Ronald Radd

Character & Episode: Pargiter in Just for the Record
Born: 22/01/1929, Ryhope, Sunderland, England
Died: 23/04/1976, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Ronald Radd was educated at Ryhope Grammar School (also known as Robert Richardson Grammar School) in Ryhope, County Durham, which he attended from 1940 to 1945 while staying with his grandparents. While at Ryhope, he became a leading light in their School Dramatic Society, impressing particularly in Shakespearean plays, including The Merchant of Venice (role: Shylock) and Henry IV (title role). He made his first professional stage appearance soon after gaining his Oxford School certificate in 1945, when he joined the Northampton Repertory Company in November of the same year. In early 1947 his work with the company was interrupted when he was conscripted by the armed forces and entered the Navy. After returning to civilian life, he resumed his stage career in Northampton and remained there until 1952, when he joined the Alexandra Theatre Company in Birmingham, along with the likes of Leslie Sands and Edward Mulhare. By 1954, he was appearing in London West End theatre, and three years later he went to the United States of America, when he was added to the cast of Feydeau's Hotel Paradiso on Broadway. Soon afterwards in December 1957, he took over the Stanley Holloway role in My Fair Lady on Broadway and worked there until late 1961. Ronald would later be nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as the Best Supporting or Featured Actor for Abelard and Heloise.

Ronald made his screen debut in a televised stage play, Simon and Laura, specially selected excerpts from which were transmitted by the BBC on 3rd January 1955. The production was staged at the Strand Theatre and the cast included Roland Culver, Coral Browne, Ian Carmichael and Dora Bryan. In 1957 Ronald had a role in a BBC children's television serialisation of A Tale of Two Cities, which also featured Peter Wyngarde. Coincidentally, Ronald and Peter would work together again later in the same year, when they both featured in a fictional period drama, Ordeal by Fire, directed by Rudolph Cartier and involving the apparent resurrection of Joan of Arc.

Ronald's move to the USA to work there on the stage led to him making a number of screen appearances. These included an NBC Television production of The Tempest, in which he portrayed the drunkard Stefano alongside actors such as Richard Burton and Maurice Evans, and a four-hour adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, which was transmitted in two parts on November 14th and 21st 1960. Ronald also became a well-known face in the NBC children's series The Shari Lewis Show in the early 1960s.

Once he had returned to the United Kingdom, Ronald made numerous appearances in many well-known shows that included Danger Man, The Avengers, The Saint, Department S, Jason King and The Protectors. Arguably his best known role came in the ABC Television espionage series, Callan, in which he played one of the agent-cum-hit man Callan's bosses - all of whom were named Hunter. Two other Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) actors – Michael Goodliffe and William Squire – also portrayed this role during the series' lengthy run. Ronald's last television appearance was in an adaptation of the Sophocles play Oedipus Tyrannus for the Open University, which was first screened by the BBC on 20th February 1977, some eight months after Ronald's death.

On the big screen, Ronald appeared in films such as Hammer’s The Camp on Blood Island (1958), John Huston's The Kremlin Letter (1969) and Sidney Lumet’s The Offence (1973).

In his personal life, Ronald was married to Dorothy May Goodman (1929-2001). They had a son and two daughters. Sadly, Ronald died in hospital of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 47, the day after he had collapsed offstage after delivering his last speech while performing in the musical Great Expectations in Canada.

Michael Radford

Character & Episode: Male Hiker in The Smile Behind the Veil
Born: 24/02/1946, New Delhi, India (as Oswald Michael James Radford)

The son of a British father and an Austrian Jewish mother, Michael Radford grew up mainly in the Middle East, where his father was serving in the British Army. Michael was educated at Bedford School and then Worcester College, Oxford, where he studied to become an educator. After graduating from college in 1967 and teaching for a few years in Edinburgh, he went to the National Film and Television School, becoming a student there in its inaugural year, 1971. He made his first experimental short films during this time.

