Saturday, May 21, 2011

Charles Simpson Actor - Found!

Around October of last year I'd made a post about an actor named Charles Simpson whom I liked... I'd first heard him in a radio show called Breathing Underwater, liked him, and sought out more of his work. He'd been active in radio for quite a while, less so on TV... sort of like another fave, Simon Lack - although Lack's career did span 40 years [similar in that they each were only in supporting roles, never the star]!

Anyway, just discovered why Charles Simpson hasn't been acting in the last 8 years or so. He and another former actor formed a company called Garnett & Simpson, and they go to big corporations and train their people in communication skills. And considering how many client logos they've got, they seem to be doing pretty well.

So while I'm disappointed he's no longer acting, I'm glad to see he's still in a lucrative career and not working as a waiter somewhere, which is what out of work actors in the US do!

Simpson was also a lawyer before he became an actor, according to the bio on their website, and I thought that was pretty interesting.

(By the way, if anyone from the Garnett & Simpson website comes across this little ol' blog entry, jazz up your website! You need to add some video samples of your work - preferably with Charles Simpson doing the demonstrating. ; )

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Polly Burton

Simon Lack had a small role in the opening episode of the second season of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway, in 1973.

I had thought that the detective was going to be The Old Man in the Corner, because Polly Burton is a reporter who always goes to a certain teashop to discuss cases with him.

But in this filmed version, Polly is an aspiring reporter who also works as the assistant for her uncle, Sir Arthur - a criminal lawyer.She also dates a police sergeant.

Sir Arthur is played by John Savident. His schtick is that he's always eating candy.
Polly Burton was played by Judy Geeson.
Her police boyfriend, Richard Frobisher, was played by Richard Beckinsale.
Among the other players, Anthony Higgins - a very young Anthony Higgins, played William Hazeldene, and Simon was Andrew Campbell.


John Savident


Christopher Timothy - very small role


Lois Baxter and Anthony Higgins.

Supposedly, Lois Baxter played Madame Lamia in Doctor Who: "The Androids of Tara," according to the IMDB, but frankly she looks different in both roles...I pride myself on being able to recognize actors but she looks totally different as Madame Lamia.

The rest of the screen caps are of Simon Lack as Andrew Campbell. He's in the first scene, as a man in the train who sees the soon-to-be-murdered woman and a man (whom we never see) talking, then at the trial he identifies Sir Arthur's client as the man...only to be revealed as totally unreliable by Sir Arthur under cross examination.



























Sunday, May 1, 2011

Noel Coward's Original Production of Relative Values (1952)

Noel Coward's play Relative Values made its debut in 1952, with Gladys Cooper, Angela Baddeley, Richard Leech, Ralph Michael Hugh McDermott, Judy Campbell, and Simon Lack.