Mona Washbourne

Acting

Mona Washbourne

Born — Died

1903-11-27 — 1988-11-15

Place of birth

Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

77 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film Stevie (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award. Mona Washbourne was born in Solihull, Warwickshire and began her entertaining career training as a concert pianist. In 1948, after several years acting professionally on stage, and numerous stage musical performances, she began appearing in films. Her film credits include the horror movie The Brides of Dracula (1960), Billy Liar (1963), and The Collector (1965). She is probably best kn…

Known for

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

Matinee Theater poster
5.3

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

Matinee Theater

1955

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

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

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

Casino Royale poster
5.2

Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.

Casino Royale

1967

Film credits

1980s · 4 titles

1970s · 13 titles

O Lucky Man! poster
6.8

An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.

O Lucky Man!

1973

Fragment of Fear poster
5.9

Reformed drug addict Tim Brett (David Hemmings) is vacationing in Italy with his aunt. When she is murdered, he tries to investigate. Soon his whole life spins out of control.

Fragment of Fear

1970

The Blue Bird poster
5.5

Peasant children Mytyl and Tyltyl are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the fairy Berylune. On their journey, they're accompanied by the anthropomorphized presences of a Dog, a Cat, Light, Fire, and Bread, among other entities.

The Blue Bird

1976

Identikit poster
6.4

A mentally disturbed woman arrives in Rome to find a city fragmented by autocratic law, leftist violence, and her own increasingly unhinged mission to find the most dangerous liaison of all.

Identikit

1974

The Games poster
7.4

From Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Australia and behind the Iron Curtain. They are the most superbly conditioned animals in the world. They are also the pawns of powerful nations, the victims of dangerous drugs and the object of many men's ambitions. Once every four years they come together... for the Olympic Games.

The Games

1970

What Became of Jack and Jill? poster
4.8

Two young people plot to get their hands on grannie's money, but rather than simply pushing her down the stairs they hatch an elaborate plot to convince her that radical youth have taken over England are planning to do away with "oldies" like her.

What Became of Jack and Jill?

1972

The Old Curiosity Shop poster
4.8

A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.

The Old Curiosity Shop

1975

The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens poster
8.0

British television film about the life of Charles Dickens directed by Ned Sherrin and starring Anthony Hopkins, Jenny Agutter and Arthur Lowe. Hopkins performance as Dickens saw him nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 1971.

The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens

1970

Home poster
7.8

David Storey's adaptation of his award winning play for the BBC's Play for Today series.

Home

1972

The London Connection poster
7.8

A missing formula, a defecting Eastern European scientist kidnapped, car chases, foot chases, air chases, the British secret service, and a couple of American tourists caught right in the middle.

The London Connection

1979

Stevie poster
7.2

For a poet with a gift for crafting words into barbs, Stevie Smith lives a relatively conventional life. Sheltered in a London suburb, she spends her days engaged in tedious housework, crafting verse and conversing with her aunt. But while her body may be committed to drudgery, Stevie's mind is constantly trying to break free, which causes her to rail against religion and middle-class values, and prevents her from finding happiness with a man interested in her.

Stevie

1978

No artwork available
NR

Play set in the Home Counties during the Second World War. A Czech refugee arrives at her cousin's Mrs Hudson's, which create xenophobic problems in the local community.

I Spy a Stranger

1972

No artwork available
NR

Nineteen-year-old Bambi is upset when her husband is late arriving to see their new-born child, especially when she discovers that the wine he has brought is not intended for her.

Poor Mother

1970

1960s · 16 titles

Casino Royale poster
5.2

Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.

Casino Royale

1967

My Fair Lady poster
7.5

A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

My Fair Lady

1964

The Collector poster
7.4

A man kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage just for the pleasure of having her there.

The Collector

1965

The Brides of Dracula poster
6.7

A young teacher on her way to a position in Transylvania helps a young man escape the shackles his mother has put on him. In so doing she innocently unleashes the horrors of the undead once again on the populace, including those at her school for ladies. Luckily for some, Dr. Van Helsing is already on his way.

The Brides of Dracula

1960

if.... poster
7.0

In an English boys' boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all.

if....

