The First Great Train Robbery - actors, characters and roles

All actors and their roles in the film "The First Great Train Robbery"
The First Great Train Robbery (1978)
Timing: 1:50 (110 min)
The First Great Train Robbery - TMDB rating
6.672/10
340
The First Great Train Robbery - Kinopoisk rating
7.107/10
1631
The First Great Train Robbery - IMDB rating
6.9/10
19124

Actors and characters

Photo Sean Connery #56644Photo Sean Connery #56645Photo Sean Connery #56646Photo Sean Connery #56647

Sean Connery

Sean Connery
Character Edward Pierce
Photo Donald Sutherland #6096Photo Donald Sutherland #6097Photo Donald Sutherland #6098Photo Donald Sutherland #6099

Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland
Character Robert Agar
Susan Hallinan
Character Emma Barnes
Photo Alan Webb #119294

Alan Webb

Alan Webb
Character Edgar Trent
Photo Robert Lang #96727

Robert Lang

Robert Lang
Character Sharp
Photo Wayne Sleep #182123Photo Wayne Sleep #182124Photo Wayne Sleep #182125

Wayne Sleep

Wayne Sleep
Character Clean Willy
Photo Gabrielle Lloyd #62353Photo Gabrielle Lloyd #62354Photo Gabrielle Lloyd #62355Photo Gabrielle Lloyd #62356
Gabrielle Lloyd
Character Elizabeth Trent
Photo Pamela Salem #92058Photo Pamela Salem #92059Photo Pamela Salem #92060Photo Pamela Salem #92061
Pamela Salem
Character Emily Trent
George Downing
Character Barlow
Photo James Cossins #84294Photo James Cossins #84295
James Cossins
Character Harranby
Photo John Bett #75671Photo John Bett #75672Photo John Bett #75673

John Bett

John Bett
Character McPherson
Photo Peter Benson #119295Photo Peter Benson #119296

Peter Benson

Peter Benson
Character Station Despatcher
Photo Janine Duvitski #105015Photo Janine Duvitski #105016
Janine Duvitski
Character Maggie
Photo Brian de Salvo #119297
Brian de Salvo
Character Trent's Butler
Photo André Morell #55830

André Morell

André Morell
Character Judge
Photo Donald Churchill #182126Photo Donald Churchill #182127Photo Donald Churchill #182128

Donald Churchill

Donald Churchill
Character Prosecutor
Photo Brian Glover #50865Photo Brian Glover #50866Photo Brian Glover #50867

Brian Glover

Brian Glover
Character Captain Jimmy

Noel Johnson

Noel Johnson
Character Connaught
Photo Peter Butterworth #158909Photo Peter Butterworth #158910Photo Peter Butterworth #158911Photo Peter Butterworth #158912
Peter Butterworth
Character Putnam
Photo Patrick Barr #111472
Patrick Barr
Character Burke

Hubert Rees

Hubert Rees
Character Lewis
Photo Agnes Bernelle #182129Photo Agnes Bernelle #182130Photo Agnes Bernelle #182131
Agnes Bernelle
Character Woman on Platform
Photo Joe Cahill #182132Photo Joe Cahill #182133Photo Joe Cahill #182134
Joe Cahill
Character Rail Guard
Photo Cecil Nash #182135Photo Cecil Nash #182136Photo Cecil Nash #182137
Cecil Nash
Character Chaplain
Oliver Smith
Character Ratting Assistant
Photo John Altman #50885
John Altman
Character First Pickpocket
Paul Kember
Character Second Pickpocket
Geoff Ferris
Character Third Pickpocket
Photo Jenny Till #182138Photo Jenny Till #182139Photo Jenny Till #182140
Jenny Till
Character Woman on Strand
Craig Stokes
Character Urchin on Strand
Frank McDonald
Character Policjant na stacji przy moście londyńskim

What's left behind the scenes

  • The steam engine of the locomotive initially used for filming the train scenes was not powerful enough to pull the train. A diesel locomotive was disguised as a freight car and used as additional traction.
  • During the filming of scenes with the train, the director's hair caught fire from sparks flying from the locomotive's firebox.
  • Michael Crichton did not have the best relationship with his crew at the initial stage of filming. He then ordered a copy of his previous film, "Coma" (1978), and showed it to all the members of the film crew. Only then did the team decide that they were indeed being led by a good director.
  • Sean Connery personally checked the speed of the train while on its roof. The speed was supposed to be 35 miles per hour; Connery insisted it was much higher. Only a speed measurement from a helicopter helped to confirm Connery's suspicions – the train was traveling at 55 miles per hour.
  • The film "The Great Train Robbery" is based on a real train robbery that occurred in 1855. The crime was committed by four robbers, two of whom worked at the railway station. Their names were Pierce, Eagar, Burgess, and Tester – the last two being a guard and a clerk at the railway station.
  • In England, the film was released under the title "The First Great Train Robbery." This was not accidental – in Britain, the name "the great train robbery" referred to a completely different case that occurred in 1963.
  • The second of the bridges under which Piers travels on the roof of the train has a metal structure that could not have existed in 1855.
  • The Folkestone railway line has always had double tracks.
  • High platforms, reaching the level of the train doors, were not used at British stations until 1870.
  • If you look closely, it is easy to see that the four keys, so painstakingly and ingeniously obtained by Piers and his assistants, are actually two pairs of identical keys. And any locksmith would know that such complex manipulations with their imprints are not needed to make duplicates of such keys. It would be enough to make an impression of only one side of the key.
  • When Sean Connery’s wife, Micheline, saw the scenes on the roof of the train in the cinema, she was furious that Sean was performing these scenes without a stunt double and putting his life in such danger.
  • This is the last film featuring actors André Morell (as the Judge) and Peter Butterworth (as Putnam).
  • The film is dedicated to the memory of cinematographer Geoffrey Ansell, who passed away shortly after filming. The dedication reads: “Friends have lost him.”
  • “The Great Train Robbery” was named the best film of the year at the annual Edgar Allan Poe Award for detective fiction.
  • The role of Quick Willy was played by one of the leading dancers of the British Ballet, Wayne Sleep from The Royal Ballet Company. He performed all of his own stunts, including the escape from Newgate Prison, where he climbed over the prison wall at great risk of falling and being injured.
  • The dog used for the rat-catching scenes, appearing in two scenes – one in Ireland where the dog is walked in front of Trent’s house, and the other, the rat-baiting scene, at the Pinewood Studios in England – was smuggled across the Irish Sea to avoid the six-month quarantine required by law for animal transport between England and Ireland.
  • During filming at the Dublin station, a diesel locomotive experienced a fuel leak, and sparks from a steam engine traveling on the same tracks ignited the spilled fuel. As a result, a strong fire broke out within the station limits for a short time.
  • Johannes Brahms's "Variations on a Theme by Haydn," which Elizabeth and Emilia play on their pianos, could not have been performed in 1855. Brahms composed the work between 1870 and 1873.
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