Bernard Miles

Bernard Miles

Born: September 27, 1907
Died: June 14, 1991
in Uxbridge, Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE (27 September 1907–14 June 1991) was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century.

Miles was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex and attended Bishopshalt School in Hillingdon. While his parents were respectively a farm labourer and a cook, he was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford. He entered the theatre in the 1930s, soon appearing in films. Like many actors, he featured prominently in the patriotic cinema during the Second World War, including classics of the genre such as In Which We Serve and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing. He also had an uncredited role in the WWII classic The First of the Few, released in the US as Spitfire.

His typical persona as an actor was as a countryman, with a strong accent typical of the Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire counties. He was also, after Robert Newton, the actor most associated with the part of Long John Silver, which he played in a British TV version of Treasure Island, and in an annual performance at the Mermaid commencing in the winter of 1961-62. Actors in the annual theatrical productions included Spike Milligan as Ben Gunn, and, in the 1968 production, Barry Humphries as Long John Silver. It was Miles who, impressed by the talent of John Antrobus originally commissioned him to write a play of some sort. This led to Antrobus collaborating with Milligan to produce a one-act play called The Bed Sitting Room, which was later adapted to a longer play, and staged by Miles at The Mermaid on 31 January 1963, with both critical and commercial success.

He had a pleasant rolling bass-baritone voice that worked well in theatre and film, as well as being much in demand for voice-overs. As a performer, he was most well known for a series of comic monologues, often given in a rural dialect. These were recorded and sold as record albums, which were quite popular. Some of his comic monologues are currently available on youtube.com.

Miles was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1953, was knighted in 1969, and was granted a life peerage as Baron Miles, of Blackfriars in the City of London in 1979. He was only the second British actor ever to be given a peerage (the first was Laurence Olivier).

Miles's written works include "The British Theatre" (1947), "God's Brainwave" (1972), and "Favorite Tales from Shakespeare" (1972). In 1981, he co-authored the book Curtain Calls with J.C. Trewin.

He died in Yorkshire.

His daughters are the actress Sally Miles and the artist Bridget Miles. His son John Miles was a Grand Prix Driver in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the Lotus team.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Bernard Miles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Bernard Miles...

