Upstairs, Downstairs
Out of costume
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Gordon Jackson as a schoolboy. He was born in 1923 in Glasgow, Scotland, and attended Hillhead High School. After leaving at age 15, he combined working as a draughtsman with acting before deciding on full-time screen career in 1942.

Jackson met his future wife, Rona Anderson, on a 1949 film called Floodtide. It tells the story of a young man who chooses to become a nautical engineer rather than join the family farming business. Rona played the love interest (the boss's daughter). The couple also appeared together in supporting roles in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969.

The pair were married in 1951. They had two children – Graham and Roddy.

Jackson and Rona with one of their sons, circa 1960.

Who said solicitors are all bloodsuckers? Raymond Huntley, who played the Bellamy's legal advisor Sir Geoffrey Dillon, had a long career behind him before Upstairs, Downstairs. One of his early roles was playing Dracula on the London stage in the late 1920s – a role for which he had to provide his own costume!

Raymond "Sir Geoffrey" Huntley in the 1944 morale-boosting war film The Way Ahead. The movie is packed with stalwarts of British cinema of the time including David Niven, Jack Watling, Peter Ustinov and Trevor Howard. In the pictures above you can also see Jimmy Hanley, John "Dad's Army" Laurie, William "Doctor Who" Hartnell, Leslie "Hi-De-Hi" Dwyer, and Stanley Holloway. Click on the picture for a larger version.

Meg Wynn Owen as Lily Smalls in the 1973 film version of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood – a tale of the (mainly) sexually-obsessed inhabitants of a small Welsh village, Llareggub.

At around the same time as she started playing Daisy in Upstairs, Downstairs, Jacqueline Tong appeared in an episode of ATV's anthology series Thriller entitled Sign It Death. Francesca Annis played a disturbed young girl who murders to wheedle her way into the affections of a businessman (played by Patrick Allen). Also shown is Edward Judd, who played another boss at the same company. Jackie Tong's role was a small one as Sally, a fellow secretary to Annis' character. Click for a larger version.

Yet another Upstairs, Downstairs star to have an association with the sci-fi show Doctor Who was Hannah Gordon. In the historical story The Highlanders (which ran through Christmas and New Year 1966/7) she played Kirsty McLaren, daughter of a Scottish laird badly injured at the battle of Culloden in April 1746.

An uncredited Gareth Hunt plays a bit part in Space: 1999. The episode is called Guardian Of Piri and was filmed in May 1974. Apparently, Hunt's role was to have been bigger, but he had an argument with the director, Charles Crichton, and walked off the set. His part was rejigged and given to Michael Culver.

Publicity shot of Rachel Gurney. Early 1950s?

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