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Nigel Davenport was born on 23 May 1928 in Shelford, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Man for All Seasons (1966), Chariots of Fire (1981) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977). He was married to Maria Aitken and Helena Margaret White. He died on 25 October 2013 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Gene Rayburn was born on December 22, 1917, in Christopher, Illinois. After his father died at a very young age, his mother moved to Chicago and married Milan Rubessa, and Gene adopted his stepfather's name. As Gene Rubessa, he acted in high school plays and hoped to follow an acting career. He moved to New York City in the 1930s where he was a page for NBC, later working as an usher for the NBC symphony orchestra. Before World War Two, he went to announcers school and worked with various radio personalities around New York City. He married Helen Tricknor, in 1940, with whom he had one child, Lynn, in 1942. Soon afterwards, he was called to Military Service and joined the U.S. Air Corps. After the war, Gene worked on the "Rayburn and Finch Show" and, later, the "Gene Rayburn Show" in the early fifties. During the 50s, Rayburn was instrumental in highlighting corruption on radio, by playing an older song so many times that it became a hit. This was alleged to have proved that record promoters could pay DJs to play records on stations for bribes, making the songs very popular, albeit for a price. His breakthrough came in the mid-50s as the announcer on The Tonight Show (1953), with Steve Allen. Rayburn and Allen were associated on The Tonight Show (1953) Show for three years and Rayburn became a household name for many years after that. In 1955, he hosted his first game show called The Sky's the Limit (1954). Subsequent game shows included The Match Game (1962), Make the Connection (1955), Musical Chairs (1954), Play Your Hunch (1958), Tic Tac Dough (1956) and Dough Re Mi (1958). He always flew by jet from his home in Massachusetts to host his various shows. Rayburn was also a Broadway performer, and appeared in plays such as "Bye, Bye Birdie"- Charles Nelson Reilly was his understudy. He also had a small part in the movie, It Happened to Jane (1959).

Margaret Lee was born on 4 August 1943 in Wolverhampton, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Maciste contro i mostri (1962), Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966) and From the Orient with Fury (1965). She was married to Walter Creighton, Gino Malerba and Patrick Anderson. She died on 24 April 2024 in Gloucester, South West England, United Kingdom.

Jessie Ralph was a sailor's daughter, who first came to the stage at the age of 16, performing with a stock company in either Boston, Massachusetts, or Providence, Rhode Island (accounts differ). The year was 1880, and it took Jessie another 26 years to make her debut on the Great White Way in "The Kreutzer Sonata". Already a seasoned actress, she enjoying third billing. Her screen career started with one and two reelers as early as 1915, but her proper entry into Hollywood did not come about until 1933.

For more than 20 years, plump, down-to-earth Jessie made her reputation as a character actress on Broadway playing an assortment of nurses, maids and aunts. She was used in musicals by George M. Cohan and acted in Shakespearean roles, from "Twelfth Night" to "Romeo and Juliet". She was nurse to Jane Cowl's Juliet in the 1923 play which ran for an unprecedented 174 performances and co-starred Eva Le Gallienne and Katharine Cornell (amazing, when considering that the star was already 39 years old!). Like other successful actresses of the stage, Jessie was brought to Hollywood to reprise a Broadway hit role, in this case her Aunt Minnie in Child of Manhattan (1933).

After half a lifetime in the theatre, Jessie's sojourn in Hollywood was relatively brief but marked by a series of memorable performances. She was the definitive incarnation of the endearing nurse Peggotty in David Copperfield (1935) and played Greta Garbo's loyal maid Nanine in Camille (1936). She was the matriarch of the Whiteoaks of Jalna (1935), an adaptable society matron in San Francisco (1936) and harridan of a mother-in-law to W.C. Fields, Hermisillo Brunch, in The Bank Dick (1940). Whether in comedy or drama, as a Chinese aunt in both stage and screen versions of The Good Earth (1937), or a kindly sorceress in The Blue Bird (1940), Jessie gave consistently good value for money. The New York Times review of October 12, 1935, wrote of her performance in I Live My Life (1935): "Jessie Ralph as the tyrannical head of the family, proves again that she is the best of the screen grandmothers".

Jessie retired from acting in 1941 after having a leg amputated and died three years later.

Damaris Hayman was an English character actress often cast in upper class or eccentric roles. Born in 1929 in Kensington, London, and educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College. After repertory work in the theatre, she made her film début in The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) in an uncredited role as a sixth former.

