John Laurie
Date of Birth: 25 Mar 1897
Country: UK
Biography: John Laurie was a Scotsman who would play many character roles in his long career - a lot of Scotsmen to be sure - but an enthusiastic and skilled actor in nearly 120 screen roles. He was the son of a mill worker, and studied for a career in architecture which he indeed began. But with World War I he left his position to join the British army. After the war he set his sights in a different direction, training to become an actor by attending the Central School of Speech and Drama...(imdb)
Total Credits at Criticker: 59 (Actor)
Biography submitted by hellboy76 and picture by driscarpin
Find more information about John Laurie at The Internet Movie Database
Titles you haven't rated - Actor (59)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), transcends its narrow wartime propaganda to portray in warm-hearted detail the life and loves of one extraordinary man (imdb)
A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent, and is soon finding himself in one jam after another. (imdb)
A doctor, scientist, organist, and biblical scholar, Dr. Anton Phibes, seeks revenge on the nine doctors he considers responsible for his wife's death. (imdb)
Richard's military skills have helped to put his older brother Edward on the throne of England. (imdb)
Based on one the most popular historical plays by Shakespeare and made in order to boost moral of British troops during WW2... (imdb)
In this film of the classic Shakespearean play, a Danish prince seeks to avenge his father's death when his uncle murders his father... (imdb)
Young middle-class Englishwoman Joan Webster is determined to have the finer things in life, and to that end she plans to marry Sir Robert Bellinger... (imdb)
During the Irish revolution, a family earns a big inheritance. They start leading a rich life forgetting what the most important values are. (imdb)
Albert Lewin's interpretation of the legend of the Flying Dutchman. In a little spanish seaport named Esperanza, during the 30s, appears Hendrick van der Zee, the mysterious captain of a yacht (he is the only one aboard). Pandora is a beautiful woman (who men kill and die for). She's never really fallen in love with any man, but she feels very attracted by Hendrick... (imdb)
A trio wanders the cliffs of a Shetland island and encounters a gravestone at the edge of a precipice; it reads, "Peter Manson ... gone over." One man in the trio knows the story of the gravestone and tells it to the others... (imdb)
A group of conscripts are called up into the infantry during WWII. At first they appear a hopeless bunch but their sergeant and Lieutenant have faith in them and mould them into a good team. When they go into action in N. Africa they realise what it's all about. (imdb)
Returning to 1870's London after finishing at boarding school, Fanny winesses the death of her father in a fight with Lord Manderstoke. She then finds that her family has for many years been running a bordello next door to their home. When her mother dies shortly after, she next discovers that her real father is in fact a well-respected politician... (imdb)
A British army officer who resigns his commission on the eve of his unit's embarkation to a mission against Egyptian rebels seeks to redeem his cowardice by secretly aiding his former comrades disguised as an Arab. When his unit is overwhelmed and captured by the rebels, the hero finds an opportunity to return the 'feathers' of cowardice sent to him by his former comrades by freeing them. (imdb)
Kidnapped and cheated out of his inheritance, young David Balfour falls in with a Jacobite adventurer, Alan Breck Stewart. Falsely accused of murder, they must flee across the Highlands, evading the redcoats. (imdb)
Return to the Edge of the World (1978) - Short Film
Essentially a re-release of Michael Powell's 'The Edge of the World (1937)' , but with colour 'bookends' in which director and actors revisit the island of Foula forty years later and talk about their experiences. (imdb)
An uptight, leather-clad female alien, armed with a raygun and accompanied by a menacing robot, comes to Earth to collect Earth's men as breeding stock. (imdb)
Indian snake worshipers turn an explorer's daughter into a hideous monster. (imdb)
Film version of Shakespeare's comedy of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to win the attention of the one she loves. (TCM.com)
When a millionaire practical joker dies, he divides his fortune among four heirs who must carry out his zany instructions to cash in. (imdb)
Lieutenant Elizabeth Smythe, a U.S. Military hospital-ship nurse, and Marine Corporal Michael J. "Chicken" Dolan, are the only survivors when a hospital ship hits a mine in the South Pacific during World War II. The two spend months alone on a deserted island and, in spite of the age-difference, fall in love...and for other obvious reasons. Their peaceful existence is shattered when an airplane crashes on the island and the only survivor, William Peck, also falls for Elizabeth. (imdb)
David Barr is the manager and chief designer of a British shipyard (when we still built ships). The shipyard is in financial trouble but Barr has a design for a new ship that will save them all. Can he get the ship built in spite of the opposition from his own bankers as well as the rival shipbuilders and their infiltrated militants. (imdb)
During World War II, an American newswoman falls for a refugee Polish piano virtuoso...who wants to go back and fight. (imdb)
The wealthy chairman of First Division Football Club, Burnville United, makes an unethical approach to a star player of another club, and the ensuing scandal costs him his job. (imdb)
An American has to guard da Vinci's "Madonna and Child" when it is being shown in Britain. When it arrives he suspects it is not the real painting. (imdb)
Ace reporter Jeff Holly is assigned to investigate the murder of a politician whose body was found stashed in a trunk. Holly's enthusiasm soon wanes when his editor insists that he take his daughter Amanda North with him to investigate. Fortunately, the girl has a real knack for investigative reporting and they make a good team. They even fall in love. They discover that the killer was the politician's rival. (imdb)
In one of his rare visits to his home turf, British actor David Niven essayed the title role in Bonnie Prince Charlie. The film's principal challenge was to transform 18th-century Scottish Prince Charles into a sympathetic character, which, patriotism aside, he most decidedly was not in real life. (allrovi.com)
The MacFarishes and the Macraes are lifelong enemies living on a remote island in the Western Isles of Scotland. Mary Lawson is a Scottish orphan brought up in a convent who arrives on the weekly steamer to come and work as a servant to the Macres. Mary is warned that she must have no dealings with the MacFarish family but living a lonely life she encourages the friendship of Will MacFarish with tragic consequences. (imdb)
The soldiers of double-dealing Edmund of Cornwall slay King Arthur, but his daughter Katherine escape with the help of outlaw Robert Marshall. Claiming she is dead Edmund makes ready to usurp the throne in league with Saxon invaders. Katherine and Robert need to find wise man Merlin to help them save Camelot and England.
