Carrying On All Over The Place! (Part Two)

Earlier in the week I posted a blog detailing some unusual appearances from some of our favourite Carry On actors. As my first blog was not an exhaustive list of all those I have comes across I've decided to continue it here.

Let's start off with Carry On favourite Peter Butterworth. Best known for his roles in the film series as well as a long double act with wife Janet Brown on children's television, Butterworth appeared in a host of other screen roles during his long career. I was slightly surprised however to see him turn up in a cameo role in Richard Lester's 1976 film The Ritz. The Ritz is set in a gay bathhouse in Manhattan and his based on a hit Broadway show. Peter turns up in the bathhouse as the character "Patron in Chaps" and that's all I'm saying! I'm not quite sure how Peter B came to be cast in this film. Although it is an American production it was filmed at Twickenham Studios so maybe that played a part. It was also directed by Richard Lester who had cast Peter in his film Robin and Marian the same year. 

Moving on to a more recent performance now. Rosalind Knight was superb in two very early Carry Ons, Nurse as Nightingale and Teacher in the role of strict schools inspector Felicity Wheeler. It was surprising but wonderful to see her turn up many years later in the hilarious role of Beryl Merrit, the retired prostitute and landlady to James Dreyfus and Kathy Burke in the sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme. It's such an outlandish and off the wall performance in what has become a massive cult hit. 

Now for something completely different. We all remember the lovely Margaret Nolan for her six appearances in the Carry On films, most notably perhaps her role as Dawn Brakes in Carry On Girls. Margaret also appeared in a wide variety of films and television during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Did you know that before her big break as an actress, she used to be a model? It was often the case in the 1960s that young actresses would start off in modelling before pursuing an acting career. It was when Margaret was asked to model for the opening credits of the classic James Bond film "Goldfinger" that her acting career began to take off. While agreeing to appear in the famous credit sequence (accompanied by Shirley Bassey's superb vocals) Margaret also landed the small role of Dink, seen massaging Sean Connery at the start of the film.

Finally, and continuing the musical theme now, we have the wonderful, iconic Fenella Fielding. Famed for her role as Valeria in Carry On Screaming, Fenella has had an incredibly diverse career on stage, in film and on television. More recently she has becoming something of a recording artist. Here she is, rather surprisingly perhaps, recording a version of Blue Monday by New Order:

So there we are. Over the course of just two blog posts we've proven that Carry On really does have links in the most extraordinary places!

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