1968

Billy Liar poster
6.8

A young Englishman dreams of escaping from his working class family and dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant. A number of indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the penalties. His life turns into a mess and he has an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind.

Billy Liar

1963

The Bed Sitting Room poster
5.9

In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.

The Bed Sitting Room

1969

Night Must Fall poster
6.5

A psychotic killer gets in the good graces of his aging invalid employer, and worms his way into the affection of her beautiful daughter, with unpleasant results for all.

Night Must Fall

1964

No Love for Johnnie poster
6.7

Johnnie Byrne is a member of the British Parliament. In his 40s, he's feeling frustrated with his life and his personal as well as professional problems tower up over him. His desires to win the next election are endangered by his constant looking for love and he is faced with the choice of giving up a career in politics or giving up the woman he loves.

No Love for Johnnie

1961

Two a Penny poster
3.5

Set in London's Swinging Sixties, Cliff Richard plays Jamie Hopkins, an art student whose desperate need for money leads him to dabble in the underworld of drug dealing. Cliff has stated that Two A Penny, his most dramatically challenging movie role ever, is the film he is proudest of. He has stated, "if I did want to send a fiolm as a CV, I would send that one". It is certainly his most demanding and controversial role; cynical, self centered and highly manipulative, Jamie Hopkins lies, steals and double-crosses his mother (Dora Bryan), forces himself on his girlfriend (Ann Holloway) and gets involved in fist fights with criminals. Through the influence of his girlfriend, a born again Christian, is the possibility that he may reform, yet in the mystery of the film's by-line "He promised to love her forever….today" lies the possibility that he may well not.

Two a Penny

1967

One Way Pendulum poster
6.0

A study of absurdity in a suburban family: father recreates the Old Bailey in the living room while the son teaches speak-your-weight machines to sing in the attic.

One Way Pendulum

1965

Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter poster
5.1

Herman inherits a greyhound and decides to make his fortune by dog racing. After traveling from Manchester to London in the hope of entering a national invitational, Herman and his friends find work in a pop group, and Herman falls in love.

Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter

1968

Ferry Cross the Mersey poster
6.1

Gerry and Fred Marsden, Les McGuire, and Les "Chad" Chadwick portray themselves in a romp through the early-1960s Liverpool Beat Scene. Art students by day and musicians by night, the boys' big break comes by winning a local talent contest. But first, they must retrieve their instruments, which have been mistakenly carried to the airport.

Ferry Cross the Mersey

1965

Operation Stogie poster
6.0

Two cadets are set an outrageous and wacky initiation test to prove their suitability for officer training.

Operation Stogie

1962

The Third Day poster
5.6

A man stumbles out of a car crash with no memory of what transpired. Everyone who he meets suggests that he is a ruthless man with an aggressive temper. Could he be deliberately blocking out memories of his past?

The Third Day

1965

No artwork available
7.0

The Prime Minister heads a cabinet divided on the question of either using force against an African state, or referring the matter to the United Nations.

Number Ten

1968

1950s · 23 titles

The Million Pound Note poster
7.0

An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, people treat him like a king and let him have whatever he likes for free. Ultimately, the money proves to be more troublesome than it is worth when it almost costs him his dignity and the woman he loves.

The Million Pound Note

1954

Betrayed poster
5.8

When the Dutch resistance brings in Carla Van Oven to spy on the Nazis, Col. Pieter Deventer initially suspects she could be a double agent. Van Oven eventually convinces Deventer of her character, and when she is sent into occupied territory, she joins up with a rebel leader known as "The Scarf". As the resistance endures severe losses and their missions fail, Deventer starts to wonder whose side Van Oven is fighting on.

Betrayed

1954

Yield to the Night poster
6.9

Locked in her cell, a murderer reflects on the events that have led her to death row.

Yield to the Night

1956

A Cry from the Streets poster
7.1

Bittersweet story about London's unwanted children and the good people trying to help them. Ann is a social worker, while Bill is an electrician whose contract with the local care home introduces him to the children and Ann. Events start to escalate out of control when a child takes possession of a loaded gun.

