Fred Griffiths

Fred Griffiths

Born: March 8, 1912
Died: August 27, 1994
in Ludlow, Shropshire, England, UK
Fred Griffiths was born on March 8, 1912 in Ludlow, Shropshire, England as Frederick David Griffiths. He was an actor, known for To Sir, with Love (1967), Steptoe and Son(1972) and The Cruel Sea (1953). He was married to Emily Sadler. He died on August 27, 1994 in London, England.

He was a fireman based in Chelsea during the war and broke into acting by accident. He played a taxi driver in no less than 20 films and appeared in over 100 in total. He died a widower and left one son. Often played taxi drivers and was indeed a qualified London Taxi Driver, who kept his badge and worked as a taxi driver between filming jobs. He appeared in a wartime documentary film, and someone saw his character appeal and started a new career. Appeared in a television commercial on top of Saint Paul's Cathederal in 1973 with Chris Sullivan.

Movies for Fred Griffiths...

Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain
Title: Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: December 31, 2000
Type: Movie
Documentary about Humphrey Jennings, an English documentary filmmaker from the 1930s to 1950.
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Slimderella
Title: Slimderella
Character: Greengrocer
Released: January 1, 1978
Type: Movie
Putting on a pantomime, the kids find they must share the Church hall with a rock group. They decide to present a rock panto.
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The Over-Amorous Artist
Title: The Over-Amorous Artist
Character: Window Cleaner
Released: May 23, 1974
Type: Movie
Sexploitation comedy about an aspiring artist. Alan and Sue switch roles: she goes out to work while he looks after the home and concentrates on his painting. However, he fails to anticipate the time-consuming attentions of various female neighbours.
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No Sex Please: We're British
Title: No Sex Please: We're British
Character: Delivery Man
Released: July 25, 1973
Type: Movie
A porn-store owner orders some new stuff from his supplier, but the delivery address gets mixed with the address of the local Barclays Bank. Here, David (the bank's assistant manager) and his new wife are shocked when photos, then films and finally two girls are sent to them in their bank-supplied flat. They and the banks' head cashier then hatch a plan to get rid of the porn—without letting their boss, the local police and David's mother in on what is happening.
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Achilles Heel
Title: Achilles Heel
Character: Wilf
Released: March 18, 1973
Type: Movie
A professional footballer suffers an injury which could jeopardise his career.
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Steptoe & Son
Title: Steptoe & Son
Character: Barman
Released: March 1, 1972
Type: Movie
Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live together at the junk yard. Harold, who likes the bright lights in the West End of London, meets a stripper, marries her and takes her home. Albert is furious and tries every trick he knows to drive the new bride from his household.
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Along the Way
Title: Along the Way
Released: January 1, 1972
Type: Movie
A young singer from Wales becomes a pop star but soon tires of his success and returns home.
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Dad's Army
Title: Dad's Army
Character: Bert King
Released: March 12, 1971
Type: Movie
Dad's Army was a 1971 feature film based on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. Directed by Norman Cohen, it was filmed between series three and four and was based upon material from the early episodes of the television series. The film told the story of the Home Guard platoon's formation and their subsequent endeavours at a training exercise.
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Perfect Friday
Title: Perfect Friday
Character: Taxi Driver
Released: November 10, 1970
Type: Movie
The deputy manager of a London bank has worked out a way to rob the branch of £200,000. When he becomes involved with the attractive Lady Dorset he decides to go ahead with his plan. He needs her help and that of her philandering spendthrift husband. It all comes down to a matter of trust.
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Billion Dollar Brain
Title: Billion Dollar Brain
Character: Taxi Driver
Released: November 2, 1967
Type: Movie
A former British spy stumbles into in a plot to overthrow Communism with the help of a supercomputer. But who is working for whom?
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The Big Job
Title: The Big Job
Character: Dustman
Released: January 1, 1965
Type: Movie
A gang of hapless crooks, led by Sidney James, successfully perpetrate a robbery only to be caught after the fact. Fifteen years later they emerge from prison intent on retrieving their stolen loot - and discover a police station has been built over its hiding place.
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Ring of Spies
Title: Ring of Spies
Character: News vendor
Released: March 23, 1964
Type: Movie
The film is based on the actual events of the Portland Spy Ring trial in the U.K. A disgruntled Navy Clerk is transferred to a secret research establishment and is subsequently black-mailed/paid by Czech intelligence to procure secrets for them. He seduces the secretary who controls the most secret documents, and they enjoy the fruits of their treachery until the British authorities begin to close in on them.
