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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Quite true about the possibility of two or more Ronald Hill's here, Sheldon. My guess about the "Dr. Hill" was (and is) simply a shot in the dark, perhaps nothing more than a result of my frustration in finding so little info! TCM's site, however, does credit the Ronald Hill of "Red Runs the River" with having been in "ZULU" as well. See: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?spid=86508&apid=134804&category=filmography&action=more

Oddly, "The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1961-1970" (a tad verbose a book title, eh?) lists his credit in Red Runs the River as "Ronald Hill, U.S. actor (Corporal Woods)". I say "oddly" because his is the only name listed in that movie or even on that page of movies that states "U.S. actor" between the actor and his role. Why even mention that fact for an American Movie, one in which I assume most if not all are U.S. actors?
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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I find it highly unlikely that the compilers of TCM's website would have gone to the trouble of ascertaining the identity of so minor an actor. Like most contributors to IMDb, they have most liklely simply picked up the names from the film credits and assumed they refer to the same person. The fact that the AFI catalogue specifies the nationality of its Ronald Hill mighgt be taken to indicate that there are at least two: one American, the other not. (The one in ZULU certainly doesn't sound American to my ears.)

On a related matter, I had great difficulty trying to get IMDb to accept that their filmography for John Sullivan (the stunt coordinator who also plays the cavalry officer in ZULU) contained the credits of at least two different actors of that name (there are a lot of John Sullivans). I never did succeed in making my point, as a study of the IMDb credits for him will confirm.
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Excellent point, Sheldon! That certainly sounds like a plausible explanation why the "U.S. actor" detail was included in Ronald Hill's acting credit for "Red Runs the River"-- to distinguish him from another British or perhaps SA actor of the same name that is. Ironically, that question could easily be answered by viewing a copy of RRR, but I don't see that happening anytime soon for obvious reasons. Oh well, I did my bit anyway.
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ronald hill
usnavymom


Joined: 28 Dec 2010
Posts: 5
Location: U.K.
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thanks sawubona........my interest is only that i looked up all the listed cast members history etc and his came up empty . its a mystery and i cant stand an unsolved mystery ....i would guess his age to be about 18 - 20 in the movie ..
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Jeff Dickinson


Joined: 16 May 2006
Posts: 38
Location: Baltimore, United states
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Although this information is not exactly about Ronald Hill I thought it would be an interesting twist to add. I came across this a while back on �Flikr.� My apologies if this has been brought up before. Here is the link to the page of photos of Bob Martin. From the information he has listed Mr. Martin was a �Publicity stills cameraman� for the Zulu shoot. He has some great behind the scenes information / stories attached to each of his photos and several from Zulu. This link will take you to a still of Nigel Green with a very interesting story below. I�ve attached a small portion here. Keep reading and you�ll see the connection to our bugler, sort of�..

Hope you fine it as interesting as I did.

Regards, Jeff

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35891355@N03/3318053331/in/photostream/

�During the filming of Zulu Nigel was extremely thoughtful and kind to me when I was laid low for some time during filming with a bout of tick-bite-fever. Both he and Charles Parker, our key make-up man, would visit me after dinner every evening to cheer me up, to bring me a much needed night-cap and to give me a situation-report on filming and the latest �gossip� on the set.
During the early days of shooting, during a break, he and I went over to Ladysmith�s Zulu War museum one day, not only to familiarise ourselves with the historic facts of the war but also to give him some inspiration for his role as a Colour-Sergeant in the 24th Welsh Borderers regiment.
In one of the glass cabinets of the museum we noticed a beautiful, commemorative silk handkerchief. It had apparently been issued to all the men involved in the Zulu War. In the centre of the handkerchief were sketches, depicting red-coated soldiers and also Zulu warriors, illustrating the various forms of Zulu attack and how to repel them, it also had, �God save the Queen� printed in the centre. On all four sides of the border of the handkerchief were musical notes that were embroidered as �bugle calls to be used in battle�.
Nigel, who was also an accomplished musician and pianist, was fascinated and asked if he could copy these musical annotations. The curator was most accommodating and so off we went to a nearby stationery shop where we bought some blank sheet music onto which he painstakingly copied all of them.
On our way back to the hotel I mentioned to Nigel in passing, that I had been a �ships-bugler� in the Navy. �Why don�t you have a go at blowing them for the film�s sound-track,� he said, which is exactly what we did.
I hadn�t blown a bugle for 22 years but after a few days intensive practise on the regimental �prop� bugle Claude Hitchcock, who was the chief sound man on the picture, his crew and I went up into �The Gorge� for good �echo acoustics� where we laid a special sound-track on which I identified each call before blowing it.
I am pleased that these bugle calls of mine were eventually used, as is, in the final sound-editing of Zulu during post-production at Shepperton.
Nigel�s career was sadly cut short when he died from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills in 1972, aged just 47. There is conjecture whether it was suicide as he was estranged from his wife, Patricia Marmont at the time as well as being depressed at the state of his career. I remember him, simply, as my friend.�
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