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Vivian Pickles is a Actor British born on 21 october 1931 at London (United-kingdom)

Vivian Pickles

Vivian Pickles
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Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 21 october 1931 (93 years) at London (United-kingdom)

Vivian Pickles (born 21 October 1931) is an English actress.

Biography

She began her career as a child star after being chosen by Mary Field for a series of Saturday Morning children's films, including the lead roles in Jean's Plan (1944) and the serial The Adventures of Peter Joe (1945). At the age of 14, she played Alice in George More O'Ferrall's BBC production of Alice in Wonderland which was broadcast live from Alexandra Palace in London. During this period, she acted at the Q Theatre in Vice Versa with Charles Hawtrey and made her West End debut as Wee Willie Winkie in Land of the Xmas Stocking at the Duke of York's Theatre, with Richard Goolden.

After being educated at Le Collège Feminin de Bouffément in Paris, she started her adult performing career acting in repertory and progressed to featured roles in West End revues. In 1952, she appeared with Roger Moore in I Capture the Castle at the Aldwych Theatre. The production won Roger Moore an MGM contract. When Moore left for Hollywood, Bill Travers assumed Moore's role.

In 1959, she worked with her future husband, Gordon Gostelow in Glimpse of the Sea by Willis Hall at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. In February 1961, she appeared with Henry Kendall in the first performance of Pool's Paradise at the Phoenix Theatre. Pickles' imperious performance in the world première of John Osborne's Plays for England at the Royal Court Theatre (on 19 July 1962) received praise from Osborne in his autobiography, Looking Back. The following year, Pickles appeared with Peter O'Toole in London in Berthold Brecht's Baal at the Phoenix Theatre (in April 1963).

Hired by Ken Russell for a supporting role for his BBC film, Diary of a Nobody (1964), she graduated to the lead role in Russell's film about Isadora Duncan (Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1966)) -- receiving several awards for her performance in that film, including Best Actress at the Monte Carlo International Festival. In 1967, she appeared in Giles Cooper's BBC adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy and also in Pride and Prejudice.

Her appearance in Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World helped Pickles win the role of Mrs. Chasen in Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude (1971), playing Harold's weary mother. It is the only American-based film she has made. In the booklet accompanying the soundtrack album of the film, Ashby was quoted,


"Vivian Pickles is one of the finest actresses in the world. I'd seen the thing that she did for Ken Russell – 'Isadora'".
Another memorable performance on British television was as Mary, Queen of Scots, in Elizabeth R (1971) with Glenda Jackson in the lead role. Around the same time she also worked with Jackson in John Schlesinger's film, Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), in which she played the bohemian mother who employed Jackson as a babysitter. Other screen roles include Play Dirty (1969, with Michael Caine), The Looking Glass War (1969), Hello-Goodbye (1970), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Candleshoe (1977), and two films for Lindsay Anderson – O Lucky Man! (1973), in which she plays the good lady feeding the downtrodden in London, and the pivotal role of the Matron in Britannia Hospital (1982). She also played Lady Montdore in the Thames Television series Love in a Cold Climate (1980).

Her later television films include Miss Morrison's Ghosts (1981) with Wendy Hiller, Alan Bennett's The Insurance Man (1986), with Daniel Day-Lewis and Jim Broadbent. On the stage, she worked in a work by Alan Bennett in the première production of Kafka's Dick at the Royal Court Theatre. She has also worked in productions for radio.

In 2014, she collaborated with the writer, Paul Sutton, on the book 'Six English Filmmakers' (978-0957246256) in which she talks about her work, particularly Ken Russell's Isadora Duncan.

