Kathleen Harrison

Acting

Kathleen Harrison

Born — Died

1892-02-22 — 1995-12-07

Place of birth

Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

67 titles

Kathleen Harrison was long a stalwart of British cinema. Her place was always firmly below stairs – a cook perhaps, or a cleaning lady often answering the door with a puzzled expression always fearful that trouble was just around the corner. She was born in 1892 in Blackburn in Lancashire. She studied at RADA and then went to live in Agentina for some time. On her return to Britain, she made her stage debut in 1926 in “The Constant Flirt”. Her first major film role was in 1931 in “Hobson’s Choice”. Kathleen Harrison made one film in Hollywood in Emlyn Williams “Night Must Fall” in 1937 as a maid (naturally). She achieved national fame as Mrs Huggett in four films about the Huggett family. I…

Known for

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

Danger UXB poster
8.0

Danger UXB is a 1979 British television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers. The programme is titled and partly based on the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, M.B.E, RE, Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, with episodes written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company which, as a result of thousands of unexploded bombs in London during the Blitz, has become a bomb disposal unit. As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fusing. The storylines were primarily military, with a romantic thread between Ash and an inventor's married daughter, and other human interest vignettes.

Danger UXB

1979

Scrooge poster
7.4

Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.

Scrooge

1951

Oliver Twist poster
7.6

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

Oliver Twist

1948

NBC Experiment in Television poster
NR

An attempt by NBC to emulate the success of the CBS hit The Twilight Zone, this hour-long anthology series showcased different actors, stories and creative talent each week.

NBC Experiment in Television

1967

Film credits

1960s · 4 titles

1950s · 16 titles

Scrooge poster
7.4

Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.

Scrooge

1951

Turn the Key Softly poster
6.3

A bitter burglar, a prostitute and an elderly shoplifter spend their first day out of jail.

Turn the Key Softly

1953

Trio poster
6.4

W. Somerset Maugham introduces three more of his stories about human foibles.

Trio

1950

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 Magic Box poster
6.5

Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once young and handsome William Green. He changed his name to include his first wife's for the photographic portrait work he excelled at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.

The Magic Box

1952

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

Where There's a Will poster
6.9

A Cockney family inherit a ramshackle Devon farm. The rest of the family don't want to leave London but the father insists and off they go, to face the unknown.

Where There's a Will

1955

It's a Wonderful World poster
5.8

Two aspiring songwriters finally manage to sell a tune by claiming that it was composed by a reclusive musical genius. When the tune hits the top of the charts, they find themselves having to produce the "real" composer.

It's a Wonderful World

1956

Seven Thunders poster
5.5

Escaping British prisoners of war hide out in German occupied France.

Seven Thunders

1957

Lilacs in the Spring poster
6.0

A young actress must decide which of two lovers will be her husband. She daydreams about each one to help her decide.

Lilacs in the Spring

1954

The Pickwick Papers poster
7.0

The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the interesting things they find...

The Pickwick Papers

1952

The Happy Family poster
7.8

When the Government decide to build a Festival of Britain exhibition site, everything goes to plan, all except the fact that the main road and the pedestrian subway into the site, are blocked by a little corner shop, which is owned and run by a Mr. Lord and his family. When the Lords refuse to be bought off, and decline the compensation offered by the authorities. the police and the bailiffs try to evict them, only to come under fire from the family, who have barricaded themselves inside the shop.

The Happy Family

1952

Alive and Kicking poster
7.1

Three elderly residents of a nursing home, fed up with their monotonous existence, engineer an escape from their drab surroundings and head for an impromptu holiday on an Irish island.

Alive and Kicking

1959

Waterfront poster
6.5

When ship's fireman Peter McCabe walks out on his long-suffering wife, he leaves her impoverished, with two young daughters and a boy born soon after his departure. After an absence of fourteen years McCabe returns, sacked and humiliated, trailing trouble in his wake.

Waterfront

1950

The Dog and the Diamonds poster
6.7

A group of children establish their own zoo in the garden of a disused house, which proves to be the headquarters of a gang of crooks.

The Dog and the Diamonds

1953

Home and Away poster
7.0

When George discovers that he has won the pools, there is huge excitement in the household. But it turns out that it's his son who has won, in partnership with the son of a woman against whom George has some ill feelings.

Home and Away

1956

1940s · 25 titles

Oliver Twist poster
7.6

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

Oliver Twist

1948

Gaslight poster
7.1

Twenty years removed from Alice Barlow's murder by a thief looking for her jewels, newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move into the very house where the crime was committed. Retired detective B.G. Rough, who worked on the Barlow case, is still in the area and grows suspicious of Paul, who he feels bears a striking resemblance to one of Barlow's relatives. Rough must find the truth before the killer can strike again and reclaim his bounty.

Gaslight

1940

Caesar and Cleopatra poster
6.2

At the height of the Roman Civil War, an aging Julius Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen Cleopatra, whom he teaches how to rule Egypt.

Caesar and Cleopatra

1945

In Which We Serve poster
6.7

The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship’s first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.

In Which We Serve

1942

Temptation Harbour poster
5.4

The story of a harbor signalman who retrieves a suitcase full of money after witnessing a murder, fails to report it to the police, and finds himself the object of murderous and mercenary interest.

Temptation Harbour

1947

The Shop at Sly Corner poster
6.6

In Britain, a man with a shady past uses his antiquities shop as a front for smuggled diamonds but his young shop-assistant starts blackmailing him, leading to murder and to a police investigation.

The Shop at Sly Corner

1947

Wanted for Murder poster
6.4

The son of a notorious hangman is gradually becoming insane and he finds himself unable to resist the urge to strangle women to death.

Wanted for Murder

1946

Girl in the News poster
6.5

An elderly lady manages to sneak some pills away from her nurse and dies of an overdose. The nurse is tried for murder and acquitted. Some time later the nurse, under a new name and identity, cares for a patient who also dies of an overdose. When her real identity comes out, suspicions arise.

Girl in the News

1940

Here Come the Huggetts poster
6.7

The Huggetts have their first telephone installed, sleep rough on The Mall whilst waiting for the Royal Wedding and deal with a fire at the 'Oatibix' factory.

Here Come the Huggetts

1948

I See a Dark Stranger poster
6.5

Proud Irishwoman Bridie Quilty journeys to Dublin while World War II rages across Europe. During her travels, she encounters J. Miller, who recruits her as a Nazi spy. She acquires the necessary information that leads to the breakout of a German spy who holds key information about the Allies' newest offensive plans. However, the arrival of British officer David Baynes and his romancing of Bridie lead to unexpected consequences.

I See a Dark Stranger

1946

The Winslow Boy poster
7.0

In pre-WWI England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.

The Winslow Boy

1948

Major Barbara poster
6.8

Idealistic young Barbara is the daughter of rich weapons manufacturer Andrew Undershaft. She rebels against her estranged father by joining the Salvation Army. Wooed by professor-turned-preacher Adolphus Cusins, Barbara eventually grows disillusioned with her causes and begins to see things from her father's perspective.

Major Barbara

1941

They Came by Night poster
6.3

A man is blackmailed into taking his brother's place in a gang for a jewellery heist.

They Came by Night

1940

Vote for Huggett poster
7.2

A firm of solicitors do battle with the head of the local council over a parcel of river front land, owned by the Huggett family, in order to build a lido/community center.

Vote for Huggett

1949

Bond Street poster
6.9

Charts the events occurring during a typical 24-hour period on London’s thoroughfare Bond Street. Linking the four stories together is the impending wedding of society girl Hazel Court and Robert Flemyng.

Bond Street

1948

Now Barabbas poster
6.5

A prison governor deals with a variety of different prisoners, including a charming murderer.

Now Barabbas

1949

The Ghost Train poster
6.1

Mismatched travellers are stranded overnight at a lonely rural railway station. They soon learn of local superstition about a phantom train which is said to travel these parts at dead of night, carrying ghosts from a long-ago train wreck in the area.

The Ghost Train

1941

The Huggetts Abroad poster
6.8

Life is not going well for the Huggetts. Father has lost his job. Jimmy and his wife cannot get to South Africa where he has a new job. So the family decide that they should go to South Africa by truck. With their travelling companion they travel across the desert which includes a brush with the law.

The Huggetts Abroad

1949

Waterloo Road poster
6.0

During WW2 a former railway employee who had been drafted, goes AWOL to hunt down the spiv and draft dodger who is having an affair with his wife.

Waterloo Road

1945

No artwork available
NR

"What a life for a couple of nudes!" Two dancers find a new way of doing their bit for the boys in this frothy wartime propaganda short. Lord Kitchener's famous finger persuades Joan and Ireen, dancers in a 'Non Stop Nudes' revue (not that we see anything that warrants that title), to make a radical career change. Swapping their skimpy costumes for dowdy munitions factory overalls, they join a growing domestic army of women keeping the machines rolling. Belfast-born Brian Desmond Hurst was essentially a feature film director, whose best-remembered work is the Dickens adaptation Scrooge, but whose credits also included the war films Dangerous Moonlight (1941) and The Malta Story (1953). The Call for Arms was one of three propaganda shorts he made between 1940 and 1941, the most memorable being Miss Grant Goes to the Door, in which a pair of village spinsters outwit a Nazi paratrooper.

A Call for Arms!

1940

Holiday Camp poster
6.8

The Huggett family go to a holiday camp, and get involved in crooked card players, a murderer on the run, and a pregnant young girl and her boyfriend missing from home.

Holiday Camp

1947

Salvage with a Smile poster
NR

Wartime propaganda short in which a professor enlists the help of a dustman to explain the importance of saving paper, bones and metal to help the war effort.

Salvage with a Smile

1940

I Thank You poster
7.3

Classic comedy starring Arthur Askey. The perils, humiliations and humour of trying to run a second-rate theatrical company are further compounded when financial aid, given by the former famous music-hall star Lady Randall (Lily Morris), is withdrawn. Not to be defeated, the stars decide the show must go on and devise a plan to persuade her to reinvest

I Thank You

1941

Great Day poster
7.4

An impending V.I.P. visit causes bustle in an English village, while the Ellis family struggles with private problems.

Great Day

1945

The New Lot poster
8.0

A new batch of Army recruits, from diverse backgrounds and with varying degrees of commitment, is shaped into an efficient fighting unit.

The New Lot

1943

1930s · 13 titles

The Ghoul poster
5.6

British Egyptologist Professor Morlant seeks immortality through a jewel buried in the tomb of an Oriental idol. Upon his death, Morlant returns to Earth to seek vengeance upon those who removed the jewel from his grave.

The Ghoul

1933

Night Must Fall poster
7.0

Wealthy widow Mrs. Bramson notices that her maid is distracted, and when she learns the girl's fiancé, Danny, is the reason, she summons him in. Mrs. Bramson's niece Olivia takes a liking to Danny, and comes to believe that he may have been involved in the disappearance of a local woman.

Night Must Fall

1937

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

Convict 99 poster
7.0

A disgraced school master, Benjamin Twist, is mistaken for a tough prison governor and assigned the charge of a prison for particularly hardened criminals. Believing he is being sent to a school rather than a prison, he celebrates accordingly only to find that his drunkenness accidently lands him on the wrong side of the prison bars. The Governorship is eventually restored to him, and he sets about popularising himself amongst the convicts by turning a blind eye to their shady dealings.

Convict 99

1938

Broken Blossoms poster
6.1

A Chinese missionary comes to England and helps a young girl ill-treated by her father. A remake of D. W. Griffith's masterpiece.

Broken Blossoms

1936

Bank Holiday poster
6.2

A 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to the seaside. Doreen and Milly are off to a beauty contest, Geoffrey and Catherine are having an illicit weekend in the Grand Hotel and May and the kids are set for a more straightforward holiday of sea, sand, and pub. Meanwhile, the manager and performers on the pier are praying for rain.