Michael is well known for being a director and writer; he only has three screen acting credits to his name, all minor with only a few seconds of screen time. After graduating in 1974, he began work as a documentary film maker and worked on a number of different projects, including television films for BBC from 1976 to 1982. He then left to pursue a directing career, coming to international attention with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), his adaptation of George Orwell's most famous novel. It starred John Hurt as Winston Smith, alongside Richard Burton who was giving his final film performance. The film was made in the time and place (London, April–June 1984) in which the book was set. Michael is most widely known as the writer and director of the 1994 film Il Postino, which he adapted from the novel Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skármeta. The massive international success of the film (for many years it was the highest grossing non-English language film ever made) led to international acclaim for Radford and the star of the film Massimo Troisi, who had died tragically the day after filming on Il Postino was completed. The film won many international film awards including a BAFTA for Radford, who was also nominated for the Best Director and Adapted Screenplay Academy Awards. In 2003, Radford directed The Merchant of Venice. Three years later he was responsible for Flawless, a diamond heist story set in 1960 which starred Demi Moore and Michael Caine. His most recent film is La Musica del Silenzio (2017), a biographical drama about Andrea Bocelli starring Antonio Banderas.

In his personal life, Michael first was married to Iseult Joanna St. Aubin de Teran (1973-), with whom he had a son, Felix (born 1991). His second and current wife is Emma Tweed. The couple have two children, a daughter, Amaryllis (born 2005), and a son, Linus (born 2010). Michael speaks fluent Spanish, French, Italian and some Mandarin. In 2013 he took part in the Clipper Around the World Sailing Race, in which he raced one of twelve identical 70 foot racing yachts from London to Rio. For someone who appeared in only a small role in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Michael has led a remarkably interesting and rich life.

John Rae

Character & Episode: Mr Alexander in A Sentimental Journey
Born: 21/06/1895, Perth, Scotland
Died: 04/06/1977, Hampstead, London, England

John Rae followed up his Perth Academy education with a course at Dundee Technical College. During the First World War, he served in the 6th Black Watch between 1914 and 1917, whilst in the Second World War he worked as an Air Raid Precaution (ARP) Warden in London. He began in the performing arts as an amateur actor, having originally pursued a career as a ship's engineer. For several years up until 1931 he appeared regularly with the Scottish National Players. During this period, in 1926, he came to London, following this up with theatrical tours and repertory theatre, ultimately appearing at the Malvern Festival, and in London productions. He appeared on television for first time in an adapted play in 1938. Over the next forty years he would be called on regularly to play middle-aged-to-elderly actor roles in a number of now largely forgotten films. He also occasionally acted as a dialect adviser to film companies.

From the mid-Fifties, his main output consisted of television guest appearances on a number of shows that included Crossroads, Gideon Way, Dr Finlay's Casebook and The Onedin Line. John's last appearance was in the drama series Bouquet of Barbed Wire in 1976. John is also notable for featuring in two of the three legendary Quatermass television serials of the Fifties, appearing in Quatermass II (1955) as McLeod and in Quatermass and the Pit (1958) as a works foreman. He was also active in radio drama and was married to wife Schottische until his death in 1977.

Michael Rathborne

Character & Episode: Man in Laundromat in All Work and No Pay
Born: 06/04/1923, York, England (as Michael Brabazon Rathborne)
Died: 22/01/1971, Kensington, London, England

An actor whose a screen appearances were infrequent, Michael Rathborne was the son of an Irish major in the Durham Light Infantry, his mother being a trained ballet and musical theatre dancer. The marriage was said to be a difficult one. Growing up, he was educated at Churcher's College. In the Second World War, Michael saw active service as a captain in his father's regiment. At the age of twenty-one he was promoted to acting major in the Burma Campaign of 1944-45, and was wounded in fighting. Soon after the war, he trained at Central School of Speech & Drama, graduating in late 1940s and made his screen acting debut in early 1950s, with one of his earliest roles being in the BBC’s Sunday Night Theatre play strand in 1952. Other contributions, which often went uncredited, included the television serial Quatermass II (1955), Doctor Who (as a taxi driver in The War Machines, 1966) and The Mini Affair (1967). Michael's appearance in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) proved to be his final screen credit, though he continued to appear without credit after this, and worked in this capacity on the feature film Connecting Rooms (1970). The film, which starred Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave, did not receive a British cinema release until May 1972, which was more than a year after Michael has passed.

