Edward Underdown
Encyclopedia
Edward Underdown was an english
theatre, cinema and television actor. He was born in London
.
Early theatre credits include: Words and Music
, Nymph Errant
, Stop Press
and Streamline (revue).
His film
credits include: They Were Not Divided
, Beat the Devil, Wings of the Morning
, The Rainbow Jacket
, The Woman's Angle
, Her Panelled Door, The Camp on Blood Island
, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
, Thunderball
, Khartoum
, The Magic Christian
and Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World
.
Television
appearances include: Danger Man
, The Saint
, The Avengers
, The Rat Catchers
, Weavers Green
, Man in a Suitcase
, Doomwatch
, The Regiment
, Colditz
, Upstairs, Downstairs
, Survivors
, The Duchess of Duke Street
and Doctor Who
(in the serial Meglos
).
Both Wings of the Morning and The Rainbow Jacket were set in his beloved racing world, the former being set on Epsom Downs. Wings of the Morning, starring Henry Fonda
, was Britain's first technicolour movie.
Edward Underdown was also a gentleman jockey and rode with great aplomb both on the flat and over sticks (see references to his riding career in John Hislop's books).
Charles Edward Underdown married Hon. Rosemary Sybella Violet Grimston, daughter of Robert Villiers Grimston, 1st Baron Grimston of Westbury and Sybil Rose Neumann, on 10 February 1953. He is the son of Harry Charles Baillie Underdown.
He died on 15 December 1989.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
theatre, cinema and television actor. He was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Early theatre credits include: Words and Music
Words and Music (musical)
Words and Music is a musical revue with sketches, music, lyrics and direction by Noël Coward. The revue introduced the song "Mad About the Boy", which, according to The Noël Coward Society's website, is Coward's most popular song...
, Nymph Errant
Nymph Errant
Nymph Errant is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Romney Brent based upon the novel by James Laver. The somewhat controversial story concerned a young English lady intent upon losing her virginity. Porter considered the score his best because of its worldliness and sexual...
, Stop Press
Stop press
"Stop Press" is a phrase stemming from the printed news media as an exclamation signifying the discovery of the need to change the content of an issue just before, or during its printing...
and Streamline (revue).
His film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
credits include: They Were Not Divided
They Were Not Divided
They Were Not Divided is a 1950 British war film, which depicted the Guards Armoured Division in Second World War Europe. It was written and directed by Terence Young, a former Guards officer who served in the campaigns depicted in the film....
, Beat the Devil, Wings of the Morning
Wings of the Morning (film)
Wings of the Morning is a 1937 British drama film directed by Harold D. Schuster and starring Annabella, Henry Fonda and Leslie Banks. Glenn Tryon was the originally director but he was fired and replaced by Schuster...
, The Rainbow Jacket
The Rainbow Jacket
The Rainbow Jacket is a 1954 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and featuring Robert Morley, Kay Walsh, Bill Owen, Honor Blackman and Sid James.-Cast:* Robert Morley as Lord Logan* Kay Walsh as Barbara Crain...
, The Woman's Angle
The Woman's Angle
The Woman's Angle is 1952 British drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Edward Underdown, Cathy O'Donnell and Lois Maxwell. It is based on the novel Three Cups of Coffee by Ruth Feiner.-Cast:* Edward Underdown - Robert Mansell...
, Her Panelled Door, The Camp on Blood Island
The Camp on Blood Island
The Camp on Blood Island is a 1958 British World War II film, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions and starring Carl Möhner, André Morrel, Edward Underdown and Walter Fitzgerald....
, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors is a 1965 British horror film from Amicus Productions, directed by veteran horror director Freddie Francis, written by Milton Subotsky, and starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee....
, Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
, Khartoum
Khartoum (film)
Khartoum is a 1966 film written by Robert Ardrey and directed by Basil Dearden. It stars Charlton Heston as General Gordon and Laurence Olivier as the Mahdi and is based on Gordon's defence of the Sudanese city of Khartoum from the forces of the Mahdist army during the Siege of Khartoum.Khartoum...
