Athene Seyler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Athene Seyler, CBE (31 May 1889 – 12 September 1990) was an English actress.
Although better known as a stage actress - she first appeared on the stage in 1909 - she made her film debut in 1921, and became known for playing slightly dotty old ladies in many British films from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Her most memorable stage credits included Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals, Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, and a double-act, with her good friend Dame Sybil Thorndike, as the murderous spinster sisters in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Her film and television career lasted into the 1960s, and included roles in The Citadel (1938), Night of the Demon (1957), and The Avengers (1964, 1965). She was also a regular cast member in screen adaptations of Charles Dickens' novels.
She virtually retired from acting after 1970, but continued making public appearances until well into the 1980s. In 1990, at the age of 101, she appeared at the National Theatre, talking about her long life and career.
Athene Seyler was President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) from 1950, and a member of the Theatrical Ladies' Guild. She also wrote The Craft of Comedy.
She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1959.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 15.897 |
Birthday | 1889-05-31 |
Place of Birth | Hackney, London, England, UK |
Also Known As | Афина Сейлер, Афин Сейлер, |
1958
A Tale of Two Cities
6.8/16
British barrister Sydney Carton lives an insubstantial and unhappy life. He falls under the spell of Lucie Manette, but Lucie marries Charles Darnay....
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A Tale of Two Cities
1957
Night of the Demon
7/258
American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was ki...
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Night of the Demon
1935
Scrooge
5.905/37
Ebenezer Scrooge, the ultimate Victorian miser, hasn't a good word for Christmas, though his impoverished clerk Cratchit and nephew Fred are full of h...
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Scrooge
1954
For Better, for Worse
5.6/9
In postwar London a young graduate and his girlfriend decide to marry. Her well-to-do parents are not convinced, but they agree once he has got a £5.1...
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For Better, for Worse
1960
Make Mine Mink
7.1/15
In a mansion block in Knightsbridge, a gang of middle-aged biddies decide to brighten up "the dullness of the tea time of life" by staging a series of...
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Make Mine Mink
1939
The Saint in London
5.5/13
Suave soldier of fortune Simon Templer gets mixed up with a gang of counterfeiters who've murdered and robbed an European count of 1,000,000 pounds. H...
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The Saint in London
1938
The Citadel
6.3/26
Andrew Manson, a young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor arrives in Wales takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the...
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The Citadel
1957
Campbell's Kingdom
5.536/14
Given only six months to live, Englishman Bruce Campbell goes to Canada to claim "Campbell's Kingdom", the land he inherited from his grandfather. In...
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Campbell's Kingdom
1949
The Queen of Spades
6.5/49
An elderly countess strikes a bargain with the devil and exchanges her soul for the ability to always win at cards. An army officer, who is also a fan...
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The Queen of Spades
1961
Francis of Assisi
7.6/31
In 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his...
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Francis of Assisi
1936
It's Love Again
6.2/2
Elaine Bradford is a young singer and dancer, looking for her big break. Peter Carlton is a gossip columnist facing a deadline and a blank page. So, P...
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It's Love Again
1952
Made in Heaven
4/2
Residents of the small English village of Dunmow react in comical ways when the Topham family hires a beautiful and young Hungarian maid.
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Made in Heaven
1954
The Weak and the Wicked
6/7
Jean Raymond an upper class woman with a gambling addiction, is given a twelve-month prison sentence resulting from her inability to pay her debts. At...
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The Weak and the Wicked
1962
Satan Never Sleeps
5/13
A priest arrives at a mission-post in China accompanied by a young native girl who has joined him along the way. His job is to relieve the existing pr...
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Satan Never Sleeps
1935
Moscow Nights
5.2/3
During the First World War, Russian officer Ignatoff, wounded, falls in love with his nurse, Natasha. But she is subject to an upcoming marriage of fa...
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Moscow Nights
1960
Visa to Canton
4.7/12
A former World War II pilot, now the owner of a travel agency in Hong Kong, gets involved in espionage trying to help a Chinese woman locate her son.
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Visa to Canton
1938
Sailing Along
7/3
A barge-owner's adopted daughter falls in love with his son, and gives up her chances of stardom to be with him.
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Sailing Along
1941
Quiet Wedding
4.2/5
A young couple become engaged, but enjoy a number of comedic aventures before their wedding day.
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Quiet Wedding
1951
Young Wives' Tale
4.8/9
A post-war housing crisis leaves a shy woman to share a house with two couples. Comic situations arise as the new roomer becomes infatuated with one o...
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Young Wives' Tale
1935
Drake of England
7/2
Imposing Canadian-born stage actor and playwright Matherson Lang was one of the twentieth century's great Shakespearean players, and became Britain's...
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Drake of England
1934
Blossom Time
4.8/4
World-renowned tenor Richard Tauber features in a dramatisation of the life of Schubert, focusing on the composer's unrequited love for a dance master...
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Blossom Time
1958
Happy Is the Bride
5.7/3
In a quiet summer corner of Wiltshire that is forever England, David and Janet decide to tie the knot. Unfortunately this is the cue for everyone else...
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Happy Is the Bride
1958
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
6.8/70
All her life, Englishwoman Gladys Aylward knew that China was the place where she belonged. Not qualified to be sent there as a missionary, Gladys wor...