A socialist inherits the ownership of a major firm and begins wrestling with his beliefs. (imdb)
This film tells the stories of seven 'gentle' British girls who decide to "do their bit" and help out during World War II.
The film is made from three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham. The first, "The Ant and the Grasshopper" concerns the trials and tribulations a ne'er-do-well brother, Tom Ramsey, puts his prim-and-proper businessman brother, George Ramsey through. (imdb)
Farewell Again is a multiplotted British comedy/drama about soldiers on leave and the people they've left. Given a six-hour pass after a tour of duty in India, several British Tommies (among them Robert Newton, Sebastian Shaw and Anthony Bushell) try to unravel their domestic tribulations before having to ship out again. American expatriate Tim Whelan was the directorial hand who kept the various plot threads from entangling, while another Hollywood vet, James Wong Howe, manned the cameras. (allmovie.com)
David Shields decides to become a ship designer instead of following the family tradition and entering farming. (imdb)
The life of Irishman George Howard who buys an English theatre and strives to improve the standard of musical entertainment. Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and loosely based on fact. (imdb)
An impending V.I.P. visit causes bustle in an English village, while the Ellis family struggles with private problems. (imdb)
The wife of a politician is found dead at a country inn, where she had been seen with the politicians secretary, Alan. He is the immediate suspect but has a valid alibi. (imdb)
Low-hanging clouds and low-cut blouses dominate the brooding British melodrama Jassy. Margaret Lockwood is at her teeth-baring best as a tempestuous gypsy girl who is hired as a servant in an aristocratic 19th century household. Dennis Price is her handsome master, with whom she falls in love. They marry, and it comes to pass that the master comes to a violent end. The girl is accused of murder, but appearances are deceiving. (allmovie.com)
The "Ladies Who Do" are office cleaners. One of them discovers some hot stock tips and they make a fortune. They then make good use of it to save their old neighbourhoods from the wicked developer. (imdb)
A tribute to the important work of female nurses during World War II. (imdb)
The Face of Scotland (1938) - Short Film
The history of Scotland and the factors that have shaped the character of its people. (imdb)
A financier is accused of murder when his brother-in-law is found dead in his garden pond. After winning the court case he returns home to find that his lawyer has romantic inclinations towards his wife. (imdb)
Dad's Army (1968) - TV Series
During WW2,in a fictional British seaside town,a ragtag group of Home Guard local defense volunteers prepares for an imminent German invasion. (imdb)
Janek (Eugeniusz Chylek) is a war orphan from Poland who now lives with a distant relative in Edinburgh, his aunt (Mona Washbourne) and her three children, but he is not made to feel at all welcome by his relatives, aside from his younger cousin Janet (Margaret McCourt) who shows him the only kindness.
A romantically active travel agent gives all his girlfriends keys to his flat - too many to keep count of!
A charwoman comes upon a plot to steal the invention of a man who lives in a haunted house.
During WW2, on the eve of the Battle of Britain, British scientists develop the first radar systems to be employed against the German Luftwaffe. (imdb)
The New Lot (1943) - Short Film
During World War II, five civilians from different backgrounds become reluctant conscripts in the British Army.
Read All About It (1945) - Short Film
An account of the technique of reading the tabloid press in an intelligent manor via differing editorial techniques that leads to three styles of newspapers giving varying accounts of a strip-tease act.
Three British sailors find they've accidentally strayed on board a Nazi ship during WWII. They then proceed to take it over and requisition it for the Royal Navy.
Penniless couple Roger and Jean will receive £10,000 if Roger can live a sober and profitable life.
A pilot loses his memory after a plane crash. A good friend helps him to remember his past by talking about a transport plane they built together.
As WWII begins, vaudeville entertainer Tommy Towers is called up to serve. He arranges a job for his girlfriend at the local pub. To keep morale up, his commanding officer orders him to perform for the troops.
‘Strange Stories’ consists of two stories, ‘The Strange Mr Bartleby’ and ‘The Strange Journey’. The stories were sometimes shown individually on television.