In his private life, he was married to actress Diana van Proosdy (1929-2007), and their daughter, Pippa Rathborne, is also an actress. Either in Burma, or from childhood exposure to contaminated water in Egypt, where his father had been stationed, he contracted the liver disease which eventually killed him, aged 47.

Geoffrey Reed

Character & Episode: First Male Nurse (Philip) in A Disturbing Case
Born: 14/11/1921, Chester, Cheshire, England (as Geoffrey Hugh Reed)
Died: 05/09/2008, Bembridge, Isle of Wight, England

With a father, William John Reed, who worked as a music hall comedian, and an older brother Jack Reed, who became a well-known ventriloquist, it was likely that Geoffrey Reed would also enter show business. He did this by commencing his stage career during the 1930s and worked as a repertory actor with touring companies for several years at that time. Later, Geoffrey also worked as a stage producer and director.

Geoffrey came to television in 1957, having started the year as a butchery department assistant at Messrs. Littlewoods store. His turning point came in October 1957 when he was camera tested for the role of Police Sergeant Reed in the Granada Television series Shadow Squad. He won the role and this proved to be the start of a new phase in his acting career. Geoffrey went on to make more than fifty screen appearances, most of which were in minor supporting roles. He made contributions in a variety of supporting roles to several series, including the well-known Coronation Street (between 1961 and 1969) and Z Cars (between 1965 and 1978). He also featured in The Avengers, The Prisoner, Man in a Suitcase and The Adventurer. His last television credit was in All Creatures Great and Small, adapted from the novels of James Herriot, in 1978.

On the big screen, Geoffrey appeared in films such as The File of the Golden Goose (1969) and Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971).

In his personal life, Geoffrey was married to actress Joan Francis (1921-1995, real name Frances M J Willey), but the marriage ended in divorce. Geoffrey and Joan shared a love of the theatre, and they also ran public houses together on Isle of Wight.

Bill Reid

Character & Episode: Parkin in When the Spirit Moves You
Born: Ballygub, County Kilkenny, Ireland

Bill Reid took to athletics as a child. During the Second World War, while he was in the army he won many athletics and cycling titles including becoming the All-Army Champion in the 16lb and 36lb Shot Putt (in this he was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, also called Bill Reid, who was also a weight thrower). He was also reported to be a good pole vaulter and was runner-up in this event at the 1943 Irish Championship. Soon after he was demobbed, he took to lifeguard duty in his native country, a job that he held for some years with several rescues to his name. While serving in this role, he continued with his sporting pursuits, training in several disciplines including boxing. In 1952 and 1953 he was heavyweight boxing champion of Ireland and it is also known that he was also recognised as a judo expert in the 1950s.

Bill's career in the film industry commenced soon after when he was taken on to replace a stuntman who had become injured whilst doubling for Hollywood star Rock Hudson on a film shot in Ireland in the summer of 1954, Captain Lightfoot (released in 1955). Bill went on to appear in many films, mainly as a stunt performer, although he was on occasion cast in acting roles of a minor nature. Films on which he was employed as an actor include Crooks Anonymous (1962), Heavens Above! (1963) and The Bargee (1964). On television he appeared in such series as Danger Man, The Avengers and The Persuaders!

Cyril Renison

Character & Episode: Andrews in But What a Sweet Little Room
Born: 24/01/1903, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, England (as Cyril Ernest Cobb)
Died: 08/12/1993, London, England

Cyril Renison began his career on the stage as a youth, acting under his real name, Cyril Cobb. By the mid-1920s, he was working as Cyril Renison, and over the course of a long career in the business, he made many film and television appearances, most of these being in bit-part roles. Cyril's first screen credit was in 1955 in the crime drama As I Was Saying. Other notable contributions around this time were to famous series such as Quatermass II (1955) and The Avengers (two appearances, one in 1961 and another in 1962 alongside Patrick Macnee, Ian Hendry and latterly Honor Blackman). His last screen credit came in 1973 when he had a minor role in O Lucky Man!, the comedy fantasy film which starred Malcolm McDowell.

