Acting

Ursula Howells

Born — Died

1922-09-17 — 2005-10-16

Place of birth

Hammersmith, London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

78 titles

Howells was born in London, the daughter of composer Herbert Howells, and was educated at St Paul's Girls' School, where her father worked as Director of Music. She made her first stage appearance at Dundee in 1939, in John Drinkwater's Bird in Hand, then moved to Oxford in 1942 and three years later made her London debut at the Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage. In 1947 she appeared in the comedy Jane at the Aldwych Theatre. After several years in the West End, and a brief stint on Broadway where she appeared in Springtime for Henry in 1951, she began to appear in films. After the death of her father in 1983, Ursula Howells instigated the "Herbert Howells Society" and became a standard bearer…

Known for

Film credits

1990s · 3 titles

A Pinch of Snuff poster
NR

Receiving a tip from his dentist Jack Shorter, policeman Peter Pascoe takes a closer look at the Calliope Kinema Club, a film club notorious for showing adult entertainment movies. Shorter is convinced that one particular scene in a movie he recently saw was too realistic to have been staged with fake blood, but when Pascoe and his bluff superior Andy Dalziel starts investigating, they soon comes across the actress in question, Linda Abbott, who obviously didn't suffer from any harm and assures Pascoe that the concerns are unnecessary.

A Pinch of Snuff

1994

A Rather English Marriage poster
5.5

A squadron leader and a retired milkman decide to bury their differences and move in together after they are both widowed on the very same night. They become a companionable if odd couple, until their unlikely friendship is threatened by the arrival of an alluring woman with a hidden agenda.

A Rather English Marriage

1998

The Tichborne Claimant poster
8.7

In the late 19th century, Lord Tichborne, the ninth richest nobleman in England, disappears after a South American shipwreck. Some years later his erudite Afro-English valet, Bogle, is sent to investigate rumors that Tichborne survived and settled in Australia. An alcoholic ruffian answer's Bogle's inquiries claiming to be the lost heir. Bogle suspects fraud, but conspires with the claimant to split the inheritance should the latter succesfully pass himself off to friends, family and the courts. As the claimant returns to England to continue his charade, enough people confirm his identity to make both the claimant and Bogle believe that he just might be the rightful heir after all.

The Tichborne Claimant

1999

1980s · 4 titles

1970s · 6 titles

Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly poster
6.0

A wealthy, fatherless British clan kidnap bums and hippies, forcing them to participate in an elaborate role-playing game in which they are the perfect family; those who refuse or attempt escape endure ritualistic murder.

Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly

1970

When the Actors Come poster
NR

On a cold day in January 1850, a group of travelling actors arrive out of the snow at the remote country estate of Count Horvath, in eastern Hungary. The Count is delighted to have an excuse for re-opening the old family theatre, closed since his childhood. But other members of his household wonder whether these unexpected guests should be made quite so welcome.

When the Actors Come

1978

Father Dear Father poster
5.3

After divorcing his wife, Patrick Glover decides it is time to remarry, and chooses his literary agent, only to then mistakenly propose to the cleaning lady. Part of his reason for wanting to remarry is to regain some control over his wayward daughters, but they and their lovers continue to complicate his home and his life... A farcical comedy full of hilarious confusions, this feature-length version of the popular sitcom Father, Dear Father is a real gem of British humour at its best.

Father Dear Father

1973

No artwork available
NR

The life, background, motivation and struggles of Florence Nightingale.

Miss Nightingale

1974

No artwork available
NR

A grandson's attempt to help his grandma produces problems for the family.

Franklin's Farm

1972

No artwork available
NR

Four people are circling each other. But for what? - for love or for terror?.

