Margot Boyd (born Beryl Billings, 24 September 1913 – 20 May 2008) was an English stage, television and radio actress. She grew up in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and trained as an actor at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 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 Sen ...

(RADA). Here Boyd acted in a production supervised by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

Biography

After graduating from RADA, she gained work at the Leeds Theatre Royal Repertory Company, never seeming to play a leading role less than 55 years of age, she later commented."The Archers" Actors' Who's Who
Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2011. She later worked with

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 Elect ...

Stratford Memorial Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespea ...

in 1953. In 1956 she appeared in ''One Bright Day'' at the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in London. Redgrave cast her in the lead role of

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

's '' Waiting in the Wings'' in 1960, with Coward himself becoming a friend when the production reached

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. On television, Boyd starred in the lead of ''Our Miss Pemberton'' (1957) and had many guest appearances in series such as ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'' and '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. She appeared regularly in numerous radio dramas over four decades, including ''

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 ...

'' and ''

The Slide ''The Slide'' is a sci-fi radio serial in seven parts by Victor Pemberton. The story begins with an earthquake in Southern England, and then the local wildlife starts to disappear. It starred Roger Delgado as Professor Josef Gomez, Maurice Denh ...

''. In later years, she was best known for playing Marjorie Antrobus in ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

'' radio serial on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and Hilda Rumpole in '' The Splendours and Miseries of an Old Bailey Hack'' on the same station. As a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company in 1984, she was originally intended to make a one-off appearance in ''The Archers'', but became a regular member of the cast. Her character was effectively written out in 2004, when Mrs. Antrobus moved to the local home for the elderly and became a silent character. Boyd died at the home for retired actors,

Denville Hall Denville Hall is a historic building in Northwood, a town in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, which is used as a retirement home for professional actors, actresses and members of other theatrical professions. The present building inc ...

, in Northwood, London.

References

External links

*
Obituary: ''Daily Telegraph''

Obituary: ''Guardian''

Obituary: ''Times''

Margot Boyd: Actress best known for role in The Archers radio series

Margot Boyd
(BBC Press Office)
Margot Boyd at 90
1913 births 2008 deaths Actresses from Somerset English radio actresses English stage actresses Actors from Bath, Somerset {{england-actor-stub