Sir Carol Reed (Director / Producer )
Born in London on December 30, 1906, Reed intended to become a farmerand after graduating from King's School at Canterbury was sent by his family to the U.S. for on-the-job training at a large chicken farm. But hislove of the theater (he was one of the several illegitimate children of the famed actor-producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree) prevailed and after six months he returned home to begin a career as an actor. He made his London debut in 1924 with Sybil Thorndyke's troupe and after a long succession of mainly minor roles he began working for Edgar Wallace in 1927 as an advisor on the adaptation of the writer's mystery novels to the stage and as an actor and stage manager in the resultant productions.

Turning to film in the early '30s, he began as a dialogue director and assistant to producer-director Basil Dean and graduated to director with Midshipman Easy in 1935. His early features were mainly modest-budget ventures for local consumption, but his reputation grew steadily thanks to such films as Bank Holiday (1938), The Stars Look Down (1939), Night Train to Munich (1940), Kipps (1941), and The Young Mr. Pitt (1942). During World War II he was assigned to the British army's film unit, for which he directed a propaganda short A Letter from Home (1941), and a training short for new recruits, The New Lot (1942). As a result of the success of the latter film, he was commissioned to direct a feature-length fictional film along a similar theme, The Way Ahead (1944). It remains one of the most memorable films of the war effort. In 1945 he co-directed, with Garson Kanin, The True Glory, an Oscar-winning compilation documentary recording the progress of the war in Europe from D-Day to VE Day.

Reed's reputation reached its peak in the late '40s and early '50s, when he directed five of his finest films: Odd Man Out (1947), a meticulously conceived and richly executed chase melodrama about the final hours in the life of an Irish revolutionary; The Fallen Idol (1948), a keenly observed drama of the adult world seen through the eyes of a child; Outcast of the Islands (1952, starring Trevor Howard), a fine adaptation of Joseph Conrad story about moral corruption in the South Seas; and The Man Between (1953), an intriguing drama set in postwar Berlin; and of course The Third Man (1949), the Reed masterpiece often listed among the great films of all time.

The second and third of these films, based on material by Graham Greene, were particularly successful, receiving unanimous critical praise. Reed's best work was characterized by a keen sense of locale and atmosphere, a sharp eye for small but revealing details, a sympathetic treatment of characters, skillful plot development, and a civilized, warm but restrained tone.
From the mid-'50s, Reed's reputation went into a steady decline, as his films, some made for Hollywood studios, grew larger in scope and budget, obliterating his gifts for detail and atmosphere and magnifying dramatic and technical flaws. In 1962 he began directing Mutiny on the Bounty but was soon replaced by Lewis Milestone. In 1968, however, he won an Academy Award as Best Director for the musical Oliver! The film won a Best Picture Oscar as well. He died in 1976.
-- adapted from Ephraim Katz’s Film Encyclopedia

Graham Greene (Story & Screenplay)
Born Henry Graham Greene on October 2, 1904 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Greene was often referred to as the greatest living writer of the English language. His first novel, The Man Within (1929), established a tone which would be followed by his many later works: of moral ambiguity, religious confusion and a romantic protagonist who remains emotionally detached from those around him.

Later in his career, Greene became outspoken in matters of politics and frequently journeyed to countries on the verge of social upheaval. In each case, he wrote novels set within the volatile atmosphere of places no serious writers, and very few journalists, would dare venture in such stages of political uncertainty: Vietnam (The Quiet Man), Mexico (The Power and the Glory), Cuba (Our Man in Havana), the Belgian Congo (A Burnt-Out Case), Haiti (The Comedians). Even when dealing with weighty issues such as apartheid (The Human Factor) and the complexities of Catholic guilt (The Heart of the Matter), Greene's prose was never didactic or dry.

Throughout his career Greene blurred the line between lowbrow popular literature and highbrow novels with works that assumed the form of crime fiction yet possessed an emotional depth and literary craftsmanship uncommon to the genre. His frequent use of visual metaphors and his ability to structure a tight, suspenseful plot have inspired many critics to characterize Greene's style as "cinematic." While most of his novels have been adapted to the screen, very few films have succeeded in capturing the spirit of his works. Without doubt the two most highly regarded adaptations are those made in collaboration with Carol Reed and Alexander Korda: The Fallen Idol and The Third Man.

The cinematic qualities of Greene's work were no doubt influenced by his own exposure to film. From 1935 to 1940, he was film critic for The Spectator, where he championed the English cinema and often disparaged the more popular American movies then flooding the British marketplace. A review of John Ford's Wee Willie Winkie, in which he speculated about the sexual effect of Shirley Temple upon her middle-aged male fans, sparked a lawsuit which contributed to the early demise of the magazine in which it was published (Night and Day).