Little Fears

1974

1960s · 9 titles

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors poster
6.5

Five train passengers are joined by a mysterious fortuneteller who offers to read Tarot. A quintet of stories unfold: an architect returns to his ancestral home to find a vengeful werewolf; a doctor suspects his new wife is a vampire; an intelligent vine takes over a house; a jazz musician plagiarises music from a voodoo ceremony; and a pompous art critic is pursued by a disembodied hand.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors

1965

Crossplot poster
5.6

A successful London ad-exec hires a beautiful Hungarian girl to pose for some modeling shots, little realising that she has overheard an assassination plot and is now being hunted by some dangerous killers.

Crossplot

1969

Torture Garden poster
6.2

A special sideshow torture exhibit has the power, according to showman Dr Diabolo, to warn people of foreseeable evil. One by one, skeptics stand before the Fate Atropos to preview the greed and violence hiding behind their respectable façades.

Torture Garden

1967

Assignment K poster
6.3

Philip Scott, the boss of a toy company, is secretly also the chief of a British spy organization. Scott's cover is destroyed when enemy agents kidnap his girlfriend to force him to reveal the identities of his fellow spies.

Assignment K

1968

80,000 Suspects poster
7.2

A doctor's already-shaky marriage is tested to an even greater extent when he has to contend with a smallpox epidemic.

80,000 Suspects

1963

The Madhouse on Castle Street poster
10.0

A man mysteriously locks himself in a room in a boarding house leaving only a note saying he has decided to "retire from the world". His worried sister and the other boarders then try to discover why. This TV play is missing believed wiped from the BBC archives.

The Madhouse on Castle Street

1963

Two Letter Alibi poster
7.5

Charles Hilary is in love with Kathy Forrester, a beautiful television personality, but is married to Louise, an alcoholic with as many lovers as whisky bottles. His pleas for a divorce are met with threats and abuse. "You'll have to murder me first", Louise tells him and three hours later she is found dead, shot with her husband's pistol. When Charles is arrested, Kathy desperately sets to work to prove his innocence.

Two Letter Alibi

1962

A Choice of Coward: Present Laughter poster
8.0

An aging and self-obsessed actor finds himself in a situation bordering on farce when he is besieged by the demands of his estranged wife, women who want to seduce him, and a crazed playwright.

A Choice of Coward: Present Laughter

1964

The Sicilians poster
6.5

An aide at the American Embassy in London finds himself involved with both Scotland Yard and the French police over the kidnapping of the son of a Mafia boss who has spilled the beans back in the States.

The Sicilians

1963

1950s · 16 titles

The Long Arm poster
6.9

Scotland Yard detectives attempt to solve a spate of safe robberies across England beginning with clues found at the latest burglary in London. The film is notable for using a police procedural style made popular by Ealing in their 1950 film The Blue Lamp. It is known in the US as The Third Key.

The Long Arm

1956

The Constant Husband poster
6.9

Charles Hathaway wakes up in West Wales with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. With the help of a Cardiff specialist he traces his life back to his gorgeous wife and their large London house, so all seems well with the world. But more detective work starts to uncover an alarming chain of further stunning wives and a way of going on that the new Charles finds pretty unacceptable.

The Constant Husband

1955

Account Rendered poster
6.1

Police find that everyone had a motive for the murder of a wealthy woman.

Account Rendered

1957

The Weak and the Wicked poster
6.5

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 first she is overwhelmingly depressed by life in the women's prison; gradually, however, her misery is relieved by the many close friends she makes there. This sympathetic drama traces the contrasting lives and often faltering progress of the inmates of a women's prison.

The Weak and the Wicked

1954

Number Three poster
9.0

A group of nuclear scientists face a moral dilemma when they discover that, as well as making electricity, their government also wants to make nuclear bombs with their products.

Number Three

1953

Track the Man Down poster
6.1

A newspaper reporter finds himself drawn into the aftermath of a racetrack robbery.

Track the Man Down

1955

They Can't Hang Me poster
6.9

A murderer hopes to escape his death sentence by identifying the leaders of a spy ring.

They Can't Hang Me

1955

I Believe in You poster
6.8

A drama about parole officers to follow the successful Ealing police story of "The Blue Lamp"(1950) . Various sub-plots follow the parole officers and their charges.