Apart from scores of small parts, Hayman appeared in the Doctor Who (1963) serial, "The Dæmons" (1971; episodes 1-5) as Miss Hawthorne, the self-proclaimed White Witch of the village of Devil's End. 'Doctor Who, the Television Companion' described her character as "very memorable" and praised Hayman as being "perfectly cast in the role, her engaging performance adding much to the story".

She appeared in Citizen James (1960), Comedy Playhouse (1961), Steptoe and Son (1962), Ours Is a Nice House (1969), Happy Ever After (1974), The Sweeney (1975), and One Foot in the Grave (1990). She worked with Ronnie Barker, appearing in one episode of his final series, Clarence (1988). She appeared in The Liver Birds (1969) as Miss Rigby and in Duty Free (1984)'s A Duty Free Christmas (1986). After appearing in a sketch in Tony Hancock's last television series in 1967, she became a close friend of the comedian in the remaining year of his life.

Hayman died in 2021, shortly before her 92nd birthday.

Heather West was born on 17 October 1970 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK. She died on 19 June 1987 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Pat Wing was born on 19 November 1914 in Tacoma, Washington, USA. She was an actress, known for The Working Man (1933), Hi, Nellie (1934) and Maytime (1923). She died on 13 February 2002 in Gloucester, Ohio, USA.

Peter Willes was born on 30 April 1913 in London, England, UK. He was a producer and actor, known for Idiot's Delight (1939), Call It a Day (1937) and ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1969). He died on 22 October 1991 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Vivian MacKerrell was born on 23 May 1944 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Les Misérables (1967), Ghost Story (1974) and Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965). He died on 2 March 1995 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

M.C. Beaton was born on 10 June 1936 in Balornock, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She was a writer, known for Agatha Raisin (2014), Hamish Macbeth (1995) and The Criminal Calendar (1997). She was married to Harry Scott Gibbons. She died on 30 December 2019 in Gloucester, England, UK.

Isabella Blow was born on 19 November 1958 in Westminster, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Die Gentrifizierung bin ich. Beichte eines Finsterlings (2017) and Project Catwalk (2006). She was married to Detmar Blow and Nicholas Taylor. She died on 7 May 2007 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Rena West was born on 14 April 1944 in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK. She was married to Fred West. She died in August 1971 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Nigel Trevessey was born on 28 July 1955 in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK. He is known for V for Vendetta (2005), Lost in Space (1998) and Willow (1988). He died in March 2007 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Ian Kellam was born in 1933 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK. Ian is known for Akenfield (1974). Ian died on 24 November 2014 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Murray Leinster was born on 16 June 1896 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. He was a writer, known for Murder Will Out (1930), The Purple Cipher (1920) and Lights Out (1946). He was married to Mary Mandola. He died on 8 June 1975 in Gloucester, Virginia, USA.

John Hays Hammond was born on 31 March 1855 in San Francisco, California, USA. He died on 8 June 1936 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA.

Maynard Collins was a writer, known for Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave (1980), One Man (1977) and Age of the Rivers (1986). He died on 10 November 2015 in Gloucester, Ontario, Canada.

May Ellis was born on 6 July 1893 in France Lynch, Gloucestershire, England, UK. She died on 29 April 1983 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Dick Sheppard was born on 20 May 1930 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Kelly Monteith (1979), Zastrozzi: A Romance (1986) and Seaside Special (1975). He died on 1 March 2021 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Adrian Digby was born on 13 June 1909 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. He died on 29 November 2001 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.

Edward Anthony was born on 4 August 1895 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for The Big Cage (1933), Wild Cargo (1934) and Bring 'Em Back Alive (1932). He was married to Esther Howard. He died on 16 August 1971 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA.

W.H. Davies was born on 3 July 1871 in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK. W.H. was a writer, known for Fleetwood Mac: Dragonfly (1971) and Poetry Film: Leisure (2018). W.H. was married to Helen Matilda Payne. W.H. died on 26 September 1940 in Nailsworth, Gloucester, England, UK.

Ray Narleski was born on 25 November 1928 in Camden, New Jersey, USA. He died on 29 March 2012 in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, USA.

American television viewers in the early days of TV knew Dr. Carleton Coon as a witty, erudite analyst of esoteric objects on the program What in the World? (1950), where he would join a panel of experts who examined mysterious artifacts from the perspectives of archeology and anthropology. Coon had taught at Harvard University from the late 1920s through the late 1940s, interrupting his tenure during World War II to serve in the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency). He later became a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and a curator at that institution's University Museum.

Sonia Rolt was born on 15 April 1919 in New York City, New York, USA. She is known for Julia Bradbury's Canal Walks (2011) and Great Canal Journeys (2014). She was married to Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt and George Smith. She died on 22 October 2014 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.