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Murder at the Gallop
Title: Murder at the Gallop
Character: Landlord (uncredited)
Released: June 24, 1963
Type: Movie
Miss Marple and Mr. Stringer are witnesses to the death by heart attack of elderly, rich Mr. Enderby. Yet they have their doubts about what happened. The police don't believe them, thus leading Miss Marple to yet again investigate by herself.
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There Was a Crooked Man
Title: There Was a Crooked Man
Character: Taxi Driver
Released: August 31, 1960
Type: Movie
When a law-abiding demolition expert is duped by a gang of criminals into helping them he is caught and jailed. When he is released he goes straight and then notices a leading citizen in his town is cheating his neighbours.
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Doctor in Love
Title: Doctor in Love
Character: Ambulance Driver (uncredited)
Released: July 12, 1960
Type: Movie
Doctors Burke and Hare leave the confines of St Swithins for the world of general practice, stopping off on the way as patients at the Foulness Anti-cold Unit. Hare then takes up a position as junior in a well-healed G.P.'s surgery while Burke continues to sow his doctorial wild oats.
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Light Up the Sky!
Title: Light Up the Sky!
Character: Mr Jennings
Released: July 5, 1960
Type: Movie
Chaos ensues when a bunch of misfits man a British searchlight battery during World War II.
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The Battle of the Sexes
Title: The Battle of the Sexes
Character: 1st Porter
Released: February 25, 1960
Type: Movie
Angela Barrows is a man-eating business woman sent by her American employer to investigate their export opportunities in Edinburgh. En route she meets Robert MacPherson, a businessman who asks for her help to bring his company into the 20th Century. The staff, led by Mr Martin, has other ideas—and a battle between the old and new business methods soon breaks out.
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Jungle Street
Title: Jungle Street
Character: Dealer
Released: January 7, 1960
Type: Movie
In this crime drama, a mugger accidently kills a man during a robbery and finds himself blackmailed into cracking a nightclub safe. The mugger escapes by double crossing the blackmailer by stealing the money and his girlfriend to boot. Unfortunately the police are in hot pursuit.
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I'm All Right Jack
Title: I'm All Right Jack
Character: Charlie
Released: August 18, 1959
Type: Movie
Naive Stanley Windrush returns from the war, his mind set on a successful career in business. Much to his own dismay, he soon finds he has to start from the bottom and work his way up, and also that the management as well as the trade union use him as a tool in their fight for power.
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Left Right and Centre
Title: Left Right and Centre
Character: a Billingsgate porter
Released: June 23, 1959
Type: Movie
At the Earndale by-election natural history expert and TV personality Bob Wilcot for the Conservatives finds himself up against Billingsgate girl Stella Stoker for the socialists. Amateur politician against committed activist. But could it become boy-who-fancies-girl against girl-who-fancies-boy? The party agents are soon colluding against such a disaster.
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No Trees in the Street
Title: No Trees in the Street
Character: Street Orator
Released: March 3, 1959
Type: Movie
Based on the play by Ted Willis, the film is set in the years just before World War II, when England hadn't completely dug itself out of the worldwide depression. Melvyn Hayes is featured as an aimless teenager, who tries to escape his squalid surroundings by entering a life of crime. He falls in with local hoodlum Herbert Lom, who holds the rest of the slum citizens in the grip of fear including Hayes' own family. No Trees in the Street chronicles Hayes' sordid progress from nickel-and-dime thefts to murder.
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Carry On Nurse
Title: Carry On Nurse
Character: Ambulanceman
Released: January 30, 1959
Type: Movie
Set in Haven Hospital where a certain men's ward is causing more havoc than the whole hospital put together. The formidable Matron's debut gives the patients a chill every time she walks past, with only Reckitt standing up to her. There's a colonel who is a constant nuisance, a bumbling nurse, a romance between Ted York and Nurse Denton, and Bell who wants his bunion removed straight away, so after drinking alcohol, the men decide to remove the bunion themselves!
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A Cry from the Streets
Title: A Cry from the Streets
Character: Mr. Hodges
Released: August 12, 1958
Type: Movie
Bittersweet story about London's unwanted children and the good people trying to help them. Ann is a social worker, while Bill is an electrician whose contract with the local care home introduces him to the children and Ann. Events start to escalate out of control when a child takes possession of a loaded gun.
