Gretchen Franklin

Acting

Gretchen Franklin

Born 1911-07-07 · Covent Garden, London, England, UK

Born in Covent Garden, West London in 1911, Gretchen Franklin was an English actress and dancer whose showbusiness career spanned over 70 years. She was best known for her role as Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC 1 soap opera EastEnders. She appeared in the very first episode in 1985 and was a regular in the series until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently until 2000 when her character was killed off, allowing Franklin to retire from acting at the age of 89. Born into a theatrical family (her father had a song and dance act, her grandfather was a famous music hall entertainer at the turn of the century and her cousin was Dad's Army star Clive Dunn) Gretchen Franklin made her theatre debut as a teenage chorus girl. She toured with comedians such as Gracie Fields before making the switch to serious acting. Her film appearances included Cloak Without Dagger (1956), Flame in the Streets (1961), The Murder Game (1965), Help! (1965), How I Won The War (1967), Twisted Nerve (1968), The Night Visitor (1971), The Three Musketeers (1973), Quincy's Quest (1979), and Ragtime (1981), among others. She is namechecked in The Fall's 1990 song Telephone Thing.

Acting credits

The Three Musketeers poster
6.7

In 17th century France, young D'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends three legendary musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—and together, they become embroiled in the political intrigue surrounding King Louis XIII and his adversaries, particularly the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.

The Three Musketeers

1973

The Four Musketeers poster
6.5

The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.

The Four Musketeers

1974

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

Help! poster
6.9

An obscure Eastern cult that practices human sacrifice pursues Ringo after he unknowingly puts on a ceremonial ring (that, of course, won't come off). On top of that, a pair of mad scientists, members of Scotland Yard, and a beautiful but dead-eyed assassin all have their own plans for the Fab Four.

Help!

1965

Ragtime poster
7.0

A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

Ragtime

1981

Trottie True poster
7.0

Tottie True is a gay-90s British music-hall performer who has her sights set on moving from rags to riches, who loses her heart to the pure-and-true blue balloonist, Sid Skinner, but continues her upward search on improving her social status. She finally settles for Lord Landon Digby who has lots of assets and a very-stiff upper lip. She gets a lot of the latter and very little of the former, and decides Sid might have been a better choice.

Trottie True

1949

The Night Visitor poster
6.5

An insane Swedish farmer escapes from an asylum to get revenge on his sister, her husband and others.

The Night Visitor

1971

Flame in the Streets poster
6.3

Domestic difficulties develop in a working-class family when their daughter falls in love with a Jamaican man.

Flame in the Streets

1961

How I Won the War poster
5.6

An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.

How I Won the War

1967

Secrets poster
6.4

Secrets Chocolates receive an unexpected sales boost when three maintenance workers fall into the chocolate vat and are fed through the production line.

Secrets

1973

Subterfuge poster
5.3

A young wife is becoming very distraught over the fact that her husband, a secret service "spy" for England, has changed his mind about transferring away so that he can spend more time with her and their young son. He has grown cold and distant towards her; she thinks it 's because of the secretiveness of his work. Meanwhile, an American spy comes to England and is induced to help the British "team" with an undercover spy ring. When this spy ring is over turned the "bugs" that crawl out from under its rock shocks everyone!

Subterfuge

1968

The Secret Place poster
6.6

A beautiful redhead becomes involved with a group of small-time hoodlums who plan and perform a daring diamond robbery.

The Secret Place

1957

The Murder Game poster
10.0

A woman abandons her husband, changes her name, and remarries again. Complications ensue.

The Murder Game

1965

The One and Only Phyllis Dixey poster
NR

Aspiring dancer Phyllis Dixey makes her name as a stripper.

The One and Only Phyllis Dixey

1978

Cloak Without Dagger poster
7.6

A woman reporter discovers a former lover and intelligence officer during WWII apparently working as a waiter in a hotel; and, believing something she impulsively did while he was on a mission is responsible for his current situation, sets out to make things better by finding a foreign agent known only as Kupchek, with the help of the hotel's detective.

Cloak Without Dagger

1956

Return to Waterloo poster
6.8

A man taking the train to work one morning is overcome by melancholy memories and morbid fantasies.

Return to Waterloo

1984

The High Terrace poster
6.7

A British theater actress unable to get out of her contract is assisted by an American playwright when a pair of her scissors is discovered lodged in her producer's back.

The High Terrace

1956

No artwork available
8.0

Agnes realizes 'the other woman' in her and Bob's family life is the company he works for. 'The Company' demands total priority and loyalty in Bob's life.

The Company Man

1970

Quincy's Quest poster
6.0

It's the night before Christmas, and all the toy store rejects are due to be tossed into the furnace. This includes Quincy, a most lifelike doll. In a last ditch effort to save himself and his "unwanted" chums from incineration, he goes on a long and perilous journey in search of the only one who can save them: Santa Claus.

Quincy's Quest

1979

No artwork available
NR

Film "The Poet" based on the one-act play Il Poeta by Dario Niccodemi.

The Poet

1960

The Silent Playground poster
5.3

Police hunt for mental hospital out patient Simon Lacey, who has been unwittingly handing out barbiturates to children as sweets.

The Silent Playground

1963

Before I Wake poster
5.2

A woman travels to England to attend her parents' funeral. She is told by officials that they died of natural causes together, but she doesn't buy it. She comes to suspect that the nurse who took care of her parents was involved in their deaths, but since the nurse is well thought of in the town, no one believes her. What she doesn't know is that her parents' killer has selected her as the next victim

Before I Wake

1955

Ticket to Paradise poster
5.8

Travel agent Emrys Jones and tourist Patricia Dainton fall in love in sunny Italy. Jones has led Dainton to believe that he's fabulously wealthy, and she has likewise deceived him. When the truth inevitably outs, it hardly matters, since hero and heroine now love each other for themselves rather than their bank accounts.

Ticket to Paradise

1961

No artwork available
NR

Michael and Jo Richardson are celebrating their wedding anniversary at a secluded country cottage. Jo discovers the body of their friend Edward Fellowes in the bedroom and calls Dr Clarkeson, but finds his behaviour very strange.

The Man Who Came to Die

1965