Margaret Lockwood

Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), ''Night Train to Munich'' (1940), ''The Man in Grey'' (1943), and ''The Wicked Lady'' (1945). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress for the 1955 film ''Cast a Dark Shadow''. She also starred in the television series ''Justice'' (1971–74).

Early life

Lockwood was born on 15 September 1916 in Karachi, British India, to Henry Francis Lockwood, an English administrator of a railway company, and his third wife, Scottish-born Margaret Eveline Waugh. She returned to England in 1920 with her mother, brother 'Lyn' and half-brother Frank, and a further half-sister 'Fay' joined them the following year, but her father remained in Karachi, visiting them infrequently. She also had another half-brother, John, from her father's first marriage, brought up by his mother in Britain. Lockwood attended Sydenham High School for girls, and a ladies' school in Kensington, London.

She began studying for the stage at an early age at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, and made her debut in 1928, at the age of 12, at the Holborn Empire where she played a fairy in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. In December of the following year, she appeared at the Scala Theatre in the pantomime ''The Babes in the Wood''. In 1932 she appeared at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in ''Cavalcade''.

Career

In 1933, Lockwood enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she was seen by a talent scout and signed to a contract. In June 1934 she played Myrtle in ''House on Fire'' at the Queen's Theatre, and on 22 August 1934 appeared as Margaret Hamilton in Gertrude Jenning's play ''Family Affairs'' when it premiered at the Ambassadors Theatre; Helene Ferber in ''Repayment'' at the Arts Theatre in January 1936; Trixie Drew in Henry Bernard's play ''Miss Smith'' at the Duke of York's Theatre in July 1936; and back at the Queen's in July 1937 as Ann Harlow in ''Ann's Lapse''.

Films

Lockwood entered films in 1934, and in 1935 she appeared in the film version of ''Lorna Doone''. For this, British Lion put her under contract for £500 a year for the first year, going up to £750 a year for the second year.

For British Lion she was in ''The Case of Gabriel Perry'' (1935), then was in ''Honours Easy'' (1935) with Greta Nissen and '' Man of the Moment'' (1935) with Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. These were standard ingénue roles. She was the female love interest in ''Midshipman Easy'' (1935), directed by Carol Reed, who would become crucial to Lockwood's career. She had the lead in '' Someday'' (1935), a quota quickie directed by Michael Powell and in ''Jury's Evidence'' (1936), directed by Ralph Ince.

Lockwood had a small role in ''The Amateur Gentleman'' (1936), another with Fairbanks. Her profile rose when she appeared opposite Maurice Chevalier in '' The Beloved Vagabond'' (1936)

She followed it with ''Irish for Luck'' (1936) and ''The Street Singer'' (1937). She had a small role in '' Who's Your Lady Friend?'' (1937), again for Carol Reed and was in ''Melody and Romance'' (1937).

Gaumont British

Gaumont British were making a film version of the novel ''Doctor Syn'', starring George Arliss and Anna Lee with director Roy William Neill and producer Edward Black. Lee dropped out and was replaced by Lockwood. Lockwood so impressed the studio with her performance – particularly Black, who became a champion of hers – she signed a three-year contract with Gainsborough Pictures in June 1937. This was at £4,000 a year.Lockwood p 54

For Black and director Robert Stevenson she supported Will Fyffe in ''Owd Bob'' (1938), opposite John Loder.

British Stardom: ''Bank Holiday'' and ''The Lady Vanishes''

Lockwood then had her best chance to-date, being given the lead in ''Bank Holiday'', directed by Carol Reed and produced by Black. This movie was a hit and launched Lockwood as a star. She called it "my first really big picture... with a beautifully written script and a wonderful part for me." Gaumont increased her contract from three years to six.Lockwood p 77

Even more popular was her next movie, ''The Lady Vanishes'', directed by Alfred Hitchcock, produced by Black and co-starring Michael Redgrave. Lockwood called it "one of the films I have enjoyed most in all my career." Hitchcock was greatly impressed by Lockwood, telling the press:

She has an undoubted gift in expressing her beauty in terms of emotion, which is exceptionally well suited to the camera. Allied to this is the fact that she photographs more than normally easily, and has an extraordinary insight in getting the feel of her lines, to live within them, so to speak, as long as the duration of the picture lasts. It is not too much to expect that, in Margaret Lockwood, the British picture industry has a possibility of developing a star of hitherto un-anticipated possibilities.

She followed this with '' A Girl Must Live'', a musical comedy about chorus girls for Black and Reed. It was one of a series of films made by Gaumont aimed at the US market. According to ''Filmink'' Lockwood's "speciality owwas playing a bright young thing who got up to mischief, usually by accident rather than design, and she often got to drive the action."

American films

Gaumont British had distribution agreements with 20th Century Fox in the US and they expressed an interest in borrowing Lockwood for some films. She travelled to Los Angeles and was put to work supporting Shirley Temple in ''Susannah of the Mounties'' (1939), set in Canada, opposite Randolph Scott. She was borrowed by Paramount for ''Rulers of the Sea'' (1939), with Will Fyffe and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Paramount indicated a desire to use Lockwood in more films but she decided to go home.