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Next to No Time
Title: Next to No Time
Character: Customer
Released: August 4, 1958
Type: Movie
Unassuming planning engineer David Webb finds himself on the Queen Elizabeth to New York with instructions to negotiate a high-powered loan. His lack of confidence means he is completely out of his depth, at least until he finds his personality changes every day during the hour the ship's clocks stop to make allowance for their westward passage.
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Dunkirk
Title: Dunkirk
Character: Old Sweat
Released: March 20, 1958
Type: Movie
A British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed. He has to get them back to Britain somehow. Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches. Some come forward to help, others were less willing.
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Barnacle Bill
Title: Barnacle Bill
Character: Bus Driver
Released: December 17, 1957
Type: Movie
A seasick sea captain commands an amusement pier despite local opposition. Released in the U.S. as 'All at Sea'
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You Pay Your Money
Title: You Pay Your Money
Character: Fred
Released: February 13, 1957
Type: Movie
Crime drama in which a couple get involved in a web of intrigue surrounding the husband's employer.
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Sailor Beware
Title: Sailor Beware
Character: Taxi Driver
Released: September 4, 1956
Type: Movie
Battle-axe Emma Hornett dominates her hen-pecked husband Henry, his meek sister Edie and daughter Shirley. Shirley is to marry young sailor Albert,raised in an orphanage,and he and best man Carnoustie stay with the Hornetts on the eve of the wedding.
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The Long Arm
Title: The Long Arm
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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Lost
Title: Lost
Character: Gamble (Uncredited)
Released: January 31, 1956
Type: Movie
U.S. Embassy employee Lee Cochrane and his wife, Sue, receive a shock when they discover that their 18-month-old son, Simon, has disappeared in London. He was last seen with their nanny, and the couple seemingly have no leads that might help police Detective Craig in his investigation. The media sensationalizes the incident, causing an unnecessary distraction as the couple prepares to confront the culprit face-to-face.
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The Ladykillers
Title: The Ladykillers
Character: Junk Man (uncredited)
Released: December 8, 1955
Type: Movie
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
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Secret Venture
Title: Secret Venture
Character: Gymnasium Attendant
Released: November 10, 1955
Type: Movie
An American is visiting Britain and finds himself in possession of a briefcase full of secret documents that the spies of many different countries seem determined to get.
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Doctor at Sea
Title: Doctor at Sea
Character: Seaman (uncredited)
Released: July 12, 1955
Type: Movie
The second of the seven "Doctor" films, based on Richard Gordon's novels and released between 1954 and 1970. A bachelor doctor goes to sea to escape the boredom of shore practice, but studies the nurses more than medicine, and Brigitte Bardot is around.
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The Sleeping Tiger
Title: The Sleeping Tiger
Character: Taxi Driver
Released: June 21, 1954
Type: Movie
A petty thief breaks into the home of a psychiatrist and gets caught in a web of a doctor who wishes to experiment on him and a doctor's wife who wishes to seduce him.
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Bang! You're Dead
Title: Bang! You're Dead
Character: Milche
Released: March 15, 1954
Type: Movie
Two small boys are playing in a wood. The younger boy has a revolver and, not understanding that the gun differs from his toy pistol, plays 'highwayman' on the road and holds up a cyclist; the gun goes off, killing the cyclist. Both boys are unaware of the tragic consequences of their game. The body and the gun are found by Bob Carter, who had recently quarreled with the victim in the presence of their workmates, and both men had uttered threats. The evidence is strong, and Bob is arrested for murder...
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Meet Mr. Lucifer
Title: Meet Mr. Lucifer
Character: Removal Man
Released: November 30, 1953
Type: Movie
A TV set given as a retirement present is sold on to different households causing misery each time.
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A Day to Remember
Title: A Day to Remember
Character: Barman on Ferry
Released: November 10, 1953
Type: Movie
Based on The Hand and the Flower, a novel by Jerrard Tickell, A Day to Remember stars Stanley Holloway as Charley Porter, captain of London darts team. When the team travels to the French town of Boulogne for the annual darts tournament, a good time is had by all--and more besides. Jim Carver one of the team's members, is reunited with a little French girl he'd befriended during the war, who has now developed into a beautiful young woman. And Fred Collins makes a poignant journey to the hotel where he'd honeymooned with his late wife. The film works best as a low-key comedy-drama; it is least successful when it ventures into O. Henry territory and strains for "surprise" story twists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Street of Shadows
Title: Street of Shadows
Character: Cabbie
Released: October 16, 1953
Type: Movie
A saloon owner falls in love with the abused wife of a heavy gambler. He is snared into a web of intrigue when an ex-girlfriend is found murdered in his apartment.
