| Gail Grainger | |
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| Born | Gail Grainger 1954[1] Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom |
| Years active | 1971 - 1980 |
Gail Grainger is an English actress best remembered for her role as Miss Moira Plunkett, a travel courier in the 1972 comedy film Carry on Abroad, fitting the stereotype role normally given to Valerie Leon[2] in other outings in the series. Brighton ( is a town on the south coast of England and with its neighbour Hove, forms the city of Brighton and Hove. East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Carry On Abroad is the twenty fourth Carry On film, released in 1972. Valerie Leon (born 12 November 1945) is an English Actress, regarded as something of a cult figure due to her roles in a number of high profile
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Background
Gail Grainger took up dancing at the age of six and studied at a theatrical school. She had television roles in her teens in the BBC’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe and in ATV’s daily serial Crossroads [3]. Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, is a Comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W Crossroads is a British Television Soap opera set in a Motel near Birmingham, England.
Carry on Abroad
In Carry on Abroad Grainger's Miss Plunkett was assistant to Stuart Farquhar, a courier played by Kenneth Williams, who led a party that included Sidney James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtry, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor, June Whitfield, Sally Geeson and Carol Hawkins on a weekend trip to the fictional Spanish holiday resort of Elsbels. Kenneth Charles Williams ( 22 February 1926 &ndash 15 April 1988) was an English comic Actor, star of 26 Sid James (born Joel Solomon Cohen; 8 May 1913 &ndash 26 April 1976) was a South African Actor, who made Irene Joan Marion Sims ( 9 May 1930 &ndash 27 June 2001) was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the George Frederick Joffre Hartree ( 30 November 1914 &ndash 27 October 1988) better known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE (born Barbara Ann Deeks on 6 August 1937) is an English actress. Kenneth Connor, MBE ( 6 June, 1916 &ndash 28 November, 1993) was an English comedy stage radio film and TV actor best June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE (born 11 November 1925 is an English actress, known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for roles in Radio Sally Ann Geeson (born 23 June, 1950 in Cuckfield, West Sussex) is an English actress with a career mostly on television Carol Hawkins (born 31 January 1949 in Barnet, Hertfordshire) is an English actress Cast for her voluptuous figure, the devastatingly attractive Miss Grainger replaced equally gorgeous Carry On regular Valerie Leon for this one picture. Her phlegmatic and slightly bemused approach to a series of disastrous situations culminated in her extricating the party from a foreign jail by making advances to the local police chief. This was a stereotypical Carry On role: a young woman in a uniform, who from time to time was reduced to a state of semi-undress, as, for example, when the touring party consume a love potion with pronounced aphrodisiac qualities.
Other roles
On stage she played three parts - a fantasy maid, a nurse and a member of a female gang led by Kate O'Mara as Madame Gerda - in a 1971 play entitled Dead Duck produced by Leslie Phillips, based on the television series The Avengers. Kate O'Mara (b August 10 1939, Leicester) is an English film and television actress Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE (born 20 April 1924) is a BAFTA -nominated English Actor, best known for his comedy roles The Avengers was a British Television series featuring Secret agents in 1960s Britain. This was first performed in Birmingham and later at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London [4]. The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. She subsequently appeared with Leslie Phillips, and under his direction, in Joyce Rayburn’s comedy The Man Most Likely To . Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE (born 20 April 1924) is a BAFTA -nominated English Actor, best known for his comedy roles . . , both at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London and on a world tour [5]. The Man Most Likely To . . . opened initially at the Vaudeville Theatre, on 4 July 1968, and ran to over 1,000 performances in London. This article discusses a performance space For the theatrical genre please see Vaudeville.
She also appeared in episodes of a number of television series, including Casanova 73 (also with Leslie Phillips, 1973), Warship (as Heather Gardiner in the episode The Man from the Sea, 1974), The Sweeney (as Carter's girlfriend Jill in the episode The Sweet Smell of Succession, 1976), Butterflies (1979) and Rings on Their Fingers (1980) [6]. A warship is a Ship that is built and primarily intended for Combat. The Sweeney was a British Television Police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, an elite branch of the Metropolitan Butterflies is a Situation comedy written by Carla Lane broadcast on BBC2 from 1978 to 1983. Her last film role is thought to have been in Jaguar Lives! (1979).
Notes
- ^ Gail Grainger's age was given as 20 in 1974 in the programme for The Man Most Likely To . . . at the Duke of York's Theatre, London. Bearing in mind her earlier career, it is possible that the programme notes were written a year or two earlier.
- ^ Carry on Abroad (1972) - Trivia
- ^ The Man Most Likely To . . . programme, op. cit
- ^ The Avengers - 'The Avengers' stage play
- ^ The Man Most Likely To . . . programme, op. cit
- ^ Gail Grainger in the Internet Movie DataBase