Great Catherine is a 1968 British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by Gordon Flemyng

Gordon Flemyng

Gordon William Flemyng was a Scottish director of six theatrical features, several television films and numerous episodes of TV series, some of which he also wrote and produced. Flemyng directed both of the Dalek feature films of the 1960s, Dr...

, based on a play by George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

, and starring Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole

Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...

, Zero Mostel

Zero Mostel

Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...

, Jeanne Moreau

Jeanne Moreau

Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...

 and Jack Hawkins

Jack Hawkins

Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...

. Like the play it is loosely based on the story of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams and his time spent as an envoy at the Russian court.

Synopsis

A British officer, Captain Charles Edstaston, is sent to the Russian court of Catherine the Great as an envoy, where he has to contend with the crafty machinations of her chief minister Potemkin.

Cast

• Peter O'Toole
  Peter O'Toole
  Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
  
   - Charles Edstaston
• Jeanne Moreau
  Jeanne Moreau
  Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
  
   - Catherine the Great
• Zero Mostel
  Zero Mostel
  Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
  
   - Potemkin
  Potemkin
  Potemkin is a Russian surname which derives from the word Потёмка Potyomka meaning "dark". It may refer to:People*Prince Grigory Potyomkin, statesman and lover of Catherine the Great...
  
  
• Jack Hawkins
  Jack Hawkins
  Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
  
   - British Ambassador
• Akim Tamiroff
  Akim Tamiroff
  Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
  
   - Sergeant
• Marie Lohr
  Marie Lohr
  Marie Lohr was an Australian film and stage actress.-Biography:Marie Löhr was born in Sydney to Lewis J. Löhr, treasurer of the Melbourne opera house, and his wife, the English actress Kate Bishop...
  
   - Dowager Lady Gorse
• Kate O'Mara
  Kate O'Mara
  Kate O'Mara is an English film, stage and television actress. She is perhaps most widely known for her role as Caress Morell, the scheming sister of Alexis Colby in the 1980s American primetime soap opera Dynasty, though is also known for playing other villains such as The Rani in Doctor Who and...
  
   - Varinka
• Angela Scoular
  Angela Scoular
  Angela Margaret Scoular was an English actress.-Early life:Her father was an engineer and she was born in London. She attended St.George's School, Harpenden, Queen's College, Harley Street and RADA.-Career:...
  
   - Claire
• Oliver MacGreevy
  Oliver MacGreevy
  Oliver MacGreevy was an actor who appeared in many films and television series from the mid 50s until retiring in 1984.Among his notable parts he played Housemartin in the The Ipcress File...
  
   - General Pyskov
• James Mellor - Colonel Pugachov