Charles Dance

Walter Charles Dance was born in Birmingham, England, in 1946, son of a parlour maid and a civil engineer who died when he was four.  When the son was four that is, not the father.  Dance junior dropped Walter from his name because he didn’t fancy having the initials WC.  He was a nervous child… Continue reading Charles Dance

Michael Caine

Born Maurice Mickelwhite – not a lot of people know that – actually everyone knows that – in St Olaves Hospital in South London in 1933.  In 1986, the same building became Bob Hoskins’ production offices for the making of Mona Lisa, which starred Hoskins and Caine.  The son of a fish market porter, Maurice… Continue reading Michael Caine

Gabriel Byrne

Born in Dublin in May, 1950, Gabriel Byrne set out to become a priest but was somewhat put off by being molested by his Latin teacher while at an English seminary preparing for the cloth.  That was enough to send him on a number of different career paths from archaeologist and schoolteacher, short-order cook and… Continue reading Gabriel Byrne

Lee Marvin

Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Lee Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was wounded in the Battle of Saipan.  That sounds pretty heroic until you realise he was wounded in the buttocks.  He spent a year in recovery before returning to the… Continue reading Lee Marvin

Lon Chaney Jr.

The son of actors Lon Chaney and Cleva Creighton, the man destined to star in classic horror movies was born Creighton Tull Chaney.  Old man Chaney raised his son in an atmosphere of Spartan strictness and absolutely forbade young Creighton to enter show business, wanting his son to prepare for a more "practical" profession.  This… Continue reading Lon Chaney Jr.

Big Tam takes a flakey

On the occasion of Sean “Big Tam” Connery complaining about the promotion of Scotland, saying he won’t support Tartan Day again and saying the people of Scotland should ‘take to the streets’.