Marjorie Rhodes

Character & Episode: Mrs Pleasance in For the Girl Who Has Everything
Born: 09/04/1897, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England (as Millicent Rhodes Wise)
Died: 03/07/1979, Hove, East Sussex, England

Marjorie Rhodes was a popular North Country character actress who was particularly prolific in the theatre. She attended the Somerset Street Board School in Hull, after which she worked as a shop assistant. Wanting more than this, she ran away from home to work on the stage and began her career in a travelling concert party. In 1926, she came to London, where for the first time she appeared at stage as one of the native girls in play, Aloma. Later, she took time out from her career to devote time to her family, returning to the stage in the second half of the 1930s. She would go on to make her first screen appearance in 1938. She was busy in films during the war, figuring mainly in small roles. By the late Fifties she was appearing more regularly on television and made notable contributions to such series as The Army Game, Dixon of Dock Green and All Gas and Gaiters. Still busy in theatre, Marjorie was nominated for a Broadway Tony Award in 1965 as best actress for the play All in Good Time. Her last screen appearance was in 1974 in an episode of Z Cars; she withdrew from acting in her later years due to failing health. During her career she clocked up more than one hundred television and film credits and was also active in radio. She often played landladies, aunts or busybodies.

In her personal life, Marjorie was married to Harry Colin Edgell (1903-1944), who was the Honorary Secretary of the London Young Liberals. She and Harry had a daughter, Colleen, who was born in 1930. When she passed away in 1979, she was survived by her daughter and four grandchildren.

John Richmond

Character & Episode: Lord Manning in Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?
Born: 14/06/1912, Hendon, Middlesex, England (as John Vernon Richmond)
Died: 08/11/1992, Thursley, Surrey, England

John Richmond was educated at London's University College, where he was president of the Students' Union and appeared in different stage plays, one of which was broadcast on radio in 1934. Afterwards, he studied acting at the Embassy School of Acting, while also appearing in radio production. He established himself over the next few years as a stage and a radio actor, but in the mid- to late 1930s he changed tack, becoming a BBC radio producer, sometimes adapting and writing radio plays. During the Second World War, he served with the RAF with the rank of flying-officer and afterwards resumed his position as a producer for BBC Radio until 1948. In his last year in this role, he returned to acting and appeared for the first time in a television production - in the play Reunion (transmitted live on Sunday 21st November 1948) for the BBC. His subsequent radio appearances were mainly in drama productions (some of which, as before, were his own adaptations) and he was much in demand as a noted narrator of plays.

John's television career began to develop from the mid-1950s. He guested in such series as The Grove Family, Emergency Ward 10 and was a cast regular in the detective series Sergeant Cork. Later roles came in Special Branch, The Pallisers and the Sir John Mills Quatermass. His last credited screen appearance was in 1984 in the series Strangers and Brothers. Despite quite a long career, he only made about fifty credited screen appearances. He also wrote and introduced some children's educational serials for Associated-Rediffusion and adapted plays for television during the 1960s. For a number of years he taught microphone technique to students at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

John was firstly married to the actress Sara Jackson (1910-1982), who later became a children writer, and then to Dora Campbell (1915-1997). He was father to three children. In his later years he found great happiness with the actress Barbara Bolton, who nursed him devotedly through the two years of his final illness.

