Ursula Howells

Ursula Howells

Born: September 17, 1922
Died: October 16, 2005
in Hammersmith, London, England, UK
Howells was born in London, the daughter of composer Herbert Howells, and was educated at St Paul's Girls' School, where her father worked as Director of Music. She made her first stage appearance at Dundee in 1939, in John Drinkwater's Bird in Hand, then moved to Oxford in 1942 and three years later made her London debut at the Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage. In 1947 she appeared in the comedy Jane at the Aldwych Theatre. After several years in the West End, and a brief stint on Broadway where she appeared in Springtime for Henry in 1951, she began to appear in films.

After the death of her father in 1983, Ursula Howells instigated the "Herbert Howells Society" and became a standard bearer for the promotion of his work. She financially supported the recording of his compositions and did much to encourage the publishing and promotion of church music.

Movies for Ursula Howells...

Title: The Cazalets
Released: June 22, 2001
Type: TV
The Cazalets is a 2001 five-episode television drama series about the life of a large privileged family in the years 1937 to 1947. Most of the action takes place in London, and at the family's large estate in Sussex. The drama was based on the novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard, and adapted by the screenwriter Douglas Livingstone. The series was originally produced by Cinema Verity for BBC One and is available on DVD.
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A Rather English Marriage
Title: A Rather English Marriage
Character: Mary
Released: December 30, 1998
Type: Movie
A squadron leader and a retired milkman decide to bury their differences and move in together after they are both widowed on the very same night. They become a companionable if odd couple, until their unlikely friendship is threatened by the arrival of an alluring woman with a hidden agenda.
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The Tichborne Claimant
Title: The Tichborne Claimant
Character: Lady Doughty
Released: August 1, 1998
Type: Movie
Based on a true story, set in the late 19th century: Lord Tichborne, the ninth richest nobleman in England, disappears after a South American shipwreck. Some years later his erudite Afro-English valet, Bogle, is sent to investigate rumors that Tichborne survived and settled in Australia. An alcoholic ruffian answer's Bogle's inquiries claiming to be the lost heir. Bogle suspects fraud, but conspires with the claimant to split the inheritance should the latter succesfully pass himself off to friends, family and the courts. As the claimant returns to England to continue his charade, enough people confirm his identity to make both the claimant and Bogle believe that he just might be the rightful heir after all.
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Title: Midsomer Murders
Character: Lady Isabel Aubrey
Released: March 23, 1997
Type: TV
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.
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A Pinch of Snuff
Title: A Pinch of Snuff
Character: Alice Andover
Released: April 9, 1994
Type: Movie
Receiving a tip from his dentist Jack Shorter, policeman Peter Pascoe takes a closer look at the Calliope Kinema Club, a film club notorious for showing adult entertainment movies. Shorter is convinced that one particular scene in a movie he recently saw was too realistic to have been staged with fake blood, but when Pascoe and his bluff superior Andy Dalziel starts investigating, they soon comes across the actress in question, Linda Abbott, who obviously didn't suffer from any harm and assures Pascoe that the concerns are unnecessary.
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Title: Jewels
Character: The Duchess
Released: October 18, 1992
Type: TV
Sarah Thompson, an American visiting England, meets and marries William Whitfield, the Duke of Whitfield. They settle in a chateau in France and begin a family. World War II interrupts their happiness and alters their future. After the war, the family helps war survivors by buying their jewelry and eventually opens a jewelry store, which rapidly becomes a success. But conflicts abound as new generations arise and forces from both outside and within threaten the store and the family.
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Title: Heartbeat
Character: Miriam Wakefield
Released: April 10, 1992
Type: TV
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
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Time After Time
Title: Time After Time
Character: May Swift
Released: January 26, 1986
Type: Movie
'Oh I was naughty. And I'm still naughty so take care.' And so Leda was, all those years ago when she was the childhood friend of Jasper and his three sisters April, May and June. Now she returns to add a little spice to life in their crumbling Irish country house.
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Title: Lovejoy
Character: Olive Nettleton
Released: January 10, 1986
Type: TV
The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.