The Lady and the Highwayman
Title: The Lady and the Highwayman
Character: Judge
Released: December 3, 1988
Type: Movie
Set in old England, Hugh Grant ("Four Weddings & a Funeral", "Notting Hill") plays a highwayman who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. But during one of his robberies, he falls in love with an aristocratic lady, Emma Samms ("Star Quest", "Delirious"). Now, he is forced to choose between his true love or his true cause. This swash-buckling romantic adventure will have you on the edge of your seat with every swing of Hugh's savage sword.
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James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Title: James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 22, 1988
Type: Movie
Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.
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Treasure Island
Title: Treasure Island
Character: Long John Silver
Released: January 1, 1982
Type: Movie
Intrigue...comedy...adventure...unforgettable characters and exotic settings - the legendary story of Treasure Island comes to life in this colourful adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's masterpiece. Join these timeless travellers in this wonderful and immortal tale of treasure and treachery!
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Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Title: Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Character: Dr. Thomas
Released: March 30, 1980
Type: Movie
This intriguing story is set in the 1930s at a country house, where two amateur sleuths, Bobby Jones and Lady Frankie Derwent, try to unravel the mystery behind a tale of murder, suspense and false identities. And the only clues the two have to go on are the puzzling last words of a dying man. Featuring characters created by Agatha Christie, Why Didn't They Ask Evans is a classic crime thriller sure to please murder-mystery fans.
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Title: Tales of the Unexpected
Character: Mr Rummins
Released: March 24, 1979
Type: TV
A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.
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Run Wild, Run Free
Title: Run Wild, Run Free
Character: Reg
Released: March 28, 1969
Type: Movie
Directed by Richard C. Sarafian, this 1969 British children's film stars Mark Lester as a young boy, unable to speak, who befriends both a wild colt with blue eyes and a falcon named "Lady". The cast also includes John Mills, Gordon Jackson and Sylvia Sims.
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The Specialist
Title: The Specialist
Released: August 21, 1966
Type: Movie
Lem Putt specializes in building outdoor lavatories.
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Heavens Above!
Title: Heavens Above!
Character: Simpson
Released: May 20, 1963
Type: Movie
A naive but caring prison chaplain, who happens to have the same last name as an upper class cleric, is by mistake appointed as vicar to a small and prosperous country town. His belief in charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the conservative and narrow-minded locals, and he soon creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading the local landowner to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. When the congregation leaders realise the mistake and call for the Church of England to remove him, this turns out to be a very, very difficult issue - until one clergyman realises that a British project to send a man into space is in need of an astronaut...
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Barbara Hepworth
Title: Barbara Hepworth
Character: Narrator
Released: September 17, 1961
Type: Movie
A contemporary of Henry Moore, Yorkshire-born Barbara Hepworth has made Cornwall her home. This film by John Read examines how the Cornish landscapes have influenced Hepworth's work, and the artist takes us through the planning stages in the creation of her sculptures.
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Sapphire
Title: Sapphire
Character: Ted Harris
Released: November 2, 1959
Type: Movie
Two Scotland Yard detectives investigate the murder of a young woman of mixed race who had been passing for white. As they interview a spate of suspects -- including the girl's white boyfriend and his disapproving parents -- the detectives wade through a stubbornly entrenched sludge of racism and bigotry.
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Tom Thumb
Title: Tom Thumb
Character: Jonathan
Released: December 4, 1958
Type: Movie
A boy, no bigger than a thumb, manages to outwit two thieves determined to make a fortune from him.
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Wuthering Heights
Title: Wuthering Heights
Character: Joseph
Released: May 9, 1958
Type: Movie
Mistreated foundling Heathcliff and his stepsister Catherine fall in love, but when she marries a wealthy man, he becomes obsessed with getting revenge, even well into the next generation. [Originally aired on CBS's DuPont Show of the Month.]
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Saint Joan
Title: Saint Joan
Character: Master Executioner
Released: May 8, 1957
Type: Movie
Young Joan of Arc comes to the palace in France to make The Dauphin King of France and is appointed to head the French Army. After winning many battles she is not needed any longer and soon she is thought of as a witch.
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The Smallest Show on Earth
Title: The Smallest Show on Earth
Character: Old Tom
Released: April 9, 1957
Type: Movie
Jean and Bill are a married couple trying to scrape a living. Out of the blue they receive a telegram informing them Bill's long-lost uncle has died and left them his business—a cinema in the town of Sloughborough. Unfortunately they can't sell it for the fortune they hoped as they discover it is falling down and almost worthless.
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Fortune Is a Woman
Title: Fortune Is a Woman
Character: Mr. Jerome
Released: March 13, 1957
Type: Movie
An insurance man discovers his ex-girlfriend and her husband's art-forgery/arson scam.
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Zarak
Title: Zarak
Character: Hassu the one-eyed
Released: December 1, 1956
Type: Movie
A notorious bandit develops a grudging respect for the English military man assigned to capture him.
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Tiger in the Smoke
Title: Tiger in the Smoke
Character: Tiddy Doll the Gang Leader
Released: November 27, 1956
Type: Movie
In wartime, a young officer is killed during a raid to kill a German general at the house that used to belong to his grandmother. Before he dies he talks about a treasure that was hidden there. Several years later, the members of that group are still together as a street band living in a cellar. The last of the gang, who was chosen for his skills as a ruthless killer, escapes from prison in a rampage of killing and, obsessed with the treasure, takes the gang to France to recover it.
