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A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice Tandy in London in 1909, the daughter of Jessie Helen (Horspool), the head of a school for mentally handicapped children, and Harry Tandy, a traveling salesman. Her parents enrolled her as a teenager at the Ben Greet Academy of Acting, where she showed immediate promise. She was 16 when she made her professional bow as Sara Manderson in the play "The Manderson Girls", and was subsequently invited to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Within a couple of years, Jessica was making a number of other debuts as well. Her first West End play was in "The Rumour" at the Court Theatre in 1929, her Gotham bow was in "The Matriarch" at the Longacre Theatre in 1930, and her initial film role was as a maid in The Indiscretions of Eve (1932).

Jessica married British actor Jack Hawkins in 1932 after the couple had met performing in the play "Autumn Crocus" the year before. They had one daughter, Susan, before parting ways after eight years of marriage. An unconventional beauty with slightly stern-eyed and sharp, hawkish features, she was passed over for leading lady roles in films, thereby focusing strongly on a transatlantic stage career throughout the 1930s and 1940s. She grew in stature while enacting a succession of Shakespeare's premiere ladies (Titania, Viola, Ophelia, Cordelia). At the same time, she enjoyed personal successes elsewhere in such plays as "French Without Tears", "Honour Thy Father", "Jupiter Laughs", "Anne of England" and "Portrait of a Madonna". And then she gave life to Blanche DuBois.

When Tennessee Williams' masterpiece "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, Jessica's name became forever associated with this entrancing Southern belle character. One of the most complex, beautifully drawn, and still sought-after femme parts of all time, she went on to win the coveted Tony award. Aside from introducing Marlon Brando to the general viewing public, "Streetcar" shot Jessica's marquee value up a thousandfold. But not in films.

While her esteemed co-stars Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden were given the luxury of recreating their roles in Elia Kazan's stark, black-and-white cinematic adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Jessica was devastatingly bypassed. Vivien Leigh, who played the role on stage in London and had already immortalized another coy, manipulative Southern belle on celluloid (Scarlett O'Hara), was a far more marketable film celebrity at the time and was signed on to play the delusional Blanche. To be fair, Leigh was nothing less than astounding in the role and went on to deservedly win the Academy Award (along with Malden and Hunter). Jessica would exact her revenge on Hollywood in later years.

In 1942, she entered into a second marriage, with actor/producer/director Hume Cronyn, a 52-year union that produced two children, Christopher and Tandy, the latter an actor in her own right. The couple not only enjoyed great solo success, they relished performing in each other's company. A few of their resounding theatre triumphs included the "The Fourposter" (1951), "Triple Play" (1959), "Big Fish, Little Fish (1962), "Hamlet" (he played Polonius; she played Gertrude) (1963), "The Three Sisters (1963) and "A Delicate Balance." They supported together in films too, their first being The Seventh Cross (1944). In the film The Green Years (1946), Jessica, who was two years older than Cronyn, actually played his daughter! Throughout the 1950s, they built up a sturdy reputation as "America's First Couple of the Theatre."

In 1963, Jessica made an isolated film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds (1963). Low on the pecking order at the time (pun intended), Hitchcock gave Jessica a noticeable secondary role, and Jessica made the most of her brittle scenes as the high-strung, overbearing mother of Rod Taylor, who witnesses horror along the California coast. It was not until the 1980s that Jessica (and Hume, to a lesser degree) experienced a mammoth comeback in Hollywood.

Alongside Hume she delighted movie audiences in such enjoyable fare as Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), The World According to Garp (1982), Cocoon (1985) and *batteries not included (1987). In 1989, however, octogenarian Jessica was handed the senior citizen role of a lifetime as the prickly Southern Jewish widow who gradually forms a trusting bond with her black chauffeur in the genteel drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Jessica was presented with the Oscar, Golden Globe and British Film Awards, among others, for her exceptional work in the film that also won "Best Picture". Deemed Hollywood royalty now, she was handed the cream of the crop in elderly film parts and went on to win another Oscar nomination for Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) a couple of years later.

Jessica also enjoyed some of her biggest stage hits ("Streetcar" notwithstanding) during her twilight years, earning two more Tony Awards for her exceptional work in "The Gin Game" (1977) and "Foxfire" (1982). Both co-starred her husband, Hume, and both were beautifully transferred by the couple to television. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1990, Jessica bravely continued working with Emmy-winning distinction on television. She died of her illness on September 11, 1994. Her last two films, Nobody's Fool (1994) and Camilla (1994), were released posthumously.