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Title: Bulman
Released: June 5, 1985
Type: TV
Bulman is a Granada TV series which ran from 1985–1987 and followed the fortunes of the major character from the earlier XYY Man and Strangers series. Bulman was based - increasingly loosely - on the character featured in the XYY Man novels by Kenneth Royce. In this incarnation, Don Henderson appeared again as former Detective Chief Inspector George Bulman, ostensibly retired from police work and repairing old clocks but active as a private investigator, with Lucy McGinty as his assistant. They are frequently drawn into the clandestine world of the secret service through the machinations of security chief Dugdale or Bulman's one-time police boss Lambie.
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Title: Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced
Character: Miss Blacklock
Released: February 28, 1985
Type: TV
An advertisement announcing the time and place of a forthcoming murder appears among the ads of the paper in the small village of Chipping Cleghorn.
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Title: Miss Marple
Character: Miss Blacklock
Released: December 26, 1984
Type: TV
Miss Marple, the spinster detective who is one of the most famous characters created by English crime writer Agatha Christie, is portrayed by Joan Hickson who starred in a dozen television mysteries about Miss Marple over the course of a decade.
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The Cold Room
Title: The Cold Room
Character: Headmistress
Released: March 24, 1984
Type: Movie
A girl visiting modern day East Germany with her estranged father begins reliving the horrifying events that happened to a young girl living there during World War II.
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Title: Bergerac
Character: Elizabeth Fouchet
Released: October 18, 1981
Type: TV
Bergerac is a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it stars John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in Le Bureau des Étrangers, part of the States of Jersey Police.
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Title: Bergerac
Character: Laura Atherton
Released: October 18, 1981
Type: TV
Bergerac is a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it stars John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in Le Bureau des Étrangers, part of the States of Jersey Police.
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Gentle Folk
Title: Gentle Folk
Character: Mrs Menant
Released: January 19, 1980
Type: Movie
An Edwardian house party given by a Fabian woman, her business-man husband and assorted guests from politics and the Arts - including a young man prone to disturbing premonitions.
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Title: Hard Times
Character: Mrs Gradgrass
Released: October 25, 1977
Type: TV
Thomas Gradgrind devotes his life to a philosophy of rationalism, self-interest and hard fact. His raising of his children to this way of thinking creates opportunity and tragedy.
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Title: The Many Wives Of Patrick
Released: September 3, 1976
Type: TV
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Title: Fall of Eagles
Character: Empress Maria Fyodorovna
Released: March 15, 1974
Type: TV
"Fall of Eagles" is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series portrays historical events from 1848 to 1918, dealing with the collapse of the ruling dynasties of Austria-Hungary (the Habsburgs), Germany (the Hohenzollerns) and Russia (the Romanovs).
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Miss Nightingale
Title: Miss Nightingale
Character: Aunt May
Released: January 1, 1974
Type: Movie
The life, background, motivation and struggles of Florence Nightingale.
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Father Dear Father
Title: Father Dear Father
Character: Barbara
Released: May 25, 1973
Type: Movie
After divorcing his wife, Patrick Glover decides it is time to remarry, and chooses his literary agent, only to then mistakenly propose to the cleaning lady. Part of his reason for wanting to remarry is to regain some control over his wayward daughters, but they and their lovers continue to complicate his home and his life... A farcical comedy full of hilarious confusions, this feature-length version of the popular sitcom Father, Dear Father is a real gem of British humour at its best.
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Franklin's Farm
Title: Franklin's Farm
Character: Prue
Released: September 19, 1972
Type: Movie
A grandson's attempt to help his grandma produces problems for the family.
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Title: Upstairs, Downstairs
Character: Duchess of Buckminster
Released: October 10, 1971
Type: TV
Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.
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Title: Cousin Bette
Character: Adeline
Released: August 7, 1971
Type: TV
Adaptation of the Balzac novel. A poor and homely spinster, who feels she's been walked on all her life, teams up with a scheming courtesan to wreak elaborate revenge on her rich and handsome relatives.
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Title: Play for Today
Character: Sarah Chandler
Released: October 15, 1970
Type: TV
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
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Title: Ryan International
Released: September 14, 1970
Type: TV
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Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly
Title: Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly
Character: Mumsy
Released: February 12, 1970
Type: Movie
A wealthy, fatherless British clan kidnaps bums and hippies and forces them to participate in an elaborate role-playing game in which they are the perfect family; those who refuse or attempt escape are ritualistically murdered.