Michael Ripper

Character & Episode: Punter in It's Supposed to be Thicker Than Water
Born: 27/01/1913, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England (as Michael George Paul Ripper)
Died: 28/06/2000, London, England

From a young age, Michael Ripper was encouraged to enter poetry recital competitions by his father, Harold Ripper, a speech therapist by profession who taught elocution. By his own admission, Michael was never particularly interested in becoming an actor and felt that his father, a strict family disciplinarian in the Victorian sense who was himself an amateur dramatics producer, had pushed him into the profession. One of the recital competitions, The Oxford Verse Speaking Contest, led to a chance encounter with the actor Alistair Sim, who became a good friend of the family. It was ultimately Michael's school doctor that finally persuaded Michael to try acting full-time, but his father's introduction to amateur dramatics had put him in good stead for a career that would last for more than sixty years. In that time, Michael would appear in well over two hundred and fifty films and television series, and become a recognised, well-liked and reliable supporting character actor.

Michael entered the theatre in 1929 after winning a scholarship with The Central School of Speech and Drama, where he trained for one year. He made his film debut in 1936 in Twice Branded, and worked both as an actor and assistant director for Walton Studios in the early years of his career. When his acting career quickly blossomed, he left directing to concentrate on work in front of the camera and on stage. He would come to worldwide notice through his lengthy relationship with Hammer Film Productions, appearing in many of company's films, mostly in the horror genre with which Hammer became synonymous. For them, he played parts such as innkeepers, gravediggers and poachers, with Michael often bringing an air of comedy to these roles. His most notable Hammer films include The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), The Mummy (1959), Brides of Dracula (1960), The Camp on Blood Island (1958), Captain Clegg (1962), The Scarlet Blade (1963), Plague of the Zombies (1966) and The Mummy's Shroud (1967). Occasionally he was disguised almost beyond recognition, and yet his raspy voice remained unmistakable. Some roles were minor, but his penultimate role for Hammer Films was a significant supporting part as a landlord in Scars of Dracula in 1970. Michael holds the record for the most Hammer film appearances - 34 - and while there is no doubting Ripper's talent and dependability, this achievement undoubtedly also owes something to his close friendship with Hammer producer Anthony Hinds.

Michael suffered from a thyroid condition which meant after he underwent an operation in 1952 his ability to project his voice on stage was greatly affected, and therefore he devoted himself to work in film and television. He is also well remembered for his role as the liftman in some of the St Trinian's comedies, and on television for his role as Thomas the chauffeur in the BBC comedy Butterflies (1978–83) and as Burke, one of the two criminals in the children's television series Freewheelers in 1971. His other TV roles include Phunkey in The Pickwick Papers (1985) and as Drones Porter in Jeeves and Wooster (1990–91).

In his personal life, he was married three times and had a daughter from his first marriage. His third wife, Cecilia Doidge-Ripper (1943-2010), was proud to present the award for the Michael Ripper Speech and Voice Competition, inaugurated in 2007 by the Portsmouth Grammar School, where he had studied as a youth, until she passed away. He listed his hobbies as photography, woodworking and classical music. In 2007, seven years after his death, the Daily Express included him in the top five of their list of great B-movie actors alongside Peter Cushing, Hattie Jacques, Denholm Elliot and Joan Collins. They noted that he was being celebrated at last as "the most half-recognised British actor of all-time", a comment that no doubt hints at one of the reasons that he enjoyed such an enduring and prolific career.

Colin Rix

Character & Episode: Police Driver in Vendetta for a Dead Man
Born: 03/03/1932, Brentford, Middlesex, England (as Colin Arthur Rix)
Died: 11/11/2013, Newcastle, Monmouthshire, Wales

In common with most people cast in supporting roles in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Colin Rix was a reliable actor who often appeared in minor roles. He studied for acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in the early 1950s. He contributed to well over one hundred and fifty film and television productions in a career which last for nearly forty years. He seems to have made his television debut in 1955 in The Makepeace Story, a play in the BBC's Sunday Night Theatre strand and this was followed with a steady flow of work which really picked up momentum in the early Sixties. His most notable appearances included Z Cars (five episodes between 1963 and 1972 as well as two episodes of its spin-off Softly Softly), Dixon of Dock Green (six episodes, 1966-68), Public Eye (two episodes, 1966 and 1968), Castle Haven (more than two dozen episodes of this 'lost' Yorkshire Television soap opera of 1969-70), Dick Barton Special Agent (1979), The Professionals (1980), The Gentle Touch (1983) and in 1992 he was a regular cast member in Forever Green, playing PC Dave Weatherby alongside Pauline Collins and John Alderton. Colin's last screen appearance was in Ian McShane’s Lovejoy in 1993.

