production. His "Jacksonville Story" was selected by the State Department and NBC as the only film of an American city to be shown at the American Exhibit in Moscow when the Iron Curtain was partially lifted. He also received the Freedom Foundation's Award for this film.
Another Barton product, "Man Returns to the Sea", was selected by CINE for showing at the Berlin, Edinburgh and Venice Film Festivals. His bicentennial movie "Florida on My Mind", starring Leif Erickson, won several national awards for excellence and was selected by the USIA for distribution world-wide.
In 1980, the Barton produced movie "Fitness Fever", featuring sportscaster Pat Summerall, won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award. This entitled it to be shown at international film festivals as a representative of the U.S.A.
Mr. Barton is a true North Florida producer.
Mr. Barton backed this position by producing a creature feature called "ZAAT" about a mad scientist who turned himself into a catfish monster. The locations, production crew, and talent teamed up to produce a classic movie. This was recently recognized by Turner Classic Movies when ZAAT was booked on the Network the day before Halloween in 2009.
Now retired, Mr. Barton's next project is a spoof of the movie ZAAT, the title "DARN MONSTER". The project is in a development stage.
The Barton name, after these 55 years in the industry, continues with his two sons, John and Michael. The tradition of producing a quality product continues under their banner, Barton Productions, Inc.- Writer
- Actor
Yoram Kaniuk was born on 2 May 1930 in Tel Aviv, Palestine. He was a writer and actor, known for Before Tomorrow (1969), Himmo, King of Jerusalem (1987) and I Am a Jerusalemite (1971). He was married to Miranda Baker and Lee Theodore. He died on 8 June 2013 in Tel Aviv, Israel.- Arturo Vega was born on 13 October 1947 in Chihuahua, Mexico. He was an actor, known for This Is Berlin Not New York (2008), End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003) and The Dolls of Lisbon (2011). He was married to Mariette Bermowitz. He died on 8 June 2013 in New York, New York, USA.
- Actor
Roland Dallas was born on 8 October 1935 in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor. He died on 8 June 2013 in Dorking, Surrey, England, UK.- Ethel Coley was born on 8 June 1940 in Jamaica. She was an actress, known for Play for Today (1970), Gangsters (1976) and Hair (1968). She died on 8 June 2013 in Westminster, London, England, UK.
- Vít Holubec was born on 8 October 1928 in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Klapzubova jedenáctka (1968), Futbol (1965) and Pohár za první polocas (1972). He died on 8 June 2013 in Prague, Czech Republic.
- Harold Cromer was born on 22 January 1921 in Manhattan, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Cotton Club (1984), Boarding House Blues (1948) and Mister Rock and Roll (1957). He died on 8 June 2013 in New York, USA.
- Robert Gallimard was born on 12 November 1925. He died on 8 June 2013 in Paris, France.
- Kimo Coelho was born on 20 October 1965 in Kailua, Honolulu County, Hawaii, USA. He died on 8 June 2013 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA.
- Paul Cellucci was born on 24 April 1948 in Hudson, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Janet Garnett. He died on 8 June 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
- Sirajul Haque Montu was born in 1938 in Mymensingh, Bengal Presidency, British India [now in Mymensingh, Bangladesh]. He was an actor, known for Ki Je Kori (1976), Nayan (1995) and Ditiyo Jonmo (1987). He was married to Shanta Haque. He died on 8 June 2013 in Mymensingh, Bangladesh.