Ellen Pollock

Acting

Ellen Pollock

Born — Died

1903-07-29 — 1997-03-29

Place of birth

Heidelberg, Germany

Known for

Acting

Credits

45 titles

Ellen Pollock (29 June 1902 – 29 March 1997) was a British character actress, mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films and TV productions. A devotee of Bernard Shaw, she was president of the Shaw Society from 1949. In their obituary, the Independent wrote "Pollock is believed to have played, in a career spanning 72 years, more Shavian heroines than anyone else. She directed London seasons of his plays; and it was during the London premiere of one of his lesser-known works – Farfetched Fables (Watergate, 1950) – that she announced Shaw's death from the stage." Pollock's dedication to acting began as a seven-year-old, when she saw Sarah Bernhardt on s…

Known for

The Forsyte Saga poster
8.4

The Forsyte Saga is a 1967 BBC television adaptation of John Galsworthy's series of The Forsyte Saga novels, and its sequel trilogy A Modern Comedy. The series follows the fortunes of the upper middle class Forsyte family, and stars Eric Porter as Soames, Kenneth More as Young Jolyon and Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene. It was adapted for television and produced by Donald Wilson and was originally shown in twenty-six episodes on Saturday evenings between 7 January and 1 July 1967 on BBC2, at a time when only a small proportion of the population had television sets able to receive this channel. It was therefore the repeat on Sunday evenings on BBC1 starting on 8 September 1968 that secured the programme's success with 18 million tuning in for the final episode in 1969. It was shown in the United States on public television and broadcast all over the world, and became the first BBC television series to be sold to the Soviet Union.

The Forsyte Saga

1967

Richard the Lionheart poster
9.0

A kid-friendly take on the exploits of King Richard the Lion Heart, from his participation in the Crusades, to his capture in Austria, to his final return to England.

Richard the Lionheart

1962

Ooh La La! poster
10.0

Series based on the short French farces written by Georges Feydeau, Eugène Labiche, Marc Michel and Sacha Guitry. All of them include mistaken identities and impeccable timing.

Ooh La La!

1968

Cousin Bette poster
4.0

In 19th century Paris, Bette Fischer, a poor and homely spinster, forms an alliance with the seductive courtesan Valerie Marneffe to orchestrate revenge on her handsome and wealthy relatives.

Cousin Bette

1971

No artwork available
NR

Chéri is a 1973 British drama television series produced and aired by the BBC. The five-episode miniseries is an adaptation of the acclaimed French novels by Colette, following the turbulent romantic entanglement between an older courtesan and a much younger, spoiled man.

Chéri

1973

No artwork available
6.5

An incompetently managed zoo becomes a metaphor for the state of Britain as a nuclear crisis looms over Europe.

The Old Men at the Zoo

1983

Film credits

1980s · 2 titles

1960s · 5 titles

1950s · 9 titles

The Galloping Major poster
6.1

A syndicate is set up to buy a racehorse, but they end up buying the wrong one by mistake. Unfortunately the horse is useless on the flat, so they try entering him as a jumper.

The Galloping Major

1951

Something in the City poster
6.0

A man hides the fact that he lost his job from his wife by apparently going off to work each day as normal but runs into trouble when he is tailed by a reporter.

Something in the City

1950

Mrs. Wickens in the Fall poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Mrs. Wickens in the Fall

1957

The Fake poster
5.9

Someone is stealing priceless paintings from the great museums of the world and replacing them with nearly flawless forgeries. Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna and Child" is being shipped to London's Tate Gallery for a special exhibition, and Paul Mitchell is assigned to protect it. Upon the painting's arrival, Paul realizes it has been switched. Eager to collect the museum's $50,000 reward, he teams up with Mary Mason, a Tate employee, to recover the original.

The Fake

1953

To Have and to Hold poster
4.8

A man is permanently crippled in a horseback riding accident and then learns that he will soon die. He spends his last few days taking care of his family and trying to get his wife to find another man.