A Cry from the Streets

1958

The Gambler and the Lady poster
5.6

A greedy but successful professional gambler wants to join the British Establishment when he falls in love with a blue-blooded lady. But first he must mend his ways and then dump his nightclub singer girl friend. She's not so easy to get rid of, neither is his past.

The Gambler and the Lady

1952

It's Great to be Young! poster
6.8

IT’S GREAT TO A YOUNG stars John Mills as Dingle an easygoing high school teacher. When autocratic new headmaster Frome (Cecil Parker) begins imposing all sorts of repressive rules, Dingle does his best to stand up for his students, only to be dismissed for his troubles. The kids conspire to not only reinstate their favourite teacher, but to circumvent Frome's refusal to purchase new instruments for an upcoming music festival.

It's Great to be Young!

1956

Doctor in the House poster
6.5

The first of the seven "Doctor" films, based on Richard Gordon's novels and released between 1954 and 1970. Simon Sparrow is a newly arrived medical student at St Swithin's hospital in London. Falling in with three longer-serving hopefuls he is soon immersed in the wooing, imbibing and fast sports-car driving that constitute 1950s medical training. There is, however, always the looming and formidable figure of chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt to remind them of their real purpose.

Doctor in the House

1954

Cast a Dark Shadow poster
6.5

Edward "Teddy" Bare is a ruthless schemer who thinks he's hit the big time when he kills his older wife, believing he will inherit a fortune. When things don't go according to plan, Teddy sets his sights on a new victim: wealthy widow Freda Jeffries. Unfortunately for the unscrupulous criminal, Freda is much more guarded and sassy than his last wife, making separating her from her money considerably more challenging.

Cast a Dark Shadow

1955

No artwork available
NR

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves." Follows the work of a probation officer and the people he tries to help.

Probation Officer

1950

To Dorothy, a Son poster
5.8

Under a complicated bequest from her uncle, Myrtle stands to inherit $2,000,000 if her ex-husband doesn't have any male heirs on the way, else he gets the cash. She journies from New York to England, and finally tracks him down with his heavily pregnant new wife. Should she try and woo him back or challenge the legality of the new marriage?

To Dorothy, a Son

1954

John and Julie poster
4.9

The adventures of two children who runaway to London to see the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.

John and Julie

1955

Lost poster
6.8

U.S. Embassy employee Lee Cochrane and his wife, Sue, receive a shock when they discover that their 18-month-old son, Simon, has disappeared in London. He was last seen with their nanny, and the couple seemingly have no leads that might help police Detective Craig in his investigation. The media sensationalizes the incident, causing an unnecessary distraction as the couple prepares to confront the culprit face-to-face.

Lost

1956

Circus Friends poster
9.0

A group of circus children and their friends band together to save the show from financial disaster.

Circus Friends

1956

Loser Takes All poster
6.0

Bertrand, an accountant employed by a large London firm, is called to the office of the Managing Director, Dreuther, to explain a mistake in the accounts. Dreuther is highly impressed by the young accountant's skilful explanation of the error and, hearing that Bertrand is soon to marry his spirited young fiancée, tells him to spend the honeymoon not in Bournemouth, but Monte Carlo at the company s expense! However, events in the fabulous Mediterranean paradise do not work out quite as Bertrand had envisaged...

Loser Takes All

1956

Johnny on the Run poster
8.3

A Polish boy runs away from his unkind foster mother in Edinburgh and finds a new home in a lakeside village for orphans of all nations, after encountering trouble through his innocent implication in a robbery.

Johnny on the Run

1953

Adventure in the Hopfields poster
7.0

A little girl accidentally breaks her mother's favourite ornament and goes hop-picking to replace it.

Adventure in the Hopfields

1954

Count Your Blessings poster
4.8

Englishwoman Grace Allingham marries Frenchman Charles Edouard de Valhubert, but their marriage quickly becomes unusual. Because Charles cheats on her and lives away from his family out of professional obligation to his government, Grace ends up raising the couple's son, Sigismond, on her own. Grace and Charles are finally reunited after nearly a decade apart, and, while they seem headed for a permanent split, there's still a spark between them.