In addition to writing the screenplays for The Fallen Idol and The Third Man. Greene scripted several other films based on his own work (including Our Man in Havana, directed by Reed, and The Comedians) and contributed stories and screenwriting to various other projects (21 Days, The Green Cockatoo, Went the Day Well? and Saint Joan). Several Greene novels were adapted by Hollywood, including A Gun for Hire, which became the film noir classic This Gun for Hire, and Ministry of Fear, which became a thriller directed by Fritz Lang. Greene appeared briefly on-screen in Truffaut's Day for Night, as a British insurance man. He died in 1991.

CAST Sir Ralph Richardson (Baines)
Born in Gloucestshire in 1902, Ralph Richardson, the son of a teacher at Cheltenham College, made his professional stage debut in 1921 at the Little Theatre, Brighton. He began his association with the Old Vic in 1930, gaining prominence in a series of West
End productions of modern plays. Making his feature film debut in The Ghoul (1933), opposite star Boris Karloff, he remained prominent in the West End throughout the remainder of the decade. During World War II, Richardson served in the Fleet Air Arm. Upon leaving the service in 1944, he was asked to lead the Old Vic after it had been bombed out of its old premises. At the same time, he began making an impact in the cinema, notably for his award-winning performances in Carol Reed’s The Fallen Idol and William Wyler’s The Heiress (both 1948). Richardson joined up with David Lean for The Sound Barrier (1952), about the early days of jet flight; appeared in Laurence Olivier's lavish production of Richard III (1955); and re-teamed with Carol Reed in Our Man in Havana (1959). Throughout the 1960s Richardson accepted more roles in movies, including Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), David Lean's Dr. Zhivago (1965) and the comedy The Wrong Box (1966). The Fallen Idol would remain one of Richardson’s favorite films; while shooting Greystoke, shortly before his death, he remarked to director Hugh Hudson, “Fallen Idol! What a wonderful, economic film -- ninety minutes, so tight, a perfect little film. Our films today are all so long.” Richardson died in 1983.

Michèle Morgan (Julie)
Born in 1920 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Michèle Morgan began working as a film extra at age 15 to pay for drama classes. The young actress soon caught the eye of director Marc Allégret who cast her in the star-making Gribouille (1937). She soon appeared in a succession of roles, most memorably opposite Jean Gabin in Marcel Carné’s fatalistic Port of Shadows. Her remote, enigmatic features and gloomy allure had audiences comparing her to a young Greta Garbo. During the war, she was cast in several Hollywood movies, but she did not stand out among the other female foreign imports of that time, such as Ingrid Bergman. Cast in rather routine sultry roles amid WWII surroundings, she returned to her homeland after a so-so reception in such Hollywood fare as Joan of Paris (1942), with Paul Henreid, Passage to Marseille (1944), opposite Humphrey Bogart, and the noirish The Chase (1946). Michèle was treated much better at home and received the Cannes Film Festival’s award for best actress for her touching performance as the blind heroine in La Symphonie Pastorale (1946). Her most recent work was for French television in the 1990s. – adapted from bio on imdb.com

Jack Hawkins (Detective Ames)
Born in London in 1910, Hawkins was a child actor from the age of thirteen, making his film debut in 1930. In the 1950s, following his role in Fallen Idol, he would be somewhat typecast as the archetypal British police inspector in such films as Home at Seven (1952), The Long Arm (1956) and John Ford's Gideon's Day (1958), while simultaneously appearing prominently in Hollywood epics like Howard Hawks' Land of the Pharaohs (1955) and William Wyler's Ben-Hur (1959). Perhaps his most memorable role, however, was that of General Allenby in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. He died in 1973.

Bernard Lee (Detective Hart)
Born in London in 1908 into a theatrical family, Lee attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his West End stage debut in 1928 and his film debut film in 1934, but did not hit his stride as an actor till after the war. Among Lee’s more memorable roles were that of Sergeant Paine, the pestering fan of pulp writer Holly Martins in The Third Man (1949), the bullying Bert Connelly in The Angry Silence (1960), and the troubled father in Bryan Forbes’ Whistle Down the Wind (1961). In 1962, Lee was cast in Dr. No, as James Bond’s boss, M, a role he would continue to play until 1979’s Moonraker. He died in 1981.

Dora Bryan (Rose)
Born in 1924 in Lancashire, England, Bryan began as a child performer in English pantomime and started acting in the legitimate theatre while still a teenager, making her film debut in Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out. Following her role in The Fallen Idol as the streetwalker who tries comforting Phil (her delivery of the line “Oh, I know your father” is a highlight), Bryan was soon typecast as what one critic described as "jaunty little tarts whose bubbling vulgarity is rendered the more appealing by their aspiration to gentility.” A West End musical star, Bryan has also appeared in over 60 movies, most memorably in Tony Richardson’s A Taste of Honey as Rita Tushingham’s blowzy mother, a role that won her the British Academy’s Best Actress award. She also won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Pinter’s The Birthday Party at the National Theatre. An ever-popular character actress, she stills works occasionally on the British stage and in film and television.