Jack May
Jack May was a mellifluous-voiced actor best known for playing butlers and establishment figures, often representing Britain's interests in far-flung corners of the empire. With regards the former, he memorably played William E. Simms, former music hall artise turned manservant to Gerald Harper's titular swashbuckling adventurer in '60s TV cult classic Adam Adamant Lives! as well as providing the voice of Igor, the long-suffering valet in Cosgrove Hall's 1980s animation Count Duckula. His film credits included the district commissioner in 1975's The Man Who Would Be King and the prosecuting naval attorney in the remake of The Bounty (1984). For many, May was Nelson Gabriel 'the most disreputable character in Ambridge' in BBC Radio 4's long-running soap The Archers. May took the role of the shady rogue, later antique dealer and wine bar owner, in 1952 and continued to play him right up until the year of his death, 1997. This 45 year stint made May, at the time, the fourth-longest serving soap opera star in the world. He died at the age of 75, on 19 September 1997, survived by his wife, the actress Petra Davies, his daughter Henrietta, and son David.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.8343 |
| Birthday | 1922-04-23 |
| Place of Birth | Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK |
| Also Known As |
1975
The Man Who Would Be King
7.494/724
Tired of life as soldiers, Peachy Carnehan and Danny Dravot travel to the isolated land of Kafiristan, where they are ultimately embraced by the peopl...
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The Man Who Would Be King
1985
The Doctor and the Devils
6.2/59
In Victorian England, graverobbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to seek an easier means of gettin...
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The Doctor and the Devils
1945
Brief Encounter
7.686/719
Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuo...
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Brief Encounter
1984
The Bounty
6.759/658
An idyllic voyage to Tahiti in 1789 turns a crew aboard the H.M.S. Bounty against its captain when they find a tropical paradise.
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The Bounty
1954
The Men of Sherwood Forest
6.9/13
Robin Hood is persuaded by two nobles whom he believes to be loyal to King Richard to recover secret plans attaining to the rescue of the king from ca...
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The Men of Sherwood Forest
1943
The Gentle Sex
7.042/12
During the War seven women from very different backgrounds find themselves together in the Auxiliary Territorial Services. They are soon drilling, dri...
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The Gentle Sex
1970
Emma's Time
0/0
After the death of novelist Robert Kelvin, his mistress Emma tries to adjust and reflects upon their relationship.
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Emma's Time
1960
The Professionals
5.5/2
A renowned safecracker and his crew try to rob a bank by entering the vault through the sewer system.
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The Professionals
1960
There Was a Crooked Man
6.6/8
When a law-abiding demolition expert is duped by a gang of criminals into helping them he is caught and jailed. When he is released he goes straight a...
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There Was a Crooked Man
1958
A Night to Remember
7.645/299
The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspect...
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A Night to Remember
1969
Night After Night After Night
5.556/9
There's a killer on the loose in London, and whilst our typically craggy copper DI Rowan investigates, Judge Lomax is busy in court, dishing out harsh...
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Night After Night After Night
1962
The Traitors
5.8/5
The cat and mouse game between government agents and a spy ring that has taken secret documents from a plane crash in Germany, not far from an US mili...
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The Traitors
1981
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
7.256/160
An Earth Man and his alien friend escape an exploding Earth, and set forth on an odd adventure across the universe with a known fugitive.
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The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
1950
The Blue Lamp
6.641/64
P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He takes a new recruit under his aegis and introduces him to the...
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The Blue Lamp
1951
Pool of London
6.568/37
Jewel thieves, murder, and a manhunt swirl around a sailor off a cargo ship in post-war London.
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Pool of London
1969
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
6.814/51
Academy Award-honoree Peter O'Toole stars in this musical classic about a prim English schoolmaster who learns to show his compassion through the help...
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Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1962
A Prize of Arms
6.65/10
A criminal gang sets out to pull off the heist of a large army payroll.
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A Prize of Arms
1972
The Breaking of Colonel Keyser
0/0
Battalion Commander of the Third Wiltshire Light Infantry is Colonel Keyser. On recent evidence, he is either a psychopathic personality or something...
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The Breaking of Colonel Keyser
1981
Friends and Other Lovers
8/1
Traces the history of Anna who leaves school and becomes a prostitute. Three years later she becomes involved with a lecturer at college in Oxford.
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Friends and Other Lovers
1970
Trog
4.591/44
Anthropologist Dr Brockton unearths a primitive troglodyte — an Ice Age 'missing link': half-caveman, half-ape — in a local cave. Through experimentat...
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Trog
1965
Stranger in the Family
7/1
A boy is skilled at telepathy and in mind control. He attracts the attention of the government.
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Stranger in the Family
1973
Soap Opera in Stockwell
8/1
A baby is snatched from outside a launderette. The manageress and customers try to work out who was responsible. Part of the Black and Blue series of...
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Soap Opera in Stockwell
1962
Solo for Sparrow
0/0
A group of crooks accidentally kill an elderly shop assistant while stealing the keys to the jewellery shop where she works. When his superiors think...
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Solo for Sparrow
1957
Cat Girl
4.864/22
A psychiatrist treats a woman who is convinced that she turns into a killer leopard because of a family curse.
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Cat Girl
1958
The Silent Enemy
5.947/19
The Mediterranean, 1941/42 - Axis forces are using frogmen and manned torpedoes to attack previously impregnable harbours. The Allied forces need to c...
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The Silent Enemy
1979
Whinfrey's Last Case
9.5/2
In 1913 the British government, hearing that the Germans are planning World War I, ask top agent Whinfrey to intervene, but instead he decides to go o...