In his personal life, Colin was married to former stage actress Greeta Pedlingham (1932-2014) from 1955 until his death in November 2013.

Anton Rodgers

Character & Episode: Calvin P Bream in When the Spirit Moves You
Born: 10/01/1933, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England (as Anthony Rodgers)
Died: 01/12/2007, Reading, Berkshire, England

Anton Rodgers, the son of Leonore Victoria Wood (1896-1966) and William Robert Rodgers (1894-1976), attended Westminster School as a child. Initially he wanted to be a doctor, but his mother (a former singer) ran a dance school and from the age of five Anton was acting and singing in charity shows. This led him into wanting to be an actor, later training at the Italia Conti Academy and LAMDA.

Anton’s first professional stage appearance was at 14 in 1947, when he toured in an adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, playing Pip. His West End debut in Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, came in the same year. In 1948, he toured the United Kingdom in the title role in a revival of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy. After studying at LAMDA, Rodgers did his national service: he joined with RAF and became Chief Announcer and Programme Officer with the Forces Broadcasting Service in Egypt.

Anton was a regular in the theatre throughout his career; in 1963 he gained excellent reviews as Mr Jingle in the musical Pickwick, which later transferred to Broadway in America. He also directed numerous plays in the regions and on the fringe.

Anton’s screen debut came in his teenage years, although truthfully his long and extensive career in television and film really began to gain momentum in the second half of the 1950s. He quickly gained a reputation for playing comedy. In 1961 he played a character called Alec in the film Petticoat Pirates and the following year appeared in Carry On Cruising (he was also cast as Captain Thomas Hardy in Carry on Jack in 1963). In 1970, he featured in the film Scrooge and a song that he sang as part of the production, Thank You Very Much, was nominated for two awards. Also, that year he played Tony Alexander in the film The Man Who Haunted Himself, which starred Roger Moore in an atypical lead role.  In 1987, he had a role in the film The Fourth Protocol and the following year he played Inspector Andre in the film comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels which starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin. Towards the end of his life, he featured in Secret Passage (2004) and Go Go Tales (2007).

He also worked in filmed television, with roles in ITC series such as Danger Man, The Saint, Man in a Suitcase, The Prisoner, The Champions, Department S, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Jason King.

Anton was also adept in videotaped drama, quite a different discipline, arguably more in common with performing for the stage. In 1958, he starred in his first regular television role as Lt. Gilmore, RN in the BBC sitcom series The Sky Larks. In 1972, he was a prominent member of a very strong cast in the Philip Mackie drama series The Organisation and two years later starred as David Gradley in the short-lived comedy drama series Zodiac alongside Anouska Hempel.

From 1984 to 1986, he starred as William Field in the comedy series Fresh Fields. It is in this role that viewers probably remember him best; the series ran to twenty-seven episodes and also starred Julia McKenzie and Ann Beach. In 1989, the series returned as French Fields, now based in France. This series ran until 1991 with nineteen episodes being made. McKenzie was still his co-star, and Pamela Salem became a cast regular.

Between 1989 and 1994, Anton starred in another successful comedy show, May To December, as Alec, the lead solicitor in a practice. The series lasted for 39 episodes and amongst the cast were Frances White and Rebecca Lacey. In 1997, Anton starred as Noah Kirby in the drama series Noah’s Ark and in 2005 featured in C.S.Lewis: Beyond Narnia. His last screen appearance was in the television comedy You Can Choose Your Friends... in 2007, which reunited him with Julia McKenzie.

Anton was married twice, the first time to former ballet dancer Morna Watson (1934- ), and latterly to actress Elizabeth Garvie (1957-) who was his junior by 24 years. He had five children in all, two from his marriage to Morna and three with Elizabeth. One of his sons, Adam, works in the television industry in the camera department.

