Before We Sought the "Fallen Madonna" Quiz

Answer: Jack Haig

"It is indeed I, Jack Haig. In "Hugh and I" Terry Scott played a young bachelor, also named Terry Scott, aspiring to get rich without much effort, and he was aided and abetted in his shenanigans by Hugh Lloyd. Hugh played Terry's lodger, and Hugh's character was named .. Hugh Lloyd. You'd never guess, eh? Wallas Eaton (as Arthur Crispin) and I (as Arthur Wormold) played their neighbours.

In "'Allo 'Allo!" I played the forger Roger Leclerc, who frequently dressed up as some weird salesman doing errands for the Resistance. Whenever I arrived at René's café, I lifted my glasses and delivered the line "It is I, Leclerc". Of course this was quite superfluous, for every other character recognized me immediately."

Jack Haig was born in 1913 and died in 1989. As the role of Leclerc was already planned for the following seasons, Haig's successor Derek Royle was introduced as Ernest Leclerc, brother of Roger.

Answer: Rose Hill

"Hi, I'm Rose Hill. You can't imagine I was young once? Well, indeed. In the movie "The Bankraiders" I played Mrs. Marling, the middle-aged landlady who rented a room to the dumb bank robber, Terry Milligan (played by Peter Reynolds). Terry and some others robbed a bank and killed the cleaning lady (played by May Fetigan), and then spent a lot of the loot on booze and on his girlfriend Della Byrne (role by Sandra Dorne). The other members of the gang were not satisfied with Terry attracting too much attention form the police, and they tried to kill Terry. Meanwhile they also kidnapped Ann Seaton (played by Ann King), the girlfriend of the bank employee Jack Conner (role by Tim Ellison).

I was born in 1914 and had an opera career between 1939 and 1951. In 1949 I had a role in the TV movie "Oranges and Lemons". In 1964 I played a soprano in the Peter Sellers comedy "A Shot in the Dark". But only after many different roles in various movies and TV productions, I landed the role of Fanny la Fan in "'Allo 'Allo!"; the role to which I thank my fame. After "'Allo 'Allo!" I had a few TV roles in "The Bill" (1986-1993). My last TV appearance was in "A Touch of Frost" in 1994."

Rose Hill, born in 1914, died in 2003.

Answer: Kenneth Connor

"I'm Kenneth Connor, best known as Monsieur Alphonse, the undertaker from "'Allo 'Allo!". In the animation series "The Sand Castle" I voiced the parts of Bert, a young boy, as well as the roles of a puffin and a shrimp. Anthony played another boy named John. Alan and Ivan both did the voice parts of a crab and of the narrator, and Ivan also voiced Neptune. Alas, as with many programs from the 1950s, no copies still exist. By the way, another animated TV series with the same title was aired in 1962, but I had no part in the 1962 series.

I appeared in several of the "Carry On" comedy movies between 1958 and 1978. But my very first role in a movie was the telephone operator in "Poison Pen" (1939).
My "dicky ticker" was a frequent allusion to a heart condition of Monsieur Alphonse."

Kenneth Connor was born in 1918 and died in 1993.
 

Answer: Richard Marner

"I am indeed known professionally as Richard Marner. In "Lilli Marlene" I played an SS colonel, while Stanley played Evans, Cecil played O'Reilly, and Michael played Wintertree - all three British denizens who discovered the espionage plot revolving around a French girl named Lilli Marlene, abducted by the German army to sing and broadcast anti-British propaganda - while in fact she was planted in Berlin as a spy who sent secret messages to the British army.
Throughout my career, I played many German or Russian officers, but I'm best known as Colonel Kurt von Strohm in "'Allo 'Allo!". While the German army had ordered me to apprehend the French resistance, I was more concerned about the profit we all could make by selling the portrait of "The Fallen Madonna" by von Klomp after the war. True fans will of course remember this portrait presents some prominent body parts...

After " 'Allo 'Allo!" I appeared once in the television series "Lovejoy" (1994). My final role was the Russian president Zorkin in the movie "The Sum of All Fears" (2002)."

Richard Marner died in 2004.

Answer: Carmen Silvera

"I'm Carmen Silvera and was born in Toronto (Canada) in 1922. In "Compact" I played one of the employees in the office of a woman's magazine. The other women I mentioned here all played various roles in this series: Frances played Mary Augusta Beatty, Louise took the role of Iris Alcott and Betty played the role of Alison Morley. Alas, almost all episodes were wiped by the BBC.

In "'Allo 'Allo" I played Edith Artois, the wife of René. Whenever I saw René with one of the waitresses in his arms (and that was almost in every episode), I confronted him with the line, "What are you doing with that servant girl?" - to which he always offered some lame excuse."

Carmen Silvera died in 2002.

