Follow The Leadership [BB286]

Haven't cracked it yet but a technical quibble - Sir Richard Burton wasn't a performer, he was an explorer (who also translted the Arabian Nights & Kama Sutra into English). Richard Burton the actor wasn't knighted. Not sure if this affects the puzzle.

Erudite pick-up, Mr X. And I've now dropped the knighthood. (Not that it matters to the solution...)

Got it ! The "Sir" is immaterial.

XXX WARNING - SPOILER ALERT XXX

Another possible member of the ensemble is :

Noel Coward

Bullseye - and a lovely addition, keeping things deceptively thespian.

Would Edward Norton and Rod Rude be in the ensemble?

and it turns out you can still use that wasted "Sir" by putting it in front of Ian Holm (unless that takes him out of the ensemble of course!)

Nice.

And Jim Henson never quite made the cut...

XXX WARNING - SPOILER ALERT XXX

He's a bit more of a give-away than the other cast members but also eligible is:

Oliver Reed

Finally worked it out!
May I add Ray Millard to the list.

Now that's just giving it away JD!

Then let's add John Hadden to the "didn't quite make it" list.

Oooh, close but no Oscar:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_milland

Sorry, I'll blame Google because it allows for fuzzy spelling errors. I did check first, but obviously not that closely.

And to Americanize [sic] the puzzle:

What eight of the first 12 US Presidents share ther surnames with well-known actors? (Without peeking, see if you can figure out five at least.)

XXX WARNING - SPOILER ALERT XXX

Here's a go for 5:

Denzil/George
Samuel L / Andrew
Marilyn / James (?) not sure about his first name or if the spelling's right on his surname
Don/John
Don/John jr (seems a bit dodgy to use a father and son)

Good going. In fact for father & son, why not Don and Amy?

Amazing to think there are still three to muster.

(And Monroe is letter-perfect.)

Not sure if they're in the first 12 or not but:

Rex/Benjamin
Don/Andrew (Even if the pres was one of the first dozen, I don't know if his namesake counts as a well known actor)

Elmer Fudd?

Bea/Chester A.

Mamie van Buren/Martin

Wasn't it "Mamie Van Doren" ?

Oops that was wrong. Sorry.

A couple more that are probably outside the opening 12:

Hugh/Ulysses S.
Andrew/Abraham (again not that well known a thesp. although he's currently in a zombie TV series in the States that's apparently a bit of a cult hit)

**SPOILER ALERT**

First names of the three fugitives are all three letters long, ending in the unlikely trifecta of X, V and Z.

There were US Presidents named Rex, Viv and Baz ?

Fanny Brice is my addition to the first list.

aaaaargh.... finally get it. Goldie Hawn just misses out (and Tara Reid was kinda close)

Does Russell Crowe fit into the first list or am I missing it?

Hi Joy
Look at the title of this thread for clue 1, then at the nature of DA's second puzzle for clue 2

Ah yes, thank you.