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Frances Cuka is a Actor British born on 21 august 1936 at London (United-kingdom)

Frances Cuka

Frances Cuka
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Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 21 august 1936 at London (United-kingdom)
Death 16 february 2020 (at 83 years)

Frances Cuka (born 21 August 1936) is a British actress, principally on television, whose career has spanned over fifty years.

Cuka (pronounced Chewka) was born in London, England, the daughter of Letitia Alice Annie (née Francis), a tailor, and Joseph Cuka, a process engraver. The family subsequently moved to Hove. As a child she appeared on the radio, BBC's Children's Hour. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

After the Guildhall she joined the Theatre Workshop, where she performed in Macbeth and then in 1958 created the role of Jo in Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey, continuing in the role when the play moved to the West End and Broadway. In between runs of A Taste of Honey she appeared in several plays at the Royal Court, including Endgame and Live Like Pigs. In 1963 she played Becky Sharp in the musical Vanity Fair, alongside George Baker and Sybil Thorndike.

Cuka then moved into television. Subsequent television roles included Adam Adamant Lives, Hammer Horror - "Charlie Boy", The Champions and Minder. She also appeared as Doll Tearsheet in the BBC TV version of Henry IV, Part II. She had recurring roles in the soap operas Crossroads and Coronation Street. Film roles have included Scrooge (1970) as Bob Cratchit's wife, and Henry VIII and his Six Wives (1972) as Catherine of Aragon.

From 2006 to 2009, she played the recurring role of a troublesome tramp called Mrs Bassey in the popular medical drama Casualty. Her final appearance was in September 2009, when her character died from severe burns after being involved in an explosion at a shopping centre.

In 2010, she played Lady Bracknell for Logos Theatre Company at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, in the unusual four-act version of The Importance of Being Earnest.

From March 2011, she appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner, as the grandma of the characters played by Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal.

Cuka was the second actress to play Peggy Mitchell in the BBC1 soap opera EastEnders in 1994. She had fimed several scenes of the character and was axed from the show and all her scenes were scrapped before casting Barbara Windsor.

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Frances Cuka (12 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