To Have and to Hold

1951

The Hypnotist poster
5.3

Culver is a psychiatrist who uses hypnotism to treat his patients. When Carpenter, a test pilot, comes to see him complaining of blackouts that make his job difficult, Culver tries to mesmerise him into killing his wife.

The Hypnotist

1957

No artwork available
8.0

What initially looked like a young woman's suicide, turns into a murder investigation and Supt. Blake has two suspects - the victim's husband and his own daughter.

The Golden Link

1954

The Time of His Life poster
6.7

Mr Pastry's social climbing daughter, president of a society for the rehabilitation for ex-convicts, hides the fact that her father is himself a prisoner. When he is released and arrives at her home, she panics and locks him in the attic until a job can be found for him, preferably abroad!

The Time of His Life

1955

The Long Knife poster
9.0

Young nurse Jill Holden gets involved with an extortion gang targeting Mrs Cheam, one of her patients. When Mrs. Cheam is murdered, Jill becomes a suspect and must clear her name.

The Long Knife

1958

1940s · 5 titles

Bedelia poster
5.2

Bedelia Carrington is living happily, it appears, in Monte Carlo with her husband Charlie Carrington. But a cultivated young artist, Ben Chaney, begins probing into her past with curious concern. Chaney, who is really a detective, learns that Bedelia's obsession for money has led her, in the past, to husband-poisoning for the insurance money.

Bedelia

1946

Kiss the Bride Goodbye poster
5.4

Working-class girl Joan Dodd's plan to marry Jack Fowler is thwarted when her mother Gladys interferes. Hoping to improve her daughter's social status, Gladys arranges for Joan to wed her boss Adolphus Pickering while Jack is away at war. Jack arrives home to discover his love is engaged to another man. Who will Joan decide to marry?

Kiss the Bride Goodbye

1945

No artwork available
6.5

Timid Don Chicago yearns to follow in the footsteps of his gangster mother, but is forced by the Mulligan Gang to leave America. In England, he tangles with a British police officer and high society.

Don Chicago

1945

Warning to Wantons poster
6.5

Featuring an early role for accomplished French actress Anne Vernon alongside Mary Poppins star David Tomlinson, this effervescent comedy charts the romantic adventures of a young woman who swaps her strict convent school for the heady pleasures of high society. Seventeen-year-old Renee slips away from her convent school, joins her fashionable mother and launches herself into Society with one aim: to conquer the hearts of all the men she encounters. Setting her sights on Max, a bridegroom-to-be, her expert scheming and manipulative behaviour soon ensures that he falls under her spell... but his fiancee isn't giving up without a fight

Warning to Wantons

1949

Spare a Copper poster
7.0

George is an inept reserve policeman working in wartime Liverpool, who is chosen by a gang of Nazi saboteurs as the stooge for their planned destruction of the British battleship HMS Hercules. Framed by the villains and forced to go on the run, George sets out to clear his name with the aid of new girlfriend, Jane.

Spare a Copper

1940

1930s · 14 titles

Non-Stop New York poster
6.8

A young woman finds herself as the intended victim of a murder plot on a transatlantic flight from London to New York.

Non-Stop New York

1937

Sons of the Sea poster
7.0

The head of Dartmouth Training College has been murdered, and his successor, Captain Hyde, suspects that he himself may have been the intended target. He enlists the help of his own son Philip, a reluctant cadet at the college, to help him confirm his suspicions about planned enemy action... but meanwhile, there is a Secret Service agent staying at the college observatory, the foreign-born professor of astronomy is behaving strangely, and Naval Intelligence disclaim any knowledge of what is going on...

Sons of the Sea

1939

Aren't Men Beasts! poster
7.0

Two businessmen have the shock of their lives when a woman appears out of their past bearing a 23 year old son - and one of them may be the father!

Aren't Men Beasts!