Born in London, Jean Marsh became interested in show business while taking dancing and mime classes as therapy for a childhood illness. After attending a charm school and working as a model, she started acting in repertory and took voice lessons. Her repertory work was supplemented by a number of film appearances as a dancer. She then spent three years in America, appearing in Sir John Gielgud's Broadway production of "Much Ado About Nothing" and numerous TV shows, including an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959). Returning to London, she won roles on stage, film and TV. It was during this period that she appeared in Doctor Who (1963), first as Princess Joanna in "The Crusade" and then as Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan." In the early 1970s she co-created and starred in LWT's Upstairs, Downstairs (1971). Since then she has maintained a very busy career in the theatre, on TV - including a starring role in the US sitcom Nine to Five (1982) and films such as Return to Oz (1985) and Willow (1988). She also co-created another successful series, The House of Eliott (1991).

Rebecca Front was born on 16 May 1964 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for The Thick of It (2005), The Day Today (1994) and Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021). She has been married to Phil Clymer since March 1998. They have two children.

Daughter of the illustrious sculptor Paul David Wright, Gabriella Wright has been trained by the best theater, dance and music coaches of Paris, London and New York, including Susan Batson, Nicolas Hawtrey and Jack Garfein. Entranced by her love for the Shakespearean tradition, Gabriella Wright is a gifted new actress in the world of cinema.

Tameka Empson was born on 15 April 1977 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Beautiful Thing (1996), EastEnders (1985) and Notes on a Scandal (2006).

Alrick Riley was born in London and is a graduate of the National Film & Television School. His two film school shorts, Money Talks and Concrete Garden achieved international film festival success. Both were screened on UK television. He has directed high profile television projects and continues to develop original drama ideas.

Mitch Winehouse was born on 4 December 1950 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He has been married to Jane Winehouse since 17 June 1996. He was previously married to Janis Collins.

In the mid 1970s, as a young man not yet thirty, Malcolm McLaren owned and operated a London shop simply called "Sex" and dreamed of fame and fortune. He met a half formed group of teenage rock star hopefuls and fed them happy half truths about the great bands he had led to stardom. With his help in finding corner stone members John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) and Sid Vicious, those boys became the English punk rock legends Sex Pistols. The group met its ends less then four years later and McLaren walked away with a little bit of personal fame, but with most of his big dreams unfulfilled. Using his status as a legend maker McLaren would later manage such 80s punk influenced pop successes as Adam Ant, Bow Wow Wow and Boy George, and even release albums of music under his own name. Though Malcolm McLaren has never achieved the Beatle-mania level of fame that he so clearly strives for, he's never strayed to far from the spotlight. Writing, producing and always looking for new talent to show the world, hopefully for a profit.

Kim Appleby was born on 28 August 1961 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. She is an actress and composer, known for Coronation Street (1960), Doctors (2000) and Kim Appleby: Don't Worry (1990).

Peter Moffatt was born on 15 April 1922 in Newington, London, England, UK. He was a director and actor, known for Doctor Who (1963), Big Brother (1970) and Crane (1963). He was married to Joan Kemp-Welch. He died on 21 October 2007 in London, England, UK.

John Berger was born on 5 November 1926 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), The Salamander (1971) and The Middle of the World (1974). He was married to Patricia Marriott, Anya Bostock and Beverly Bancroft. He died on 2 January 2017 in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, Paris, France.

Janet Mahoney was born in 1938 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Carry on Loving (1970), The Good Companions (1980) and The Jimmy Logan Show (1969).

Cyril Frankel was born on 28 December 1921 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for Man of Africa (1953), Department S (1969) and The Avengers (1961). He died on 7 June 2017 in England, UK.

Darien Angadi was born on 19 March 1949 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The BBC Television Shakespeare (1978), I, Claudius (1976) and Sexton Blake and the Demon God (1978). He died on 5 December 1981 in Haringey, London, England, UK.

John is a musician's musician. Music royalty. Accolade after accolade. He's won BAFTA's and EMMY's. He is the proud recipient of a Gold Badge of Excellence for services to British music awarded by his peers in The British Academy of Songwriters & Composers in 2011, a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Monaco Film Festival, and in 2012 with an honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Sussex where he was the first ever Creative Arts Fellow in the Department of Humanities.

John scored the 1928 restored silent move Shooting Stars which was premiered at London's Odeon Leicester Square as part of the 2015 London Film Festival.

He's jammed with Clapton, Zoot Money, Hendrix, Jimmy Page and the late Amy Winehouse. He was Van Morrison's MD for years and Hot Chocolate's MD and sax player. He's responsible for classics by Alison Moyet's 'That Old Devil Called Love', George Michael's 'Kissing A Fool' and Bjork's 'It's Oh So Quiet', to name but a few.

He is a highly regarded award winner for his contemporary orchestral scores, big band music and small group ensemble work and respected critic Don Heckman in the Los Angeles Times describes him as "one of the few film composers with authentic jazz skills." He's a songwriter too, and writes end title songs and pastiches where source music is difficult to clear.

