Nigel Havers Movies

The often-troubled life of one of the greatest comic actors in the history of the British cinema provides the basis for this biopic. Peter Sellers (Geoffrey Rush) was raised by a domineering mother (Miriam Margolyes) and meek father (Peter Vaughan), and at an early age discovered he liked to hide behind the emotional curtain of playing a character. In time, Sellers put this skill to use as an actor, and discovered he had a great gift for comedy. In the late '50s, Sellers rose to fame on the wildly popular radio series The Goon Show alongside Spike Milligan (Edward Tudor Pole) and Harry Secombe (Steve Pemberton), but as his success on radio gave way to stardom on the big screen, Sellers' ego began to get the better of him. While working on a film with Sophia Loren (Sonia Aquino), Sellers fell in love with the great Italian beauty, and eventually left his wife Anne (Emily Watson) to pursue her; when it became clear that Loren wanted nothing to do with him, Sellers fell into an affair with her stand-in instead. Professionally, Sellers career hits a new high when he agrees to take a role in a picture being directed by American filmmaker Blake Edwards (John Lithgow) called The Pink Panther, and personally he finds a new love with the beautiful Britt Ekland (Charlize Theron). But Sellers' mood swings eventually put paid to their marriage, and while he finds commercial success as a funnyman onscreen, he achieves little in the way of happiness or respect. Produced for the American premium cable service HBO, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a developer who is building a resort hotel has been leveling a rain forest to make room for his building project, which angers a scientist who has been living in the forest while studying its ecosystem. The scientist, however, finds himself playing detective in his spare time when he learns of a number of unsolved homicides that have occurred in the forest. Paradise Lost (not to be confused with the acclaimed documentary of the same title by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky) stars William Forsythe, Marina Sirtis, and Nigel Havers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Glass Virgin is a 1995 UK television miniseries directed by Sarah Hellings, adapted from the best-selling novel by Catherine Cookson. In 19th century England, wealthy young Annabella Lagrange lives a comfortable and secluded life on her family's country estate, where her parents (Nigel Havers and Christine Kavanagh) own a glass works. As a child (played by Samantha Glenn), she develops a special friendship with the charming stable boy Manuel Mendoza (Brendan Coyle). When she turns 18 (played by Emily Mortimer), she marries her cousin Stephen (Anthony Walters) and sees what the world is really like. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

This four-part British miniseries took place just after the fall of the Soviet Union. Going through Kremlin files, a team of Soviet bureaucrats discover that two KGB "sleepers," or secret agents, were assigned to England 20 years before, and had been there ever since. One of the sleepers was a shop steward in the North, the other an urban professional in London, and neither man had any desire to return to Moscow. The Kremlin dispatched an attractive female agent to retrieve the renegade duo, thereby setting the stage for a maddening procession of double-crosses, multi-pronged conspiracies, and other assorted mayhem perpetrated by both the "good" and the "bad" guys. As much a comedy as a thriller, Sleepers was broadcast over BBC2 in 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though officially based on Pierre Schoendoerffer's novel L'Adieu au Roi, Farewell to the King also bears echoes of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim--with a lot of filmmaker John Milius' own Hemingwayesque slant thrown in. During World War II, American POW Learoyd (Nick Nolte) escapes a Japanese firing squad. Hiding himself in the wilds of Borneo, Learoyd is adopted by a head-hunting tribe of Nyak Indians, who consider him "divine" because of his elaborate tattoos. Before long, Learoyd is the reigning king of the Nyaks. When British soldiers approach him to rejoin the war against the Japanese, Learoyd resists (in language so flowery that it could have been written by Sir Walter Scott). But when his own tribe is threatened by the invaders, the "king" deigns to fight for their rights. Farewell to the King is breathtakingly photographed and quite exciting at times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sara embodies all the hopes and fears of young girls in this adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic A Little Princess. Placed in a boarding school by her doting father, Sara seems to have it all. She sleeps in the best room and wears costly dresses. But her fortune cannot rival Sara's generosity. Soon she is the favorite of the school. Then, tragedy strikes. Sara's father dies and she is faced with the jealousy of the headmistress. Plunged into poverty, the little princess becomes a pauper, forced to work off her debts. Through it all, Sara's optimism is unwavering. She perseveres and eventually becomes an inspiration for the other girls at the school. This two-part series is a moving tale of strength and imagination. There's no wonder why the story is a favorite of young readers all over the world. ~ Sarah Ing, All Movie Guide

Superpatriotic Briton Michael Caine learns from his son Nigel Havers, a Russian translator with Government Communications Headquarters, that the CIA might have ordered the deaths of some GCH employees to avoid any security leaks. When Havers mentions that he's thinking about blowing the whistle on the sordid goings-on, Caine, convinced that whatever the CIA is doing is for the greatest good, implores his son to keep quiet. Soon afterward, Havers is found murdered. Even after this, Caine refuses to think ill of his government and its allies. It takes the death of investigative reporter James Fox to shake Caine out of his self-denial and to confront the persons responsible for the killings within the GCH. The venerable John Gielgud offers a surprising characterization in this complex conspiracy thriller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Passage to India, director David Lean's final film (for which he also received editing credit), breaks no new ground cinematically, but remains an exquisitely assembled harkback to such earlier Lean epics as Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter. Based on the novel by E. M. Forster, the film is set in colonial India in 1924. Adela Quested (Judy Davis), a sheltered, well-educated British woman, arrives in the town of Chandrapore, where she hopes to experience "the real India". Here she meets and befriends Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee), who, despite longstanding racial and social taboos, moves with relative ease and freedom amongst highborn British circles. Feeling comfortable with Adela, Aziz invites her to accompany him on a visit to the Marabar caves. Adela has previously exhibited bizarre, almost mystical behavior during other ventures into the Indian wilderness: this time, she emerges from the caves showing signs of injury and ill usage. To Aziz' horror, he is accused by Adela of raping her. Typically, the British ruling class rallies to Adela's defense, virtually convicting Aziz before the trial ever begins. Though he is eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence (in fact, director Lean never shows us what really happened), Aziz is ruined in the eyes of both the British and his own people-as is Adela. Woven into these proceedings is a subplot involving Adela's elderly travelling companion Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), who through a series of plot twists too complex to describe here becomes a heroine of the Indian Independence movement. A Passage to India was nominated for several Academy Awards, scoring wins in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Ashcroft) and Best Original Score (Maurice Jarre). A theatrical version of A Passage to India, written by Santha Rama Rau, was previously adapted for television by the BBC in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As indicated by its title, this British miniseries concentrated on the years between the two world wars, when the eminent Winston Churchill (Robert Hardy) was politically out of favor in his own country. Acutely aware of the danger looming in a newly re-armed Germany, Churchill vainly tried to warn his fellow Britishers that Hitler was not a man to be trusted. It was only after the benighted PM Neville Chamberlain (Eric Porter) saw the promise of "Peace in Our Time" blow up in his face that Churchill was ensconced in his proper position as leader of his nation. First telecast in the U.K. in 1981, Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years aired in the U.S. two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide