Brenda De Banzie

Brenda De Banzie

Birth : 1909-07-28, Manchester, England, UK

Death : 1981-03-05

History

Brenda D. M. De Banzie was a British actress of stage and screen. She was the daughter of Edward De Banzie and his second wife Dorothy, whom he married in 1908. In 1911, the family lived in Salford. She appeared as Maggie Hobson in the David Lean film version of Hobson's Choice (1954) with John Mills and Charles Laughton. Her most notable film role was as Phoebe Rice, the hapless wife of comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier), in the 1960 film version of The Entertainer. She had also appeared on Broadway in John Osborne's original play, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. Other memorable film roles were in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and The Pink Panther (1963) directed by Blake Edwards.

Profile

Brenda De Banzie

Movies

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.
Pretty Polly
Mrs. Innes-Hook
Miss Polly decides to spend a few months with her wealthy spinster aunt as a traveling companion. While in India her aunt's demise leaves her alone to pursue her freedom and explore an arm's length romance with a local boy.
The Pink Panther
Angela Dunning
The trademark of The Phantom, a renowned jewel thief, is a glove left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Clouseau, an expert on The Phantom's exploits, feels sure that he knows where The Phantom will strike next and leaves Paris for the Tyrolean Alps, where the famous Lugashi jewel 'The Pink Panther' is going to be. However, he does not know who The Phantom really is, or for that matter who anyone else really is...
I Thank a Fool
Nurse Drew
After mercifully killing her terminally ill lover, Dr. Christine Allison loses her medical license and spends two years in prison. Once she has completed her sentence, the lawyer who prosecuted Christine, Stephen Dane, hires her to care for his emotionally unstable wife, Liane. Christine takes the job, but when Liane's allegedly dead father reappears, Christine sets out to reveal the family's dark secrets.
A Pair of Briefs
Gladys Rose Hanley
She's new in chambers, and he's a troublemaker. But what 'is' the true status of the old lady's wartime marriage, and can the two young legal minds find the answer?
Flame in the Streets
Nell Palmer
Flame in the Streets is a 1961 British drama film directed by Roy Ward Baker. Racial tensions manifest themselves at home, work and on the streets during Bonfire Night in the burgeoning West Indian community of early 1960s Britain. Trades union leader (Mills) fights for the rights of a black worker but struggles with the news that his own daughter is planning to marry a West Indian, much against his own logic and the prejudice of his wife.
The Mark
Gertrude Cartwright
A man who served prison time for intent to molest a child tries to build a new life with the help of a sympathetic psychiatrist.
Come September
Margaret Allison
Robert Talbot, an American millionaire, arrives early for his annual vacation at his luxurious Italian villa. His long-time girlfriend Lisa has given up waiting for him and has decided to marry another man. Meanwhile, his sneaky business associate Maurice secretly misappropriates the villa as a hotel while Talbot is away. The current guests of the "hotel" are a group of young American girls.
The Entertainer
Phoebe Rice
Archie Rice, an old-time British vaudeville performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in show business.
The 39 Steps
Nellie Lumsden
In London, a diplomat accidentally becomes involved in the death of a British agent who's after a spy ring that covets British military secrets.
Too Many Crooks
Lucy Gordon
Accident-prone Fingers runs a pretty unsuccessful gang. They try and rob wealthy but tricky Billy Gordon - who distrusts banks and fears the Inland Revenue - but he sees Fingers and the boys off. So they decide to kidnap his daughter, only to end up with his wife Lucy. Gordon makes out he couldn't be more pleased, spuring Lucy to take charge of the hopeless bunch of villains.
Passport to Shame
Aggie
British melodrama about a cabbie befriending a girl caught up in the white slave trade.
House of Secrets
Mme. Isabella Ballu
Police in Paris recruit an English ship's officer (Michael Craig) to help trap counterfeiters by joining them.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Lucy Drayton
A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.
A Kid for Two Farthings
Lady Ruby
