FRANK JARVIS - Roger

Frank Francis Train (born 13th May, 1941 - died 15th September 2010).
He was born in Stockton-on-Tees, England. He trained at RADA and made his film debut in Mix Me A Person, in 1962.
 Frank took the stage name of Frank Jarvis, he appeared in many tv roles, from 1962 to 2006. Some of the main ones being The Saint, Adam Adamant Lives!, Softly Softly, Grange Hill and The Bill.

But will probably best remembered for his role as Roger.
Frank passed away on September 15th, 2010, aged 69.

My Frank Jarvis autograph display.

JOHN MORRIS - Dave

John Morris (born 17th February, 1934 in Shepherds Bush, London, England). John will probably be best known as Michael Caine's stunt double and stand in. John first worked with Caine on the Ipcress File (1965), and then went onto work with him on Alfie (1966), Funeral In Berlin (1966), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Play Dirty (1968), Deadfall (1968), The Magus (1968) and of course The Italian Job (1969) as Dave, then worked on Get Carter (1971) as Stunt Director, Sleuth (1972) and The Wilby Conspiracy (1975), he was uncredited in almost every film.

A quote from the book Raising Caine by William Hall states "Caine's 'own man' had in fact been with Michael since the Ipcress File days, as stand-in, stunt-double, adviser, bodyguard, fixer and general sorter-out of problems. John Morris was tall and good looking, with a ready smile that disguised just how tough he could be when necessary. He was ten months younger than Caine, and stayed with the actor for fourteen years, smoothing his path, and whisking him out of trouble when the going got rough."

Before all this, John had worked on the British Hammer Horror The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), starring Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein. John played the uncredited Wood Chopper. He then worked on the British Comedy Classic Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1964) where he met some of the movie legends Terry Thomas, Robert Morley amongst others. Then he doubled The Beatles' John Lennon in
A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965).

He has also stunt doubled for Roger Moore, George Segal and the late Stephen Boyd who appeared in Ben Hur (1959).

Later, he owned a Producing Company for about 12 years, and opened a sports shop with then QPR goalkeeper Phil Parkes.

Today, John is semi-retired and spends time as a member of The Vauderville Golf Society.

My John Morris autograph display.

ALASTAIR HUNTER - Fred, The Cinema Warder

Alastair Hunter was born in 1913 in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire, Scotland. He is known for his role as 'Fred' The Cinema Warder  in The Italian Job (1969), he had other film appearances in Operation Diamond (1948), Whisky Galore (1949), 
The Spider and the Fly (1949), Floodtide (1949), Morning Departure (1949), 
Chance of a Lifetime (1950), Operation Disaster - Morning Departure (1951),You're Only Young Twice (1952), Scotland Yard Inspector (1952), Kidnapped (1952) and Time Is My Enemy (1954). His final film appearance was in  A Nice Girl Like Me  (1969).
Does anyone know if Alastair is still living?

DAVID KELLY - The Father

David Kelly (born 11th July, 1929 - died 12th February 2012) is an Irish actor sometimes credited as David Blake Kelly, who has been in regular film and television work since the 1950s.
The unusual looking David Kelly became a familiar face on British television during the 1970s with a long running role as the one armed dish washer Albert Riddle in Robin's Nest and the as inept builder Mr O'Reilly in the Fawlty Towers episode The Builders. Following his notable appearance as Michael O'Sullivan in the hit film Waking Ned, Kelly found work in small but noticeable roles in major films such Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Jigsaw Man, and Stardust. He has also acted extensively for radio, including a guest appearance on the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi.

Was un-credited for his role as the vicar in The Italian Job.
Kelly was married to actress Laurie Morton, who survives him, along with children David and Miriam. He died after a short illness on 12th February 2012, at the age of 82. The Irish Times referred to him as the "grand old man of Irish acting". A Catholic funeral mass took place on the 16th February 2012, at the Church of the Miraculous Medal, in the actor's home town of Dublin. Kelly was cremated at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium.

My David Kelly autograph display.

RENATO ROMANO - Francesco Cosca

Renato Romano, (born February 20th, 1940 in Ischia, Italy) was an Italian actor, but now a skilled businessman and accomplished entrepreneur.
In his early years he was a professional football player with Naples and then Roma, but he was forced to abandon his sport due to a knee injury.
He became interested in acting, becoming one of the youngest and most promising students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Alongside his theatrical activity, which was also very intense in the years that followed, he joined the cinema and television in the sixties and seventies, becoming one of the most loved and sought after characters of the period. He has participated in over 40 films, mostly Italian, almost always in supporting roles. He appeared in 'A Minute to Pray, a Second To Die' (1967), 'La Morte Ha Fatto l'Uovo' (1968), 'The Italian Job' (1969), 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' (1970), 'Restless' (1970), 'Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray' (1970), 'The Last Rebel' (1971), 'Giornata nera per l'ariete' (1971), 'Seven Blood-Stained Orchids' (1972), 'Il Caso Mattei' (1972), 'Frankenstein 80' (1972), 'Punto e Capo' (1973) and 'The Holy Year' (1976).
In addition to being an actor, he was also a skilled writer. Among his many interpretations are worth mentioning those in: 'The Battle of El Alamein' (1969), by Giorgio Ferroni, 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' (1970) by Dario Argento, 'Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972) by Umberto Lenzi and 'Blue Nude' (1977), by Luigi Scattini.
At the beginning of the eighties he moved to Beverly Hills, where he still resides with his wife Alice and their three children. In 2004, he established the European Business Council (EBC), Los Angeles, to promote trade between Southern California (in particular) and member and aspiring member nations of the European Union. WIth the City of Beverly Hills, the council presented Green Days in Beverly Hills in 2007, an Environmental Expo and Sustainability Conference.