Best films

Harold and Maude (1971)
(Actress)

Usually with

John Box
John Box
(2 films)
Alan Price
Alan Price
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Vivian Pickles (11 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

Britannia Hospital, 1h56
Directed by Lindsay Anderson
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Comedy, Horror
Themes Medical-themed films
Actors Malcolm McDowell, Leonard Rossiter, Fulton Mackay, Joan Plowright, John Moffatt, Robin Askwith
Roles Matron
Rating62% 3.100493.100493.100493.100493.10049
A new wing at Britannia Hospital is to be opened, and the Queen Mother – referred to as HRH – is due to arrive. The administrator of the hospital, Potter (Leonard Rossiter), is confronted with demonstrators protesting against an African dictator who is a VIP patient, striking ancillary workers (opposed to the exotic gastronomic demands of the hospital's private patients) and a less-than-cooperative Professor Millar (Graham Crowden), the head of the new wing. Rather than cancel the royal visit, Potter decides to go out and reason with the protestors. He strikes a deal with the protest leader — the private patients of Britannia Hospital are to be ejected and, in return, the protestors allow a number of ambulances into the hospital. However, unbeknown to the protestors, these ambulances actually contain the Queen Mother and her entourage.
Candleshoe
Candleshoe (1977)
, 1h41
Directed by Norman Tokar
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama
Themes Heist films, Children's films
Actors David Niven, Helen Hayes, Jodie Foster, Leo McKern, Sydney Bromley, John Alderson
Roles Grimsworthy
Rating67% 3.350823.350823.350823.350823.35082
Con-artist Harry Bundage (McKern) believes that the lost treasure of pirate captain Joshua St. Edmund is hidden at Candleshoe, the large country estate of Lady St Edmund (Hayes). Having gained access to Captain St. Edmund's hidden will with the help of a corrupt former cleaning woman at Candleshoe, Harry recruits American Casey Brown (Foster)—-an unwanted foster child and hooligan-—into the plot, employing her to pose as Lady St Edmund's granddaughter, the Honourable Margaret, 4th Marchioness of St Edmond, who was kidnapped at age four by her father and subsequently disappeared after her father's death. Casey is the right age to pass for Margaret and possesses several identifying scars that young Margaret was known to have. Casey agrees to go along with the con and discover further clues in exchange for a cut of the treasure.
O Lucky Man!, 3h3
Directed by Lindsay Anderson
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Fantasy, Musical
Actors Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe, Helen Mirren, Graham Crowden
Roles Good Lady
Rating75% 3.794523.794523.794523.794523.79452
The film opens with a short fragment outside the plot but clearly related on repeated viewings. Grainy, black-and-white, and silent, a title "Once Upon a Time" leads to Latino labourers picking coffee beans while armed foremen push rudely between them. One worker (McDowell with black hair and moustache) pockets a few beans ("Coffee for the Breakfast Table") but is seen by a foreman. He is next seen before a fat Caucasian magistrate who loses some saliva as he removes his cigar only to say "Guilty." The foreman pulls his machete and lays it across the unfortunate laborer's wrists, bound to a wooden block, revealing that he is to lose his hands for the theft of a few beans. The machete lifts, descends, and we see McDowell draw back in a silent scream. The scene blacks out, the word NOW appears onscreen and expands quickly to fill it.
Harold and Maude, 1h31
Directed by Hal Ashby
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Films about suicide, Vieillesse, Buddy films
Actors Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Eric Christmas, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Ellen Geer
Roles Mrs. Chasen
Rating78% 3.9479653.9479653.9479653.9479653.947965
Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is a young man obsessed with death. He stages elaborate fake suicides, attends funerals and drives a hearse, all to the chagrin of his socialite mother (Vivian Pickles).
Nicholas and Alexandra, 3h9
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Biography, Historical, Romance
Themes Politique, Political films, Films about capital punishment, Films about royalty
Actors Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Roderic Noble, Ania Marson, Lynne Frederick, Candace Glendenning
Roles Mme. Krupskaya
Rating71% 3.596643.596643.596643.596643.59664
