REMEMBERING ACTOR MICHAEL GOODLIFFE ON ANNIVERSARY OF BIRTHDAY : 'THE GORGON' 'END OF THE AFFAIR' 'CAMP ON BLOOD ISLAND'

REMEMBERING MICHAEL GOODLIFFE on the anniversary of his Birthday today, October 1st! Goodliffe, was an English actor known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers, a quite a few Brit films and tv dramas. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts. Born in 1914, educated in Canterbury, he joined the British Army at the beginning of the Second World War, 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. 

AFTER THE WAR GOODLIFFE, resumed his professional acting career. As well as appearing in the theatre, he worked in expanding his film work and appeared in a huge amount of television drama. Goodliffe also appeared in the film, 'The Wooden Horse' in 1950 and in other POW films. His best-known film  was maybe, 'A Night to Remember' (1958) directed by Roy Ward Baker, in which he played Thomas Andrews, designer of the RMS Titanic. Goodliffe, put some of his 'being captive experience' into his first film for Hammer films, 'The Camp on Blood Island' (1958) as Father Paul Anjou. In this film he worked with actress Barbara Shelley, who he would work with again in 1964 in Hammer's 'The Gorgon'..with Peter Cushing. He played his role so well, it was a shame when his character, Professor Jules Heitz left the story.

GOODLIFFE HAD WORKED in another Cushing film back in 1955, 'The End of the Affair' with Deborah Kerr and Van Johnson. Goodliffe is an actor, who sadly gets forgotten today, but his filmography is quite prolific with some box office winners... 'The Battle of the River Plate' (1956), 'A Night to Remember' (1958), 'The 39 Steps' (1959), 'Peeping Tom' (1960), '633 Squadron' (1964), 'Von Ryan's Express' (1965), 'Cromwell' (1970), . . and his two final films, with Christopher Lee : The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and for Hammer films, 'To the Devil a Daughter' (1976).

SADLY, GOODLIFFE suffered with depression, and had a major breakdown in March 1976, during the period that he was rehearsing for a revival of the theatre production of 'Equus'. . . and he left us on 20th March 1976 aged just 61. Goodliffe was an actor with great authority, who commanded your attention in whatever role he played, despite the distractions of his health, which were never evident to the people he worked with or his audience. Today we mark and celebrate the anniversary of his birthday and the high standard of the roles he played during his career!

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