Count Your Blessings

1959

Double Confession poster
6.2

The hero discovers his estranged wife dead and tries to frame her lover for the murder. He becomes involved with the criminals who make various unsuccessful attempts on his life while the police clear up the mystery.

Double Confession

1950

Monsieur Ripois poster
6.0

While his wife, Catherine, is finalizing their divorce, serial philanderer Andre invites his latest conquest, Catherine’s best friend, Patricia, over for dinner. Over the course of the evening, Andre shares his entire romantic history since first coming to London as a young man, including his liaisons with his former boss, a marriage-minded young girl and a kindhearted Frenchwoman.

Monsieur Ripois

1954

No artwork available
7.0

A young man searches for the father he never knew, who he believes to be a millionaire.

Son of a Stranger

1958

The Good Companions poster
7.0

The story revolves around the Dinky Doos, a provincial musical troupe living from hand to mouth.

The Good Companions

1957

Stranger in Town poster
6.9

A vacationing journalist investigates the mysterious death of a composer and debunks the theory that it was suicide.

Stranger in Town

1957

No artwork available
10.0

A young woman marries and moves into her husband's family mansion. She soon discovers that neither the house, nor her husband, is exactly what it seems to be.

Dark Interval

1950

1940s · 4 titles

Series credits

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

Matinee Theater poster
5.3

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

Matinee Theater

1955

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

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

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

Centre Play poster
7.0

Anthology series of half hour plays produced in BBC's Television Centre's studios.

Centre Play

1973

Brideshead Revisited poster
7.9

Agnostic Charles Ryder is seduced by the allure of the Flytes, a wealthy aristocratic family. Although he finds himself at odds with their strong Catholicism, his ties to the family deepen for the decades between the two world wars.

Brideshead Revisited

1981

The Wonderful World of Disney poster
7.9

Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, most recently on ABC and Disney+. The show is the second longest showing prime-time program on American television, behind its rival, Hallmark Hall of Fame. However, Hallmark Hall of Fame was a weekly program only during its first five seasons, while Disney remained a weekly program for more than forty years.

The Wonderful World of Disney

1954

Shillingbury Tales poster
7.2

Shillingbury Tales is a 1980–81 British sitcom produced by Associated Television for ITV. Comprising a single feature length pilot and six one-hour episodes, the series deals with life in an idealised fictional English village and stars Robin Nedwell, Diane Keen, Nigel Lambert, Jack Douglas, John Le Mesurier, Bernard Cribbins and Trevor Howard. The series was written by Francis Essex and directed by Val Guest. Unusual for the time, it was shot entirely on location in the village of Aldbury in Hertfordshire on 16mm and consequently there was no laugh track. The show ended when ATV lost their licence to broadcast and their replacement Central declined to continue production.

Shillingbury Tales

1981

Six Days of Justice poster
10.0

Six Days of Justice is a British television drama anthology series of single plays created by Thames Television and shown on ITV from 1972 to 1975, over four seasons of six episodes apiece.

Six Days of Justice

1972

Knight Errant Limited poster
NR

Adam Knight is a young man who, having tried several jobs, decides to set up an agency, 'Knight Errant '59', to solve other people's problems - whatever they may be. There's plenty of scope and, assisted by former reporter Liz and idealistic young writer Peter, the latter-day Sir Lancelot is kept busy with a variety of curious and exciting cases. The series had two titles, Knight Errant '59 and Knight Errant Limited of which only two episodes exist out of the 75 produced.

Knight Errant Limited

1959

Wicked Women poster
NR

Dramas about women who made the headlines of Victorian newspapers.

Wicked Women

1970

The Galton & Simpson Playhouse poster
NR

A series of seven individual sitcom pilots from writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

The Galton & Simpson Playhouse

1977

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

Therese Raquin poster
5.5

Therese, an attractive young woman married to her sickly cousin Camille, leads an extremely monotonous life until Camille brings home Laurent, an old schoolmate.

Therese Raquin

1980

No artwork available
NR

Yorkshire Television's Celebrity Playhouse anthology series.

Celebrity Playhouse

1981