I Believe in You

1952

Flesh and Blood poster
7.0

Based upon the play A Sleeping Clergyman by James Bridie, it tells the story of three generations of the Scottish Cameron family, with its various conflicts and romances.

Flesh and Blood

1951

The Oracle poster
6.0

An Irish "oracle" foretells the next day's track results to a newspaperman, resulting in a national uproar.

The Oracle

1953

The Blakes Slept Here poster
NR

The story of a family house through four generations

The Blakes Slept Here

1953

The Gilded Cage poster
6.8

Steve and Harry become involved in an art theft. Harry is framed by the crooks, and arrested by the police. Steve has to prove his brother's innocence.

The Gilded Cage

1955

Now Let Him Go poster
7.0

A world-class painter is taken ill and lies in the bedroom of an inn, while people down below squabble over his paintings and inheritance. The wily old man is unperturbed, even regarding the infernal trumpet sound which plays throughout.

Now Let Him Go

1957

Keep It Clean poster
5.3

A man invents a new cleaning machine. His brother in law offers to help him promote it and they get help from the Purity League.

Keep It Clean

1956

West of Suez poster
9.0

In this suspense movie, a Yankee mercenary is hired to blow up an Arab dignitary.

West of Suez

1957

The Cocktail Party poster
NR

Troubled married couple who, through the intervention of a mysterious stranger, settle their problems and move on with their lives.

The Cocktail Party

1952

Series credits

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

Bergerac poster
7.0

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.

Bergerac

1981

Bergerac poster
7.0

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.

Bergerac

1981

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Thirty-Minute Theatre poster
4.2

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

Thirty-Minute Theatre

1965

No Hiding Place poster
4.8

No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart.

No Hiding Place

1959

Sunday Night Theatre poster
3.5

Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.

Sunday Night Theatre

1950

Sunday Night Theatre poster
3.5

Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.

Sunday Night Theatre

1950

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

Upstairs, Downstairs poster
7.8

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.

Upstairs, Downstairs

1971

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

Lovejoy poster
7.4

The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.

Lovejoy

1986

No artwork available
NR

BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.

Sunday-Night Play

1960

No artwork available
NR

BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.

Sunday-Night Play

1960

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

Interpol Calling poster
7.2

The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international drug-running, homicide, robbery and forgery.

Interpol Calling

1959

No artwork available
NR

Drama 61-67 is anthology drama series which took a different title, based on year of transmission, each year. It alternated with Armchair Theatre from ABC in the Sunday evening slot. The series was described at the time as epitomising ATV drama.

Drama 61-67

1961

Man in a Suitcase poster
7.2

Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.

Man in a Suitcase

1967

The Human Jungle poster
8.2

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.

The Human Jungle

1963

Sherlock Holmes poster
7.2

The first American television series of Sherlock Holmes adventures aired in syndication in the fall of 1954. The 39 half-hour mostly original stories were produced by Sheldon Reynolds and filmed in France by Guild Films, starring Ronald Howard as Holmes and Howard Marion Crawford as Watson. Archie Duncan appeared in many episodes as Inspector Lestrade. Richard Larke, billed as Kenneth Richards, played Sgt. Wilkins in about fifteen episodes. The series' associate producer, Nicole Milinaire, was one of the first women to attain a senior production role in a television series.

Sherlock Holmes

1954

Fall of Eagles poster
7.0

"Fall of Eagles" is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series portrays historical events from 1848 to 1918, dealing with the collapse of the ruling dynasties of Austria-Hungary (the Habsburgs), Germany (the Hohenzollerns) and Russia (the Romanovs).

Fall of Eagles

1974

Half Hour Story poster
7.5

18 short plays written especially for TV, an opportunity for up-and-coming directors such as floor manager Alan Clarke, who ended up doing 10 of the episodes. Some top ranking performers were attracted to the series.

Half Hour Story

1967

No artwork available
NR

Late Night Theatre is a UK television anthology series produced by Granada Television, Scottish Television (STV), Southern Television, and Westward Television. Forty-four episodes were aired on ITV (TV network) from 1972–1974.

