Barbara Ewing (born 14 January 1939) is a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
actor, playwright and novelist based in the UK. In the 1980s Ewing played the character Agnes Fairchild in British comedy series ''
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
.'' Ewing's novel ''The Petticoat Men'' was shortlisted for the
Ngaio Marsh Award
The Ngaio Marsh Awards (formerly Ngaio Marsh Award), popularly called the Ngaios, are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand to recognise excellence in crime fiction, mystery, and thriller writing. The Awards were established by jour ...
in 2015.
Early life
Ewing was born in
Carterton, New Zealand
Carterton ( mi, Taratahi) is a small town in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the seat of the Carterton District (a territorial authority or local government district). It lies in a farming area of the Wairarapa in New Zealand's North Is ...
.
Her father's job at the Ministry of Education included reviewing books, and he brought many home for Ewing to read as she was growing up. She started writing when she was young.
Ewing attended
Wellington East Girls' College
Wellington East Girls' College (WEGC, Maori name: Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o Te Upoko o Te Ika) is a state single-sex girls' secondary school which sits directly above Mount Victoria Tunnel, Wellington, New Zealand. Serving Years 9 to 13 ...
then graduated from
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well kno ...
with a BA in English and
Māori language before receiving a New Zealand Government scholarship and moving to Britain in 1962 to train as an actor at
RADA
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Se ...
(the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in London. There was no national acting school training in New Zealand at the time. She graduated in 1965.
Career
Actor
Her first television role was in ''
A Choice of Kings
"A Choice of Kings" is a television drama film and stage play by John Mortimer. It was first produced in 1966 in the ITV Play of the Week series, directed by John Frankau, starring Michael Craig.
Outline
The action is set at the court of Edwar ...
'' (1966). Her first film role was in the
horror film ''
Torture Garden'' (1967) with
Amicus Productions
Amicus Productions was a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England, active between 1962 and 1977. It was founded by American producers and screenwriters Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg.
Films
Prior to establish ...
. The next film was ''
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
''Dracula Has Risen from the Grave'' is a 1968 British supernatural horror film directed by Freddie Francis and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is the fourth entry in Hammer's '' Dracula'' series, and the third to feature Christopher Le ...
'' (1968) with
Hammer Films directed by
Freddie Francis
Frederick William Francis (22 December 1917 – 17 March 2007) was an English cinematographer and film director. He achieved his greatest successes as a cinematographer. He started his career with British films such as Jack Cardiff's '' Sons and ...
.
She has had film acting roles in ''
The Reckoning'' (1969), ''
S.O.S. Titanic'' (1979), ''
Eye of the Needle'' (1981), ''Haunters of the Deep'' (1984) (
Children's Film Foundation
The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) was a non-profit organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom originally to be shown as part of childrens' Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 ...
), ''
When the Whales Came
''When the Whales Came'' is a 1989 British drama film directed by Clive Rees and starring Helen Mirren, Paul Scofield, David Suchet, Barbara Jefford, David Threlfall, John Hallam, Barbara Ewing, and Jeremy Kemp. It is based on the 1985 children ...
'' (1989), ''
Brothers of the Head
''Brothers of the Head'' is a 2005 mockumentary featuring the story of Tom and Barry Howe (Harry and Luke Treadaway respectively), conjoined twins living in the United Kingdom. It was based on the 1977 novel of the same name by science fiction wr ...
'' (2005) and ''
Mute
Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak.
Mute or the Mute may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart
* ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...
'' (2018).
Television acting roles included the
Granada Television comedy series ''
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
'' with
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE (born 20 October 1934) is an English actor and presenter. He has appeared frequently on both stage and television, including stints in both ''Coronation Street'' (as Eric Babbage) and ''EastEnders'' (as Stan Carte ...
(1983–90), the character Treen Dudgeon in the BBC series ''
Comrade Dad'' (1986) with
George Cole and
Doris Hare,
A Ghost Story for Christmas
''A Ghost Story for Christmas'' is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original instalments were direc ...
, titled
The Ash Tree
"The Ash-tree" is a ghost story by British writer M.R. James, included in his 1904 collection '' Ghost Stories of an Antiquary''.
Plot summary
In 1690, the English county of Suffolk is wracked with a fear of witches. Many girls and women are ...
(1975), playing Anne Mothersole who was tried as a witch, and she was in one episode of ''The Sweeney'' (S4-E7 Bait''
') in 1978.
Other TV shows Ewing has appeared in include the New Zealand series ''Rachel'' (1970s) for which she won an award.
Also in New Zealand in one episode of ''Pioneer Women'' she played the founder of South Island district nursing
Nurse Sibylla Maude, and she was a journalist in the drama series ''Loose Enz'' by
Tom Scott. In the UK she has been in episodes of ''
Casualty
Casualty may refer to:
*Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster
**Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare
* The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...
,'' ''
Doctors
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
'' and ''
Holby City'' on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
mysteries.
play in 1995 called ''Whaea Kairau - Mother Hundred Eater'' in Wellington, New Zealand directed by
'', about the only woman in Lenin's cabinet in 1917. It gained acclaim in London, and at the
Festivals.
She has performed in New Zealand and in the UK playing leads in plays from Shaw, Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, Shakespeare and others.
* ''Strangers'' (1978)
* ''The Actresses'' (1997)
* ''A Dangerous Vine'' (1999)
* ''The Trespass'' (2002)
* ''Rosetta'' (2005)
* ''The Mesmerist'' (2007)
* ''The Fraud '' (2009)
* ''The Circus of Ghosts'' (2011)
* ''The Petticoat Men'' (2014)
* ''One Minute Crying'' (2020)
On 17 February 2015, it was announced that Ewing's ''The Petticoat Men'' had made the longlist for the prestigious
award in her home country of New Zealand.
In 2020, Ewing's memoir ''One Minute Crying Time'' was published. Covering her childhood, adolescence and early-adulthood in New Zealand, the book takes the reader up to 1962 when she left for the UK, and draws from diary and later journal entries Ewing kept from the ages of 12 to 23. It includes a romantic relation with a young Māori man which at the time was controversial.
2015 - Shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel for ''The Petticoat Men'' (Head of Zeus, 2014)
* Ewing, Barbara (2020). ''One Minute Crying Time''. Albany, Auckland: Massey University Press.