My Renato Romano autograph display.

LANA GATTO - Mrs Cosca

Lana Gatto was really Hazel Collinson, the wife of Director Peter Collinson.

My Lana Gatto autograph display.

LOUIS MANSI - Computer Room Official

John Louis Mansi (born 8th November, 1926 - died 6th August, 2010) is a television and movie actor whose career spanned the years from the early 1950s to the early 1990s.
He is best known for his role as Herr Engelbert von Smallhausen (although in the BBC books he is named as Bobby Cedric von Smallhausen) in the popular BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! in seasons 2 to 9. He also appeared in Department S (as "Maxime" in the episode "The Treasure of the Costa del Sol", 1969), the Ripping Yarns story "Across The Andes By Frog", The Hammer House of Horror story "The Thirteenth Reunion", The Beatles' movie Help!, and the film version of Tales from the Crypt.
He was often credited as Louis Mansi in his roles.
For six years he suffered from Parkinson's Disease, and in May 2010 was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he passed away on August 6th, 2010, aged 83.

My Louis Mansi autograph display.

FRED EMNEY - Birkenshaw

Fred Emney (born 12th February, 1900 - died 25th December, 1980) was an English character actor and comedian.
Born in Lancashire to a music hall father - Fred Emney (1865-1917; his uncle was the actor Arthur Williams) - Emney junior grew up in London.
He made his film debut in 1935, having previously worked in music hall. He became a familiar figure to screen audiences, usually playing the "posh fat bloke", usually gruff and invariably wearing a monocle. During the 1950s, he had his own television show which featured sketches and deft piano pieces often composed by him. Some were released on record. He had a short spell as straight man to puppets Pinky and Perky.
He died in Bognor Regis, Sussex on Christmas Day 1980.

My Fred Emney autograph display.

