George Korelin

George Korelin (b. Kingston, Surrey, 02/03/1919 – d. Johannesburg, 17/01/1991) was a stage, film and radio actor. Also credited as George Lane.

Biography

George Max Korelin originally came to South Africa in 1957 on a short-term contract, but elected to stay. In England, as George Lane, he had featured primarily in pantomime and variety acts, but in South Africa he found regular employment on stage, in film and on radio and became a firm favourite in the role of Chuck Edwards in Taxi!, a long-running radio series presenting “a week-by-week account of the trials and tribulations of a New York taxi driver”, which was also made into a movie. The first series ran between 1969 and 1972 and it returned between 1975 and 1978. Some of the later episodes were written by Korelin and his co-star Tony Jay, who played Red Kowalski. Also in the cast was his second wife, Patricia Sanders (1929-2005), who took the role of Myrtle. In the theatre he had a particularly fruitful partnership with Rex Garner, acting in several of the actor/director’s popular farces.

Credits

Film

Kimberley Jim (Emil Nofal/1963), Rhino! (Ivan Tors/1964), King Hendrik (Emil Nofal/1965), The Second Sin (David Millin/1966), Scotty Smith (Peter Henkel/1970), Taxi! (Joe Stewardson/1970), The Baby Game (Harry Hughes & Joe Stewardson/1973), The Demon (Percival Rubens/1979), Birds of Paradise (Tommie Meyer & Rex Garner/1981), Go for the Gold (Stuart F. Fleming/1984), Magic Is Alive, My Friends (Jan Scholtz/1985), The Devil & the Song (Bromley Cawood/1989), The Tattoo Chase (Jeff Gold/1989), Brutal Glory (Koos Roets/1989).

Television

Diamanten sind gefährlich (German TV series) (Hermann Kugelstadt/1965), Der Rivonia-Prozess (German TV series) (Jürgen Goslar/1966), Vendetta (British TV series – Episode: The Hollow Man (Lennie Mayne/1966), The Gift of the Magi (TV movie) (Donald Monat/1981).

Theatre

1967 – Strike it Rich (Adam Leslie Theatre), 1974 – Birds of Paradise (Directed by Michael Pertwee at the Academy Theatre), 1977 – Don't Just Lie There, Say Something (Directed by Rex Garner at the Academy Theatre), 1979 – What More Could She Want (Directed by Rex Garner at the Alexander Theatre), 1984 – Run For Your Wife (Directed by Rex Garner at the Baxter Theatre), 1988 – See How They Run (Directed by Rex Garner for Pieter Toerien).

Radio

33 Half Moon Street (Series) (Adrian Steed/1965-1966), Brief Encounter (Single Play) (1966), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Series – 2 episodes) (Adrian Steed/1967), Challenge of Space (Series) (Donald Monat/1969-1972), Taxi! (Series 1) (David Gooden/1969-1972), Taxi! (Series 2) (1975-1978).

Sources

British Newspaper Archive

André I. le Roux & Lilla Fourie – Filmverlede: geskiedenis van die Suid-Afrikaanse speelfilm (1982)

Percy Tucker - Just the ticket!: my 50 years in show business (1997)

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0466160/?ref_=nv_sr_1

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