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Moby Dick
Title: Moby Dick
Character: The Manxman
Released: June 27, 1956
Type: Movie
In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service aboard the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale. Ahab lost his his leg to that creature and is desperate for revenge. As the crew soon learns, he will stop at nothing to gain satisfaction.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much
Title: The Man Who Knew Too Much
Character: Edward Drayton
Released: May 16, 1956
Type: Movie
A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.
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Title: Nathaniel Titlark
Released: February 21, 1956
Type: TV
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Never Let Me Go
Title: Never Let Me Go
Character: Joe Brooks
Released: March 18, 1953
Type: Movie
An American reporter falls in love with a Russian ballet dancer.
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The Magic Box
Title: The Magic Box
Character: Cousin Alfred
Released: January 1, 1952
Type: Movie
Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once very different. As young and handsome William Green he changed his name to include his first wife's so that it sounded more impressive for the photographic portrait work he was so good at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.
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Title: Treasure Island
Released: May 1, 1951
Type: TV
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Henry Moore
Title: Henry Moore
Character: Narrator
Released: April 30, 1951
Type: Movie
A documentary on the work of artist Henry Moore.
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Chance of a Lifetime
Title: Chance of a Lifetime
Character: Stevens
Released: April 24, 1950
Type: Movie
The workers in a small plough factory take over the firm, but when a large order falls through, the old management come back to help out.
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The Guinea Pig
Title: The Guinea Pig
Character: Mr. Read
Released: October 26, 1948
Type: Movie
A working-class boy wins a scholarship to a public school, as part of a post-World War Two experiment in bringing boys of different social classes together.
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Fame Is the Spur
Title: Fame Is the Spur
Character: Tom Hannaway
Released: September 23, 1947
Type: Movie
A politician rises rapidly to fame and fortune and discovers that power corrupts and ultimately becomes the very type of politician he had set out to displace.
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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Title: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Character: Newman Noggs
Released: March 12, 1947
Type: Movie
A fatherless boy tries to make his fortune despite interference from his rich uncle.
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Great Expectations
Title: Great Expectations
Character: Joe Gargery
Released: December 26, 1946
Type: Movie
In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.
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Carnival
Title: Carnival
Character: Trewhella
Released: December 2, 1946
Type: Movie
A melodrama about a 19th-century ballet dancer who makes an unfortunate career move by marrying a taciturn Cornish farmer. She soon longs for the bright lights of the big city and for the arms of her artist lover. Unfortunately, her husband is all too aware of this.
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Tawny Pipit
Title: Tawny Pipit
Character: Colonel Barton-Barrington
Released: April 28, 1944
Type: Movie
Jimmy Bancroft, a fighter pilot, who is recovering from injuries sustained during the Battle of Britain, and Hazel Court, a nurse, come across a pair of rare birds nestling in a field. After a run in with the army, and a couple of thieves, they, with the cooperation of the village people and the Ornithology Society, help the eggs to hatch. A wonderful look at life in a small village, during World War II.
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Tunisian Victory
Title: Tunisian Victory
Character: British soldier (voice)
Released: March 23, 1944
Type: Movie
Documentary made by the U.S. Army Signal Corps after the North African campaign.
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Two Fathers
Title: Two Fathers
Character: The Englishman
Released: January 19, 1944
Type: Movie
An Englishman and Frenchman sharing a hotel room discover their children are fighting on the same side, French Resistance and R.A.F.
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The New Lot
Title: The New Lot
Character: Ted Loman
Released: January 1, 1943
Type: Movie
A new batch of Army recruits, from diverse backgrounds and with varying degrees of commitment, is shaped into an efficient fighting unit.
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In Which We Serve
Title: In Which We Serve
Character: Chief Petty Officer Hardy / Walter Hardy
Released: September 17, 1942
Type: Movie
The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship's first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.
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The Day Will Dawn
Title: The Day Will Dawn
Character: McAllister (Irish Soldier)
Released: June 8, 1942
Type: Movie
Sports journalist Colin Metcalfe is picked for the job of foreign correspondent in Norway when Hitler invades Poland. On the way to Langedal his boat is attacked by a German U-Boat, however when he tells the navy about it they do not believe him and, to make matters worse, he is removed from his job. When German forces invade Norway, Metcalfe returns determined to uncover what is going on and stop the Germans in their tracks.
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One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
Title: One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
Character: Geoff Hickman, Front Gunner in B for Bertie
Released: April 24, 1942
Type: Movie
During the Allied Bombing offensive of World War II the public was often informed that "A raid took place last night over ..., One (or often more) of Our Aircraft Is Missing". Behind these sombre words hid tales of death, destruction and derring-do. This is the story of one such bomber crew who were shot down and the brave Dutch patriots who helped them home.
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The Big Blockade
Title: The Big Blockade
Character: Royal Navy Mate
Released: January 19, 1942
Type: Movie
Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war.
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The Common Touch
Title: The Common Touch
Character: Cricket Steward
Released: November 15, 1941
Type: Movie