Return to Britain

Lockwood returned to Britain in June 1939. She was meant to make film versions of '' Rob Roy'' and '' The Blue Lagoon'' but both projects were cancelled with the advent of war. Instead, she played the role of Jenny Sunley, the self-centred, frivolous wife of Michael Redgrave's character in ''The Stars Look Down'' for Carol Reed. Lockwood later admitted "I was far from being reconciled to my role of the unpleasant girl and everyone treated me warily. But as the film progressed I found myself working with Carol Reed and Michael Redgrave again and gradually I was fascinated to see what I could put into the part."

She did another with Reed, ''Night Train to Munich'' (1940), an attempt to repeat the success of ''The Lady Vanishes'' with the same screenwriters (Launder and Gilliat) and characters of Charters and Caldicott. Rex Harrison was the male star. This started filming in November 1939.

She was meant to be reunited with Reed and Redgrave in '' The Girl in the News'' (1940) but Redgrave dropped out and was replaced by Barry K. Barnes: Black produced and Sidney Gilliat wrote the script. ''Quiet Wedding'' (1941) was a comedy directed by Anthony Asquith. She was meant to appear in ''Hatter's Castle'' but fell pregnant and had to drop out. Her return to acting was ''Alibi'' (1942), a thriller which she called "anything but a success... a bad film."

In September 1943 ''Variety'' estimated her salary at being US$24,000 per picture ().

Career peak

''The Man in Grey''

Lockwood was well established as a middle-tier name. What made her a front rank star was ''The Man in Grey'' (1943), the first of what would be known as the Gainsborough melodramas. Lockwood wanted to play the part of Clarissa, but producer Edward Black cast her as the villainous Hesther. She was featured alongside Phyllis Calvert, James Mason and Stewart Granger for director Leslie Arliss. The film was a massive hit, one of the biggest in 1943 Britain, and made all four lead actors into top stars – at the end of the year, exhibitors voted Lockwood the seventh most popular British star at the box office.

She appeared in two comedies for Black: ''Dear Octopus'' (1943) with Michael Wilding from a play by Dodie Smith, which Lockwood felt was a backward step and ''Give Us the Moon'' (1944), with Vic Oliver directed by Val Guest. Much more popular than either of these was another melodrama with Arliss and Granger, '' Love Story'' (1944), where she played a terminally ill pianist.

Lockwood was reunited with James Mason in ''A Place of One's Own'' (1945), playing a housekeeper possessed by the spirit of a dead girl, but the film was not a success. ''I'll Be Your Sweetheart'' (1945) was a musical with Guest and Vic Oliver.

''The Wicked Lady''

Lockwood had the biggest success of her career to-date with the title role in ''The Wicked Lady'' (1945), opposite Mason and Michael Rennie for director Arliss. The film was the most popular movie at the British box office in 1946. In 1946, Lockwood gained the Daily Mail National Film Awards First Prize for most popular British film actress. However she was soon to suffer what has been called "a cold streak of poor films which few other stars have endured."

She was offered the role of Bianca in ''The Magic Bow'' but disliked the part and turned it down. Instead she was a murderess in '' Bedelia'' (1946), which did not perform as well, although it was popular in Britain.

Contract with Rank

In July 1946, Lockwood signed a six-year contract with Rank to make two movies a year. The first of these was ''Hungry Hill'' (1947), an expensive adaptation of the novel by Daphne du Maurier which was not the expected success at the box office.

More popular was '' Jassy'' (1947), the seventh biggest hit at the British box office in 1947. It was the last of "official" Gainsborough melodramas – the studio had come under the control of J. Arthur Rank who disliked the genre.

She was a warden in ''The White Unicorn'' (1947), a melodrama from the team of Harold Huth and John Corfield. Rank wanted to star her in a film about Mary Magdalene but Lockwood was unhappy with the script. She refused to appear in ''Roses for Her Pillow'' (which became '' Once Upon a Dream'') and was put on suspension. "I was sick of getting mediocre parts and poor scripts," she later wrote. "Since 1945 I had been sick of it... there had been little or no improvement to me in the films I was being offered." She later said "I was having fun being a rebel."

During her suspension she went on a publicity tour for Rank. She also appeared in an acclaimed TV production of ''Pygmalion'' (1948). then went off suspension when she made a comedy for Corfield and Huth, ''Look Before You Love'' (1948).

Lockwood had a change of pace with the comedy ''Cardboard Cavalier'' (1949), with Lockwood playing Nell Gwyn opposite Sid Field. The film was a critical and box-office disappointment. "I was terribly distressed when I read the press notices of the film", wrote Lockwood.

That same year, Lockwood was announced to play Becky Sharp in a film adaptation of '' Vanity Fair'' but it was not made.

Lockwood was in the melodrama ''Madness of the Heart'' (1949), but the film was not a particular success. When a proposed film about Elisabeth of Austria was cancelled, she returned to the stage in a record-breaking national tour of Noël Coward's ''Private Lives'' (1949) and then played the title role in productions of J. M. Barrie's ''Peter Pan'' in 1949 and 1950. She also performed in a pantomime of ''Cinderella'' for the Royal Film performance with Jean Simmons; Lockwood called this "the jolliest show in which I have ever taken part."

She returned to film-making after an 18-month absence to star in ''Highly Dangerous'' (1950), a comic thriller in the vein of ''Lady Vanishes'' written expressly for her by Eric Ambler and directed by Roy Ward Baker. It was not popular. Rank was to put her in an adaptation of ''Ann Veronica'' by H. G. Wells

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