Early Life The British comedy actor Jimmy Edwards was born in Barnes, Surrey on 23 March 1920. The son of a mathematics professor, he was christened James Keith O’Neill Edwards. He had eight siblings, four brothers and four sisters. He was schooled at St Paul’s Cathedral School in Wimbledon and later attended St John’s College…
Early Life The English-Australian actor Peter Finch was born on 28 September 1916 in London, England. He was given the birth name of Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch. His parents were George Ingle Finch, a chemist and noted mountaineer, and his wife Alicia, who he had married the previous year. However, his parents divorced in…
Early Life The character actor Ron Moody was born on 8 January 1924 in Tottenham, London. He was the son of Jewish parents of East European extraction, Bernard Moodnick, a studio executive, and his wife, Kate. In 1930, Bernard Moodnick changed the family name to the anglicised surname of ‘Moody’. Ron received a grammar school…
Early Life The comedy actress Barbara Windsor was born in Shoreditch, London on 6 August 1937. Christened Barbara Ann Deeks, she was the only child of John Deeks, a bus driver, and his wife Rose, a dressmaker. Aged 6, Windsor was evacuated to Blackpool after a friend was killed in a Luftwaffe bombing raid. She…
Early Life The character actress Joan Sims was born on 9 May 1930 in Laindon, near Basildon in Essex. She was the only child of John Henry Sims, the local stationmaster, and his wife Gladys, and christened Irene Joan Marion Sims. She showed an interest in acting from an early age, taking up local amateur…
Early Life Peter (Seamus) O’Toole was born at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, England on 2 August 1932. His Irish-born father Patrick Joseph O’Toole, was a metalworker, footballer, and later, a bookmaker. His mother, Constance Jane, was a Scottish nurse. He grew up in the Leeds suburb of Hunslet, along with his older sister…
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