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Genevieve
Title: Genevieve
Character: Ice Cream Seller (Uncredited)
Released: May 28, 1953
Type: Movie
Two friends driving in the London to Brighton vintage car rally bet on which of them will be the first to arrive back home.
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Turn the Key Softly
Title: Turn the Key Softly
Character: Newspaper Seller (uncredited)
Released: April 29, 1953
Type: Movie
A bitter burglar, a prostitute and an elderly shoplifter spend their first day out of jail.
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The Final Test
Title: The Final Test
Character: Taxi Driver
Released: April 9, 1953
Type: Movie
Legendary England cricketer Sam Palmer (Jack Warner) is due to bat in his final test match against Australia. He is desperate for his son Reggie (Ray Jackson) to see his final innings. But Reggie prefers poetry to cricket and when he is offered the opportunity to read his poetry to England's greatest playwright Alexander Whitehead (Robert Morley) on the last day of the test, the relationship between father and son is tested to the limit. As Sam prepares for his final knock, the conflict with his son weighs heavily on his mind, but he is also upset over England's young batsman and ladies-man, Syd Thompson (George Relph), dating the woman whom he hopes to marry.
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The Cruel Sea
Title: The Cruel Sea
Character: Gracey
Released: February 24, 1953
Type: Movie
At the start of World War II, Cmdr. Ericson is assigned to convoy escort HMS Compass Rose with inexperienced officers and men just out of training. The winter seas make life miserable enough, but the men must also harden themselves to rescuing survivors of U-Boat attacks, while seldom able to strike back. Traumatic events afloat and ashore create a warm bond between the skipper and his first officer
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I Believe in You
Title: I Believe in You
Character: Crump
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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Pool of London
Title: Pool of London
Released: February 20, 1951
Type: Movie
Jewel thieves, murder, and a manhunt swirl around a sailor off a cargo ship in post-war London.
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Double Confession
Title: Double Confession
Character: The Spiv
Released: April 30, 1950
Type: Movie
The hero discovers his estranged wife dead and tries to frame her lover for the murder. He becomes involved with the criminals who make various unsuccessful attempts on his life while the police clear up the mystery.
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Golden Arrow
Title: Golden Arrow
Character: Military Policeman #2
Released: December 31, 1949
Type: Movie
On a journey from Paris to London, a Briton, a Frenchman and an American bond with each other and indulge in a romantic fantasy about a girl they see.
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Passport to Pimlico
Title: Passport to Pimlico
Character: Spiv
Released: October 26, 1949
Type: Movie
When an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, it reveals a treasure trove and documents proving that the region is in fact part of Burgundy, France and thus foreign territory. The British government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area.
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Stop Press Girl
Title: Stop Press Girl
Character: Truck Driver (uncredited)
Released: June 2, 1949
Type: Movie
A young woman leaves her backwards hometown to go to London to find a runaway suitor. What she doesn't know is that she has inherited a strange ability; if she's in the vicinity of a machine for more than fifteen minutes, it stops working.
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The Huggetts Abroad
Title: The Huggetts Abroad
Character: Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Released: March 21, 1949
Type: Movie
Life is not going well for the Huggetts. Father has lost his job. Jimmy and his wife cannot get to South Africa where he has a new job. So the family decide that they should go to South Africa by truck. With their travelling companion they travel across the desert which includes a brush with the law.
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It Always Rains on Sunday
Title: It Always Rains on Sunday
Character: Sam
Released: November 28, 1947
Type: Movie
During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.
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Fires Were Started
Title: Fires Were Started
Released: April 12, 1943
Type: Movie
British film written and directed by Humphrey Jennings, filmed in documentary style showing the lives of firefighters through the Blitz in World War II.
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Nine Men
Title: Nine Men
Character: Base Sergeant (uncredited)
Released: February 22, 1943
Type: Movie
The Nine men of the title are a British WWII Army patrol stuck in a desert fort during the African campaign. The Men must defend the fort against the Italian and German troops until they can be relieved.