Edina Ronay

Character & Episode: Sandra in Never Trust a Ghost
Born: 01/1943, Budapest, Hungary (as Edina Maria Ronay)

Edina Ronay is the daughter of world famous food critic Egon Ronay (1915-2010), who moved the family to England when she was four, having the sensed the changing political climate in Hungary. Edina attended a convent school, but then stopped being religious as she moved into her teens. Afterwards, she attended Putney High School and then in 1959 went to study design and fashion for one year in London at Saint Martin’s School of Art. In following year, she went to see a retired film producer who put her in touch with an agent, who secured her first screen role - on television. Subsequently, she worked as an assistant stage manager in a revue at Brighton, but was sacked for no good reason by the impresario. Upset, she went to an audition and was cast in her first feature film, the comedy The Pure Hell of St Trinian’s (1960), in which she appeared in a small uncredited part as Lavinia. However, she wanted more acting and in same year joined the Repertory Company of Belgrade for a while as stage manager - also appearing in small roles in their productions: "I did this for six months and decided... I liked the theatre," she later told the Liverpool Echo and Evening Express. By the age of 18 she started regularly appearing on television and, believing that she lacked polish, went to study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), from which she graduated in 1963.

In 1962, she appeared in The Avengers as Nicole Cauvin in the episode The Removal Men. She would return to the series to play a different role shortly afterwards. Then in 1964 she had a minor uncredited role playing a girl at a disco in A Hard Day’s Night. Later that year she starred as Julie in the film thriller Night Train To Paris, which also starred Leslie Nielsen. Edina had a sizable role in the 1965 comedy film The Big Job alongside Jim Dale, Joan Sims, Sid James and Sylvia Sims. It was at about this time that Edina started to make nostalgic handmade knitwear and began selling them at London markets.

In 1965, she played Mary Kelly in the hammer horror film A Study in Terror, which also included Donald Houston and John Fraser amongst the cast. The same year she played Dolores in Carry On Cowboy and shared some funny scenes with Joan Sims, Angela Douglas and Jim Dale. Later appearances included The Champions (1968) and Jason King (1972) and her last screen appearance was in 1975 when Edina had a role as a harlot in the television series Shades Of Greene episode called The Root Of Evil. She then retired from the business to concentrate on her fashion business which was expanding and soon to go global.

During the 1980s, she founded her own label and in 1999 agreed a contract with Debenhams’s to supply clothes. She has made her name in Fair Isle patterns, motifs and bead decorations. With her numerous outworkers, she is one of the biggest UK hand knit designers.

In her personal life, Edina has been married to the photographer Dick Polak (1940-) since 1971 and they have two children, son Max (1977- ) and daughter Shebah Ronay (1972- ). Shebah became a writer and an actress and is best remembered for her role as Natasha Andersen in the soap Hollyoaks from 1995-99.

Adrian Ropes

Character & Episode: The Sergeant in A Disturbing Case
Born: 08/05/1941, Cairo, Egypt
Died: 11/03/2004, Norwich, Norfolk, England

Adrian Ropes trained at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art and started his professional stage career in the early 1960s. He worked with the repertory company at Her Majesty's Theatre in Barrow-in-Furness, then with the Alexandra Repertory Company in Birmingham, and in 1963 appeared in the musical What Goes Up…! at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Although Adrian only made something in the region of twenty television appearances in the Sixties and Seventies, he did feature in many well remembered series, such as Emergency Ward 10 (in 1963), The Human Jungle (1964), The Avengers (three episodes between 1966 and 1968) and Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974). Among his other credits are three episodes of The Weasel Goes Pop, the final adventure of the long-forgotten children's drama series Quick Before They Catch Us (1966), which starred Colin Bell, Pamela Franklin, Teddy Green and David Griffin.

Besides acting, in 1964 Adrian and Jeremy Friend opened Grumbles, a bistro restaurant in London's Pimlico area. More than half a century later it remains a popular destination for locals and tourists.