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Whinfrey's Last Case
1976
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
6.2/112
Concerned about his friend's cocaine use, Dr. Watson tricks Sherlock Holmes into travelling to Vienna, where Holmes enters the care of Sigmund Freud....
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The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
1981
The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
0/0
The Life and Times of David Lloyd George charts the life of the controversial Liberal politician with Philip Madoc in the titular role. The title them...
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The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
1943
Deadlock
5.5/4
A murderous twin gets his comeuppance.
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Deadlock
1966
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
6.107/126
A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1979
Henry VIII
6.6/5
Henry is a proud monarch who flies in the face of the church in seeking to divorce Queen Katherine and marry Anne Bullen. As cardinal Wolsey, the powe...
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Henry VIII
1944
This Happy Breed
7.1/63
A chronicle of the lives of the Gibbons family, from shortly after the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second.
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This Happy Breed
1943
Millions Like Us
5.6/15
When Celia Crowson is called up for war service, she hopes for a glamorous job in one of the services, but as a single girl, she is directed into a fa...
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Millions Like Us
1973
Big Zapper
4/4
A female private detective, Harriet Zapper, is hired by a rich old man to find his missing children, and becomes involved in counterfeiting and murder...
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Big Zapper
1967
How I Won the War
5.6/39
An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
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How I Won the War
1985
The Shooting Party
6.593/27
1913, shortly before the outbreak of WWI. A group of aristocrats gathers at the estate of Sir Randolph Nettleby for a weekend shoot. As the terminal d...
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The Shooting Party
1945
Johnny Frenchman
6.8/5
The fisherman from a Cornish village have a friendly rivalry with the fishermen (and one formidable woman) from a French port. Then war comes and they...
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Johnny Frenchman
1983
The Return of the Soldier
6.25/22
The horrors of World War I have robbed returning veteran Chris Baldry of his memory. The traumatized soldier doesn't even recognize his own wife, Kitt...
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The Return of the Soldier
1994
Willie's War
8.5/2
When 10-year-old Willie is evacuated from the East End of London, he is chosen by Zander, 13-year-old son of an army captain, to be his companion in a...
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Willie's War
1988
Hard Road
6.5/2
When Kelly and Max, two 13-year olds from widely different social backgrounds, form an unlikely alliance and take off in Max's father's Ferrari for an...
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Hard Road
1983
A Swarm in May
6.5/2
John Owen returns to the Choir School at the start of term to find that he is the youngest Singing Boy in the school. This means he must also be Beeke...
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A Swarm in May
1969
Doctor Who: The Space Pirates
5.2/6
The TARDIS materialises in Earth's future on a space beacon just before it is attacked by pirates. The travellers find themselves trapped in a sealed...
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Doctor Who: The Space Pirates
1968
A Twist of Sand
4.889/9
A former British Naval Officer now makes his living by smuggling goods around the Mediterranean. After being forced to dump his cargo after nearly bei...
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A Twist of Sand
1966
The Last Invasion
0/0
A film following Harold II at the Battle of Hastings
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The Last Invasion
1954
The Gay Dog
7/5
Jim Gay loves his racing greyhound but, out of town, he finds a dog with a better chance to win. His friends bet on his dog while he bets against.
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The Gay Dog
1953
Behind the Headlines
4.5/2
Crime reporter Gilbert Harding recites the story of a crime to a newspaper editor
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Behind the Headlines
1948
Saraband for Dead Lovers
6.587/23
Sophie Dorothea is a young woman forced into a loveless marriage with Prince George Louis of Hanover. George Louis is later crowned King George I of E...
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Saraband for Dead Lovers
1971
The Yes Girls
2.6/5
Maria, a juvenile delinquent is stuck in a boring girls school for young offenders in Sunderland. A suggestive wink and a flash of her knickers at an...
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The Yes Girls
1988
Children's Favourites - Volume 1
0/0
A compilation of episodes from The Wind in the Willows, Danger Mouse and Alias the Jester.
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Children's Favourites - Volume 1
1989
Lollipop Children's Favourites - Volume 1
0/0
A compilation of episodes from Count Duckula, Dangermouse and Wind in the Willows.
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Lollipop Children's Favourites - Volume 1
1989
Lollipop Children's Favourites - Volume 2
0/0
A compilation of episodes from Count Duckula, Dangermouse and Wind in the Willows.
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Lollipop Children's Favourites - Volume 2
1989
More Children's Summer Stories
0/0
A compilation of episodes from Count Duckula, Dangermouse and The Wind in the Willows.
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More Children's Summer Stories
1990
More Children's Holiday Favourites
0/0
A compilation of episodes from Count Duckula, Dangermouse and The Wind in the Willows.
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More Children's Holiday Favourites
1953
Trouble in Store
6.125/24
Norman is working in the stock room of a large London department store, but he has ambition (doesn't he always !!), he wants to be a window dresser ma...
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Trouble in Store
1997
Without Air
10/1
This independent American feature tells the story of Shay and her boyfriend Radio. While he puts his unexpressed pain into heartrending Hendrix-like g...
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Without Air
1960
Two-Way Stretch
6.8/55
Three criminals plan to break out of prison the day before their release in order to carry out a daring jewel robbery, intending to establish the perf...
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Two-Way Stretch
1963
In Search of Sierra Nine
0/0
All that is currently known to exist of the science-fiction detective series 'Sierra Nine' is on episode. Vic Pratt–lamenting the complete series' abs...
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