Henry VIII and His Six Wives is a 1972 film version of the famous BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 television series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, it was written by Ian Thorne and directed by Waris Hussein

Waris Hussein

Waris Hussein is a British-Indian television director and film director best known for his many productions for British television....

.

Description

King Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 is on his death bed and reflects on his long reign and especially the crucial part his six marriages played in it.

Australian actor Keith Michell

Keith Michell

Keith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...

 reprised his role of King Henry from the BBC television series The Six Wives of Henry VIII. His six wives were played by the following actresses; Frances Cuka

Frances Cuka

Frances Cuka is a British actress, principally on television, whose career has spanned nearly fifty years.Cuka was born in London, England, the daughter of Letitia Alice Annie , a tailor, and Joseph Cuka, a process engraver. On stage, she created the role of Jo in Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of...

 as the loyal and devout Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...

, Charlotte Rampling

Charlotte Rampling

Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...

 as the seductive and clever Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...

, Jane Asher

Jane Asher

Jane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...

 as the meek and mild Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...

, Jenny Bos as the unattractive Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...

, Lynne Frederick

Lynne Frederick

Lynne Maria Frederick was an English film actress. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.-Early life:Frederick was born in Hillingdon,...

 as the adulteress teenager Catherine Howard and Barbara Leigh-Hunt

Barbara Leigh-Hunt

Barbara Leigh-Hunt , Bath, England, is a British actress who has appeared on stage, film, television and radio.-Career:...

 as the respectable widow Catherine Parr

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence

Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...

 played Thomas Cromwell, Bernard Hepton

Bernard Hepton

Bernard Hepton is a British actor of stage, film and television.Hepton is known as a particularly versatile character actor. He trained at Bradford Civic Theatre school under Esme Church along with actors such as Robert Stephens...

 is Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...

 (which he also played in the television series), and John Bryans

John Bryans

John Bryans was a British actor, who appeared frequently on television.He is possibly best known for his recurring role as Bercol during the first two series of Blake's 7. He also appeared in the third series as the torturer Shrinker...

 is Cardinal Wolsey.

The music, closely based on actual 16th century pieces, was written, arranged, and performed by the woodwind virtuoso and early music historian David Munrow

David Munrow

David Munrow was a British musician and early music historian.- Biography and career :Munrow was born in Birmingham and was the son of Birmingham University dance teacher Hilda Norman Munrow and Albert Davis 'Dave' Munrow, a Birmingham University lecturer and physical education instructor who...

.

The film is also the only one to portray the inaccurate legend of Anne Boleyn's deformed finger.

External links

• http://imdb.com/title/tt0070170/Henry VIII and his Six Wives at Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
  
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