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The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
1938
The Ware Case
6.3/3
An aristocrat won't economize, then his rich brother in law is found murdered in the grounds of the aristocrat's house
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The Ware Case
1937
The Mill on the Floss
6/1
Romeo and Juliet in 1930s England. The owner of the mill and the local lord are in conflict over water rights. The lord wins threatening the mill owne...
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The Mill on the Floss
1951
The Franchise Affair
6.7/3
An English country lawyer weighs the case of a schoolgirl who claims she was kidnapped by two women.
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The Franchise Affair
1957
How to Murder a Rich Uncle
6.7/7
A broke British nobleman targets his Canadian uncle, but other relatives get in the way.
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How to Murder a Rich Uncle
1955
As Long as They're Happy
8/2
The suburban peace of the Bentley household is shattered when John Bentley is informed by his wife Stella that their two married daughters, Pat and Co...
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As Long as They're Happy
1957
Doctor at Large
5.6/22
Losing out to Dr. Bingham (Michael Medwin) in a competition for house surgeon when he offends a member of the board, young Dr. Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bog...
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Doctor at Large
1953
The Beggar's Opera
4.9/4
Adaptation of John Gay's 18th century opera, featuring Laurence Olivier as MacHeath and Hugh Griffith as the Beggar.
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The Beggar's Opera
1936
Sensation
5/1
Pat Heaton may be the best crime reporter in town but his fiancée Claire, despairing of the more tawdry aspects of his profession, makes him promise t...
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Sensation
1921
The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick
0/0
A club man's country jaunt with friends leads to a breach of promise suit by a landlady.
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The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick
1943
Dear Octopus
0/0
Three generations of a family gather together to celebrate a golden wedding anniversary, while the family secretary has the unenviable task of smoothi...
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Dear Octopus
1931
The Perfect Lady
0/0
'Girl poses as maid of French actress who stole her fiancé.' (British Film Catalogue)
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The Perfect Lady
1932
Tell Me Tonight
0/0
An Italian operatic tenor is dominated by his female business manager.
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Tell Me Tonight
1952
Treasure Hunt
5.4/8
Short of money the owners of Ballyroden Hall must attempt to run it as a guest house, but not everyone is happy about the plan.
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Treasure Hunt
1937
The Lilac Domino
0/0
In this musical, an enigmatic masked woman catches the roving eye of a wily playboy gambler at a masquerade ball. If he knew that she was using her wi...
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The Lilac Domino
1956
Yield to the Night
6.9/34
Locked in her cell, a murderer reflects on the events that have led her to death row.
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Yield to the Night
1934
The Private Life of Don Juan
6.2/16
What do women want? Don Juan is aging. He's arrived secretly in Seville after a 20 year absence. His wife Dolores, whom he hasn't lived with in five y...
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The Private Life of Don Juan
1963
Nurse on Wheels
5.6/12
Quietly competent young Joanna moves with her scatterbrain mother to a country village to take up her first job as District Nurse. She soon overcomes...
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Nurse on Wheels
1962
The Girl on the Boat
5.6/5
Norman Wisdom does to P.G. Wodehouse in Girl on the Boat what Jerry Lewis did to Gore Vidal in Visit to a Small Planet. The zany Wisdom, put in charge...
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The Girl on the Boat
1952
The Pickwick Papers
6.4/11
The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the interesting things they find...
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The Pickwick Papers
1937
Non-Stop New York
6.3/9
A young woman finds herself as the intended victim of a murder plot on a transatlantic flight from London to New York.
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Non-Stop New York
1962
Two and Two Make Six
6/1
An US airman stationed in the UK strikes down his commanding officer. Believing he killed him, the airman goes on the run with a girl. They run into a...
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Two and Two Make Six
1939
Young Man's Fancy
5.8/6
An aristocrat falls in love with a human cannonball
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Young Man's Fancy
1947
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
6.4/17
A fatherless boy tries to make his fortune despite interference from his rich uncle.
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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
1952
Secret People
6/14
This tale of intrigue finds Valentina Cortese involved in an assassination plot. She helps the police apprehend the conspirators after an innocent bys...
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Secret People
1962
I Thank a Fool
5.4/5
After mercifully killing her terminally ill lover, Dr. Christine Allison loses her medical license and spends two years in prison. Once she has comple...
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I Thank a Fool
1938
Jane Steps Out
0/0
Wallflower Jane Wilton has always lived in the shadow of her beautiful and popular sister Beatrice. Making things worse, Beatrice is spiteful and crue...
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Jane Steps Out
1941
Letter from Home
0/0
Two evacuee children living in the United States receive a letter from their mother, Mrs Taylor, telling them of her life in Blitz-era London. Glimps...
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Letter from Home
1933
Early to Bed
0/0
'Manicurist Grete and nightclub waiter Carl share a bed, but not at the same time. They hate each other, even though they have never met. Their rent...
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Early to Bed
1948
The First Gentleman
6/2
The story of a romance between the daughter of the Prince Regent and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.
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The First Gentleman
1963
The Invasion
0/0
Inhabitants in a remote village laughs off and dismiss a couple of schoolboys' claims that they are being invaded by aliens.
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The Invasion
1966
Don't Utter a Note
0/0
Two well meaning spinsters' plans in reforming an old jailbird, receive a set back, when unexpectedly into their possession comes a substantial amount...
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Don't Utter a Note
1937
The Sky’s the Limit
0/0
Romance of an absent minded designer of planes and a famous singer to whom he tries to sell his friends' songs.
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