Answer: Gorden Kaye

"I'm Gorden Kaye (born 1941), born in Yorkshire - which explains my 'abit of swallowing the "h" sound. This would later become one of the typical sounds in
"'Allo 'Allo!", as the French likewise swallow their "h"s in many words. From 1982 until 1988 I starred as René Artois, the French café owner and 'ero of the resistance. My typical catchphrase in this series was, "You stupid woman!"

"Champion House" (1967-1968) was a TV show about the family Champion, who exploited a textile plant. Alas, all 30 episodes are probably lost. The males of the family Champion were played by James Kerry (in the role of Stephen), Edward Chapman (as Joe) and Maurice Kaufmann (playing Edward Champion). I only appeared in the final episode titled "Go West, Young Man".

After "'Allo 'Allo" I only 'ad a minor role in the TV shows "Screen One" (1993) and "Revolver" (2004), but I also reprised my most famous role in the TV movies "The Best of 'Allo 'Allo" (1994) and "The Return of 'Allo 'Allo!" (2007)."

Alas, Gorden Kaye died in 2017.

Answer: Hilary Minster

"I'm indeed Hilary Minster, best known for my role as General Erich von Klinkerhoffen in "'Allo 'Allo!".

In "Timeslip" my role was only minor. The story revolved on Liz Skinner (played by Cheryl Burfield) and her friend Simon Randall (role by Spencer Banks), two teenagers in 1970 who discovered a time barrier that enabled them to travel through time. Denis Quilley played the commanding officer of a secret research base in 1940, attacked by the Germans (among whom I played a minor role). The 1970 people feared that the secret weapon developed in 1940, fell in the hands of Captain Gottfried (role by Sandor Eles), a scientist working for East Germany.

Fans of "Secret Army" will probably remember me as Hauptmann Muller,
the captain who witnessed the dramatic clash between the Luftwaffe Major Hans Dietrich Reinhardt (played by Terence Hardiman) and the SS Standartenfuhrer (Colonel) Ludwig Kessler (role by Clifford Rose).

In "'Allo 'Allo!" I played General Erich von Klinkerhoffen, the commanding officer who would do anything to get rid of the French resistance - and even considered to burn down the whole town of Nouvion. After "'Allo 'Allo!" I only played one more role: Bjorn in one single episode of the TV series "Bugs" (1998)."

Hilary Minster was born in 1944 and died in 1999.

Answer: Gavin Richards

"The series, "Driving Ambition", told about two ladies eager to compete in car races using Mini Coopers: Rosemary Martin as Donna Hewitt and Anne Carol as Jen Robinson. Mark and Donald played their husbands, Ray Hewitt and Mick Robinson, respectively. I was the mechanic for the ladies, and Murray had two episodes as the sports commentator to the races.

In "'Allo 'Allo!" I played the Italian captain, Alberto Bertorelli, who frequently commented on his gaffes with the iconic words "What a mistake-a to make-a". Later in my career I would appear in two of the best known British soap series: I played Alex Christie in "Coronation Street" during one season (1994) and for six years (1996-2002) I starred in "Eastenders" as Terry."

Gavin Richards was born in 1946.

Answer: Kirsten Cooke

"I'm Kirsten Cooke, best known as Michelle Dubois from the French resistance in "'Allo 'Allo!". In "For Maddie with Love" Nyree played the title role: Maddie Laurie, a woman diagnosed with a brain tumour. Maddie and her husband, Malcolm, (played by Ian Hendry) somehow had to cope with her terminal illness. Meanwhile, other people also had their roles. Sheridan played Maddie's daughter Gilly, pregnant after an earlier miscarriage. June (as Angela Burrows) and I (as Sue Pettifer) played friends of Maddie.

In "'Allo 'Allo!", I once launched the line "Listen very carefully, for I will say this only once." Given the fantastic reaction of the live audience, I adopted this phrase as my catchphrase for the series. Sometimes I gave the words a little twist, for instance "Look very carefully, for I will show these only once" before I lifted my skirt and showed a beautiful leg."

Kirsten Cooke was born in 1952.

Answer: Arthur Bostrom

"The animation series "Wakfu" (2008-2017) told the story of the orphan boy Yugo (voiced by Fanny Bloc), who learnt to use the magic force of Wakfu to save his village and the rest of the world from various villains. The original series was in French, and we dubbed it into English - with Eric voicing (among others) Remington Smysse, Ross speaking the part of Sir Percedal of Sadlygrove , and Joe as Alibert. All of us spoke more than one role, though.

After playing George Bartlett in two episodes of "Miss Marple", I took the part of officer Crabtree in "'Allo 'Allo!" - an English officer who thought he could speak French, but the French characters thought otherwise - and not without reason. Good moaning!"

Arthur Bostrom was born in 1955.