FLORENCE HOATH (Elsie Wright) has, at the tender age of 13, already accumulated quite an impressive list of credits. Currently filming "The Governess" with co-star Minnie Driver, Miss Hoath's most recent film was Patrick de Wolf's "Innocent Lies" for The Red Umbrella Film Co. She starred in "A Pin for the Butterfly" for Skreba Films under the direction of Hanna Kodicek, which won an award at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy. Her debut feature was "Secret Rapture" also for Skreba Films directed by Howard Davies. Her most recent television credits include "The Haunting of Helen Walker" (a.k.a. "Turn of the Screw") for CBS, directed by Tom McLoughlin, where she played Flora alongside Diana Rigg. She also portrayed Bess in the BBC's "The Demon Headmaster" directed by Roger Singleton-Turner. Hoath attends the Ibstock Place School in Roehampton, well-known for encouraging children's individual talents, particularly in the arts. Her parents are both in the business: mother Tina is an actress and father Ian is a director. She has two sisters, Amy, who is an actress and Claire, who is also pursuing a career in films. Miss Hoath is the proud owner of a cuddly Rottweiler named Guinness, five cats and a goldfish.

Ten-year-old ELIZABETH EARL (Frances Griffiths) makes her feature film debut in "Fairy Tale - A True Story" and recently completed work on her second film, "All the Little Animals." She has also appeared in Carlton Television's "True Love" and played the role of Rosalind in "Agatha Christie Disappears (Unsolved Mysteries)." Miss Earl made her stage debut with her mother, Deanne, in All Day on the Sand at the King's Head Theatre. In this play by Alan Bennett, she played Jennifer, the bored child of a working class family on their holiday. Once a week, Earl attends classes taught by her mother, a drama coach who often performs at the King's Head Theatre. Earl is also a talented violinist and has passed all her exams with distinction, winning third place at the Ealing Music Festival.

		PAUL McGANN (Arthur Wright) started his screen career in the mid-'80s in Bruce Robinson's triumphant comedy "Withnail and I." His most recent film credits include Bharat Nalluri's "Downtime," Alan Horrox's "The Merchant of Venice" for Channel 4's Tetra Films, "Catherine The Great" directed by Marvin Chomsky, and Stephen Herek's "The Three Musketeers." His other films include "The Monk," "Paper Mask," "Dealers" and Ken Russell's "The Rainbow." On television, Mr. McGann is the latest actor to play the legendary Doctor Who in the Universal/BBC Worldwide television mini-series of the same name. Among his other television credits are "The One That Got Away," "The Hanging Gale" directed by Diarmuid Lawrence, in which he played alongside his three brothers, and "The Ancient Mariner" directed by Julian May for the BBC. McGann also appeared in Colin Gregg's "Drowning in the Shallow End" for the BBC's Screen 2 in which he played alongside Phoebe Nicholls, and the First World War drama series "The Monocled Mutineer" directed by Jim O'Brien for the BBC. Mr. McGann trained at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts. His most recent stage performances include Simon Curtis's A Lie of the Mind at the Royal Court, The Seagull directed by Les Waters and Loot at the Ambassadors. He is currently playing the male lead in the BBC's all star cast of "Our Mutual Friend."

PHOEBE NICHOLLS (Polly Wright) most recently appeared in Jane Austen's "Persuasion," directed by Roger Michell. Her other film credits include Nicolas Roeg's "Heart of Darkness," James Ivory's "Maurice;" "The Missionary," directed by Richard Loncraine," "Ordeal by Innocence," directed by Desmond Davis, and David Lynch's "The Elephant Man." On television, Ms. Nicholls was most recently seen starring as the eponymous heroine in Ruth Rendell's "May and June" for ITV. She also portrayed the Empress of Liliput in Charles Sturridge's "Gulliver"s Travels" and Cordelia in the hugely successful series "Brideshead Revisited." Her other credits include "Secret Orchards" and Dennis Potter's "Blade on a Feather," both directed by Richard Loncraine; "Poppyland" directed by John Madden, and "Drowning in the Shallow End" directed by Colin Gregg for BBC's Screen Two, in which she starred alongside Paul McGann. Nicholls has worked extensively in theatre since her first appearance with Tom Conti in the award-winning "Whose Life is it Anyway?" At the National Theatre, she appeared with Sir Anthony Hopkins in David Hare's Pravda, and played Sheila Birling in Stephen Dadry's triumphant revision of An Inspector Calls. At the Royal Court she created the part of Jessica in Terry Johnson's Hysteria, which won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 1994, and also starred alongside Vanessa Redgrave in Robert Strura's revival of Three Sisters. Ms. Nicholls also performed in The Seagull, directed by Charles Sturridge, at the Lyric Theatre.

