Michael Goodliffe

Born: 1914-10-01

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Lawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe (1 October 1914 – 20 March 1976) was an English actor best known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts. Goodliffe was born in Bebington, Cheshire (now Merseyside), the son of a vicar, and educated at St Edmund's School, Canterbury, and Keble College, Oxford. He started his career in repertory theatre in Liverpool before moving on to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon. He joined the British Army at the beginning of World War II, and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in February 1940. He was wounded in the leg and captured at the Battle of Dunkirk. Goodliffe was incorrectly listed as killed in action, and even had his obituary published in a newspaper. He was to spend the rest of the war a prisoner in Germany. Whilst in captivity he produced and acted in (and in some cases wrote) many plays and sketches to entertain fellow prisoners. These included two productions of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, one in Tittmoning and the other in Eichstätt, in which he played the title role. He also produced the first staging of Noel Coward's Post Mortem at Eichstätt. A full photographic record of these productions exists. After the war he resumed his professional acting career. As well as appearing in the theatre he worked in film and television. He appeared in The Wooden Horse in 1950 and in other POW films. His best known film was A Night to Remember (1958) in which he played Thomas Andrews, builder of the RMS Titanic. His best known television series was Sam (1973–75) in which he played an unemployed Yorkshire miner. He also appeared with John Thaw and James Bolam in the 1967 television series Inheritance. Suffering from depression, Goodliffe had a breakdown in 1976 during the period that he was rehearsing for a revival of Equus. He committed suicide a few days later by leaping from a hospital fire escape, whilst a patient at the Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Goodliffe,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


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as Mr. Teevee (uncredited)
Released: 1971-06-29

When eccentric candy man Willy Wonka promises a lifetime supply of sweets and a tour of his...

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Peeping Tom

as Don Jarvis
Released: 1960-05-16

Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of...

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as Thomas Andrews
Released: 1958-07-03

The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British...

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Von Ryan's Express

as Captain Stein
Released: 1965-06-23

Von Ryan's Express stars Frank Sinatra as a POW colonel who leads a daring escape from WWII...

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The Gorgon

as Professor Jules Heitz
Released: 1964-10-18

In the early 20th century a village experienced a series of inexplicable murders. All the...

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The Night of the Generals

as Hauser
Released: 1967-01-29

A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II....

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The Battle of the River Plate

as Captain McCall, R.N., British Naval Attache, Buenos Aires
Released: 1956-10-30

In the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep...

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Sink the Bismarck!

as Captain Banister
Released: 1960-02-11

The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser...

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Captain Horatio Hornblower

as Col. Caillard - POW Escort
Released: 1951-04-10

Captain Horatio Hornblower leads his ship HMS Lydia on a perilous transatlantic voyage, during...

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Cromwell

as Solicitor General
Released: 1970-09-16

Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the...

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Woman of Straw

as Solicitor
Released: 1964-04-28

Anthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon uncle...

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633 Squadron

as Squadron Leader Frank Adams
Released: 1964-04-06

When Norwegian resistance leader Lieutenant Erik Bergman reports the location of a German V-2...

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The Day the Earth Caught Fire

as Jacko Jackson the Night Editor
Released: 1961-11-01

British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and...

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Hitler: The Last Ten Days

as General Weidling
Released: 1973-04-19

Hitler: The Last Ten Days takes us into the depths of der Furher’s Berlin bunker during his...

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Testament of Orpheus

as English Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Released: 1960-02-18

Outside time and reality, the experiences of a poet. The judgement of the young poet by...

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The Small Back Room

as Till
Released: 1949-02-21

At the height of World War II, the Germans begin dropping a new type of booby-trapped bomb on...

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To the Devil a Daughter

as George de Grass
Released: 1976-03-04

An American occult novelist battles to save the soul of a young girl from a group of Satanists,...

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The End of the Affair

as Smythe
Released: 1955-02-24

During the 1940s, Maurice Bendrix, a writer recently discharged from the armed service, falls in...

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Quentin Durward

as Count De Dunois
Released: 1955-09-09

During the 15th century reign of France's King Louis XI, a young Scottish man is sent by his...

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The Battle of the Sexes

as Detective
Released: 1960-02-25

Angela Barrows is a man-eating business woman sent by her American employer to investigate their...

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The Trials of Oscar Wilde

as Charles Gill
Released: 1960-05-28

England, 1890s. The brutal and embittered Marquis of Queensberry, who believes that his youngest...

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The 5th Day of Peace

as Snow
Released: 1970-04-17

Near the end of World War II, two German deserters are put in an Allied prison camp. When...

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The Fixer

as Ostrovsky
Released: 1968-12-08

Set in tsarist Russia around the turn of the century and based on a true story of a Russian...

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Henry VIII and His Six Wives

as Thomas More
Released: 1972-07-13

Adapted from the BBC2 serial The Six Wives of Henry VIII. 1547, King Henry VIII's life has taken...

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Man in the Middle

as Colonel Shaw
Released: 1964-01-27

In a remote jungle outpost in the Far Eastern theater of World War II, a hotheaded American...

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The One That Got Away

as R.A.F. Interrogator
Released: 1957-11-22

Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war...

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Sea Devils

as Ragan
Released: 1953-04-12

Gilliatt, a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful...

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The Camp on Blood Island

as Father Paul Anjou
Released: 1958-04-15

Set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II, the film focuses on the brutality...