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Crossplot
Title: Crossplot
Character: Maggi Thwaites
Released: November 25, 1969
Type: Movie
A successful London ad-exec hires a beautiful Hungarian girl to pose for some modeling shots, little realising that she has overheard an assassination plot and is now being hunted by some dangerous killers.
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Title: Father, Dear Father
Character: Barbara
Released: May 5, 1968
Type: TV
Patrick Glover is a divorced thriller novelist attempting to raise and keep the peace between his two teenage daughters.
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Title: Ooh La La!
Character: Mme Pontagnac
Released: April 6, 1968
Type: TV
Series based on the short French farces written by Georges Feydeau, Eugène Labiche, Marc Michel and Sacha Guitry. All of them include mistaken identities and impeccable timing.
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Assignment K
Title: Assignment K
Character: Estelle
Released: February 16, 1968
Type: Movie
Philip Scott, the boss of a toy company, is secretly also the chief of a British spy organization. Scott's cover is destroyed when enemy agents kidnap his girlfriend to force him to reveal the identities of his fellow spies.
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Torture Garden
Title: Torture Garden
Character: Miss Maxine Chambers (segment 3 "Mr. Steinway")
Released: November 1, 1967
Type: Movie
Five people visit a fairground sideshow run by the sinister Dr. Diabolo. Having shown them a handful of haunted-house-style attractions, he promises them a genuinely scary experience if they will pay extra.
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Title: Man in a Suitcase
Released: September 27, 1967
Type: TV
Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.
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Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
Title: Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
Character: Mrs. Deirdre Biddulph (segment 1 "Werewolf")
Released: February 23, 1965
Type: Movie
Five strangers board a train and are joined by a mysterious fortune teller who offers to read their Tarot cards. Five separate stories unfold: An architect returns to his ancestoral home to find a werewolf out for revenge; a doctor discovers his new wife is a vampire; a huge plant takes over a house; a musician gets involved with voodoo; an art critic is pursued by a disembodied hand.
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80,000 Suspects
Title: 80,000 Suspects
Character: Joanna Duten
Released: August 15, 1963
Type: Movie
A doctor's already-shaky marriage is tested to an even greater extent when he has to contend with a smallpox epidemic.
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Title: The Human Jungle
Character: Julia Gray
Released: March 30, 1963
Type: TV
The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.
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The Madhouse on Castle Street
Title: The Madhouse on Castle Street
Character: Martha Tompkins
Released: January 13, 1963
Type: Movie
A man mysteriously locks himself in a room in a boarding house leaving only a note saying he has decided to "retire from the world". His worried sister and the other boarders then try to discover why. This TV play is missing believed wiped from the BBC archives.
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The Sicilians
Title: The Sicilians
Character: Mme. Perrault
Released: January 1, 1963
Type: Movie
An aide at the American Embassy in London finds himself involved with both Scotland Yard and the French police over the kidnapping of the son of a Mafia boss who has spilled the beans back in the States.
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Two Letter Alibi
Title: Two Letter Alibi
Character: Louise
Released: January 1, 1962
Type: Movie
Charles Hilary is in love with Kathy Forrester, a beautiful television personality, but is married to Louise, an alcoholic with as many lovers as whisky bottles. His pleas for a divorce are met with threats and abuse. "You'll have to murder me first", Louise tells him and three hours later she is found dead, shot with her husband's pistol. When Charles is arrested, Kathy desperately sets to work to prove his innocence.
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Title: Sunday-Night Play
Released: September 25, 1960
Type: TV
BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.
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Title: No Hiding Place
Released: September 16, 1959
Type: TV
No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart.
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Title: Interpol Calling
Character: Miki
Released: September 13, 1959
Type: TV
The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international drug-running, homicide, robbery and forgery.
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Now Let Him Go
Title: Now Let Him Go
Character: Nurse Judith
Released: September 15, 1957
Type: Movie
A world-class painter is taken ill and lies in the bedroom of an inn, while people down below squabble over his paintings and inheritance. The wily old man is unperturbed, even regarding the infernal trumpet sound which plays throughout.