Feature films include RKO281 (EMMY winner), Hear My Song (BAFTA winner), Miramax's Shall We Dance, starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez; the thriller Shoot On Sight and a contemporary version of Ibsen's The Master Builder (Crossover Productions). Funny Bones (Hollywood Pictures); wrote and produced all the period music for Titanic (20th Century Fox); Matchmaker (Working Title); King Of Texas (Hallmark); Fidel (Showtime); the classic tank chase in Goldeneye (United Artists) which remains number 2 in the all-time James Bond favourite scenes; The Lost Empire (Hallmark); Beautiful Joe (Capitol Films); the award winning Little Voice (Scala/Miramax); Garden Of Redemption (Paramount); Beautiful Thing (World/Channel Four Films); Vendetta (Limelight/Miramax); and Boss Of Bosses (Turner). Also the films Breaking Through, starring Diane Keaton; Hope Springs (Disney), starring Colin Firth, Minnie Driver and Heather Graham; The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (Showtime), starring Helen Mirren for which he received an EMMY Nomination; the Christmas movie Mr St. Nick starring Kelsey Grammer; and The Reagans (CBS/Showtime).

UK TV credits include The Good Samaritan (ITV); BBC Film's Mr Harvey Lights A Candle starring Timothy Spall; the Channel 4 drama The Queen's Sister.

As an arranger John has worked with the best - Diana Ross, George Michael, Goldie, Bjork, Rod Stewart, Tom Jones, Tina Turner etc etc. He's a featured sax player in leading jazz clubs and festivals round the world and regularly records jazz albums with a jazz quartet or his big band.

Carolynne Wyper, SMA Talent

Handsome stage and screen actor Robin Irvine born in London in 1901. Educated at Aldenham School and Mill Hill School. His first appearance on stage as Captain D'Arcy in 'My Lady Frayle' in Ipswich on Boxing Day in 1918 made his London stage debut in 1923, most notable stage role was in 'Beau Geste' at His Majesty's Theatre. In 1925 he appeared in his first film role in Sinclair Hill's 'The Secret Kingdom' starring Matheson Lang at the Stoll Film Co, Robin his perhaps best remembered as Tm Wakely in 'Downhill' starring Ivor Novello in 1927 and as John Whittaker in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Easy Virtue' in 1928 and also as George Breese in 'The Rising Generation' with Alice Joyce in 1928. starred in talkies made in Germany and England, including 'Fraulen Lausbub' in 1930 and 'Keeping of Youth' with Ann Todd in 1931. His last screen appearance as Philip in 'Above Rubies' with Zoe Palmer in 1932. Since 1931 he had been general manager of St. George Film Productions and had devoted himself to productions before his death. Robin had been in Bermuda for a holiday after visiting America with his wife actress Ursula Jeans, there he developed a chill which turned to pleurisy which killed him, he was only 32. He his distantly related to Robert Louis Stevenson.

David Allday was born in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He is an art director, known for Gladiator (2000), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and Robin Hood (2010).

Anne Sopel was born in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. She is an editor, known for Renegade Nell (2024), Bad Sisters (2022) and Military Wives (2019).

Raymond Young was born on 16 June 1918 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Department S (1969), Emma (1960) and Nicholas Nickleby (1977). He was married to Diana Calderwood and Elsie Pamela Johnson. He died on 27 July 2011 in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England, UK.

June Rodney was born on 26 January 1931 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Assassin for Hire (1951), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and The Errol Flynn Theatre (1956). She died on 27 November 1993 in Harrow Weald, Middlesex, England, UK.

David Ball was born on 9 June 1948 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He is a producer and assistant director, known for Big Nothing (2006), Day of the Dead (1985) and Undertaking Betty (2002).

Steve Lanning was born on 9 September 1948 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He is a producer and assistant director, known for Superman (1978), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Omen (1976).

Ronald Wolfe was born on 8 August 1922 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. He was a writer and producer, known for On the Buses (1969), The Rag Trade (1961) and The Rag Trade (1975). He was married to Rose Krieger. He died on 18 December 2011 in London, England, UK.

Fatima Whitbread was born on 3 March 1961 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK. She is known for The Carl Lewis Challenge (1992), Celebrity Wrestling (2005) and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! NOW! (2002). She was previously married to Andrew John Norman.

Sam Costa appeared in less than a dozen films and Tv programs but was well known to the British as a dance band singer and a radio personality. He followed his first series, It's That Man Again, with another called Much Binding In The Marsh, where listeners would hear him repeatedly ask, "Was there something?" In the 1950s and 1960s he became a disc jockey on the BBC, appearing in the popular show Thank Your Lucky Stars, where he would add a comedy act to his talent as a musical performer.