, The Magic Christian
The Magic Christian (film)
The Magic Christian is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with noteworthy appearances by John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel of the same...
and Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World
Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World
Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World is a 1973 British children's film starring Jim Dale, and directed by Joseph McGrath. A large supporting cast of British movie stalwarts includes Spike Milligan, Angela Douglas, Norman Rossington, Milo O'Shea, Dinsdale Landen and Victor Spinetti...
.
Television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
appearances include: Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
, The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, The Rat Catchers
The Rat Catchers
The Rat Catchers is a 1960s British television series about a top secret British Intelligence Unit who receive orders from the Prime Minister and without questions battles enemy spies, saboteurs, and other criminals in order to protect the security of Great Britain and the Western Alliance...
, Weavers Green
Weavers Green
Weavers Green was a British television soap opera, made in 1966 for ITV by Anglia Television. It was notable for being one of the first television programmes to be shot on location using videotape and outside broadcast equipment, rather than film, as had usually been the case for non-studio...
, Man in a Suitcase
Man in a Suitcase
Man in a Suitcase is a 1967 television series produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.-Origins and overview:Man in a Suitcase was effectively a replacement for Danger Man, whose production had been curtailed when its star Patrick McGoohan had decided to create his own series, The Prisoner...
, Doomwatch
Doomwatch
Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC One between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist , responsible for investigating and combating various...
, The Regiment
The Regiment (TV series)
The Regiment was a British television drama series produced by the BBC. First broadcast on BBC One in 1972 it starred Christopher Cazenove and followed the story of a British Army regiment from the view of two families....
, Colditz
Colditz (TV series)
Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to...
, Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
, Survivors
Survivors
Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977...
, The Duchess of Duke Street
The Duchess of Duke Street
The Duchess Of Duke Street is a BBC television drama series set in London between 1900 and 1935. It was created by John Hawkesworth, the former producer of the highly successful ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs...
and Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
(in the serial Meglos
Meglos
* Working titles for this story included The Golden Pentangle and The Last Zolfa-Thuran.* This is one of only two multi-part stories to feature all credited cast members in all episodes, the other being The Edge of Destruction....
).
Both Wings of the Morning and The Rainbow Jacket were set in his beloved racing world, the former being set on Epsom Downs. Wings of the Morning, starring Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, was Britain's first technicolour movie.
Edward Underdown was also a gentleman jockey and rode with great aplomb both on the flat and over sticks (see references to his riding career in John Hislop's books).
Personal Life
Edward Underdown, full name Charles Edward Underdown, was born on 3 December 1908 in London.Charles Edward Underdown married Hon. Rosemary Sybella Violet Grimston, daughter of Robert Villiers Grimston, 1st Baron Grimston of Westbury and Sybil Rose Neumann, on 10 February 1953. He is the son of Harry Charles Baillie Underdown.
He died on 15 December 1989.
Early Theatre Appearances
- Words and MusicWords and Music (musical)Words and Music is a musical revue with sketches, music, lyrics and direction by Noël Coward. The revue introduced the song "Mad About the Boy", which, according to The Noël Coward Society's website, is Coward's most popular song...
, Adelphi Theatre, London (1932-1933). The production was authored and directed by Noël CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
. - Nymph ErrantNymph ErrantNymph Errant is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Romney Brent based upon the novel by James Laver. The somewhat controversial story concerned a young English lady intent upon losing her virginity. Porter considered the score his best because of its worldliness and sexual...
, Adelphi Theatre, London (1933-1934) - Stop PressStop press"Stop Press" is a phrase stemming from the printed news media as an exclamation signifying the discovery of the need to change the content of an issue just before, or during its printing...
, Adelphi Theatre, London (1934-1935) - Streamline (revue), Palace Theatre, London (1932-1933)
Filmography
- The Warren Case (1934)
- Girls, Please!Girls, Please!Girls, Please! is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Sydney Howard, Jane Baxter, Meriel Forbes and Peter Gawthorne...
(1934) - Annie, Leave the Room! (1935)
- Wings of the MorningWings of the Morning (film)Wings of the Morning is a 1937 British drama film directed by Harold D. Schuster and starring Annabella, Henry Fonda and Leslie Banks. Glenn Tryon was the originally director but he was fired and replaced by Schuster...
(1937) - The DrumThe Drum (1938 film)The Drum is a 1938 British Technicolor film from the book by A. E. W. Mason. The film was directed by Zoltan Korda and produced by Alexander Korda...
(1938) - Inspector HornleighInspector Hornleigh (film)Inspector Hornleigh is a 1938 British detective film directed by Eugene Forde and starring Gordon Harker, Alastair Sim, Miki Hood, Peter Gawthorne and Wally Patch....
(1939) - Lucky to Me (1939)
- Inspector Hornleigh Goes To ItInspector Hornleigh Goes To ItInspector Hornleigh Goes To It is a 1941 British detective film directed by Walter Forde and starring Gordon Harker, Alastair Sim, Phyllis Calvert and Edward Chapman. It was the third and final film adaptation of the Inspector Hornleigh stories...
(1941) - The October ManThe October ManThe October Man is a 1947 mystery film starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood, based on a novel by Eric Ambler, who also adapted it and produced...
(1947) - The Woman in the HallThe Woman in the HallThe Woman in the Hall is a 1947 British drama film, directed by Jack Lee, with a screenplay by Jack Lee, Ian Dalrymple and Gladys Bronwyn Stern, from Stern's novel. It was released in 1947...
(1947) - Brass MonkeyBrass Monkey (film)Brass Monkey is a British crime drama film directed by Thornton Freeland, starring Carroll Levis, formerly a radio variety show host, and American actress Carole Landis...
(1948) - Man on the RunMan on the RunMan on the Run is a 1949 British drama film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, Edward Chapman, Kenneth More and Laurence Harvey.-Synopsis:...
(1949) - They Were Not DividedThey Were Not DividedThey Were Not Divided is a 1950 British war film, which depicted the Guards Armoured Division in Second World War Europe. It was written and directed by Terence Young, a former Guards officer who served in the campaigns depicted in the film....
(1950) - The Woman with No NameThe Woman with No NameThe Woman with No Name is a 1950 British drama film directed by Ladislao Vajda and starring Phyllis Calvert, Edward Underdown, Helen Cherry, Richard Burton and James Hayter...
(1950) - The Dark Man (1951)
- The Promise (1952)
- The Woman's AngleThe Woman's AngleThe Woman's Angle is 1952 British drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Edward Underdown, Cathy O'Donnell and Lois Maxwell. It is based on the novel Three Cups of Coffee by Ruth Feiner.-Cast:* Edward Underdown - Robert Mansell...
(1952) - The Voice of MerrillThe Voice of MerrillThe Voice of Merrill is a 1952 British mystery film, directed by John Gilling and starring Valerie Hobson and James Robertson Justice. The Voice of Merrill was made by Tempean Films, the company owned by the film's producers Monty Berman and Robert S...
(1952) - Street of Shadows (1953)
- RecoilRecoil (film)Recoil is a 1953 British crime film directed by John Gilling and starring Kieron Moore, Elizabeth Sellars and Edward Underdown.-Cast:* Kieron Moore - Nicholas Conway* Elizabeth Sellars - Jean Conway* Edward Underdown - Michael Conway...
(1953) - Beat the Devil (1953)
- The Rainbow JacketThe Rainbow JacketThe Rainbow Jacket is a 1954 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and featuring Robert Morley, Kay Walsh, Bill Owen, Honor Blackman and Sid James.-Cast:* Robert Morley as Lord Logan* Kay Walsh as Barbara Crain...
(1954) - The Camp on Blood IslandThe Camp on Blood IslandThe Camp on Blood Island is a 1958 British World War II film, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions and starring Carl Möhner, André Morrel, Edward Underdown and Walter Fitzgerald....
(1958) - The Two-Headed SpyThe Two-Headed SpyThe Two-Headed Spy is a 1958 British spy thriller, set in World War II. It starred Jack Hawkins and was directed by Andre De Toth. It also starred Gia Scala, Erik Schumann and Alexander Knox.-Plot:...