Bank Holiday

1938

Aren't We All? poster
8.0

Because his father, Lord Grenham, spends more time philandering with attractive women than conducting business, Willie Tatham is forced to interrupt his honeymoon with his wife Margot in the south of France and return to London to get his father to sign an important contract. While Margot, an actress, goes to a small resort where she will not be recognized, Kitty Lake, one of the young women Lord Grenham pursues, flirts with Willie. Two weeks pass and when Willie tells Margot on the telephone that he must stay in town, she threatens to engage in a violent flirtation with the next attractive man she sees. Karl von der Heide, from Vienna, who is waiting to use the telephone, overhears her and begins a flirtation. She identifies herself to him as Mrs. Margaret Spaulding, and they pursue the beginnings of a romance until Margot suddenly returns home.

Aren't We All?

1932

The Man from Toronto poster
5.0

According to the terms of a will two strangers must marry. Leila (Jessie Matthews) is an English widow, and Fergus (Ian Hunter) is a Canadian bachelor. Both are bequeathed a fortune, but there is a condition to receive it; the two must marry within a year. To aid matters, Leila disguises herself as Fergus' maid, and the two begin to fall in love. However, when Fergus discovers the truth, he is less than pleased by the deception.

The Man from Toronto

1933

No artwork available
6.5

For ten years, The Terror has laughed at both police and public. And for ten years, two of his erstwhile associates, Joe Conner and 'Soapy' Marks, have plotted revenge on the mastermind whose double-crossing sent them to Dartmoor prison without their share of the bullion stolen in a daring raid.

The Terror

1938

A Girl Must Live poster
4.8

A run-away school-girl falls among chorus girls planning to marry into the nobility.

A Girl Must Live

1939

The Tenth Man poster
7.5

George Winter, a self-made businessman and MP, lets nothing get in the way of his climb to the top. Certain in his belief in the corruptible and foolish nature of others, whenever Winter meets a competitor who can't be bought, he destroys the man through methods both legal and underhanded. Then, he meets his 'tenth man': a victim who refuses to be silenced by threat or bribery, with the power to bring Winter's house of cards crashing down around him.

The Tenth Man

1936

Dandy Dick poster
6.9

The Very Reverend Richard Jedd has a problem: the church spire, now in a parlous state of repair, will cost nearly £1,000 to fix. When various money-raising schemes go awry, he is persuaded to waive his principles and bet what’s left of his savings on Dandy Dick, a 10-1 odds-on at the local races. A simple tonic to enhance the nag’s performance seems a good idea… but when the butler decides to intervene, the respectable clergyman finds himself in the middle of a doping scandal – and worse!

Dandy Dick

1935

Wanted! poster
9.0

A married couple are mistaken for jewel thieves and forced to go to a party. The husband turns on the burglar alarm by mistake and the real thieves are captured.

Wanted!

1937

Series credits

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

Danger UXB poster
8.0

Danger UXB is a 1979 British television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers. The programme is titled and partly based on the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, M.B.E, RE, Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, with episodes written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company which, as a result of thousands of unexploded bombs in London during the Blitz, has become a bomb disposal unit. As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fusing. The storylines were primarily military, with a romantic thread between Ash and an inventor's married daughter, and other human interest vignettes.

Danger UXB

1979

NBC Experiment in Television poster
NR

An attempt by NBC to emulate the success of the CBS hit The Twilight Zone, this hour-long anthology series showcased different actors, stories and creative talent each week.

NBC Experiment in Television

1967

Our Mutual Friend poster
7.0

After his father's will stipulates he must marry Bella Wilfer to inherit his fortune, John Harmon fakes his death to avoid the marriage and the threats on his life. He returns as John Rokesmith and becomes the secretary for the Boffins, who inherit Harmon's estate following his alleged death.

Our Mutual Friend

1976

Martin Chuzzlewit poster
8.0

Old Martin Chuzzlewit is nearing his death. Who will inherit his riches? With such a prize to play for, the Chuzzlewit family bring forth all of their cunning, greed and selfishness.

Martin Chuzzlewit

1964

Mrs Thursday poster
5.0

Mrs Thursday is a British comedy-drama produced by Associated Television, devised by Lord Ted Willis and featured scripts by Jack Rosenthal. It stars veteran British actress Kathleen Harrison as Alice Thursday, a Cockney cleaning lady who inherits £10 million and the controlling interest in a multinational company upon the death of her employer. Hugh Manning played Richard Hunter, is Mrs Thursday's butler, business adviser and confidant.

Mrs Thursday

1966