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The Hour of 13

as Anderson
Released: 1952-11-21

1890, London, and a serial killer known as The Terror is murdering policemen. When gentleman...

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The Jokers

as Lt. Col. Paling
Released: 1967-05-15

Brothers Michael and David Tremayne decide to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London,...

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Wicked as They Come

as Larry Buckham
Released: 1956-05-22

A ruthless woman takes advantage of gullible men to climb up the social ladder.

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The 7th Dawn

as Trumphey
Released: 1964-09-02

Political and personal intrigues surround a group of characters in Malaya, after the close of...

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Carve Her Name with Pride

as Coding Expert
Released: 1958-02-18

London, England, during World War II. After living a tragic life experience, young Violette...

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Rob Roy, The Highland Rogue

as Robert Walpole
Released: 1953-10-26

After the 1715 defeat of the clans, one of the highland leaders, Rob Roy MacGregor escapes, has...

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Fortune Is a Woman

as Detective Insp. Barnes
Released: 1957-03-13

An insurance man discovers his ex-girlfriend and her husband's art-forgery/arson scam.

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Stop Press Girl

as McPherson
Released: 1949-06-02

A young woman leaves her backwards hometown to go to London to find a runaway suitor. What she...

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Up the Creek

as Nelson
Released: 1958-05-13

Bumbling navy officer Lieutenant Humphrey Fairweather (David Tomlinson) is transferred to HMS...

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Jigsaw

as Clyde Burchard
Released: 1962-08-21

A woman is found murdered in a house along the coast from Brighton. Local detectives Fellows and...

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No Love for Johnnie

as Dr. West
Released: 1961-02-14

Johnnie Byrne is a member of the British Parliament. In his 40s, he's feeling frustrated with...

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Cry, the Beloved Country

as Martens
Released: 1951-11-16

In the back country of South Africa, black minister Stephen Kumalo journeys to the city to...

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Further Up the Creek

as Lt. Commander Blakeney
Released: 1958-10-28

The sequel to 'Up The Creek' sees David Tomlinson return as bumbling navy boffin Lieutenant...

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Dial 999

as John Moffat
Released: 1955-12-01

A man tells his wife that the police are after him for having killed a bookie during an...

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80,000 Suspects

as Clifford Preston
Released: 1963-08-15

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

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Conspiracy of Hearts

as Father Desmaines
Released: 1960-04-07

In wartime Italy nuns in a convent regularly smuggle Jewish children out of a nearby internment...

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The Wooden Horse

as Robbie
Released: 1950-10-16

True story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany

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Macbeth

as Duncan
Released: 1970-09-20

The Thane of Cawdor plots to become King of Scotland.

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Family Portrait

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1950-12-01

In preparation for the celebration of the 1951 Festival of Britain, this short film was released...

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The Connoisseur

as Rev. Adrian Tenterden
Released: 1966-05-24

George Stoupe, successful housemaster at the public school, has an eye to the main chance...

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The White Trap

as Inspector Walters
Released: 1959-08-01

Serving a jail sentence for a crime he didn't commit, Paul Langley makes several attempts to...

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Ocean Terminal

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1952-01-02

Southampton, a deep-water port with four tides a day, is an ocean terminal for the world's...

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In Sickness and in Health

as Dr David Muray
Released: 1975-05-21

A hard-working doctor must also carry the burden of a turbulent home life, due to the...

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Number Six

as uncredited
Released: 1962-04-01

An international criminal arrives in London, and a detective is anxious to pin something on him...

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The £20,000 Kiss

as Sir Harold Trevitt
Released: 1962-12-31

An up and coming politician is caught in a compromising photograph taken by a maid, who turns...

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Plan for Coal

as uncredited
Released: 1952-01-02

Part of BFI's "National Coal Board Collection".

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Don't Be Like Brenda

as Narrator (uncredited)
Released: 1973-05-27

The brutally entitled Don't Be Like Brenda (1973) is an eight-minute lecture to young women,...

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Link Span

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1956-01-02

Twenty-four hours in the story of the British Railways Channel ferryboats, the 'link spans'...

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The Avengers

as uncredited
First aired: 1961-01-07

The Avengers is a British television series created in the 1960s. It initially focused on Dr....

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Dixon of Dock Green

as Garfield Fenton
First aired: 1955-07-09

Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities...

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Man in a Suitcase

as uncredited
First aired: 1967-09-27

Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name,...

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The Saint

as Dr. Quintus
First aired: 1962-10-04

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who...

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The Protectors

as De Santos
First aired: 1972-09-29

The Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson. It...

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Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

as Arthur de Crecy
First aired: 1969-09-21

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) is a British private detective television series. In the initial...

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Maigret

as uncredited
First aired: 1960-10-31

BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector...

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Interpol Calling

as Wolf Barstrom
First aired: 1959-09-13

The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international...

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Zero One

as uncredited
First aired: 1962-10-03

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Callan

as uncredited
First aired: 1967-07-08

Callan is the title of a British television series set in the murky world of espionage....

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Sam

as Jack Barraclough
First aired: 1973-06-12

Sam is a drama set in the coalfields of Yorkshire in the inter-war period.

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Hine

as uncredited
First aired: 1971-04-07

Barrie Ingham (The Caesars) stars as Joe Hine, an international arms dealer battling to stay one...

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