Mickey Vary

Character & Episode: 2nd Man on Stairs in A Sentimental Journey
Born: 07/01/1931, Kensington, London, England (as Michael John Vary)
Died: 02/1986, Brent, London, England

Mickey Vary was a minor supporting actor and extra who always went uncredited in a number of roles in film and television productions. He had previously been a boxer, fighting contests mainly in the London area. He started off in films and television as an extra alongside Mike Reid (1940-2007) and the pair became close friends. In the late Sixties he appeared in such films as Quatermass and the Pit (Hammer Films, 1967), Inspector Clouseau (1968) and Battle of Britain (1969). On television, he figured in such series as The Saint, UFO and The New Avengers. His last known appearance was in the science-fiction comedy film Morons from Outer Space (1985).

In his personal life, Mickey married Irene McCullum in 1952 and was a father. Unfortunately, he died from lung cancer at the age of 55 in 1986.

Peter Vaughan

Character & Episode: James Howarth in Never Trust a Ghost
Born: 04/04/1923, Wem, Shropshire, England (as Peter Ewart Ohm)
Died: 06/12/2016, Mannings Heath, West Sussex, England

Though born in Shropshire, Peter Vaughan was brought up in Staffordshire where he attended Uttoxeter Grammar School from the ages of 9 to 16. During this time, he cut his acting teeth with roles in several school plays. Soon after leaving he joined the Wolverhampton Repertory Theatre in 1939, where stage manager Basil Thomas advised him that he would have to change his name for acting purposes, and so Peter Ohm became Peter Vaughan. He gained professional stage experience as an actor and assistant stage manager in other repertory theatres across the country, before army service brought a halt to his acting career. During the war he served in the Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals, serving in Normandy, Belgium and the Far East. At the end of the war, he was in Singapore and present during the liberation of Changi Prison.

After the war, he resumed acting but purely in theatre. Then in 1952 he married the well-known actress Billie Whitelaw (1932-2014). For a while Peter was in the shadow of the up and coming Billie. He broke into film and television roles in the 1950s, picking up over the course of an exceptionally lengthy screen career more than two hundred and fifty film and television appearances as he rose to become one of Britain’s leading character actors.

An early well-known role for Peter was as the Police Chief in the spy drama The Devil’s Agent (1962). A further role in the film Smokescreen (1964) gained him wider notice within the industry. He was often cast as villains; in 1965 he starred with Tallulah Bankhead in the Hammer Horror Fanatic and two years later he appeared alongside Frank Sinatra in The Naked Runner.

Having divorced Billie Whitelaw in 1966, Peter would marry another actress, Lillias Walker – the couple would occasionally act together and remained married until Peter’s death in 2016. A role that people particularly remember Peter for is his portrayal of Harry Grout in the BBC situation comedy Porridge (between 1975 and 1977) - though he is also well remembered for his more dramatic roles, such as in The Gold Robbers (1969), a series in which he took the lead role. Peter would remain busy and hugely in demand for work in radio, television and film until shortly before his death and his final role was as Maester Aemon Targaryen in the HBO hit series Game of Thrones between 2011-15.

Peter’s stepdaughter Victoria Burton (1955-), an actress most notable for her role in High Road as Jennifer Goudie, is married to comedian and actor Gregor Fisher (1953-). Peter appeared in an episode of Fisher's popular Rab C Nesbitt series in 1994.

Later in life, Vaughan and his wife lived on the Costa del Sol in Spain, but returned to live in West Sussex. In March 2016, some nine months prior to his death at 93, his autobiography - Once A Villain: A Memoir - was published, the book exploring his early life and his many memories from three quarters of a century in the performing arts.

Sue Vaughan

Character & Episode: Blonde Girl in Car in Vendetta for a Dead Man

Sue Vaughan, who worked as both an actress and model, would seem to have made only a handful of screen appearances, all of which came during the 1960s. She appeared in uncredited roles in such feature films as Carry On Up the Khyber (1968) and The Assassination Bureau (1969), the latter of which starred Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas. Her works on television included an entry in The Wednesday Play series called The Fabulous Frump, which starred Sheila Steafel, Peter Butterworth and Donald Churchill. Her role in Vendetta for a Dead Man, her Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode, would prove to be her last credited screen appearance - although, despite filming her scenes in the spring of 1969, her appearance was not actually seen on British television until February 1970.

Don Vernon

Character & Episode: The Choreographer in Money to Burn
Born: 26/07/1927, Brentford, Middlesex, England (as Donald Woodbridge)

A dancer and choreographer by profession, Don Vernon made his screen appearances mainly in this area and consequently has only a handful of screen acting credits to his name. His television appearances included the second episode of the Bob Monkhouse and Denis Goodwin comedy show Fast and Loose for the BBC, several episodes of BBC programme It's Ragtime!, and No Trams to Lime Street, an entry in the BBC's anthology series The Wednesday Play. He also featured in three episodes of the BBC science fiction series Doomwatch, but only in walk-on parts. One of his feature film appearances came in the Monty Berman-Robert S. Baker production The Flesh and the Fiends (filmed 1959, released 1960), a horror film based on the murderous activities of gravediggers Burke and Hare, which starred Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance. Don later returned to work in the genre when he featured in The Witches (1966) for Hammer Films. He was perhaps on more familiar ground working in the musical Half a Sixpence (1967), a star vehicle for singer and actor Tommy Steele. In the early 1970s, Don worked on Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971), in which he appeared as a dancer. Don also participated in stage productions and also taught dance during his career.

In his personal life, he married the dancer and actress Julia Sutton in 1963. They had four children, Kate-Alice (who became a West End performer), Harvey, Nicholas and Stuart, all of whom carry their father's original surname, Woodbridge.

Anne de Vigier

Character & Episode: Julia Fenwick in But What a Sweet Little Room
Born: 22/12/1943, Ealing, London, England (as Anne Betty Leonie de Vigier)

Anne de Vigier's acting career was somewhat brief and confined to the 1960s and early 1970s. During this time she amassed twenty screen credits, almost all of which were in television, although she also gained stage experience regionally and in London's high profile West End theatres. The daughter of William de Vigier (1912-2004), a Swiss millionaire inventor and chief executive of Acrow Engineering, Anne's initial dream was to follow her grandmother's career by becoming an opera singer. After leaving school, she went to Vienna to study singing, but after some years there she changed mind. She decided to concentrate instead upon acting, and subsequently went to study at RADA. In 1965, while training there, she appeared in a stage performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, produced by Hugh Morrison and starring Clive Francis and Angela Scoular in the title roles, and this was filmed for posterity. After graduating from RADA in 1966 she commenced her professional career as an actress, with an early screen role coming in the popular Rediffusion espionage drama The Ratcatchers in 1966.

Arguably her most notable role was as Imogen in the BBC's epic and highly regarded period drama The Forsyte Saga (1967, based upon John Galsworthy's popular novels). As the series followed the story of a family through a period of change from 1879 to 1926, Anne's character did not feature in the full 26-episode run (she appeared in seven episodes), but she would be considered a regular cast member nonetheless. Other notable appearances included roles in ITC film series The Champions (A Case of Lemmings, 1968), The Saint (Portrait of Brenda, 1969) and The Persuaders! (Someone Like Me, 1971). She also occasionally promoted theatrical productions, though she made a rule never to appear in a show which she had backed financially. After retiring from acting in the early 1970s, Anne became a theatrical agent.

In her personal life, she has been married to American businessman Henry Alan Sweetbaum (1937- ). The couple had a son, James (born in 1974).