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Account Rendered
Title: Account Rendered
Character: Lucille Ainsworth
Released: August 1, 1957
Type: Movie
Police find that everyone had a motive for the murder of a wealthy woman.
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West of Suez
Title: West of Suez
Character: Eileen
Released: March 1, 1957
Type: Movie
In this suspense movie, a Yankee mercenary is hired to blow up an Arab dignitary.
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The Long Arm
Title: The Long Arm
Character: Mrs. Elliot / Mrs. Gilson
Released: June 1, 1956
Type: Movie
Scotland Yard detectives attempt to solve a spate of safe robberies across England beginning with clues found at the latest burglary in London. The film is notable for using a police procedural style made popular by Ealing in their 1950 film The Blue Lamp. It is known in the US as The Third Key.
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Keep It Clean
Title: Keep It Clean
Character: Pat Anstey
Released: May 1, 1956
Type: Movie
A man invents a new cleaning machine. His brother in law offers to help him promote it and they get help from the Purity League.
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They Can't Hang Me
Title: They Can't Hang Me
Character: Antonia Pitt
Released: October 1, 1955
Type: Movie
A murderer hopes to escape his death sentence by identifying the leaders of a spy ring.
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Title: Lilli Palmer Theatre
Character: Mary
Released: September 25, 1955
Type: TV
A half-hour anthology series.
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Track the Man Down
Title: Track the Man Down
Character: Mary Dennis
Released: June 6, 1955
Type: Movie
A newspaper reporter finds himself drawn into the aftermath of a racetrack robbery.
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The Constant Husband
Title: The Constant Husband
Character: Ann
Released: April 21, 1955
Type: Movie
Charles Hathaway wakes up in West Wales with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. With the help of a Cardiff specialist he traces his life back to his gorgeous wife and their large London house, so all seems well with the world. But more detective work starts to uncover an alarming chain of further stunning wives and a way of going on that the new Charles finds pretty unacceptable.
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The Gilded Cage
Title: The Gilded Cage
Character: Brenda Lucas
Released: February 1, 1955
Type: Movie
Steve and Harry become involved in an art theft. Harry is framed by the crooks, and arrested by the police. Steve has to prove his brother's innocence.
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Title: Sherlock Holmes
Released: October 18, 1954
Type: TV
The first American television series of Sherlock Holmes adventures aired in syndication in the fall of 1954. The 39 half-hour mostly original stories were produced by Sheldon Reynolds and filmed in France by Guild Films, starring Ronald Howard as Holmes and Howard Marion Crawford as Watson. Archie Duncan appeared in many episodes as Inspector Lestrade. Richard Larke, billed as Kenneth Richards, played Sgt. Wilkins in about fifteen episodes. The series' associate producer, Nicole Milinaire, was one of the first women to attain a senior production role in a television series.
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The Weak and the Wicked
Title: The Weak and the Wicked
Character: Pam Vickers
Released: February 2, 1954
Type: Movie
Jean Raymond an upper class woman with a gambling addiction, is given a twelve-month prison sentence resulting from her inability to pay her debts. At first she is overwhelmingly depressed by life in the women's prison; gradually, however, her misery is relieved by the many close friends she makes there. This sympathetic drama traces the contrasting lives and often faltering progress of the inmates of a women's prison.
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The Oracle
Title: The Oracle
Character: Peggy
Released: June 1, 1953
Type: Movie
An Irish "oracle" foretells the next day's track results to a newspaperman, resulting in a national uproar.
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I Believe in You
Title: I Believe in You
Character: Hon. Ursula
Released: March 5, 1952
Type: Movie
A drama about parole officers to follow the successful Ealing police story of "The Blue Lamp"(1950) . Various sub-plots follow the parole officers and their charges.
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The Cocktail Party
Title: The Cocktail Party
Released: January 1, 1952
Type: Movie
Troubled married couple who, through the intervention of a mysterious stranger, settle their problems and move on with their lives.
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Flesh and Blood
Title: Flesh and Blood
Character: Harriet Marshall
Released: March 6, 1951
Type: Movie
Based upon the play A Sleeping Clergyman by James Bridie, it tells the story of three generations of the Scottish Cameron family, with its various conflicts and romances.