The Common Touch is a 1941 British drama film directed by John Baxter and starring Geoffrey Hibbert, Harry Welchman, Greta Gynt and Joyce Howard. On the death of his father, an eighteen-year old lad leaves school to take over the family firm in the City of London. Realising the other directors want to keep him in the dark he starts asking questions, and is soon undercover as a down-and-out in a hostel which will disappear if a company building project goes ahead.
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Quiet Wedding
Title: Quiet Wedding
Character: PC
Released: April 19, 1941
Type: Movie
A young couple become engaged, but enjoy a number of comedic aventures before their wedding day.
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Freedom Radio
Title: Freedom Radio
Character: Capt. Muller
Released: February 4, 1941
Type: Movie
Hitler's doctor is gradually realising that the Nazi regime isn't as good as it pretends to be when his friends start to "disappear" into the camps. His wife is courted by the party and accepts a political post in Berlin. Meanwhile Dr Karl decides to try to do something to counteract the Nazi propaganda and with the help of an engineer and a few friends he sets up the Freedom Radio to counteract the Nazi propaganda.
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The Dawn Guard
Title: The Dawn Guard
Character: Farmer
Released: January 1, 1941
Type: Movie
Bernard Miles and Percy Walsh play two members of the Home Guard, on duty by a windmill, discussing the causes of the war and the issues at stake.
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Pastor Hall
Title: Pastor Hall
Character: Heinrich Degan
Released: May 28, 1940
Type: Movie
The village of Altdorf has to come to terms with Chancellor Hitler and the arrival of a platoon of Stormtroopers. The Stormtroopers go about teaching and enforcing "The New Order", but Pastor Hall, a kind and gentle man, won't be cowed. Some villagers join the Nazi party avidly, and some just go along with things, hoping for a quiet life, but Pastor Hall takes his convictions to the pulpit.
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Contraband
Title: Contraband
Character: Man Lighting Pipe
Released: May 11, 1940
Type: Movie
When a neutral Danish merchant ship is forced to put into port after trying to evade British wartime contraband control, its captain becomes involved in a beautiful British Naval Intelligent agent's efforts to capture a group of German spies operating from a London cinema.
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Band Waggon
Title: Band Waggon
Character: Saboteur (uncredited)
Released: March 23, 1940
Type: Movie
A gang of spies held up in a haunted castle gives this team of celebrated British wireless comedians plenty of scope for laughs.
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The Lion Has Wings
Title: The Lion Has Wings
Character: Civilian Observer Controller
Released: November 3, 1939
Type: Movie
This early, influential propaganda film blends documentary and studio footage to show the valiant efforts of the Royal Air Force to defend the British people against the Nazis.
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The Spy in Black
Title: The Spy in Black
Character: Hans - Hotel Receptionist
Released: August 3, 1939
Type: Movie
A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.
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They Drive by Night
Title: They Drive by Night
Character: Detective at Billiard Halls (Uncredited)
Released: December 1, 1938
Type: Movie
“Shorty” Matthews having recently been released from prison visits his girlfriend in London only to discover her murdered. Fearing he will be wrongly accused of being the culprit he disappears amongst the long-distance lorry driving community. Meanwhile, the real killer, unassuming ex-schoolteacher Walter Hoover, continues to prey on London women. As Shorty had feared he has become the main suspect. He returns to London with old flame Molly to prove his innocence.
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The Citadel
Title: The Citadel
Character: Medical Aid Society Committee Member (uncredited)
Released: October 29, 1938
Type: Movie
Andrew Manson, a young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor arrives in Wales takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the persistent cough many of the miners have. When his attempts to prove its cause are thwarted, he moves to London. His new practice does badly. But when a friend shows him how to make a lucrative practice from rich hypochondriacs, it will take a great shock to show him what the truth of being a doctor really is.
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The Challenge
Title: The Challenge
Character: Villager
Released: September 14, 1938
Type: Movie
Dramatization of the first climbing of the Matterhorn in 1865.
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Strange Boarders
Title: Strange Boarders
Character: Chemist (uncredited)
Released: May 1, 1938
Type: Movie
Pre-war intelligence man Tommy Blythe interrupts his honeymoon to investigate the discovery of vital Air Ministry blueprints on a woman killed in a London road accident. The trail leads to a boarding house in Notting Hill and its varied tenants.
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The Rebel Son
Title: The Rebel Son
Character: Polish Prisoner
Released: February 2, 1938
Type: Movie
During the 16th century the Cossacks and their Ukraine homeland is ruled by Poland. This is the story of the leader of the Cossacks and how his son was sent to study under the Poles to learn how to defeat them in battle. However, the son falls in love with the daughter of a Polish nobleman.
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Crown v. Stevens
Title: Crown v. Stevens
Character: Detective Wells
Released: August 3, 1936
Type: Movie
When an ex-dancer marries a man for his money she is suprised find he is a real skinflint. She owes a lot of money to a loan-shark who is after her. However, her husband does carry a lot of insurance
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Twelve Good Men
Title: Twelve Good Men
Character: Inspector Pine
Released: March 1, 1936
Type: Movie
A convicted killer escapes and seeks revenge on the jurors who put him in prison. He kills two of them and the rest end up hiding in the large home of another juror, an actor. It is the actor who saves them from the murderous fugitive.
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Late Extra
Title: Late Extra
Character: Charlie (uncredited)
Released: November 19, 1935
Type: Movie
A newspaper reporter sets out to track down the murderer of a policeman.
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The Guv'nor
Title: The Guv'nor
Character: Man at Meeting
Released: October 1, 1935
Type: Movie
The Guv'nor (released in the U.S. as Mr. Hobo) is a 1935 British comedy film starring George Arliss as a tramp who rides a series of misunderstandings and becomes the president of a bank.
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The Love Test
Title: The Love Test
Character: Allan
Released: June 30, 1935
Type: Movie
Romance set in a chemical factory.