ROBERT RIETTY - The Police Chief

Robert Rietti (born 8th February, 1923 - died 3rd April 2015), usually credited as Robert Rietty, is a Italian actor and Director.
Born of Italian heritage Lucio Rietti was “discovered” at the tender age of 9 by his father Vittorio (Victor Rietti veteran actor of the stage and screen) who had noticed the boy had completely memorized a copy of a script he had given Lucio having wanted help from his son while rehearsing his lines for a play. Vittorio had Lucio join his own acting school (which turned out products such as Ida Lupino-then just a little girl), and taught the boy every thing he knew. Lucio was quickly recognized as a child prodigy and appeared alongside his father in scores of plays. He was handpicked by Alfred Hitchcock to play the boy in Secret Agent (1936), but being so young required schooling by law and had to turn down the part. The early Hollywood motion picture king Darryl F. Zanuck having seen the boy perform, tried to sign him to an extended contract with Twentieth Century Fox Studios. Before having turned 11 years old he had been in over a dozen films the most notable having starred in the classic Emil and the Detectives (1935) as the leader of a gang of kids. He was 15 years old and on tour in the UK when WW2 broke out and being of Italian origin was placed in a detention camp together with his father and brother Ronaldo (Ronald Rietti later a film director and producer). After 8 months he was released upon special request to organize an army unit made up of professional actors to entertain the troops. It was during this time that his stage name was altered to Robert Rietty in an attempt to make it sound less Italian and more Irish (who were neutral during the war). It was under the name Robert Rietty that he would come to be known best by the public. After 5 ½ years of army service Robert returned to public attention picking up where he had left off. Over the next several years he participated in every form of entertainment-in radio, on the stage, through motion pictures and the early days of Television. In radio Robert teamed up with Orson Welles twice for the complete radio crime drama series The Black Museum 1951 broadcast to the US armed forces and The Third Man 1951-1952 (aka Harry Lime)- based on the hit film. This proved to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two and Orson made sure to use Robert in countless films of his. Robert was also a regular on the radio series Horatio Hornblower and Theater Royal with Sir Lawrence Olivier as well as frequent guest appearances on scores of other radio shows of the time. In motion pictures Robert still only 25 years of age continued to work mostly in character parts with the exception of his performances in Call of the Blood (1948), Prelude to Fame (1950) and Stock Car (1955). Also during this time Robert was heavily involved in the Theater starring in dozens and dozens of plays and even writing quite a few and was editor of the drama quarterly Gambit. He once found the script of the Italian play To Live in Peace which his father had translated to English but had no luck convincing anyone to produce it. Despite the fact the story was rejected countless times Robert rewrote the script and found a producer willing to back the project with his father in the lead role as Don Geronimo and himself as Maso. The play became an instant success winning many awards and toured in Europe eventually being made twice as films made for Television in 1951 and 1952. Together with his father Robert was knighted by the Italian Government for their contribution to the Italian entertainment industry in particular from translating a great many Italian plays into English. Roberts knighthood was then upgraded. Early Television took up much of Roberts time guest starring repeatedly in over 100 TV shows many of them being shot live in those days. In Televison he often got the chance to work together with his father again most notably in The Jack Benny Program episode Jack Falls Into Canal in Venice (3/10/57) and in the pilot for the series Harry’s Girls (1960). During the next 15 years most of Roberts acting was confined to TV and Motion Pictures his most memorable performances in The Crooked Road (1965) with Robert Ryan and Steward Granger, Hell Is Empty (1967) produced by his brother Ronald Rietti and co-starring French actress Martine Carol (who died before the end of shooting the film), The Italian Job (1969) and The Omen (1976) with Gregory Peck. During this time he made the change from actor to director (although he continued acting) becoming heavily involved in post production work directing and revoicing and became unquestionably the most sort after director of the kind known throughout Hollywood and Europe as the King Of Dubbers and Man Of A Thousand Voices. His direction was used for practically every film in the James Bond Series (even acting in several) and a never ending list of hundreds of pictures. Through this he came to instruct such stars as Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, Orson Welles, John Huston, Rod Steiger, Elizabeth Taylor, Sean Connery and Walter Matthau among others. For his work and direction of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in Sergio Leone’s gangster film Once Upon a Time in America (1984) he was nominated for an Oscar. Although over 85 Robert continues directing and acting today over 75 years after he started.
He is best known as an actor, but is also a writer and director. He has often done voice-overs to replace actors who have died or lost their voices. He did the voiceover for Tim Moxon as John Strangways, a British agent in the first James Bond film, Dr. No, then continued to dub actors in James Bond flims such as Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo in Thunderball, Tetsuro Tamba as Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice and John Hollis as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only. He also appeared onscreen in the Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Rietty also provided the voice of the mysterious "Number Two" during the opening credits of several episodes of The Prisoner. Normally, the guest actor playing Number Two would appear in the opening credit sequence reciting some of its signature dialogue; in episodes where Number Two's identity was not revealed until the end, Rietty's voiceover was used.
Robert passed away in London, on 3rd April, 2015, aged 92.

My Robert Rietty autograph display.

ARNOLD DIAMOND - Snr. Computer Room Official

Arnold Diamond (born 18th April, 1915 - died 18th March, 1992) was an English character actor, regularly cast in small parts on television. Arnold could speak many languages, so he always played the foreigner. He appeared in many tv and film roles.

Sadly, Arnold died of injuries, after being hit by a car on 18th March, 1992.

My Arnold Diamond autograph display.

NOSHER POWELL - Thug #1

Nosher Powell (born 15th August, 1928 in Camberwell, London, England - died 20th April, 2013) is known both as an actor (credited variously as Nosher Powell, Freddie Powell, Frederick Powell or Fred Powell) and as a boxer.
Powell has had an extensive but mostly uncredited career in acting, and, in his biography, Nosher!, he is described as the ultimate hard man – a boxer, bouncer, minder, a stunt man and a force to be reckoned with.
In 1969 he portrayed the role of the powerful thug Lord Dorking in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
Apart from his acting career, Powell was a heavyweight boxing champion in the worlds of unlicensed fighting and the professional arena. He also worked as a sparring partner for Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, among others. The last fight of his career was against Menzies Johnson. Nosher won the fight on points, over eight rounds.
According to his autobiography, Nosher had a total of seventy-eight fights: fifty-one as a professional, with nine losses, though he was never knocked out. Boxrec.com, though, lists Nosher as losing sixteen times as a professional, with nine of those losses being by KO, two by TKO and five on points.
Nosher passed away in his sleep, on April 20th, 2013.

My Nosher Powell autograph display.

LES CLARK - Thug #2

Les Clark, a movie stuntman and former Second World War commando played Thug #2.
Les from Hertford took part in the D-Day landings before going on to star in movies including The Italian Job. 
"It was dangerous work, but I never got a scratch," said Les.
Iam still trying to obtain an autograph.

FRANCO NOVELLI - Altabani's Driver

Does anyone know the whereabouts of Franco? - please email me.

MARIO VALGOI - Manzo

Mario Valgoi (born 6th August, 1939 in Milan, Italy - died 17th July, 2005 in Feltre, Italy)
After The Italian Job, he went onto appear in many Italian produced films and TV productions.
Mario passed away on July 17th, 2005, aged 65.
Iam still trying to obtain an autograph.