Jan Rossini

Character & Episode: Miss Moscow in Just for the Record

A bit-part actress, Jan Rossini made a handful of television and film appearances during a career which spanned nearly a decade. She received on-screen credits for her roles in the films The Oblong Box (1969), The File of the Golden Goose (1969, as Janet Rossini), Cry of the Banshee (1970) and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), a prehistoric epic from Hammer Films which starred Victoria Vetri and co-stars Robin Hawdon (another Randall and Hopkirk actor), Patrick Allen and Imogen Hassall.

On television, Jan had minor roles in drama series such as R3 (1965) and Adam Adamant Lives! (1967). The greater majority of her television work was in comedy, albeit still in small roles. She was a semi-regular in Hark at Barker (1969-1970), alongside Ronnie Barker, and also made appearances in Steptoe and Son, Doctor in the House, Scott On... and Oh in Colour (all in 1970), as well as one edition of The Morecambe and Wise Show in 1973, which appears to have been Jan's final screen appearance.

Robert Russell

Character & Episode: Harry in The Trouble with Women
Born: 24/05/1936, Kent, England
Died: 12/05/2008, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England

Robert Russell was a tall actor (6 foot 3 inches), thick set with dark, receding hair and often a beard. For more than twenty years he was a useful supporting actor, mainly in television. Though born in Kent, he spent nine childhood years in South Africa, and upon leaving school there, he worked for a time in a gold mine. On returning to England he trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He then developed his skills in theatre, becoming a regular member of the National Theatre touring company.

During his screen career Robert amassed more than eighty credits in film and television. Early on, he was stereotyped in police roles, but by the mid-Sixties he was cast in more interesting roles, for instance in the Saint episode The Man Who Liked Lions and as Anger in Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Bedazzled (1967). His most memorable supporting role came in 1968 when he played John Stearne alongside Vincent Price in the cult horror film Witchfinder General. On television at the turn of the decade he could be seen in The Avengers, The Champions and Department S, while he could briefly be spied on the big screen playing a policeman in Carry On Loving (1970).

Robert's association with ITC film series continued into the Seventies, with appearances in The Persuaders!, The Protectors and the Space:1999 episode Mission of the Darians. Robert also appeared two Doctor Who stories; as an uncredited guard in The Power of the Daleks (1966) and a fine turn as The Caber in Terror of the Zygons (1975). In 1977 Robert was cast as Matvey in the historical drama Anna Karenina. A year later he played the leader of a religious cult on a penal planet in the Blake's 7 episode Cygnus Alpha as well as featuring in the children's drama The Feathered Serpent alongside Diane Keen and Patrick Troughton. Robert's television credits continued into the Eighties and included roles in The Enigma Files (1980), Sorry! (1981), Hammer House of Horror (1984) and Black Arrow (1985). After this, Robert virtually retired from the industry. His only other screen appearance was in 1992 when he played the ironically-named Shorty in the sci-fi film Strange Horizons. Robert died of a heart attack at home in 2008.

Paddy Ryan

Character & Episode: Larry in Whoever Heard of a Ghost Dying?
Born: 03/01/1911, Greenwich, London, England (as Frank Ryan McCree Singletary)
Died: 10/05/1990, Watford, Hertfordshire, England

Paddy Ryan was one of the United Kingdom's most important stunt performers. Dubbed the "father of British stuntmen", it was Paddy who initiated the British Stunt Register. He became involved in stunt work for feature films in the second half of the 1920s and served in the Second World War in the Desert Rats, the British 7th Armoured Division who participated in the North African campaigns.

Despite having a career in films that lasted for sixty years and dated back to the end of the silent era in Britain, it was not until he acted in Dick Barton at Bay (1950) that Paddy received his first credit on screen. On television he appeared in such series as The Saint, Adam Adamant Lives!, The Avengers, The Persuaders! and Steptoe and Son. His last television credit was in 1988 in the comedy series Screenplay.

In his personal life, Paddy was married to Agnes Campbell and was a father.