Barbara Mullen (9 June 19149 March 1979
) was an American born actress well known in the UK for playing the part of Janet McPherson, the
housekeeper in ''
Dr. Finlay's Casebook
''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' is a television drama series that was produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's 1935 novella ''Country Doctor'', the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictiona ...
''. Although the role of Janet brought her fame in later years, she already had made her mark in the theatre.
Mullen's parents were Pat and Bridget.
Pat was from a fishing family on
Inishmore
Inishmore ( ga, Árainn , or ) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. With an area of and a population of 762 (as of 2016), it is the second-largest island off the Irish coast (after Achill) and ...
island off the coast of
County Galway
"Righteousness and Justice"
, anthem = ()
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg
, map_caption = Location in Ireland
, area_footnotes =
, area_total_km2 = ...
, Ireland. He met his first wife, Bridget in South Boston, Massachusetts, where she had emigrated from Galway with her late husband, Patrick Crowe. Mullen was born in Boston. She made her stage debut as a dancer at the age of three. When her father returned to Aran, later contributing to the making of ''Man of Aran'', the classic documentary film by
Robert J. Flaherty
Robert Joseph Flaherty, (; February 16, 1884 – July 23, 1951) was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film, '' Nanook of the North'' (1922). The film made his reputati ...
, her mother stayed in the U.S. to bring up the 8 children. Mullen sang and danced in various theatres all over the U.S. and then moved to the UK in 1934, where she trained at the
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Webber may refer to:
*Webber, Kansas, a US city
*Webber Township, Jefferson County, Illinois, USA
*Webber Township, Lake County, Michigan, USA
*Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, USA
*Webber (surname)
Webber (/ˈwɛbər/) i ...
.
She wrote ''Life is my Adventure'', her autobiography, at 23. A year later she made her London debut, acting the title role in the London West End production of ''Jeannie'', a comedy about a Scottish girl taking a European holiday after coming into money. She became an overnight star.
She later succeeded
Celia Johnson as Mrs. De Winter in
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geor ...
's ''
Rebecca
Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
'', played Maggie in a revival of ''
What Every Woman Knows'' by
J.M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...
, and played the aged sleuth
Miss Marple
Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Chr ...
in ''
The Murder at the Vicarage
''The Murder at the Vicarage'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK editio ...
'' by
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
.
Mullen repeated the role of 'Jeannie' on television and in the 1941 British film, which was her cinema debut, alongside
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...
, and she followed this with appearances in 20 more films, including ''
A Place of One's Own
''A Place of One's Own'' is a 1945 British film directed by Bernard Knowles. An atmospheric ghost story based on the 1940 novel of the same title by Osbert Sitwell, it stars James Mason, Barbara Mullen, Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price and Dul ...
'', ''
Corridor of Mirrors
''Corridor of Mirrors'' is Prometheus's (Benji Vaughan
Benjamin Vaughan, better known as Benji Vaughan, is a British psychedelic trance musician and tech entrepreneur. He has released music under many names, of which most well known is his sol ...
'' and ''
Innocent Sinners
''Innocent Sinners'' is a 1958 British black and white film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Flora Robson.
It was based on the 1955 novel '' An Episode of Sparrows'' by Rumer Godden.
Plot
Olivia Chesney is too sick to leave home, somew ...
''. She also played a notable role in the 1942 film version of
Robert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey (October 16, 1908 – January 14, 1980) was an American playwright, screenwriter and science writer perhaps best known for ''The Territorial Imperative'' (1966). After a Broadway and Hollywood career, he returned to his academic tr ...
's ''
Thunder Rock'' as Ellen Kirby, the feminist who is jailed for her subversive ideas.
Ellen Kirby
in '' Thunder Rock'' (1942): IMDB.com website. Retrieved on 18 March 2008.
She was married to documentary film-maker John Taylor, ''Man of Arans cameraman, and they had two daughters, Briged and Susannah.
She appeared on television in America and Britain in programmes such as '' Juno and the Paycock'' and ''The Danny Thomas Show
''The Danny Thomas Show'' (titled ''Make Room for Daddy'' for its first three seasons) is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show f ...
'' before being offered the role in ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', which began on the BBC in 1962. Her character, Janet McPherson, was the ever-efficient housekeeper to Doctors Finlay and Cameron at Arden House in the fictional Scottish village of Tannochbrae. When the series was nearing its end on television, in 1970 it transferred to radio - running until 1978.
She was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in March 1964 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
in central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
.
Barbara Mullen died at Hammersmith Hospital
Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough of H ...
, London from a heart attack on 9 March 1979.
Filmography
Sources
*''Life is My Adventure'', Barbara Mullen, Faber & Faber, London, 1937.
*''Man of Aran'', Pat Mullen, E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1935.
References
External links
*
* This Is Your Life- Barbara Mullen in 196
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullen, Barbara
1914 births
1979 deaths
Actresses from Boston
American people of Irish descent
20th-century American women
20th-century American people
American emigrants to the United Kingdom