The story begins with the birth of Tsarevich Alexei on 12 August 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War. Tsar Nicholas (Michael Jayston) is warned by the Prime Minister Count Witte (Laurence Olivier) and his uncle Grand Duke Nicholas (Harry Andrews) that the war is futile and costing too many lives. They tell him the Russian people want representative government, health care, voting and workers' rights, but Nicholas wants to maintain the autocracy. Meanwhile, underground political parties led by Vladimir Lenin (Michael Bryant), Joseph Stalin (James Hazeldine) and Leon Trotsky (Brian Cox) have formed.
Sunday Bloody Sunday, 1h50
Directed by John Schlesinger
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Adventure, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, Bisexuality-related films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Murray Head, Glenda Jackson, Nike Arrighi, Peter Finch, Peggy Ashcroft, Tony Britton
Roles Alva Hodson
Rating69% 3.495863.495863.495863.495863.49586
A Jewish doctor, Daniel Hirsh (Peter Finch) and a young woman, Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson) are both involved in a love triangle with contemporary sculptor Bob Elkin (Murray Head). Not only are Hirsh and Greville aware that Elkin is seeing the other but they know one another through common friends. Despite this, they are willing to put up with the situation through fear of losing Elkin, who switches freely between them.
Hello-Goodbye, 1h47
Directed by Jean Negulesco
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Michael Crawford, Curd Jürgens, Genevieve Gilles, Lon Satton, Mike Marshall, Didier Haudepin
Roles Joycie
Rating47% 2.362062.362062.362062.362062.36206
Harry England (Michael Crawford), a British car salesman on a trip to France, meets a Baroness "Danny" (Genevieve Gilles) when her Rolls-Royce breaks down. They spend a few days together and become lovers before she disappears one night, but Harry does not know her surname.
The Looking Glass War, 1h48
Directed by Frank Pierson
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Spy
Themes Spy films, Political films
Actors Christopher Jones, Pia Degermark, Ralph Richardson, Paul Rogers, Anthony Hopkins, Susan George
Roles Mrs. King
Rating57% 2.899582.899582.899582.899582.89958
Polish defector Leiser (Christopher Jones) is offered by MI6 a chance at UK citizenship if he agrees to undertake a mission into East Germany. (This to replace an already murdered MI6 agent.) The mission, (To gather photographic intelligence on a covert East German rocket system in violation of international agreements.) begins to go wrong from the start when, having arrived in East Germany, he's forced to murder a lorry driver for rejecting his homosexual advances. Leiser's objective is further undermined when he falls in love with an East German woman looking for a way out of the country.
Play Dirty
Play Dirty (1969)
, 1h58
Directed by André de Toth
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Action, Adventure
Themes Films set in Africa, Political films, Le désert, Guerre du désert
Actors Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews, Patrick Jordan, Daniel Pilon
Roles German Nurse
Rating66% 3.345573.345573.345573.345573.34557
In North Africa in World War II, Captain Douglas (Caine) is a BP employee seconded to the Royal Engineers to oversee handling incoming fuel supplies for the British 8th Army. A Popski's Private Army-style colonel (Green) is told he must have a regular officer to lead one of his units on a dangerous mission to destroy an Afrika Korps fuel depot.
Ice Cold in Alex, 2h10
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Adventure, Historical
Themes Films set in Africa, Political films
Actors John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Anthony Quayle, Harry Andrews, Richard Leech, Diane Clare
Rating76% 3.845563.845563.845563.845563.84556
A British unit at Tobruk is attacked by the German Afrika Korps, in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. During the resulting evacuation, Captain Anson (John Mills), a transport pool officer suffering from battle fatigue and alcoholism, MSM Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), and two nurses, Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Denise Norton (Diane Clare), crew an Austin K2/Y ambulance, nicknamed 'Katy', and decide to drive across the desert back to British lines.
Jean's Plan
Actors Vivian Pickles, Alan Tilvern
Roles Jean Fairfax

The daughter of a jeweller attempts to stop her father being robbed.