1937

Too Many Crooks poster
9.0

A man tries to burgle his own safe on the same night that a professional criminal attempts it.

Too Many Crooks

1930

No artwork available
7.0

Farcical confusions ensue when newlywed bride Peggy Gay overhears her husband Jack discussing the purchase of a piano, and somehow interprets what he has said to mean he is the father of an illegitimate child.

My Wife's Family

1931

It's a Bet poster
7.0

A young English reporter makes a bet with a wealthy publisher that he can disappear for a month. In his absence the publisher makes much of the mysterious disappearance in an attempt to boost the circulation of his newspaper.

It's a Bet

1935

Heads We Go poster
8.0

A model inherits a great deal of money and pretends to be a movie star.

Heads We Go

1933

No artwork available
7.0

'Rich man returns to first wife on finding second wife loves younger man.' (British Film Catalogue)

The First Mrs Fraser

1932

No artwork available
7.0

An inventor is mistaken for his twin brother, and is forced to take his brother's place in the Royal Air Force.

Splinters in the Air

1937

No artwork available
7.0

A frugal coal miner turns into a spendthrift when he wins £20,000 on the football pools!

The Last Coupon

1932

No artwork available
6.0

Two feuding millionaires try to destroy each other's business while their children fall in love with each other.

Millions

1937

The Street Singer poster
9.0

Following an argument with his co-star during the rehearsals for a new stage show, famous singer Richard King walks out of the theatre, still wearing his ragged stage costume. Mistaken for a beggar, he’s taken in by a pair of street entertainers and joins their act incognito.

The Street Singer

1937

Night Birds poster
2.0

Early British thriller about a master criminal named 'Flash Jack', who heads a gang of top-hatted thieves that rob the wealthy. A detective tracks the crimes to a posh night club.

Night Birds

1930

No artwork available
9.0

A mother and father who, in order to shock their extended family out of their idle spendthrift ways, pretend to have lost all their money.

The Happy Family

1936

Series credits

The Forsyte Saga poster
8.4

The Forsyte Saga is a 1967 BBC television adaptation of John Galsworthy's series of The Forsyte Saga novels, and its sequel trilogy A Modern Comedy. The series follows the fortunes of the upper middle class Forsyte family, and stars Eric Porter as Soames, Kenneth More as Young Jolyon and Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene. It was adapted for television and produced by Donald Wilson and was originally shown in twenty-six episodes on Saturday evenings between 7 January and 1 July 1967 on BBC2, at a time when only a small proportion of the population had television sets able to receive this channel. It was therefore the repeat on Sunday evenings on BBC1 starting on 8 September 1968 that secured the programme's success with 18 million tuning in for the final episode in 1969. It was shown in the United States on public television and broadcast all over the world, and became the first BBC television series to be sold to the Soviet Union.

The Forsyte Saga

1967

Richard the Lionheart poster
9.0

A kid-friendly take on the exploits of King Richard the Lion Heart, from his participation in the Crusades, to his capture in Austria, to his final return to England.

Richard the Lionheart

1962

Ooh La La! poster
10.0

Series based on the short French farces written by Georges Feydeau, Eugène Labiche, Marc Michel and Sacha Guitry. All of them include mistaken identities and impeccable timing.

Ooh La La!

1968

Cousin Bette poster
4.0

In 19th century Paris, Bette Fischer, a poor and homely spinster, forms an alliance with the seductive courtesan Valerie Marneffe to orchestrate revenge on her handsome and wealthy relatives.

Cousin Bette

1971

No artwork available
NR

Chéri is a 1973 British drama television series produced and aired by the BBC. The five-episode miniseries is an adaptation of the acclaimed French novels by Colette, following the turbulent romantic entanglement between an older courtesan and a much younger, spoiled man.

Chéri

1973

No artwork available
6.5

An incompetently managed zoo becomes a metaphor for the state of Britain as a nuclear crisis looms over Europe.

The Old Men at the Zoo

1983