Basil Dignam

Acting

Basil Dignam

Born 1905-10-24 · Sheffield, Metropolitan Borough of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK

Basil Dignam (24 October 1905 - 31 January 1979) was an English character actor.

Acting credits

Lawrence of Arabia poster
8.0

During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.

Lawrence of Arabia

1962

Battle of Britain poster
6.8

In 1940, the Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle against the might of the Luftwaffe for control of the skies over Britain, thus preventing an attempted Nazi invasion.

Battle of Britain

1969

The Quatermass Xperiment poster
6.5

The first manned spacecraft, fired from an English launchpad, is lost from radar before roaring back to Earth and crashing in a farmer's field. The rocket is found to contain only one of the three men who took off in it; and he is unable to talk but appears to be undergoing a torturous physical and mental metamorphosis.

The Quatermass Xperiment

1955

Young Winston poster
6.2

This historical drama is an account of the early life of British politician Winston Churchill, including his childhood years, his time as a war correspondent in Africa, and culminating with his first election to Parliament.

Young Winston

1972

Seven Seas to Calais poster
5.5

Sir Francis Drake fights to take over Spain's treasure routes for Queen Elizabeth I.

Seven Seas to Calais

1962

Rotten to the Core poster
6.5

Rogues Jelly Knight, Scapa Flood, and Lennie the Dip leave prison expecting boss The Duke to have their stash ready to share out. Instead, Duke's girl Sara gives them the news Duke is dead and the money gone on nursing care. They soon discover that Duke is actually running Hope Springs Nature Clinic with the help of most of the local villains. Very strange - and the nearby army camp and Sara's encouragement of Lieutenant Vine would seem to be no coincidence either. Written by Jeremy Perkins

Rotten to the Core

1965

Sapphire poster
7.0

Two Scotland Yard detectives investigate the murder of a young woman of mixed race who had been passing for white. As they interview a spate of suspects -- including the girl's white boyfriend and his disapproving parents -- the detectives wade through a stubbornly entrenched sludge of racism and bigotry.

Sapphire

1959

Twisted Nerve poster
6.8

Martin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.

Twisted Nerve

1968

Carry On Sergeant poster
6.4

Sergeant Grimshawe wants to retire in the flush of success by winning the Star Squad prize with his very last platoon of newly called-up National Servicemen. But a motley bunch they turn out to be, and it's up to Grimshawe to put the no-hopers through their paces.

Carry On Sergeant

1958

Room at the Top poster
6.9

An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.

Room at the Top

1958

Gorgo poster
5.3

When an underwater volcanic eruption tears up the sea bed off the coast of Ireland, two treasure hunters make the discovery of a lifetime when they encounter a gigantic prehistoric monster that’s been unleashed from the earth’s crust. After capturing the beast, the pair transport the creature down to London where it’s given the name of “Gorgo” and put on display to an avid public. Little do they realize that Gorgo is just an infant, and that his exponentially larger mother is about to emerge from the depths to avenge the capture of her offspring.

Gorgo

1961

10 Rillington Place poster
7.3

The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.

10 Rillington Place

1971

I'm All Right Jack poster
6.6

Naive Stanley Windrush looks for a career in a family business. Much to his dismay, he finds work at a munitions factory where he has to start from the bottom, while both the management and the labor union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

I'm All Right Jack

1959

Carrington V.C. poster
6.2

Major Charles Carrington (David Niven) is arrested for taking £125 from the base safe. He also faces two other charges that could finish his distinguished service career. He decides to act in his own defence at his court martial hearing, his argument being that he is owed a lot of money from the army for his various postings that have cost him out of his own pocket. To further complicate the proceedings, Carrington alleges he told his superior, the very disliked Colonel Henniker, that he was taking the money from the safe. A man's career, his marriage, and quite a few reputations all hang in the balance.

Carrington V.C.

1954

The Jokers poster
6.2

Brothers Michael and David Tremayne decide to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London, not for criminal purposes, but to make themselves famous.

The Jokers

1967

Where the Spies Are poster
5.4

A local doctor is recruited as a cold war spy to fulfill a very important secret mission in the Middle East, only to experience that his mission is complicated by a sexy female double agent.

Where the Spies Are

1966

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin poster
6.5

Carol Hammond, daughter of a politician, has vivid nightmares involving sex orgies and LSD. In a dream, she murders a neighbor she envies and wakes up to a real investigation into her neighbor's murder.

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

1971

Heavens Above! poster
6.6

A clerical error leads to the appointment of a left-leaning small-town priest to a rich village, where he immediately horrifies his snobby parishioners by appointing a dustman and a black man as vicar's wardens and throwing open the vicarage to the sprawling, disreputable Smith family, who have just been evicted from their caravan site. He converts the dowager aristocrat to works of absurd charity but he soon has the town and much of the country in uproar.

Heavens Above!

1963

Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst poster
7.3

While sailing lawfully up the Yangste in 1949, the British warship Amethyst found its return to the open sea blocked by Communist Chinese shore batteries that unexpectedly opened fire. In charge, Lietenant Commander Kerans was not however prepared for his crew and his ship to remain as a hostage for the Chinese to use as an international pawn.

Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst

1957

Reach for the Sky poster
6.9

The true story of airman Douglas Bader who overcame the loss of both legs in a 1931 flying accident to become a successful fighter pilot and wing leader during World War II.

Reach for the Sky

1956

Soft Beds, Hard Battles poster
4.6

In this comedy, set during the Nazi occupation of France, Peter Sellers plays most major male parts, so he stars in nearly every scene, always bumbling in inspector Clouseau-style.

Soft Beds, Hard Battles

1974

Corridors of Blood poster
6.2

In 1840s London, Dr. Thomas Bolton [Boris Karloff] dares to dream the unthinkable: experimenting with anesthesia gases to make surgery pain-free. While doing so, his demonstration before a panel of his peers ends in a horrific mishap with his patient awakening under the knife; he is forced to leave his position in disgrace. To complicate matters, he becomes addicted to his own chemical experiments and gets involved with a criminal gang led by Black Ben [Francis de Wolff], and a ruthless killer Resurrection Joe [Christopher Lee]. Unfortunately, this shady partnership leads Dr. Bolton to further ruin, culminating in his unwitting participation in murder — for which he becomes the first victim of a blackmail scheme.

Corridors of Blood

1958

Innocent Sinners poster
7.5

A neglected girl in post-World War II London befriends street urchins who help her build a tiny garden in a bombed-out church.

Innocent Sinners

1958

A Touch of Larceny poster
6.0

After falling in love with an American woman, Virginia Killain, who is engaged to another man, British Naval Commander Max Easton, hatches a plan that will get him enough money to support Virginia in the lifestyle she is accustomed to. Easton's plan is to disappear for a time making it seem that he has defected to the Soviets taking important Naval secrets from his job at the Admiralty and to return and sue the newspapers for slander. Not everything goes as planned for Commander Easton.

A Touch of Larceny

1960