Famous people of West Wales

Kenneth's career spanned two very different strands: mainstream character acting in films such as A Night to Remember, Rocket to the Moon and Rocket to Nowhere, and the confrontational, deeply personal documentary work for which he became better known in later life. He wrote, directed and narrated the majority of his own documentaries, often appearing on screen himself to argue directly with the camera.

His Tenby roots remained important to him throughout his life; the town's museum now holds an archive of his papers, photographs and personal effects, and a plaque marking his birthplace is still pointed out by local residents.

Johns was often cast as the mild, anxious "little man" of British cinema, a type he made his own in wartime and postwar films, and he remains fondly remembered as one of Ealing Studios' most reliable character performers.

After a career of more than fifty television and stage appearances, Doran spent twenty-five years as Artistic Director of the Torch Theatre in Milford Haven, winning Best Director at the Wales Theatre Awards in 2017 for Belonging/Perthyn.

Roberts's two BAFTA wins came in successive New Wave classics: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and This Sporting Life (1963), the latter also bringing an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She continued to work prolifically on both sides of the Atlantic through the 1970s, winning a Drama Desk Award for Habeas Corpus in 1976 and a Supporting Actress BAFTA for her final major British film, Yanks (1979).

Her personal life was often turbulent, marked by a widely publicised second marriage to Rex Harrison and struggles with alcoholism in her later years. She died in Los Angeles in 1980; her posthumously published journals, No Bells on Sunday, offer a candid account of her life and career.

After leaving The Waltons in 1977, Thomas built a distinguished career that refused to be defined by a single role. He played the adult Bill Denbrough -- the stuttering author who leads the Losers Club back to Derry -- in the landmark Stephen King television adaptation It (1990). He played Special Agent Frank Gaad in the FX spy drama The Americans. He appeared in Ozark on Netflix. He was Atticus Finch in the 2022-2024 national tour of Aaron Sorkin's To Kill a Mockingbird -- one of the most coveted roles in American theatre. He received a Tony Award nomination for Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.

Richard Thomas is fluent in Mandarin Chinese -- his Columbia major. He is a man of exceptional range, intellectual curiosity and enduring talent. The Welsh blood from the Kentucky hills has served him well.

Recorde also served as Comptroller of the Royal Mint, and his high public profile ultimately contributed to his downfall through a damaging lawsuit. Despite dying in debtors' prison, his textbooks — including 'The Grounde of Artes' and 'The Whetstone of Witte' — remained influential in English mathematics teaching for generations after his death.

As Mayor of Aberystwyth from 2008 to 2009, Jones-Davies discovered that the town had informally kept 'Life of Brian' off local cinema screens for nearly thirty years. She sponsored a charity screening of the film in March 2009, attended by co-writers Michael Palin and Terry Jones, and in 2018 was awarded an honorary degree by Aberystwyth University.