Molly Sinclair Urquhart (6 January 1906 – 6 October 1977) was a Scottish actress and theater director.

Early life

Urquhart was born in Glasgow as Mary Sinclair Urquhart. She was the daughter of post office clerk Ann McCallum and sea-going engineer William Urquhart. She grew up in the West End of Glasgow where she attended Downhill Primary School and Church Street School. After school, she worked in a shop and took the exam to work for the GPO. She had no formal training in theater, coming to the profession through the "amateur movement". While a teenager in the late 1920s, she joined the St. George Players, an amateur club. In 1931, she became a member of the Tron Theatre Club in Glasgow, followed by Glasgow's

Curtain Theatre The Curtain Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Hewett Street, Shoreditch (within the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. It opened in 1577, and continued staging plays until 1624. The Curtain was b ...

in 1932. She adopted the name Molly Urquhart for her stage name.

Career

Theater

In 1932, Urquhart joined the Howard and Wyndham company, becoming a professional actress. Her first professional role was in the melodrama '' Jeannie Deans'' at

Theatre Royal, Glasgow The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow and the longest running in Scotland. Located at 282 Hope Street, its front door was originally round the corner in Cowcaddens Street. It currently accommodates 1,541 people and is owned by Scott ...

in 1934. She then moved to repertory theater in England and Scotland, including joining the Sheldon-Browne Company in 1936 and the company of the Festival Theatre, Cambridge. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, she set up and ran her own repertory theater company, the Molly S. Urquhart Theatre or MSU Theatre (now known as the Rutherglen Repertory Theatre) in a former church on East Main Street in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

, Scotland in 1939. Urquhart not only acted, but also directed plays and managed the MSU Theatre. The company included

Eileen Herlie Eileen Herlie (March 8, 1918 – October 8, 2008) was a Scottish-American actress. Personal life Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to an Irish Catholic father, Patrick Herlihy, and a Scottish Protestant mother, Isobel Cowden, ...

, Gordon Jackson, Duncan Macrae, and

Nicholas Parsons Christopher Nicholas Parsons (10 October 1923 – 28 January 2020) was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show '' Just a Minute'' and hosted the game show '' ...

. Their first show was Merton Hodge's ''The Wind and the Rain'' which opened on 2 May 1939. In 1944, MSU Theatre closed; Urquhart and others from the company joined the newly established

Citizens Theatre The Citizens Theatre, in what was the Royal Princess's Theatre, is the creation of James Bridie and is based in Glasgow, Scotland as a principal producing theatre. The theatre includes a 500-seat Main Auditorium, and has also included various ...

in Glasgow. She remained with the Citizens until 1956, performing in plays such as

James Bridie James Bridie (3 January 1888 in Glasgow – 29 January 1951 in Edinburgh) was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and physician whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor.Daniel Leary (1982) ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: ...

's ''The Forrigan Reel'' and ''The Tintock Cup.'' In 1945 when ''The Forrigan Reel'' toured, she had her first performance in London at Sadlers Wells Theatre''.'' Her "greatest triumph" was said to be at the Edinburgh Festival of 1948 where she played Dame Sensualite in Tyrone Guthrie's production of '' A Satire of the Three Estates'' at the Assembly Hall. She appeared in London's West End in

Eric Linklater Eric Robert Russell Linklater CBE (8 March 1899 – 7 November 1974) was a Welsh-born Scottish poet, fiction writer, military historian, and travel writer. For ''The Wind on the Moon'', a children's fantasy novel, he won the 1944 Carnegie Meda ...

's plays ''

Love in Albania ''Love in Albania'' is a comedy play by the British writer Eric Linklater, which was originally performed in 1949. After appearing at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith it transferred to St James's Theatre in the West End. Directed by and starring ...

'' in 1949 and '' The Mortimer Touch'' in 1952. In 1953, she joined the ''Five Past Eight Show'' which was based at Alhambra Theatre in Glasgow; the show ran throughout the 1950s. Her portrayal of Bessie Burgess in West End revival of ''

The Plough and the Stars ''The Plough and the Stars'' is a four-act play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on 8 February 1926 at the Abbey Theatre. It is set in Dublin and addresses the 1916 Easter Rising. The play's title references the Sta ...

'' in 1962 was "a notable hit".

Film and television

Urquhart's first film role was in the 1955 comedy Geordie with

Alastair Sim Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his ...

under the direction of Fred Zinnerman. This was the beginning of numerous films that Urquhart made with Zinnerman; others included as '' Geordie'' (1955), '' The Nun's Story'' (1959), '' The Sundowners'' (1960), and '' A Man For All Seasons'' (1966).'''' She also had roles in the films ''

Floodtide ''Floodtide'' is a 1949 British romantic drama film directed by Frederick Wilson and starring Gordon Jackson, Rona Anderson, John Laurie and Jimmy Logan. The film was one of the four of David Rawnsley's films that used his "independent frame ...

'' (1949), '' Portrait of Clare'' (1950), and '' Blonde Sinner'' (1956).'''' She had a role in 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. ...

...

Early life

Career

Theater

Film and television

Honors and legacy

Personal life

Partial Filmography

References