(1958) - Information ReceivedInformation ReceivedInformation Received is a 1961 British Crime film directed by Robert Lynn and starring Sabine Sesselmann, William Sylvester and Hermione Baddeley. A police detective goes undercover to infiltrate a safe-breaking outfit.-Cast:...
(1961) - The Third AlibiThe Third AlibiThe Third Alibi is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Laurence Payne, Patricia Dainton, Jane Griffiths and Edward Underdown.-Cast:* Laurence Payne - Norman Martell* Patricia Dainton - Helen Martell...
(1961) - The Day the Earth Caught FireThe Day the Earth Caught FireThe Day the Earth Caught Fire is a British science fiction disaster film starring Edward Judd, Leo McKern and Janet Munro. It was directed by Val Guest and released in 1961....
(1961) - Locker 69 (1962)
- Dr. Crippen (1962)
- The Bay of St. Michel (1963)
- Man in the MiddleMan in the Middle (film)Man in the Middle is a 1963 film, starring Robert Mitchum and directed by Guy Hamilton. The movie, set in World War II India, tells the story of the murder trial of an American Army officer who killed a British soldier. Mitchum plays Lieut. Col. Barney Adams, who has been assigned as the accused...
(1963) - Das Verrätertor (1964)
- Woman of StrawWoman of StrawWoman of Straw is a 1964 British crime thriller starring Gina Lollobrigida and Sean Connery. It was directed by Basil Dearden and written by Robert Muller and Stanley Mann, adapted from the 1964 novel by Catherine Arley.- Plot :...
(1964) - Dr. Terror's House of HorrorsDr. Terror's House of HorrorsDr. Terror's House of Horrors is a 1965 British horror film from Amicus Productions, directed by veteran horror director Freddie Francis, written by Milton Subotsky, and starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee....
(1965) - ThunderballThunderball (film)Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
(1965) - KhartoumKhartoum (film)Khartoum is a 1966 film written by Robert Ardrey and directed by Basil Dearden. It stars Charlton Heston as General Gordon and Laurence Olivier as the Mahdi and is based on Gordon's defence of the Sudanese city of Khartoum from the forces of the Mahdist army during the Siege of Khartoum.Khartoum...
(1966) - Triple Cross (1966)
- The Great Pony Raid (1968)
- The Hand of NightThe Hand of NightThe Hand of Night is a 1966 British thriller film directed by Frederic Goode and starring William Sylvester, Diane Clare and Aliza Gur. It is also known by the alternative title Beast of Morocco...
(1968) - The Magic ChristianThe Magic Christian (film)The Magic Christian is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with noteworthy appearances by John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel of the same...
(1969) - The Last ValleyThe Last ValleyThe Last Valley is a 1970 historical drama film directed by James Clavell. Set during the Thirty Years War, it stars Michael Caine as the leader of a band of mercenaries, and Omar Sharif as a teacher fleeing from the violence endemic to Germany during this period...
(1970) - Running ScaredRunning Scared (1972 film)Running Scared is a 1972 film written and directed by David Hemmings. This was the only film written by Hemmings, and his first time directing. It was based on a novel of the same name written by Gregory McDonald....
(1972) - Digby, the Biggest Dog in the WorldDigby, the Biggest Dog in the WorldDigby, the Biggest Dog in the World is a 1973 British children's film starring Jim Dale, and directed by Joseph McGrath. A large supporting cast of British movie stalwarts includes Spike Milligan, Angela Douglas, Norman Rossington, Milo O'Shea, Dinsdale Landen and Victor Spinetti...
(1973) - The AbdicationThe AbdicationThe Abdication is a 1974 British historical drama film directed by Anthony Harvey and starring Peter Finch, Liv Ullmann, Cyril Cusack, Graham Crowden and James Faulkner...
(1974) - Tarka the OtterTarka the Otter (1979 film)Tarka the Otter is a film made in 1979, based on the novel of the same name by Henry Williamson. In the summer of 1976, Peter Talbot was asked by film producers David Cobham and Bill Travers to hand raise a baby otter called Spade, specifically for the film...
(1979)