Joe is a young boy who lives with his mother, Joanna, in working-class London. The two reside above the tailor shop of Mr. Kandinsky, who likes to tell Joe stories. When Kandinsky informs Joe that a unicorn can grant wishes, the hopeful lad ends up buying a baby goat with one tiny horn, believing it to be a real unicorn. Undaunted by his rough surroundings, Joe sets about to prove that wishes can come true.
Doctor at Sea
Muriel Mallet
The second of the seven "Doctor" films, based on Richard Gordon's novels and released between 1954 and 1970. A bachelor doctor goes to sea to escape the boredom of shore practice, but studies the nurses more than medicine, and Brigitte Bardot is around.
As Long as They're Happy
Stella Bentley
The suburban peace of the Bentley household is shattered when John Bentley is informed by his wife Stella that their two married daughters, Pat and Corrine are in trouble and need funds to come home and bring their husbands, Peter, a penniless Parisian artist and Barnaby, a Texas cowboy, with them. And the youngest daughter, Gwen, has tricked an American singer, Bobby Denver, into visiting them on the pretext that it is the home of a noted British film magnate. When all the women in the household --- including the maid --- fall for the singer's charms, Bentley consults a crackpot psychiatrist, Dr. Schneider, who almost succeeds in ousting, not the singer, but Bentley's wife, with his advice to Bentley to make her jealous by living it up with Pearl, a showgirl recruited for the purpose.
The Purple Plain
Miss McNab
A RAF airfield in Burma in 1945, during World War II. Canadian bomber pilot Bill Forrester is a bitter man who lives haunted by a tragic past. He has became a reckless warrior, and is feared by his comrades, who consider him a madman. Dr. Harris, the squadron physician, is determined to help him heal his tormented soul.
What Every Woman Wants
Sarah Brown
Young couple Mark and Jane are forced to thrash out marital problems in a borrowed room in Jane’s parents’ tiny house. Meanwhile, Jane’s cousin, Jim - back from the war in Korea - and Mark’s involvement in left-wing politics place further strain on the relationship. Can grandfather help?
Hobson's Choice
Maggie Hobson
Henry Hobson owns and tyrannically runs a successful Victorian boot maker’s shop in Salford, England. A stingy widower with a weakness for overindulging in the local Moonraker Public House, he exploits his three daughters as cheap labour. When he declares that there will be ‘no marriages’ to avoid the expense of marriage settlements at £500 each, his eldest daughter Maggie rebels.
The Happiness of Three Women
Jane Price
Three women staying at a remote Welsh inn toss coins into a well wishing to improve their miserable lives. Along comes postman Evans (who also wrote the original play and collaborated on the screenplay) to help them out and set them straight.
Don't Blame the Stork
Evelyn Steele
When Sir George Redway, a famous actor, makes the public boast that he loves babies, a baby is promptly abandoned on his doorstep, and he is forced to take it in. Katie O'Connor, an actress who has auditioned unsuccessfully for a part in a production featuring Redway, pretends to be the child's mother in order to be near the actor. Complications develop involving Lillian Angel, Redway's fiancée, her admirer Captain Fluffy Faversham, and Katie's father, who suspects the worst of Sir George and his daughter. Eventually, the real mother of the baby returns to collect her child, all is resolved, and romance blossoms between Katie and Sir George.
A Day to Remember
Mrs. Collins
Based on The Hand and the Flower, a novel by Jerrard Tickell, A Day to Remember stars Stanley Holloway as Charley Porter, captain of London darts team. When the team travels to the French town of Boulogne for the annual darts tournament, a good time is had by all--and more besides. Jim Carver one of the team's members, is reunited with a little French girl he'd befriended during the war, who has now developed into a beautiful young woman. And Fred Collins makes a poignant journey to the hotel where he'd honeymooned with his late wife. The film works best as a low-key comedy-drama; it is least successful when it ventures into O. Henry territory and strains for "surprise" story twists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Yellow Balloon
Fruit and Veg Stall Customer (uncredited)
A young boy is blackmailed by a crook who saw him unwittingly cause his friend's death.
Private Information
Dolly Carson
A woman suspects that the local council is corrupt and building defective drains that could cause public health issues.
I Believe in You
Mrs. Hooker
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.
The Long Dark Hall
Mrs Rogers
A devoted family man tries to help a beautiful alcoholic showgirl with her life, and becomes the the only suspect when someone else murders her.