Closer to the Moon, 1h52
Origin Roumanie
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Actors Vera Farmiga, Mark Strong, Harry Lloyd, Joe Armstrong, Christian McKay, Anton Lesser
Roles Sarah
Rating66% 3.3491853.3491853.3491853.3491853.349185
Post-war Communist Romania: In 1959 Bucharest, members of Romania's high society Max Rosenthal (Mark Strong), Alice Bercovich (Vera Farmiga), Dumi Dorneanu (Tim Plester), Răzvan Orodel (Joe Armstrong) and Iorgu Ristea (Christian McKay), known collectively as Ioanid Gang, announce to a crowd that they are shooting a film. A young café worker, Virgil (Harry Lloyd), is among the witnesses. Under the guise of making this film, the Ioanid Gang perform a heist of the National Bank of Romania. The following day, Virgil loiters around a film set and encounters the director, Flaviu (Allan Corduner), who requests him to buy vodka and give it to him whenever he asks.
Oliver Twist, 2h10
Directed by Roman Polanski
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Adventure, Crime
Themes Films about children, L'enfance marginalisée
Actors Ben Kingsley, Jamie Foreman, Barney Clark, Harry Eden, Leanne Rowe, Edward Hardwicke
Roles Mrs Bedwin
Rating67% 3.3986953.3986953.3986953.3986953.398695
In the 1800s, young orphan Oliver Twist is forcibly brought to a workhouse in an unidentified town In England on his ninth birthday. He and the other resident children are treated poorly and given very little food. Facing starvation, the boys select Oliver (through a lottery) to ask for more food at the next meal, which he tentatively does. This results in Oliver being chastised, and the workhouse officials, who are wealthy, well-fed, hypocritical men, decide to get rid of him. After nearly being sold as an apprentice to a cruel chimney sweep, Oliver is sent to Mr. Sowerberry, a coffin-maker, whose wife and senior apprentice take an instant dislike to the newcomer. After more poor treatment, Oliver snaps and attacks Noah, the snotty older apprentice, for having insulted his mother. Knowing his life with the Sowerberrys will only get worse, Oliver escapes on foot early the next morning.
Swimming Pool, 1h42
Directed by François Ozon
Origin France
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Crime, Romance, Erotic thriller
Themes Films about writers, La provence, Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Erotic thriller films
Actors Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance, Jean-Marie Lamour, Frances Cuka, Mireille Mossé
Roles Lady on the Underground
Rating66% 3.3485553.3485553.3485553.3485553.348555
Sarah Morton, a middle-aged English mystery author, who has written a successful series of novels featuring a single detective, is having writer's block that is impeding her next book. Sarah's publisher, John Bosload, offers her his country house near Lacoste, France for some rest and relaxation. After becoming comfortable with the run of the house, Sarah's quietude is disrupted by a young woman claiming to be the publisher's daughter, Julie. She shows up one night claiming to be taking time off from work herself. She also claims that her mother used to be Bosload's mistress, but that he would not leave his family.
Snow White: A Tale of Terror, 1h41
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Themes Children's films
Actors Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill, Monica Keena, Gil Bellows, David Conrad, Frances Cuka
Roles Nannau
Rating60% 3.0493.0493.0493.0493.049
Lilliana Hoffman dies in a carriage accident in the woods, caused by wolves that attack both the horses and the coachman. Her husband Fredric, at his dying wife's urging, reluctantly performs a caesarean section to save their unborn daughter. Years later, the young Lily Hoffman—the Snow White of the title, although she is never addressed or referred to as such in the film—plays mischievously on the grounds of the Hoffman estate. Lily greets her new stepmother, Lady Claudia, somewhat reluctantly. Lady Claudia gives the reticent Lily a Rottweiler puppy. Lily is pleased, but runs off with the puppy without thanking her.
Afraid of the Dark, 1h31
Directed by Mark Peploe
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Fantasy, Horror
Actors James Fox, Fanny Ardant, David Thewlis, Paul McGann, Clare Holman, Robert Stephens
Roles Mrs. Dalton
Rating57% 2.8986052.8986052.8986052.8986052.898605
A Londres, le petit Lucas craint de perdre la vue comme sa mère, et de devenir ainsi la proie d'un sadique qui s'attaque, armé d'un rasoir, aux personnes aveugles.
Mountains of the Moon, 2h16
Directed by Bob Rafelson
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action, Adventure, Historical
Themes Films set in Africa
Actors Patrick Bergin, Iain Glen, Richard E. Grant, Fiona Shaw, Roshan Seth, John Savident
Roles Lady Houghton
Rating70% 3.5429253.5429253.5429253.5429253.542925
Exploratory adventures of 1857, Sir Richard Burton (Patrick Bergin) and John Henning Speke (Iain Glen), try to discover the true source of the Nile river.
The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank, 1h35
Directed by John Erman
Genres Drama, War, Historical
Themes Films about religion, Political films, Films about Jews and Judaism
Actors Mary Steenburgen, Paul Scofield, Huub Stapel, Tom Wilkinson, Eleanor Bron, Frances Cuka
Roles Petronella Van Daan
Rating67% 3.389263.389263.389263.389263.38926
In 1940, the Nazis invade the Netherlands. Miep Gies is a young woman, and an office assistant of Otto Frank, who is Jewish. As the Nazis begin to kill the Jews, Otto Frank becomes worried about his family. In July 1942, Otto Frank decides to hide his family after his daughter Margot is called to appear for transport to a Nazi labour camp. Miep, who is trusted by Otto, hides them in the attic above the office, that was called The Annexe. The film tells the true story of Gies' struggle to keep the family hidden and safe, as the Nazis turn Amsterdam upside-down.
The Watcher in the Woods, 1h23
Directed by Vincent McEveety, John Hough
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Fantastic, Fantasy, Horror
Themes Films based on science fiction novels, Ghost films, Children's films
Actors Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards, Carroll Baker, David McCallum, Frances Cuka
Roles Mary Fleming
Rating60% 3.048913.048913.048913.048913.04891
Helen and Paul Curtis (Carroll Baker and David McCallum) and their daughters Jan (Lynn-Holly Johnson) and Ellie (Kyle Richards), move into a manor. Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis), the owner of the residence, notices that Jan bears a striking resemblance to her daughter, Karen, who disappeared inside a chapel near the village 30 years previously.
Henry VIII and His Six Wives, 2h5
Directed by Waris Hussein
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Biography, Historical
Themes Politique, Political films, Films about royalty
Actors Keith Michell, Charlotte Rampling, Donald Pleasence, Jane Asher, Brian Blessed, Frances Cuka
Roles Katherine of Aragon
Rating67% 3.389193.389193.389193.389193.38919
On his deathbed, Henry VIII reflects upon his long reign, and especially the crucial part his six marriages have played. The bulk of the film is depicted in flashback, while the elderly Henry VIII is surrounded by his family and courtiers waiting for him to die.
Scrooge
Scrooge (1970)
, 2h
Directed by Ronald Neame
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantasy, Musical
Themes Films about music and musicians, Christmas films, Time travel films, Ghost films, Musical films
Actors Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Edith Evans, Kenneth More, Michael Medwin, Laurence Naismith
Roles Ethel Cratchit
Rating74% 3.7463.7463.7463.7463.746
Ebenezer Scrooge (Albert Finney) is a cold-hearted and greedy old miser whose only concern is money and profit and hates everything to do with Christmas. After Scrooge scares off a group of boys who were singing a carol outside his door, his nephew Fred (Michael Medwin) arrives to invite him to Christmas dinner with his wife and friends. Scrooge, however, refuses. After Fred leaves, Scrooge gives his clerk Bob Cratchit (David Collings) the next day off as it is Christmas, but he expects him back all the earlier the next morning. Bob meets two of his children, including Tiny Tim (Richard Beaumont), in the streets, and they buy the food for their Christmas dinner. Scrooge, meanwhile, is surveyed by two other men (Derek Francis and Roy Kinnear) for a donation for the poor but Scrooge refuses to support the prisons and workhouses and even says "if they rather die, then they better do it and decrease the surplus population." On his way home, Scrooge meets some of his clients, including Tom Jenkins (Anton Rogers), and reminds them the debts they owe him. In a running gag, Scrooge is stalked and being made fun of by the same street urchins seen at the start of the film, calling him "Father Christmas.