Susan Hampshire Movies
Susan Hampshire was an actress from childhood, but stardom eluded her until she played a colorful one-scene bit in the 1958 London stage production Expresso Bongo. Hampshire was not cast in the 1959 film version of this play, but instead made her "official" starring film debut (after a couple of earlier bit parts) in the class-conscious comedy Upstairs and Downstairs (1959). She endeared herself to American audiences with her performance in Disney's Three Lives of Thomasina (1963) then went out of her way to avoid being typecast in kiddie-movie parts by playing the scantily clad lady friend of Albert Finney in Night Must Fall (1964). Two years later, she was seen as the completely un clad leading lady in the French Paris in the Month of August (1966), directed by her future husband Pierre Granier-Deferre. With her portrayal of Agnes Wakefield in the all-star 1969 television adaptation of David Copperfield, Hampshire established herself as one of the business TV miniseries performers in the English-speaking world. Her performances as Fleur Forsythe in the internationally popular The Forsythe Saga (1967), Sarah Churchill in The First Churchills (1970) and Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair (1972) won her accolades from all over the globe, including three American Emmy awards. She also starred as Lady Glencora Palliser in the 22-episode adaptation of Anthony Trollope's The Pallisers (telecast in the U.S. in 1977). Though she breezes through archaic classical dialogue with seeming effortlessness, Susan Hampshire has been a lifelong dyslexic, a fact she elaborates upon in her 1982 book Susan's Story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Adapted from a novel by Rosamunde Pilcher, the two-part British miniseries Coming Home re-created the years between 1936 and 1941 as experienced by a brace of young and impressionable girls. Meeting in a boarding school, Judith Dunbar and Loveday Carey-Lewis became close friends, though they were miles apart in terms of social status. But when Judith's wealthy Aunt Louise perished during the 1940 London Blitz, Judith inherited a fortune, and was thus "acceptable" to Loveday's upper-crust family. Complications ensued when Billy Fawcett, the decadent middle-aged sweetheart of Loveday's married mother Diana, began to lust after the hapless Judith. Boasting a stellar cast of reliable British stage and screen actors including Peter O'Toole, former New Avengers co-stars Joanna Lumley and Patrick Macnee, and onetime Man From U.N.C.L.E regular David McCallum, Coming Home was seen through the facilities of ITV in the autumn of 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley, (more)
Adapted from a series of novels by Anthony Trollope, the Masterpiece Theatre production of The Barchester Chronicles features Donald Pleasence as Reverend Harding. Scandal taints the town of Barchester after the local church becomes the object of a scathing investigative report about the use of church funds. The husbands of Harding's daughters are feuding with each other and each manipulates Harding for their individual purposes. A change in church leadership brings Harding into contact with Reverend Obadiah Slope (Alan Rickman), an unpleasant man who may be hiding some deep secrets. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
Filmed in Israel and Spain, the four-hour made-for-TV The Story of David stars Timothy Bottoms as the Biblical king. The "David and Goliath" legend is presented as credibly as possible, while David's later disastrous romance with Bathsheba (Jane Seymour) is handled with taste and decorum. Also in the cast are Anthony Quayle as King Saul, and Terence Hardiman as Bathsheba's unfortunate warrior husband Uriah. Ernest Kinoy's teleplay does justice to the Biblical text, without lapsing into wearisome "thees", "thous" and other such archaic dialogue. The Story of David premiered in two parts on April 9 and 11, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1976
In this drama, Hinder (Hakan Serner) is a middle-aged music teacher who has suddenly realized that time is passing him by. He has two unfulfilled dreams in life: to finish his major symphonic composition, and to have a genuinely successful love affair. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hakan Serner, Yvonne Lombard, (more)
- 1975
David Daker and Susan Hampshire star in this taped, 90-minute British TV movie. Daker plays a bank robber who has never revealed the hiding place of his stolen loot. Upon his release, he plays it cool, waiting for the right time to dig up his ill-gotten gains. He is pursued by his ex-partners, who plan to use Daker's girl friend Hampshire as a bargaining chip. Kill Two Birds premiered in the US on October 28, 1975, as part of the ABC Wide World Mystery late-night anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This historical dramatic series, produced by the BBC, explores political and social intrigue among England's privileged classes during the Victorian era. Plantagenet Palliser (Philip Latham) weds Lady Glencora (Susan Hampshire) in a match that has more to do with power than love as Palliser enters into a career as a member of Parliament. The supporting cast includes Anna Massey, Barbara Murray, Roland Culver, and Caroline Mortimer. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
With minimalist production values and little dialog, this romantic fantasy takes place on the barren Isle of Jersey where a troubled wife has come to sort out the tumult of her life. She encounters a lighthouse-keeper there and they quickly become lovers. Together they flee to Scotland. One day they are making love on a beach when the lighthouse keeper dies. Things don't get better when he returns from the dead to haunt her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1974
Not long after making his film debut in 1973's National Health, Bob Hoskins popped up in the British made-for-TV quickie Cry Terror. Top billing went to the more firmly-established Susan Hampshire, playing one of two young women held hostage by criminal Hoskins and his cohort. Within its budgetary limits, the film manages to build up a satisfactory amount of suspense. Cry Terror was an American-British co-production, designed for small-screen release in both countries. The film made its US premiere on very late-night television. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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