Peter was born the summer of 1932 in Ireland. His boyhood was spent in Yorkshire where he worked for the Yorkshire Evening News as an apprentice journalist. He served with the Royal Navy from 1951-1953. Educated in Ireland and England after which he attended RADA, Peter made his professional debut at Brighton under the baton of Sir Adrian Boult with The London Philharmonic Orchestra giving relevant Shakespearean text to Mendelssohn's music to A Midsummer Night's Dream. He made his London debut at the Old Vic playing Peter Shirley in Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara. Work in the theatre over the years has included four years with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, one year at the Royal Court, one year at Stratford Memorial Theatre and six months with the National Theatre at the Old Vic. Peter was also a member of the Abbey Theatre company, and Artistic Director with the Royal Alexandra Theatre Company in Toronto, which led to a tour of Canada and America. In 1980 Peter was appointed Associate Director of the Old Vic. Roles included Vladimir in Waiting For Godot (1957); Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger (1957), Dame in Pantomime (1958) Shylock and Petruchio in the 1960 season at Stratford with Dame Peggy Ashcroft. In 1962 Peter catapulted to international stardom when David Lean cast him as the male lead in "Lawrence of Arabia." Following this success, O'Toole went on to star in a host of other roles for film, television and theatre. Other theatre roles included Baal at the Phoenix (1963), Hamlet in the inaugural productions at the National Theatre (1963-64), Captain Jack in Juno and the Paycock (1966), Ride a Cock Horse at the Piccadilly (1971), D'Arcy Tuck in Ben Travers' Plunder at the Bristol Old Vic (1973 & 74). Vanya in Uncle Vanya at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto (1978), Gary Essendine in Noel Coward's Present Laughter at the Kennedy Centre, Washington and Macbeth at the Old Vic (1980). O'Toole pioneered in live television in the early 1950's. Also for television "The Pier," "Once a Horse Player," "The Laughing Woman," "Present Laughter," "Rogue Male," "Masada" and "Strumpet City." Films include "Kidnapped," "The Day They Robbed The Bank of England," "Savage Innocents," "Lawrence of Arabia," "Lord Jim," "How to Steal a Million," "The Bible ... In The Beginning," "The Night of the Generals," "What's New Pussycat?," "Becket," "The Lion in Winter," "Goodbye Mr. Chips," "The Ruling Class," "Great Catherine," "Brotherly Love," "Man of La Mancha," "Rosebud," "Man Friday," "Foxtrot," "Coup D'etat," "Zulu Dawn," "Power Play," "The Stunt Man," "My Favourite Year," "Supergirl," "The Creator," "Club Paradise," "The Last Emperor," "High Spirits," "On a Moonlit Night," "Wings of Fame," "Rainbow Thief," "Isabelle Eberhardt," "King Ralph and Worlds Apart." After a very successful first run in 1990, Peter returned to play the title role in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Following that he starred in the feature film "Rebecca's Daughters." He then went on to star in Lynda La Plante's television drama "Civvies" for the BBC. In 1992 he starred in Our Song at the Apollo Theatre opposite Tara Fitzgerald. In 1995 Peter finished writing the second part of his autobiography as well as joining the all-star cast for Duncan Kenworthy's TV production of "Gulliver's Travels." Also that year he was reunited with his fellow Rada classmates for the BBC's production of P.G Wodehouse's Blandings classic, "Heavy Weather". Peter O'Toole's more recent films have included: "FairyTale A True Story" and "Phantoms." Peter O'Toole now lives in London with his young son and tries to spend as much of his free time playing or teaching cricket as he is a professional cricket coach.

HARVEY KEITEL (Harry Houdini) is one of the world's most critically-acclaimed actors. His extraordinary filmography includes such diverse starring credits as "Smoke," "Clockers," Jane Campion's "The Piano" (which shared the Palme d'Or Award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and also garnered Keitel a Best Actor Award from Australia's Logie), Abel Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant," (for which he won an Independent Feature Project Award for Best Actor) and Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" (also as co-producer on the latter). He was voted Best Supporting Actor by the National Society of Film Critics for his work in Alan Rudolph's "Mortal Thoughts," Ridley Scott's "Thelma & Louise," and Barry Levinson's "Bugsy," also receiving an Academy Award® nomination and a Best Supporting Actor nod by the National Society of Film Critics for the latter. Keitel was also recently honored for the excellence of his life's work at the San Francisco International Film Festival, in conjunction with his starring role in Theo Angelopoulos' "Ulysses Gaze," which also received the 1995 Grand Prix Award at Cannes. Since making his film debut in Martin Scorsese's "Who's That Knocking At My Door?" and the subsequent "Mean Streets"(1973) that launched both of their careers, Keitel has also starred for the director in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "Taxi Driver," and "The Last Temptation of Christ." He is renowned for the support he has offered to young filmmakers that have included Alan Rudolph ("Welcome To L.A."), Ridley Scott ("The Duelists"), Paul Schrader ("Blue Collar"), Tarantino and such European directors as Nicholas Roeg ("Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession"), Bertrand Tavernier ("Deathwatch"), and Lina Wertmuller's "A Complicated Story of Streets, Crime & Women." In the poignant family drama "Imaginary Crimes," Keitel again lent his talents and support to Anthony Drazen's studio directing debut. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Keitel studied with Frank Corsaro, Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler. He is member of the Actor's Studio and has worked extensively in New York theater community. He began off-off Broadway performances at Cafe La Ma Ma, then made his off-Broadway debut in 1965 in Sam Shepard's Up to Thursday. In 1975 Keitel made his Broadway debut in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He returned to Broadway in 1984 in David Rabe's Hurlyburly which was directed by Mike Nichols. The following year, Keitel was again acclaimed for his starring performance in Shepard's A Lie of the Mind. Included in his many other credits are Robert Altman's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson," and in the black comedy "Mother, Jugs and Speed," "The Border" with Jack Nicholson, Ettore Scola's "La Nuit de Varennes," "Blue in the Face," and "From Dusk Till Dawn." Keitel most recently starred with Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone and Ray Liotta in Miramax Films' critically acclaimed "Copland," and has just completed production on "The Road to Graceland."

Copyright © 1997 by Paramount Pictures.