Late Night Theatre

1972

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

Miss Marple poster
8.2

The definitive adaptation of all twelve Miss Marple novels, starring Joan Hickson in the title role and featuring one of the all-time TV themes, composed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. The series was produced by George Gallaccio, written by T. R. Bowen, Julia Jones, Alan Parker, Ken Taylor, and Jill Hyem, and co-stars David Horovitch and Ian Brimble as officers Slack and Lake. Over the course of the series it also features John Castle, Joan Sims, Sylvia Syms, Samantha Bond, Peter Davison, Timothy West, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Eddington, Cheryl Campbell, Maurice Denham, Donald Pleasence, Sophie Ward, Jean Simmons, and Joss Ackland.

Miss Marple

1984

Father, Dear Father poster
6.6

Patrick Glover is a divorced thriller novelist attempting to raise and keep the peace between his two teenage daughters.

Father, Dear Father

1968

The Cazalets poster
8.5

The Cazalets is a 2001 television drama series about the life of a large privileged family in the years 1937 to 1947. Most of the action takes place in London, and at the family's large estate in Sussex. The drama was based on the novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard, and adapted by the screenwriter Douglas Livingstone. The series was originally produced by Cinema Verity for BBC One and is available on DVD.

The Cazalets

2001

No artwork available
NR

Anthology of 70-minute UK dramatic productions.

Theatre '70

1960

The Informer poster
NR

The Informer is a British crime drama series broadcast on ITV from August 1966 to December 1967. Created by John Whitney and Geoffrey Bellman, it stars Ian Hendry as former barrister Alex Lambert, disgraced and disbarred, who has to rebuild his life. He utilises his former contacts on both sides of the law to become a paid informer. Living well from the rewards paid by insurance companies, Lambert still has to hide his activities from both his wife and others behind a new persona in the guise as a business consultant. Two seasons were produced, totalling 21 episodes. Only two episodes are known to exist, the remainder presumably wiped.

The Informer

1966

No artwork available
NR

Dramatisations of three different women, three different cases—Constance Kent (episodes 1–8), Mary Blandy (9–14), and Adelaide Bartlett (15–22)—all 18th- and 19th-century murderesses.

A Question of Guilt

1980

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

Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced poster
7.5

An advertisement announcing the time and place of a forthcoming murder appears among the ads of the paper in the small village of Chipping Cleghorn.

Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced

1985

She's Out poster
10.0

Dolly Rawlins is free again. She has served the eight year prison sentence for her husband's murder and is now set to collect the six million pounds worth of diamonds that she stashed before she was sent down. The money will enable her to follow her dreams and start a new life. But her former cell mates have their own ideas...

She's Out

1995

The Barchester Chronicles poster
7.3

The Barchester Chronicles is a 1982 BBC television serial produced by Jonathan Powell and dramatised by Alan Plater, based on Anthony Trollope's first two Chronicles of Barsetshire, The Warden (1855) and Barchester Towers (1857). Against the sumptuous background of Peterborough Cathedral and its environs, one is carried into Trollope's world of the intriguing machinations of the clerical establishment of Barchester. Backed by the authenticity of the period detail, the portrayal of all the characters accurately conveys the whole range of human emotions within the stories.

The Barchester Chronicles

1982

No artwork available
NR

A series of short plays, all originally published as short stories in the 1920s.

Ten from the Twenties

1975

Lilli Palmer Theatre poster
8.0

A half-hour anthology series.

Lilli Palmer Theatre

1955

All Gas and Gaiters poster
6.2

All Gas and Gaiters is a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of "John Wraith" when writing the pilot. At St Oggs Cathedral is a carefree bishop, an old tippling archdeacon, and an accident-prone chaplain, who all wish to live a quiet bachelor life, but this is continually threatened by the dean, who tries to bring by-the-book rule to the cathedral.

All Gas and Gaiters

1967