Movie night revives veteran's forgotten film role alongside Hollywood royalty

A movie night at Fulford Care & Nursing Home turned into a living memory when 92-year-old Jim Cannon, a former Royal Navy diver, told fellow residents he appeared as a cameo in the 1957 film Barnacle Bill starring Alec Guinness. The movie’s plot centers on William Horatio Ambrose, a retired naval officer troubled by severe seasickness, who buys a rundown Victorian amusement pier. Cannon said he joined the shoot while serving in the Navy’s Experimental Diving Unit and was required to work “over the side” to retrieve equipment. He recalled that the then-18-year-old actress Jackie Collins was meant to jump in and give him a kiss, but a stunt double replaced her after the director called “Cut!”